Alex Arizpe Benefit

Comments (0) By Chris Gray Wednesday, May 21 2008

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Saturday, May 24, at the Meridian, 1503 Chartres, 713-225-1717.

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Benefits are by nature bittersweet occasions, but the best ones brim with an endorphin-arousing mixture of music and fellowship that blots out — temporarily, at least — whatever dire circumstances made them necessary in the first place. That ought to be the case Saturday, when veterans of Houston's punk/hardcore trenches reconvene to aid one of their own: Alex Arizpe, alumnus of Badger, The Tie That Binds, Sore Loser, Beast and most recently the Business Machines, the hard-rocking Houstonians Arizpe accompanied to Los Angeles in 2003. The drummer was recently diagnosed with cancer and is now undergoing costly chemotherapy, so his buddy Al Shire, who now runs Austin's Wide Eyed Booking, organized this show and another the night before at Austin's Red 7. Headlining in Houston is 30FootFall, who refuse to let widely varying zip codes prevent them from materializing when needed, as well as reunion sets by The Tie That Binds (minus Arizpe, for obvious reasons) and Lake Jackson pre-emo trio Pretty Boys. If you missed them at iFest, psychedelic AOR-smiths Spain Colored Orange will provide another preview of still-unreleased second album Sneaky Like a Villain, while Shire's LJ All-Stars and local ska-thrashers Molotov Compromise round out the bill. Tickets are $10 either in advance or at the door.