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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2023 9:19:55 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2023 9:26:58 GMT
MUSIC
An iconic Arizona music festival is calling it quits after 18 years. Here's why
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/08/11/tucson-music-festival-2023-hoco-fest/70515716007/
conservatism.freeforums.net/thread/11617/hotel-congress-fest-calls-quits
Ed Masley
Arizona Republic
VIEW FULL GALLERY: www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/entertainment/music/2023/08/11/hoco-fest-tucson-photos-through-the-years/70571849007/
It’s been 18 years since David Slutes came up with the idea behind one of Arizona’s most beloved music festivals while looking for a way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Club Congress in Tucson.
“I said, 'It's not about Club Congress,’” Slutes recalls. “It's about all this great Tucson music that's made Club Congress what it is.”
That first HOCO Fest, held over Labor Day weekend in 2005, featured 40 reunions of Tucson acts that Slutes felt should be part of any proper celebration of that legacy as well as what he jokingly refers to as “some of the 'new kids'” like Calexico.
Tucson's HOCO Fest was meant to be a one-time-only festival
That first HOCO Fest was supposed to be a one-off.
“But it was so cool that we thought we'd do it again the next year,” Slutes recalls. “People just loved it. So we'd keep doing it.”
They had a banner year in 2022.
“We had probably our best festival ever last year,” Slutes enthuses.
So why has he decided 2023 will be the final HOCO Fest?
He wants to preserve the legacy of what this festival has meant by ending on a high note.
Remembering Jack Curtis:Why Alice Cooper calls this Phoenix teen-club impresario 'our patron saint'
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/07/07/jack-curtis-obituary-mascot-records-phoenix/69941558007/
How HOCO Fest in Tucson evolved through the years
Slutes has always had reservations about just repeating what seems to be working. That’s why in its third year, the festival shifted its focus to sustainability as the first completely solar-powered festival in the West.
“Then a few years went by,” Slutes recalls, “and we said, 'Well, we can't just keep having reunions all the time.’”
It started feeling a bit too safe.
“I didn't want it to just be some regular dumb festival,” he says. “Everyone does that festival. This is a smaller boutique fest. It has to have meaning. It has be tied to something more tangible, more substantive. So I handed over the event to my main man, Matt Baquet.”
The idea was to make it “relevant and cool” by bringing in cutting-edge artists and exposing them to Tucson.
“So we shifted the mission to being this really intensely progressive boutique event with underground artists that are kind of critically acclaimed but maybe people haven't heard of,” Slutes says.
“We thought we had a big enough platform and a big enough community that we could still bring people in and do all that. So we did that for three years. And it was super successful.”
Then the world shut down for COVID-19 and Club Congress tightened its belt, which led to staff reductions.
“COVID clobbered us,” Slutes says.
'If I can't do it perfectly well, then I don't want to do it'
The team behind HOCO Fest rallied to pull off another “intensely progressive” boutique festival last year but it was way too much for the remaining members of the team. They just don’t have that kind of bandwidth anymore.
“It was just so hard and so intense,” Slutes says.
“And now Matt, who was my lead guy doing it, had to move on and do other things. He wasn't even working here anymore. So it fell back to us and I said, 'Well, you know what? I can do HOCO again and celebrate its original mission.’ But after that? I think it becomes… what's the word? It's not relevant anymore.”
He wanted HOCO Fest to go out with a bang.
“If I can't do it perfectly well, then I don't want to do it,” Slutes says. “Maybe in three to five years we have another festival and celebrate this stuff, but you can't just keep trotting out the same old horses every year. It loses meaning. It's not special anymore.”
Making the final HOCO Fest a blowout to remember
Slutes is uniquely qualified to put a special celebration of the Tucson music scene together. Long before taking the reins at Club Congress as entertainment director, he was rocking the scene as the singer for the Sidewinders, who released two albums on the RCA subsidiary Mammoth Records before changing their name to the Sand Rubies.
“I knew that because of my deep roots in this community, I could put together one amazing Tucson Arizona fest,” he says. “That I could do a lot of the heavy lifting myself and make it wonderful.”
As to why he didn’t try to do another festival like last year’s, Slutes says, “The thing about doing a festival like that is a lot of the work is not getting the perfect artists. You have to do the education piece so they have enough people to see them.”
With local acts, he says, “The heavy lifting is done a lot by the acts themselves and the community. So it's a much easier thing to do a really good event and have all the acts make sure that they have people at the shows.”
The final HOCO Fest will include a celebration of Linda Ronstadt
HOCO Fest returns to downtown Tucson for one final Labor Day Weekend extravaganza set to kick off Friday, Sept. 1, with 60 acts in four days meant to celebrate the rich diversity of Tucson music past and present.
It’s being billed as HOCO Homecoming.
Highlights range from a reunion of the Dusty Chaps, who signed to Capitol Records in the ‘70s, to heavy-metal greats Gatecreeper, hip-hop export MURS, alt-country-by-way-of-the-desert legends Giant Sand, Gentlemen Afterdark, Chicano punk royalty Alice Bag, and Orkesta Mendoza providing a world-class mambo dance party.
Slutes is performing with the Sidewinders, Angie Bowie and Kid Congo Powers top the bill on a Hall of Fame glam-punk stage.
There’s also a daily celebration of Tucson’s most important musical ambassador, the legendary Linda Ronstadt.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/07/11/linda-ronstadt-25-best-songs/7831725001/
Different Drum:How a pop song written by one of the Monkees made Linda Ronstadt a star
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/09/15/different-drum-linda-ronstadt-top-hit-monkees-song/10361603002/
Linda Ronstadt is 'the one piece that has always been missing'
“The one piece that has always been missing and that was always sort of the elephant in the room was Linda Ronstadt,” Slutes says.
"She's obviously the biggest Tucson act. She really can't perform right now. But we can do these events where we can actually celebrate different parts of her career.”
There’s a big band night devoted to her Nelson Riddle albums, a “Canciones de mi Padre” re-rerelease party featuring Ronstadt collaborators Los Cenzontles, and Pete Ronstadt hosts a Songs and Stories show devoted to the hit years.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/10/11/linda-ronstadt-canciones-de-mi-padre-album/8179675001/
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/07/11/linda-ronstadt-25-best-songs/7831725001/
They’re also screening the Ronstadt documentaries “The Sound of My Voice” and “Linda and The Mockingbirds” as well as “The Pirates Of Penzance,” a 1983 film of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera in which Ronstadt starred.
“We really give her as much ado as possible,” Slutes says.
'Canciones':How Linda Ronstadt fought — and won — a battle to release the Mexican 'songs of her father'
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/10/11/linda-ronstadt-canciones-de-mi-padre-album/8179675001/
What to expect at the final HOCO Fest in Tucson
Those Ronstadt films are screening as part of the HOCO Film Festival, a two-day festival with a Tucson music focus at the Loft Cinema and the Screening Room. The festival also features the premiere of “Tale of Two Houses,” a documentary about a time in the mid-80’s when the Tucson underground revolved around two houses situated side by side.
Other events include an art show, a record fair, a heavy metal matinee and an ambient lounge with electronic pioneer Steve Reich.
“We have all the metal shows,” Slutes says. “We have a really super hip-hop show. We have all the desert rock bands. I think we have every era in the last 40-50 years and as many genres as possible.
"And even though we have over 60 acts, we're probably missing another 60 that should've been, could've been a part of it.”
Details: Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-4. Full festival passes are $100. Day passes are $10-$25. Both are on sale now at hocofest.com.
hocofest.com/
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @edmasley.
ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com
twitter.com/EdMasley
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
offers.azcentral.com/specialoffer?gps-source=CPNEWS&itm_medium=onsite&itm_source=TAGLINE&itm_campaign=NEWSROOM&itm_content=EDMASLY
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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2023 9:35:45 GMT
“Canciones de mi Padre” was inspired by Ronstadt’s grandfather, who founded Tucson’s first orchestra in the 1890s.
The re-release comes days after Hotel Congress puts Ronstadt and the album in the spotlight for the final installment of HoCo Fest, the historic downtown hotel's annual boutique music festival over Labor Day weekend. Each night of HoCo Homecoming from Sept. 1-4, artists will perform Ronstadt's music in tribute of her contribution to the evolution of Tucson's music community. Part of that also will include the official album release concert on Sept. 3.
tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/music/hoco-fest-tucson-linda-ronstadt-music/article_dff19914-32ea-11ee-8510-d738cceb5fc6.html
Ronstadt, who made her last public trip back home for the 14th annual Tucson Festival of Books last March, won't be here for the HoCo Homecoming. But she said she is thrilled that young artists from the San Francisco area Los Cenzontles Mexican cultural arts center will be performing the official album release concert at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3 on the Hotel Congress Plaza stage. The group, which Ronstadt has championed for 30 years, traveled with her to her grandfather's native Banámichi in Sonora, Mexico, in 2019. The trip was made into a documentary, “Linda and the Mockingbirds,” which is one of the films featured in the HoCo Homecoming film festival at the Screening Room on Sept. 2.
tucson.com/news/local/tucson-fans-welcome-home-linda-ronstadt/article_c333b37e-b6e5-11ed-9049-5396c486e112.html
www.hocofest.com/
www.loscenzontles.com/
tucson.com/entertainment/music/linda-ronstadt-returns-to-homeland-rekindling-love-affair-with-mexican-music-culture/article_df046d43-0eea-5956-95bc-4c43bcf4dae2.html
“They are so good,” Ronstadt fairly gushed about the ensemble. “I love these people …. No one is trained to perform; they are trained to find joy in their music and express themselves in that joy.”
Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @starburch
If you go
What: HoCo Fest Homecoming
When: Friday, Sept. 1-Monday, Sept. 4; Hola HoCo welcoming party 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31
Where: Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
Cost: $100 for four-day festival pass, $10-$25 for day passes through hocofest.com; Thursday's event is free
What to expect: More than 60 bands performing on Hotel Congress's three stages (Club Congress, Century Room and Plaza), with a film festival at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway; and the Screening Room, 127 E. Congress, and nightly tributes to Tucson legend Linda Ronstadt.
Details: For a complete schedule and lineup, visit hocofest.com.
Original articles redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=7124765&u=https%3A//tucson.com/life-entertainment/local/music/tucson-linda-ronstadt-canciones-de-mi-padre/article_56d5e2f4-3ac2-11ee-bbff-4b1a187f5ec0.html
tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/linda-ronstadt-tucson-canciones-re-release/article_dcc13736-413b-11ee-b371-bf8f355c1380.html?utm_source=tucson.com&utm_medium=js_redirect&utm_campaign=invalid_source
COMPANION THREAD conservatism.freeforums.net/thread/6154/canciones-de-mi-padre |
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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2023 10:02:23 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Sept 2, 2023 10:13:55 GMT
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Post by the Scribe on Sept 3, 2023 19:21:54 GMT
The LAST HoCo Fest is This Weekend! Line ups, and what to expect with Davis Slutes
Beef Vegan
www.youtube.com/@beefvegan
69 views Streamed live on Aug 30, 2023 #hoco #tucson #musicfestival
Talking Hotel Congress Last HoCo Fest and what to expect with David Slutes. |
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 21, 2023 20:23:16 GMT
(This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Linda Ronstadt's hometown celebrates her at Tucson music festival www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/08/24/tucson-hoco-fest-2023-linda-ronstadt-celebration/70654705007/ )'She’s our shining light': How Linda Ronstadt's hometown will honor her at 4-day festival
www.yahoo.com/entertainment/she-shining-light-linda-ronstadts-130100986.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
Ed Masley, Arizona Republic
August 24, 2023·6 min read
David Slutes was envisioning what a final HOCO Fest would even be when he decided it was time to finally address an oversight he feels has “always been this elephant in the room” at a festival launched in 2005 to celebrate the Tucson music scene.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/08/11/tucson-music-festival-2023-hoco-fest/70515716007/
“We’ve never had our greatest export to the musical world, which is Linda,” he says.
And by Linda, Slutes of course means Linda Ronstadt, one the most successful singers of her generation, who sold out arenas on the strength of hits as huge as "When Will I Be Loved" and "Blue Bayou" before using the leverage that success provided to follow her muse in a series of intriguing detours.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/07/11/linda-ronstadt-25-best-songs/7831725001/
The star was born and raised in Tucson, whose impact on her life and music recently inspired her to write a second memoir, “My Sonoran Desert.”
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/10/04/linda-ronstadt-2022-book/8141191001/
Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012, she no longer performs.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/03/09/linda-ronstadt-music-simple-dreams-memoir/408779002/
HOCO Homecoming will feature a daily Linda Ronstadt celebration
Once Slutes had decided that this Labor Day weekend would be the end for HOCO Fest, renamed HOCO Homecoming for the occasion, he recalls, “I said, ‘How can we do it without just having somebody sing some Linda songs.’ We know she can’t perform right now. How can we do it?”
What Slutes came up with was a daily celebration of the singer’s legacy exploring different parts of her career, from the ‘70s pop hits to the big band albums she recorded with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and the Mexican folk songs of “Canciones de mi Padre,” an album honoring that side of Ronstadt’s heritage.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/10/11/linda-ronstadt-canciones-de-mi-padre-album/8179675001/
The singer’s nephew, Pete Ronstadt, will handle the hit years, while the “Canciones” celebration will feature performances by one of Ronstadt’s go-to mariachi acts, Los Cenzontles.
A HOCO Film Festival is screening two great Ronstadt documentaries, “The Sound of My Voice” and “Linda and The Mockingbirds” as well as “The Pirates of Penzance,” a 1983 film of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera in which Ronstadt starred.
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/09/11/linda-ronstadt-sound-my-voice-bittersweet-fan-letter/2278267001/
They even rounded up some Ronstadt photos for the art show in the Hotel Congress lobby.
“I wanted to really just sort of do a nice survey of her career,” Slutes says.
'Canciones de mi Padre' will be re-released at HOCO Fest
Ronstadt says, “I’m very pleased that the Hotel Congress fully supports local music in Tucson, and I send my very best wishes for a successful HOCO Festival.”
When Ronstadt’s management team at Iconic Artists Group mentioned in passing that they planned on re-releasing “Canciones de mi Padre” at the end of September, Slutes said, ‘Well, does it have to be? Can’t we release it here at HOCO, in her hometown?’”
Iconic checked with Ronstadt, who agreed to change the date.
"Linda has been very vocal about her love of Tucson," Iconic president Jimmy Edwards says.
"We thought it would be fitting to release 'Canciones de mi Padre,' an album very close to her heart, in her hometown as the HOCO Festival is celebrating her and her music. This album reflects Linda’s family’s musical traditions — songs played in her Tucson home while growing up."
In addition to being created for sentimental reasons, Edwards adds, the album resonates on many levels. It’s critically acclaimed, has won several awards and was certified double-platinum.
Iconic is offering HOCO Fest attendees the first opportunity to purchase the vinyl reissue of the album.
“All these little pieces came together and it became the nice sort of underpinning to the whole festival,” Slutes says. "She couldn’t do it but this is the next best thing. You can really dig into the Tucson vibe and every day has this one little piece of Linda Ronstadt’s career that you could enjoy."
Mas Canciones: How Linda Ronstadt fought — and won — a battle to release the Mexican 'songs of her father'
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/10/11/linda-ronstadt-canciones-de-mi-padre-album/8179675001/
Linda Ronstadt celebration is one aspect of a festival with 60 acts
The Ronstadt celebration is just one aspect of a weekend-long extravaganza set to kick off Friday, Sept. 1, with 60 acts in four days meant to celebrate the rich diversity of Tucson music past and present.
“I think it’s nicely played,” Slutes says. “It’s not overwhelming the festival, but obviously it’s a rich, important piece of it. And it’s a daily thing.”
Slutes did his best to make the Ronstadt celebration feel like an organic part of the festival at large.
“Friday, because we have this great jazz room, we can do the big band thing, which is just ideal,” he says.
“We have Dusty Chaps at this big sort of country-rock thing on Saturday and we thought, ‘Well, that’s perfect. We’ll have that version of Linda, all those great ‘70s hits, with Pete Ronstadt, who has a ton of stories he can tell about Linda and all the songs.
"And then, of course, the Mendoza Orkestra is really the anchor of our plaza stage on Sunday with the great Latin stage and we thought ‘Canciones de mi Padre’ would be perfect.”
Different Drum: How a pop song written by one of the Monkees made Linda Ronstadt a star
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/09/15/different-drum-linda-ronstadt-top-hit-monkees-song/10361603002/
Ronstadt is 'emblematic of what Tucson can present to the world'
Ronstadt has occupied a special place in Tucson’s heart since her career exploded in the ‘70s.
Last year, the Tucson Music Hall was renamed in her honor.
“The thing about Tucson is we don’t have a lot of well-known musical experts,” Slutes says. “We have a lot of interesting undercards.
"But she’s a big star, so well-respected in the industry. She’s just a very Tucson-centric person. She’s always been proud of her roots. She doesn’t live here anymore, granted. But the Ronstadt family is a musical family going back 150 years.”
Her grandfather, Fred Ronstadt, created and led what is believed to be Tucson's first orchestra, the Club Filarmonico Tucsonense.
“This family is part of Tucson’s musical fabric and they still are,” Slutes says. “And Linda was the icing on the cake. It’s emblematic of what Tucson can present to the world. She is it. She’s our shining light."
Linda Ronstadt celebration at HOCO Fest 2023
These are the live performances celebrating Linda Ronstadt:
Friday: "The Songs of Linda Ronstadt" and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra featuring Katherine Byrnes and Jeff Haskell at the Century Room.
Saturday: "Linda Ronstadt Songs & Stories" featuring Liz Cerepanya and Pete Ronstadt at Congress Plaza.
Sunday: "Canciones de mi Padre" re-release party featuring Los Cenzontles at Congress Plaza.
Here are the screening times for the Ronstadt entries in the HOCO Film Fest:
Saturday: "Linda and the Mockingbirds" at 1 p.m.; "The Pirates of Penzance" at 3 p.m. at The Screening Room.
Sunday: "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice" at 2 p.m. at The Loft Cinema.
Details: HOCO Fest runs Friday-Monday, Sept. 1-4, in downtown Tucson. Full festival passes are $100. Day passes are $10-$25. Both are on sale at hocofest.com.
hocofest.com/
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @edmasley.
ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com
twitter.com/EdMasley
Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Linda Ronstadt's hometown celebrates her at Tucson music festival
www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/08/24/tucson-hoco-fest-2023-linda-ronstadt-celebration/70654705007/
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