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! 

<iframe src="https://archive.org/embed/alameda-pub.-lib" width="500" height="30" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

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.