When he's not voting for public art or voting against a recommendation to make horse-tripping illegal, Claude Mattox likes to jam out with his classic rock band, the Screamin' Javelinas.
The Phoenix City Councilman has been playing at city and charity events for the last few years, and his band is scheduled to perform at the city's light rail opening party this coming Saturday afternoon from 12:30 to 2:30 at the Montebello and 19th Avenue station, near Christown Spectrum Mall.
Mattox, the vice president of a local real estate company, has represented the city's west side as a councilman since 2000. According to his band's MySpace account, linked above, he sings and plays guitar, bass, percussion and harmonica.
In 2004, Mattox wrote a song for the inaugural P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon. But as cool as it is for a city councilman to spend his off time jamming, we have to give him some grief:
In an article for a local runners Web site, Mattox is quoted as saying that he thinks the namesake animal of his band, the javelina, is a rodent. As any smart-alecky Sonoran desert denizen knows, the javelina is actually neither a pig nor a rodent.
Like a Renaissance man who can help run a city, a business and a rock band, the javelina is in a class by itself. -- Ray Stern
