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! 

A couple of shots of Zenzizenzo at Splinter Collective Tucson!

 

Many thanks to Steev Hise for taking and sharing these shots! 

Zenzizenzo-Splinter Collective Tucson, 6/17/26

 

After plowing through a Sonoran monsoon deluge to get to Splinter Collective Zenzizenzo managed to lump our gear into the building and set up to play. It was hoped that this show would take place at Splinter's outside stage, but the rain made it necessary to play indoors. We hit for a bit over forty minutes and things felt good and loose. Maybe a few gaffs here and there but that's to be expected. Many thanks to Steev and the Splinter Collective staff for hosting a really fun evening of music and sound! Zenzizenzo hopes to record soon and will play out in late July. 

I'm not sure any photos were taken so this shot of our gear will have to suffice. 

Zenzizenzo play this Wednesday in Tucson!

 

Wed., 6/17/26

Splinter Collective

901 N 13th Ave.

Tucson 85705

7 PM

Truthsayer

Zenzizenzo

Romo Lampkin

Igloo Martian

CATyklysm

$-NOTAFLOF

Zenzizenzo is excited to play this show! 

Zenzizenzo-Thee 23 Skidoo, Miami AZ 6/6/26

 

Definitely a good time in Miami AZ at the fabulous 23 Skidoo. Really interesting to meet and talk with Paul Sears, the drummer for the Muffins who also played with Snakefinger and tons of other Prog/Art bands. Paul started his musical quest in 1971 and continues to be creative. Totally fascinating dude for sure. Zenzizeno had put a lot of time in practicing with a metronome before this show in an attempt to slow our tempos down in the live setting. For the most part that paid off I think. We have another show coming up really soon!

Below: photo of a photo of Zenzizenzo at Thee 23 Skidoo. 

Zenzizenzo plays this Saturday in Miami AZ!

 

Saturday 6/6/26

Thee 23 Skidoo

505 Sullivan

Miami AZ 85539

7:30 PM

Jessie Demaree

Zenzizenzo

Instagon

Free! 

Zenzizenzo loves Miami AZ! 

Infinite Plastic Internal music up at Archive.org!

 

 

https://archive.org/details/spider-lightning-infinite-plastic-internal

Some pure electronics Noise by Infinite Plastic Internal from the later 2010's.

Zenzizenzo-On The Rocks, Tucson 5/9/26

 

A last minute fill in gig gone well. No complaints on my end!

Zenzizenzo plays this Saturday in Tucson!

 

Sat., 5/9/26

On the Rocks

7930 E Speedway

Tucson 85710

7PM

Zenzizenzo plays first a bit after 7. Also on the bill are Wrought Iron, Soul of the Sun, and Daytrails. 

Yeehaw! 

Benson Highway Band, Slow Body Beer Tucson 5/1/26

 

The apparent color coordination was not by design. Was the music reflective of this subconscious group choice in apparel? Perhaps. 

Photo by Chanelle Flori.

Benson Highway Band plays this Friday in Tucson!

 

Friday, 5/1

Slow Body Beer

31 E 17thSt.

Tucson 85719

7PM

Chick Blundy & the Tryin' Times

Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band

Free! 

This will be our last show for a while.

Benson Highway Band at Music Box Lounge in Tucson!

 

 

The mural on the side of their building though! Dope! Sean Whalen & the Benson Highway Band had a real fine time playing at the Music Box Lounge last night! New guitar player Evan fits right in. Our energy may have been a bit manic, but some people cheered and we are really grateful for that. Tons of fun on the East Side!

Below: still from an Instagram reel. Evan and Mark getting down on Rust Belt Rich, shot by Zaida. 

Below: Benson Highway Band rocking out mid set.

 

Benson Highway Band is going to be playing again real soon.

Benson Highway Band plays this Friday night in Tucson!

 

Free show at The Music Box Lounge! 

6951 E 22nd St.

7PM

Bear Down Bear

Alex Wilkerson & Them

Sean Whalen & The Benson Highway Band

Benson Highway Band will be debuted with our new guitar player Evan.

Zenzizenzo live audio up at Archive.org!

 

 

https://archive.org/details/zenzizenzo-4-17-26-miami-az-20260418-000628

 Submitted for some kind of audience somewhere.

Zenzizenzo-Miami AZ, 4/17/26

 

It seems safe to state that Zenzizenzo had a great time playing at Miami Loco Fest in Miami last Friday evening. It's always fun to drive over to that area from Tucson. The saguaro are noticeably older along the highway and Miami is kind of freak haven, at least it is in its small downtown area. I was happy to see that the twin towns are recovering from last year's terrible flood which destroyed a ton of property. They've dug out and just kept going. Zenzizenzo got to play our first gig as a Rock-based band, and we play we did, about forty minutes of electric guitar/drums instrumental sounds. I play from charts that Nathan prints out. Don't know how he plays all of the changes from memory, but he does, and pretty much without flaw. There weren't tons of people out there on Friday evening, but some people expressed appreciation for our music and we gave away a lot of stickers. After we played we hung around and watched the other bands of the evening at various Miami Loco Fest performance spots. Super stoked to have participated. Many thanks to Lob for hooking it up!

Below: drums and pedals. I put a hand painted bass drum resonator head, painted by visual artist Ilan Laks in 1999, onto my bass drum. 

Above: Nathan tuning up.

Below: Zenzizenzo dudes post set serious. Good thing we didn't get pulled over, Nathan's MDC shirt could have been a problem.

 It's our hope to get some shows happening in Tucson at some point in the near future.

Zenzizenzo plays this Friday evening in Miami, AZQ

 

We are one of the acts playing the 2026 Miami Loco Art & Music Festival this Friday, 4/17! Zenzizenzo will play at the Sullivan Street Stage at 6:30 PM sharp! Our first show in two years and our presentation will be very different. Looking forward to debuting our next sound evolution for some folks in Miami!

A couple of Shards tracks up at Archive.org!

 

https://archive.org/details/02-the-one-drop

My drumming is kind of wonky at times, but George's guitar is fire and this duo project was good fun and kind of creative I think. Fun times at the end of a certain cycle.

Cosmists piece from 2011 up at Archive.org!

 

https://archive.org/details/awash-in-mercury

One track from a Bandcamp release. I'm not sure that anyone besides me ever listened to this track, recorded fifteen years ago in the garage of an Oakland apartment building. I thought that we were making the music of "the future" but the future wasn't that interested. 

A couple stills of Jazzner Dumpster Fire at Golden Saguaro!

 

 

A fun, weird show. We played in the middle slot. I basically had one ring modulator working so I just used it for the entire set. Cullen played percussion and an electric drill. Films were made by us, too. Thanks to Tea Wizard for coming to the show and taking these shorts that were posted on Instagram. More good times in Tucson!