Online Feature

Beat the Heat with
Some Cool Tunes

by Don Garcia

Living through a hot August day in Albuquerque is much like getting a drink of water from your grandma’s garden hose, where the hose has been laying for weeks in the burning sun, with who-knows-what crawling around inside it. It just ain’t cool. Besides, why would you drink from a hose when she has a chilled six-pack sitting in the fridge waiting to be popped? It makes no sense. It’s like staying home instead of checking out local talent.

Allow me to offer a refreshing solution to beat the New Mexican August heat: Tijerina Band, as in Todd Tijerina. It seems like this place is always being portrayed as a dried-up desert with dead cow skulls and blowing tumbleweeds along Route 66, with old people arranging their rocks to look like grass. Yeah well, looks like one tumbleweed blowing from Chicago happen to stay, bringing in one huge storm of serious drenching blues, like the kind only seen in the Windy City but this time you don’t have to worry about messing up your styling do.

Front man and lead guitarist Todd Tijerina brings the influencing sounds of Robben Ford, Albert King and T-Bone Walker to his original grooving, driving rocking blues sound. Bassist and back-up vocalist Phil Petty also adds a soulful sound to the very stylish group. Bjorn Hamre, one of the slammin’-est drummers this side of the Rio Grande River, provides the right grooving beat to conjure a desire to dance to this trio’s original music. You can find this tall drink of blues water at the St. Clair Winery & Bistro in Old Town on August 9th and 31st. A little cupid-head’s up, you might want to invite that special someone to this watering hole. It’s cool and makes you look like you know your smack.

Speaking of smack, Atomic Cantina at 315 Gold Ave SW is one hell of a jeweled watering hole. They’re like the CBCG or the Viper Room of Albuquerque, except with green chile and chipotle sauce. For another smack-daddy trio but with the vibes of rockabilly, check out the Long Gone Trio every Thursday night at the Atomic. These guys really know their stuff, not to mention a good reason to grease your head even if you have a buzz cut.

If you need more of the 4-1-1 on these tumbleweed trios, check out the web to get a taste of their flavor and hear Tijerina’s latest CD, “Now,” or Long Gone Trio’s “Wildcat Juice.”