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.