2nd Saturdays at the Fox

2nd Saturdays at the Fox ~ Music & Movies
Fox Tucson Theatre
January 14, 2023
Music – 7pm ~Loren Dircks
Movie – 8pm ~King Creole

17 W. Congress
Tucson, Az. 85701
Box Office – 520-547-3040

Ticket Prices range from $10-$12.50
Ticket Link – https://foxtucson.com/event/king-creole/

Have you been to Second Saturdays downtown recently? We love everything that these events bring to the neighborhood and starting next month, the Fox is getting in on the action with our Music and Movies series. Every month we’ll be pairing one-of-a-kind performances by local music artists with a music themed film. The entire event is only $12.50 for adults and $10 for children.

Loren Dircks knows how to keep listeners guessing. The singer-songwriter and wild-guitar tamer, who for years led Gila Bend, recently released a new solo CD on his own imprint, Oranguitwang. And the first two tracks on the album are enough to make longtime G-Bend fans wonder, if only briefly, whether Dircks has put aside twangin’ blues metal.

For sure, Dircks is exploring other music influences—the album couldn’t be more interesting, and at times, it approaches genius.

The opener, “More Than Life Itself,” is a quasi-Tin Pan Alley love song complete with banjo and a Bacharach-style French horn. “You Run Like a Wild Horse,” the second number, flirts with hip-hop rhythms and a wheedling Dr. Dre synthesizer motif.

Elsewhere is alt-country-tinged rock (“Still Called Today”), redneck R&B (“Stick With Me Girl”) and the gorgeous “I Am,” which balances guitar shredding with an engaging cow-pop melody. Through it all, Dircks plays almost every instrument, except for drums on a few tracks, some pedal steel and that French horn.

The album’s centerpiece is “Guitar Hero Gone,” an uproarious condemnation of the now-ubiquitous video game. Dircks indignantly rails against the crass and empty commercialism—of which that “virtual” game is a symptom—that has “killed the magic” of rock ‘n’ roll. The song gallops along at a snarling clip that brings to mind Blue Öyster Cult playing an old-time tent revival. When he sings that “spring-loaded button never had the feel / of hard wood, strings and steel,” you can’t help but proclaim, “Amen, Brother Loren!”

King Creole (1958)

Nineteen-year-old high school student Danny Fisher (Elvis Presley) works before and after school in order to support his father (Dean Jagger) and sister Mimi (Jan Shepard). After Danny’s mother died, his grieving father lost his job as a pharmacist, and moved his impoverished family to the French Quarter in New Orleans. At work one morning, Danny rescues an older woman, named Ronnie (Carolyn Jones), from her abusive date. After a taxi ride to Danny’s high school, she kisses him. Danny responds to some schoolmates’ teasing by kissing Ronnie back and then punching one of them in the face. That earns him a trip to the principal’s office. Miss Pearson (Helene Hatch), his teacher, tells Danny that he will not graduate. Principal Mr. Evans (Raymond Bailey) is sympathetic, but powerless to help, so Danny decides to drop out of school.