Zenzizenzo plays this Saturday!

 

We will play a benefit show for one of the Brown Notes bassists. He was injured and needs money for medical bills. 

Sat., 11/7

Saint Charles Tavern

8 PM

Swigfoot

Sunbleached Bones

The Brown Notes

Zenzizenzo

Free show, donations accepted

Archive shot and musings.

 

A shot of ebolabuddha playing at a small theater on 6th St. in San Francisco, 2016. Hard to believe it's been ten years since! ebolabuddha started on a lark but ended up doing a lot of interesting shows. It was cool for me as a person older than the other guys in the band as I got their younger perspectives and was shown certain parts of the Metal scene in the Bay that would not have been otherwise available to me. The peak moment of that particular experience for me was when we played on KFJC, the best radio station in the world. My wife and I were talking recently about how in a sane world, this part of the year would actually be acknowledged as the ending of the year. It's been a fun "year" for me, these last four seasons in Tucson. Two albums have been recorded and I'll guess we'll see if they ever get properly released. Plenty of shows have been played too as recounted in this blog. Who knows what the future holds, but optimism will remain. Hey, it can't get as lame as it did in the early years of this weird decade. At least that's my hope! Zenzizenzo shows coming soon! 

Benson Highway Band-Slow Body Brewery Tucson, 10/24/26

 

We had a good turnout but playing last means that you're kind of doing clean up and bidding patrons goodbye. Still, cool that some good money was raised by the anti-data center organization. Hopefully it will be put to good use. The entities that want to build data centers are arrogant in that they seem to believe that they can just have tax payers foot the bill for their potentially hugely profitable ventures. There needs to be some pushback against the elitism that they flaunt. That's my take anyway. 

Below: a blurry shot of Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band and a clear shot of yours truly. Aw how cute. 

Benson Highway Band plays this Saturday at Slow Body Brewery!

 

Sat., 10/24/26

Slow Body Brewery

831 E 17th St.

Tucson 85719

7PM

Benson Highway Band

Mad Ugly

Miss Olivia and the Interlopers

$10-20 sliding scale, half the proceeds go to No Desert Data Center Coalition, half to performers

Seems like a worthy cause to me! 

Ovipositor first album up at Archive.org!

 

https://archive.org/details/11-ayler-i-licked-colins-anus

Yeah, the link name is funny and gross but that's how Colin wanted the track subtitled on the album so there you go. The other Ovipositor albums can be streamed at Amazon and Bandcamp but this one has been out of the digital sphere. That cover guy is Jason Batzer. He ended his life in 2013. This world was not kind to Jason and he struggled a lot. Cool font for the logo too. 

Zenzizenzo-Chicago Bar Tucson, 10/17/26

 

Chicago Bar of Tucson is under new management and they're doing lots of things in order to make money and get some new buzz going for themselves. I feel like this spot would be a great place for many different types of Tucson bands, and bands from other places. It's a nice sounding room and there is a ton of historical vibe residing within its walls. Chicago Bar is just cool, and I hope that they find much success. Zenzizenzo played a somewhat truncated set at this fine establishment and it was a fun time for that duration, even with a few tech difficulties. Especially cool was having Holy Nitemare singer Rita sing a version of Annihilate This Week with us. Rita rocks. I like to think that Zenzizenzo rocks too and hopefully those who hear us would agree. And if not, ah well. 

Zenzizenzo plays this Saturday night in Tucson!

 

Sat., 10/17/26

Chicago Bar

5945 E Speedway Blvd. 

Tucson, 85712

10PM

Zenzizenzo

Holy Nitemare

Dead Train Gone

Free

We will be doing yet another cover song with a special guest vocalist! 

Benson Highway Band Che's Lounge Tucson, 9/26/26

 

Just one shot and it's a still from an Instagram feed. I'm in there somewhere! It was a good time as we had some people dancing and such. People were too busy partying to take pictures, and that's OK because that's what Che's Lounge is all about. Good times at a cool spot! 

Some photos of Zenzizenzo shows 9/24-25/26!

 

Zenzizenzo brought our mostly instrumental sounds to Brick Box Brewery and Sky Bar in Tucson. We decided to add some cover to our sets so that they would vary a bit. Songs by Minor Threat and Black Flag at Brick Box, followed by Minutemen and Ornette Coleman at Sky Bar. Fun shows and I believe that we played well. Hooray for practicing! 

Below: various shots including a really nice backline drum kit at Sky Bar that belongs to Raven And The Acolytes drummer John. Thanks, John!

Zenzizenzo will play again in October!

Benson Highway Band plays tomorrow at Che's Lounge in Tucson!

 

This show kind of got cancelled and then revived. 

Sat., 9/26

Che's Lounge 

350 N 4th Ave.

Tucson 85705

9 PM

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Wayne Norfleet 

Schlog Cart

Bear Down Bear

Free! 

Two Zenzizenzo shows this week in Tucson!

 

Thu., 9/24

Brick Box Brewery

220 E Broadway Blvd

Tucson 85701

8 PM 

August Minotaur

Zenzizenzo

Free!

Fri., 9/26

Sky Bar

536 N 4th Ave.

Tucson 85705

Zenzizenzo 

Raven AndThe Acolytes

The Disconcertions

8PM

Free!

We're giving it away and have been working on some cool covers along with our own compositions. Maybe we'll see some heads at these shows! 

Benson Highway Band-Queen B Vinyl Cafe Cottonwood, AZ 9/16/26

 

Benson Highway Band had to slog through some serious storm-age on the way to Cottonwood, as well as on the way home from that sweet little Arizona town, but while we were at Queen B Vinyl Cafe the rain stopped and the vibes were high. A real cool time playing for some people and meeting the wonderful staff of a very cool establishment! 

Below: the backline at Queen B Vinyl Cafe, top notch gear.

Above: such a bunch of cuties! 

Below: live still from Instagram feed.

Below: vinyl mat on the wall at the barber shop located within Queen B Vinyl Cafe. Listen to Black Sabbath, always! 

A bunch of shows coming up next week! Like, a lot! 

Benson Highway Band play this Wednesday evening in Cottonwood AZ!

 

9/16/26

Queen B Vinyl Cafe

102 Pima St.

Cottonwood AZ 86326

Pentagram String Band

Swamp Rats

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

7:30 PM 

What will it be like to be the Special Guest? 

2020-21 demos of start up project.

 

https://archive.org/details/weecreatures1

Demos here, of a duo that formed in 2020 and practiced at my house until June of 2021. No shows played for obvious reasons. It was stranger times. After this project collapsed I quit playing drums until Summer of 2022. It was kind of a bummer, the whole thing. Graphic by me. 

Benson Highway Band-Che's Lounge Tucson, 8/29/26

 

This show almost didn't get completed. Raven and the Acolytes had to truncate their set that opened the night's musical portion at Che's Lounge. After about thirty five minutes they were told by the stage manager that a large storm cell was getting ready to pass right overhead and that all of the equipment was to be placed under tarp. Bummer too because they were sounding good and their drummer, John, told me that they had saved their most impactful material for the latter parts of the set. 

The tarp situation lasted about thirty five minutes before it was decided that the storm cell had passed without going over 4th Ave. and that the live music could continue. Benson Highway Band played last and we had a fun time. Nathan Smith sat in on tenor saxophone for a cover of Hungry Heart and that was cool. It was also nice to Evan back on guitar. Very grateful for having had some people digging on our sounds. 

Below are some photos of Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band, taken by Nathan. Thanks dude. 

Benson Highway Band plays this Saturday night at Che's Lounge!

 

Sat. 8/29/26

9PM

Che's Lounge

350 N 4th Ave.

Tucson 85705

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Alex Wilkerson & Them

Raven and the Acolytes

Free! 

Random artifact

 

Found this graphic the other day. It's labeled "Ear Spray Stroma". This marks it as being related to a release by Ear Spray that Andrew Palmer had considered releasing on his Stroma label. Recall Andrew being really stoked on the idea. He was really into doing CDr's with potato cut printing on their covers. I'm not sure if Stroma ever got off of the ground, and Andrew no longer resides on this plane so other details will remain mysterious. This collage was hand assembled by yours truly. I was very excited by using vinyl lettering to get real clarity within the textual aspect of the work. The comic book graphics are from a Hindu devotional comic book that I found next to a dumpster at a San Francisco music rehearsal studio complex, the one near Army St. And yes I'm calling it Army St. now. The image is also a comment upon the treatment that Ear Spray generally got from the Brahmins of the Bay Area Noise scene so often. Take that, Brahmins! 

Benson Highway Band Hotel Congress Plaza Tucson, 8/21/26

 

Sean Whalen (pictured above) & the Benson Highway Band had to configure as a trio to play this show. That was fine, we've done it that way many times and I like the trio format for band playing. It was a good time despite the whole thing being threatened by a big monsoon storm that passed through pretty much all of Tucson on the evening of 8/21/26. We were the opening act and as such assembled a very short and concise set. In total we only played for about twenty four minutes! It's like doing a Noise or Grindcore set! 

Benson Highway Band will play next Saturday. Sean please send me the flyer. 

Below: Lucas and I laughing at some kind of absurdity. 

Above: Benson Highway Band live shot by Tim P. Thanks Tim! 

Benson Highway Band plays this Friday evening in Tucson!

 

Fri., 8/21

Hotel Congress Plaza

311 E. Congress St.

Tucson 85701

6:30 PM

Eric Underwood Band

Sophia Rankin & the Sound

PJ Bidwell Band

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Free! 

Archive photo and other stuff.

 

Ann O'Rouke and me getting noisy at NorCal Noisefest 2015 or '16. I've written at length about Ann and needn't belabor the point of how interesting I found her to be during the years in which we ran together. I found this shot a few weeks ago and had some fond memories come rushing back. Hopefully Ann is doing well. The emails from Grux about Noise shows in The Bay still arrive at my inbox and I never see Ann listed. Wonder what she's up to these days. As for me this summer's musical portion was spent on a couple of different recording projects by a couple of different bands. These processes went well generally with perhaps a couple of missteps occurring but those are to be expected. I am older musician now, firmly, which is quite an interesting circumstance. It seems best within it to just play my parts, keep quiet generally and accept any type of scenario with gratitude. Older people end up just kind of disappearing for the most part, and that's fine because it's natural. Still it's hoped that my ability to perform actual music will continue for a while longer. That sentiment can't be helped at this point: playing music is still a kick and thrill for this person. Along with the end results from those recording projects the final third of 2026 and into 2027 will see me getting out and playing in public which feels cool and great. As stated: muchas gracias especially to the members of the Benson Highway Band and Zenzizenzo. And hi, Ann, if you're reading this. 

Stills and shots from a couple of shows over the last weekend.

 

Real good times were had playing with Zenzizenzo and Benson Highway Band on 7/31 and 8/1 respectively. It's always cool to play to some kind of audience and it was the case that there were people at both of these shows, to enough of an extent. It seemed as though both groups played well. No bummers on my end anyway. The stills are screenshots from Instagram feeds. Things come and go so quickly on that platform and really the only way to achieve long term capture of so much of the information presented therein is by screenshot. Kinda sucky but work with what you've got. I'm including a few shots of the green room of The Dirty Drummer, a fantastic and welcoming place as regards musicians. What an honor to play there! I'm no less stoked on playing the Music Box Lounge, that spot is rad and cozy and hassle free. Benson Highway Band will play Tucson later this month, Zenzizenzo in September. Much gratitude to all of mis compadres actual. 

Playing some shows this weekend!

 

Fri. 7/31

Music Box Lounge

6951 E 22nd St.

Tucson 85710

9PM

Zenzizenzo

Room Tree (Phoenix)

Language Of Thieves

Free!

Sat. 8/1

The Dirty Drummer

2303 N 44th St.

Phoenix 85008

8PM

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Jayden Secor

$

I look forward to playing out in public again! 

More Cloud Shepherd music up at Archive.org!

 

A recording of Cloud Shepherd playing at the main library in Alameda, CA 2012. This show was part of a series called "Shh...Music", curated buy Das, the leader of Big City Orchestra. I recall having a great time and getting pretty tranced out. There were large curtains all over the building that shivered in the darkened space. Good times! 

https://archive.org/details/alameda-pub.-lib

Some shots of Benson Highway Band at Che's Lounge Tucson, 6/27/26!

 

A great time was had. We were stoked to play with some great touring groups! 

Benson Highway Band plays this Saturday at Che's Lounge!

 

This flyer says 7PM but the show actually starts at 9PM. 

6/27/26

Che's Lounge

350 N 4th Ave.

Tucson 85705

Family Worship Center 

Smoker Dad

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Free!