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notes: -This one is pretty special performance associated with the annual Tucson All Souls Procession Weekend, which started about 20 years ago by 1 woman grieving for a recent lost loved one and has merged with the custom in Mexico (which influences Tucson culture) into an annual event that attracts 10,000's of people from all over the world expressing the grief and memories of lost loved ones culminating in a Sunday evening parade through parts of downtown to a Grand Finale area where an urn filled with paper offerings of messages to departed loved ones is burned in an event analagous to a small slice of Burning Man. Tucson has a strong art community and it seeems almost everyone gets involved in this event now in incredibly creative ways. This year that included Steve,who has been associated with the local Tucson art scene for decades, as he lives in the desert outside of town. Steve was commissioned to do the background music for the Grand Finale on Sunday night, and although that was not a live performance by him, the night before, Saturday, right next door to the Grand Finale grounds at MSA Annex, Steve gave this one off performance of the pieces he wrote for the All Souls Procession this year! The theme for his pieces are for the lost lives of all the animals souls that the wall Trump is having built on the border is going to kill. Very somber indeed - voices that have no voice in the political decisions humans make. Many animals, just like the local native tribes, have freely crossed the border as part of their normal everyday routine in order to help themselves survive for time immemorial. Now many resources will be cut off from them. In the desert, where resources are few and far between, this will lead to countless deaths of local fauna. Add them to the list of forrgotten ones, not to be forgotten during the Procession. -as for the show, it was amazing!!! I have seen Steve likely 15-20 times and they have all been great shows and some have really stood out - this one is 1 of the 3 best. The first 2 tracks are mellow pieces and I think they are older pieces as they both sound quite familiar. The last 6 tracks are definitely new to these ears and are the pieces for the Procession. Tracks 3 & 4 really get going and loud and strong and eerie at times in contrast to the first 2 tracks. Track 5 Steve gets the didj out for and incorporates it into the music. Tracks 6 & 7 are my 2 favorites personally - just blow away classic Steve I could listen to all night long with a big grin on my face! Track 8 returns us to a more mellow space like the first 2 tracks. Steve did not speak at all. -the MSA Annex is an outdoor performance space that is part of an ultra modern hipster mini mall built out of metal box storage units that have been converted artistically into small shops and restaurants and bars on the West side of downtown in an area that had been neglected for decades. Amazing work, real chill vibe. Great food & drink. Basically the performance space is a stage in a lot connected to the mall. They set it up with quad sound: speakers behind the audience too. Incredible light show during set from local artist Noctivision. I'd say there were 100 or so people there for the performance.

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