Minus the Bear
• When: 8 p.m. show, Oct 23.
• Where: Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
•Presented by: Stateside Presents.
•Tickets: $15 advance, $17 day of show at the Rialto box office and online at rialtotheatre.com
• The gist: Minus the Bear, just off an appearance at Lollapalooza Weekend in Chicago, stops in Tucson touring behind its latest release, "Omni." The album is possibly named for the cheesy 1980s Suzuki Omnichord, a combination drum machine and harp synthesizer that pops up in the group's latest video. The Seattle band's synthy pop sound could let it pass for British.
• Online: minusthebear.com
Ghostland Observatory
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• When: 8 p.m. Nov. 3.
• Where: Rialto Theatre.
• Tickets: $25 advance, $27 day of show.
• The gist: It's a dance, says the Rialto pitch for this show by the Austin duo. It's not a band, they say, "but an agreement between two friends to create something that not only heals their beat-driven hearts, but pleases their rock 'n' roll souls." We'll agree with the "not a band" part. It's just two guys with synthesizers and the occasional guitar and real drums building a groove. Sometimes it sounds like three or four guys with synthesizers, one of them a dancing front man with a Jack White-like voice. The current tour promises a Freddy Mercury theme, replete with lasers and capes.
• Online: www.ghostlandobservatory.net
Barenaked Ladies for Boys & Girls Clubs
• When: Oct. 29.
• Where: Tucson Convention Center.
• Presented by: Boy & Girls Clubs of Tucson.
• Tickets: $100, (50 percent tax-deductible) includes concert, parking and dinner.
• The gist: The light-hearted Canadian alt rock band - "If I Had $1,000,000" and "One Week" - will headline a fundraiser to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson. The organization is promoting the show as a way to avoid closing one of its six clubhouses in 2011.
• Online: www.thepartytucson.com
Joanna Newsom
• When: Nov. 6.
• Where: Rialto Theatre.
• Tickets: $30 to $35 reserved floor seating; $26 balcony. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday online and at noon at the Rialto box office and by phone.
• The gist: Newsom is a 28-year-old California singer-songwriter harpist with a quirky - some may say downright weird, jarring or scary - voice. Whatever the case, Newsom has chops. She's also a classically trained pianist. The Tucson show kicks off her U.S. tour.
• Online: rialtotheatre.com
