Recommended CDs

Marty Kool has spent a lifetime in love with music. From the rockabilly and R&B of the 50s, to the blues music he now promotes and plays on the radio. "It all started when my Uncle Abram bought me a crystal set as a child. Late at night on that set I could pick up stations as far away as Memphis and Nashville. All that rhythm & blues and rockabilly drew me in; went right to my soul." Forty five years of collecting records and studying the history of music has led to a career in music stores, radio and music promotion with a side-step into blues photography.

Marty just finished up sixteen years at Hear's Music, one of the leading independent CD stores in the southwest. "They called me the face of the place", says Marty. While his forte is really the blues, he's developed a wide knowledge in many other styles of music. World music, jazz, country, folk and bluegrass have found their way into his head and heart. While at Hear's music fans came from all over southern Arizona to pick his brain about the music they love. He knows where to find the hard to find. At Hear's he was also instrumental in establishing one of the largest selections of local music CDs in town. "Tucson and southern Arizona has an incredible wealth of talent that needs to be shared. The local musicians need a supportive outlet to sell their music," he says.

But, it all comes back to the blues. "All this stuff comes from the blues. It's the feeling, the emotion, the sadness and joy that touches all of us that creates the music we love, whatever the style", he says. The blues has drawn him to KXCI radio where he does a Saturday evening radio show. He's been on KXCI for over twenty years, giving up his Saturday to share the music he cares so deeply about. "You can't go wrong with the blues. We all get them. Your job, traffic, money, relationships; we all get the blues. The music takes away the darkness and reveals the light. It could bring the world together," Marty says.

Check out CDs from Tucson's music scene

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Directions to the 17th Street Market

From Broadway go South onto Euclid, make your first right turn onto 18th Street, at the stop sign make a right, then another right onto 17th Street. The market is at 810 East 17th Street on the right.

From I 10 get off at 22nd street, go east, make a left onto 4th avenue, over railroad tracks into the Armory Park Warehouse District, the market is on the right.

No mosquitoes and no humidity. It is a very easy place to live put car dependent and bikable if you live in Central Tucson. There is a bus system that's widely run but not so widely used. Great year round hiking. If you are from a little town it will seem big. If you are from a big city it will feel a bit suburban and small. The University of Arizona is well laid out and walkable.

The geography is Desert surrounded by mountains. Tucson is in the valley surrounded by mountains on three sides.

The climate is very much desert, so temperature swings about 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit between night and day. Warm winters (80 in the daytime in November, hot summers (70's at night, 100 in the daytime), some humidity only two months a year during the Monsoon Season (July and August) when sunsets are all shades of red and pink, incredible rainbows after a Monsoon, and the desert has incredible wildflowers when in bloom.

Jet Blue flies direct to Tucson from New York, Continental flies Direct from Newark, United flies direct from Washington DC. Amtrack does exist