1970s Tucson band Chuck Wagon and the Wheels were removed from the lineup at Saturday’s benefit concert “The Whole Enchilada” after antisemitic comments and writings from frontman Chuck Maultsby came to the attention of organizers.
Organizer Rich Hopkins informed Maultsby via email on Thursday, April 14, Maultsby doesn’t have a phone, that he would not be allowed to perform as part of the concert honoring Tucson desert rock bands from the late 1970s to early 1990s.
“I had no idea Chuck had done whatever he had done,” Hopkins said.
Maultsby said in an email to the Star Friday that he wasn’t surprised he was “cancelled from a convention show, but why so little notice?”
The story of Maultsby’s antisemitic writings was first reported Thursday, April 14, by the Tucson Sentinel, which had reported on the matter as early as 2017, according to editor Dylan Smith. In his Thursday story, Smith said Maultsby had written more than 250 long pages on his website detailing antisemitic views and conspiracies related to 9/11, the pandemic, the Holocaust and so-called false flag operations by Americans in the United States, including the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
In his email to the Star, Maultsby said he stands behind those writings and beliefs, which include blaming Jewish members at the highest levels of the CDC for orchestrating what he called “the COVID terror.”
Maultsby’s website also includes a link to his 2012 book “Who Should Go Down in History: The Truth About 9/11,” which was banned from Amazon. In the book, Maultsby claimed that the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were carried out by Jewish agents in America.
“He believes things like this, unfortunately,” said David Slutes, the Hotel Congress entertainment director who booked Maultsby’s band for Saturday’s concert, which featured performances by some of Tucson’s prominent desert rock bands. “It’s not something we want to be associated with. It overshadows a cool event and a cool thing.”
Chuck Wagon and the Wheels has a number of out-of-town concerts in Amado, Tubac, and Three Points this spring and early summer, which Maultsby says are still going on.
Saturday’s concert at Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St., celebrates the release of Hopkins’ book and album project “The Whole Enchilada: The History of Desert Rock, Tucson, Arizona, 1978-1994.” The book profiles 28 Tucson bands and features a three-album collection of 31 songs from many of those bands.
Hopkins said they will not replace Chuck Wagon and the Wheels on Saturday’s lineup, which includes Howe Gelb and Giant Sand, Hopkins and Slutes’ band Sidewinders, River Roses, Caitlin von Schmidt, Fish Karma, Naked Prey, Gila Bend, Billy Sedlmayr and Wayback. Machine.
The all-ages concert begins at 4 p.m. on the plaza stage and tickets are $20 at the door, with proceeds from ticket and book sales benefiting the Casa Maria soup kitchen.
