Patricia Vonne

05/12/12 @ Fiesta Gardens
Pachanga Fest: Ana Tijoux (and more)
Gunshots and a military drum beat set the tone on the title track of La Bala (The Bullet), the sophomore salvo from French-Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux. The album fits into a rich tradition of Chilean protest music that includes Victor Jara, the Nueva Canción martyr murdered by the same Pinochet regime that sent Tijoux’s parents to exile in France.

Last year, while the Arab Spring bloomed and protesters occupied Wall Street and beyond, students took to the streets of Chile. “La Bala,” delivered in Tijoux’s precise and poetic rhymes, tells of a young demonstrator killed by police.

“Culture is a reflection of the country and what is happening in society,” Tijoux declares. “As a citizen, as a mother, as a Chilean, as a South American woman, I was talking about education and about the protests with my kid, with my mother, with my friends and with other musicians. To make a song about it was very natural. It was almost a necessity.

“The fact that the young students in Chile are protesting for a free and good education is beautiful. It’s kids talking about what they want and their future. There is nothing more beautiful than that. It’s a fight about life and about hope and dreams. We are free to dream and to want another kind of world.”

Those dreams are present in the softer moments of La Bala. The boom-bap of golden era hip-hop is still present, but so too are lush string arrangements and the hushed whisper of Tijoux’s smoky singing. It’s easy to appreciate whether or not la letra is lost in translation.

“It’s about music first of all, and energy. It’s not strange that people listen to me without understanding. All the world listens to North American music without understanding either.”

– Thomas Fawcett

MORE SATURDAY PACHANGA

Chico Trujillo
Hierba stage, 9pm
Chico Trujillo formed in Chile more than a dozen years ago, paying homage to cumbia’s golden age with a rumbling big band sound and cheeky cover art harkening back to the mid-20th century. A spin-off of Chilean ska band La Floripondio, Chico Trujillo isn’t one to play it straight either. Delivered live con gusto, “Ahora Quien” reveals a punk rock love affair, while “La Escoba” nearly rides off the rails with the swirling debauchery of an Irish drinking anthem. – T.F.

La Santa Cecilia
Patio stage, 8pm
Lila Downs, SXSW 2012 “La Reyna del Inframundo” (Queen of the Underworld), won’t be swigging tequila at Pachanga, but La Santa Cecilia might. Limon y sal or no, La Marisoul heads up her sixpiece Los Angelinos in similar fashion – at the hips and by the throat. Over a series of handmade EPs increasingly Afro-Pan-American, her bilingual folk-pop danceteria huffs cumbia, bossa nova, and ultimately grassroots Hispanica. Shot glass worthy. – Raoul Hernandez

Forro in the Dark
Hierba stage, 5:10pm
Born from a one-off birthday jam for bandleader and zabumba drummer Mauro Refosco, Forro in the Dark has transformed into a bona fide scion of the loping dance music of rural northeastern Brazil. The quartet of Brazilian ex-pats has been filling the dance floors of New York nightclubs since 2002 and earned a co-sign from David Byrne, who helped spark debut Bonfires of São João.– T.F.

Niños Rock Pachanga
Electro Cumbia stage, 1-5pm
Herding los más pequeños to Pachanga Fest? Say que paso? to Niños Rock Pachanga, the kids area where the next generation can rock out at their own personal photo session, join the Piñata Party, win on a cupcake walk, and make clay tamales, masks, or a floral halo. Particularly noteworthy are the music workshops with David Garza (songwriting), Bobby Garza (keyboards), Son Armado (percussion). Kids under 12 get in free with a paid adult. – Margaret Moser

Local Latinaires
by Thomas Fawcett & Raoul Hernandez

Los Lonely Boys
Pavilion stage, 9:15pm
Santanista siblings cook up Rockpango.

Girl in a Coma
Pavilion stage, 7:45pm
San Antonio-bred, Morrissey-branded, Joan Jett-endorsed.

Brownout
Pavilion stage, 6:15pm
Grupo Fantasma extract whose new disc Oozy explores lowrider soul.

David Garza
Patio stage, 6:10pm
Unoffical Pachanga Fest emcee, duet king, and song/strum dervish.

Los Bandidos Cosmicos
Electro Cumbia stage, 5:45pm
DJ Manny and Afrofreque’s Claude McCan team for spacey dancehall jams.

Alejandro Escovedo
Pavilion stage, 4:45pm
June’s Big Station orbits third and most Bowie-esque collaboration with Space Oddity producer Tony Visconti.

Maneja Beto
Patio stage, 4:20pm
“Indie en Español” only because synth-wave-hard-rock-cumbia ain’t too catchy.

Ruben Ramos & the Mexican Revolution
Pavilion stage, 3:15pm
Grammy-winning Tejano titan “El Gato Negro” has led the Mexican Revolution since 1969.

Patricia Vonne
Pavilion stage, 2pm
When not in brother Robert Rodriguez’s films, Vonne’s Tejano twang remains well Worth It.

02/23/11 @ Antone's
Women's Show for Clifford
Lou Ann Barton and Kathy Valentine’s full-speed-ahead BlueBonnets top a sweetheart bill that includes the smokin’ Eve Monsees, caliente Patricia Vonne, and rockin’ Rosie Flores, plus Cindy Cashdollar and many more. No birthday, no anniversary, just an excuse to head Downtown midweek for a little reminder of why we’re called the live music capital of the world.

12/21/10 @ Palmer Events Center
Ladies' Night at Armadillo Christmas Bazaar
Still time to browse the ’Dillo bazaar in its new location while taking in a charming local array of music, like Ray Wylie Hubbard (Sunday) and Hot Club of Cowtown (Thursday, Dec. 23). Austin’s jingle belles celebrate all day Tuesday with Patricia Vonne’s Latina rock (noon-2:30pm), Suzanna Choffel’s soulful pop (3:30-6pm), and the bluesy combo of pianist Marcia Ball and guitarist Ruthie Foster (8-11pm). Having them all in one place is a gift indeed. www.armadillobazaar.com.

12/10/10 @ Continental Club
Doyle Bramhall, Patricia Vonne
Texas bluesman follows Austin’s rock & roll sirena.

07/29/10 @ Antone's
For Clifford
Antone’s has reached out to the women of blues since it opened its doors in 1975, cultivating its own list of names over the years, so this night of femmesational talent is star-studded indeed. Antone’s queens Marcia Ball and Angela Strehli headline a royal roster that includes Carolyn Wonderland, Patricia Vonne, Toni Price, Teal Collins, Shelley King, Cindy Cashdollar, Sarah Brown, Livvy Bennett, and Kathy Valentine’s BlueBonnets. Need we say Clifford is beaming?

06/16/07 @ Republic Square Park
Fifth Annual Keep Austin Weird 5K and Music Fest
Kid bands, 5K, Patricia Vonne, Alejandro Escovedo, and more.

09/08/06 @ The Backyard at Bee Cave
Chris Isaak
Actor, crooner ... the next Regis? Isaak gets the Best of us with opener Patricia Vonne.

05/26/06 @ Threadgill's World HQ
Mexican-American Center Fundraiser
With Myrna Cabello, Mary Welch & Los Curanderos, Patricia Vonne, and Rosie Flores.

07/15/05 @ Antone's
Del Castillo/Chicago Blues
The monthlong celebration of something old, something new, some things borrowed, and all things blue will go off the Scoville scale this weekend when Patricia Vonne (Guitars and Castanets) and her brother, Robert Rodriguez, fire it up with Del Castillo’s explosive Latino rock on Friday. Saturday evening opens early, 7pm, as Chicago meets Canada and Colorado with blues elders Pinetop Perkins, Willie “Big Eye” Smith, and Calvin Jones gathering with younger guitar-slingers Gary Clark Jr. and Sue Foley; Canvas, Johnny Goudie, and Exile to Napes rock the weekend to a close, 10pm.

02/15/05 @ Threadgill's World HQ
'Austin Chronicle' Songwriter's Night
Neil Kaiser & Co. are gathering steam, this time with Patricia Vonne in the spotlight.

01/14/05 @
Patricia Vonne
Dance to the beats of a local Latina legend.

08/20/04 @
Patricia Vonne
This Latina beauty croons bilingual with dance moves to match.

Off the Record (Music Column February 18, 2011)
BY AUSTIN POWELL
Music News

After a Fashion (March 3, 2006)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Stephen acknowledges how recherché it would be for him to review his own show and then proceeds to do so

After a Fashion (January 6, 2006)
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Stephen lays out the good, the bad, and the fugly of 2005

Naked (Music Story September 23, 2005)
BY SPIKE GILLESPIE
Baring all (or most) for Jon Dee Graham

'The Border Radio Show': Blast From the Past (Arts Story September 16, 2005)
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In The Border Radio Show, a stellar cast of Lone Star artists revive the days when radio towers south of the Rio Grande filled the airwaves with revival meetings, wild product pitches, and all kinds of music.

After a Fashion (March 18, 2005)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Our Style Avatar and yours, SMM is the man about town this week. See where he's been seen and with whom!

After a Fashion (March 18, 2005)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Austin's friendly neighborhood (not to mention cuddly) Style Avatar, Stephen Moser makes the scene as the scenesters take over Austin! Be sure to catch AAF in each of our SXSW dailies!

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BY RAOUL HERNANDEZ
The 2004/05 Austin Music Awards

Page Two (February 25, 2005)
BY LOUIS BLACK
It has never been a secret that the magic ingredient that makes SXSW work is Austin

TCB (Music Column August 20, 2004)
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Another Saturday night at the bookstore, and some really awful TV

After a Fashion (March 19, 2004)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Austin style avatar Stephen puts his most certainly Queer Eye on a local band, gives them an up-do for the festival, and gets away with it… Plus, where's he going tomorrow and upon whom did he spy at the Mark Mothersbaugh art show?

TCB (Music Column December 26, 2003)
BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
What a sampling of the Austin music scene wants for Christmas.

After a Fashion (December 12, 2003)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Oh, Stephen! Always a bridesmaid, never a bride! Fret not, honey, your day will come!

After a Fashion (October 10, 2003)
BY STEPHEN MACMILLAN MOSER
Blow by blow details of Stephen's night out, including an up-to-the-minute sunglasses-acquired count. Do not miss it!

Like Wildfire (Food Story August 22, 2003)
BY ROBB WALSH
Welcome to the 13th Annual 'Austin Chronicle' Hot Sauce Festival