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THIS WEEK AT THE
CLUBS:
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SUNKEN
GRADE
The emblem on Grade's promo releases resembles
a yellow road sign with the hallowed words, "Sunken Grade" etched
upon it. Featuring Eli Belobaba from Roy G. Biv, Tim Heaton A.K.A.
"Freaky T," from Honey Buckit, Waylon Spoden from his high-school
band and Nathan Johnson, an ominous retired runningback, you can
be sure that while they may be "Slow Children at Play," there'll
be plenty of rock 'n' roll when their "Divided Highway Ends."
Also featuring Dan Jones and the Squids. Friday,
Tiny Tavern. |
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EDDY
JOE COTTON AND THE
YARD DOGS ROAD SHOW
Eddy Joe, recent
hot young author of the book Hobo and decade-long train-jumper
himself comes blowing down the tracks. His road show features
"a little stage, a lot of love, a little jug band music, a tramp
reading about barrell house cooks, a pair of dancing girls dancing
on books, plus special guests, sideshow gospel and other oddities
of the heart." His book opens with poetic prose that pulls the
eye and snags your blood-pumper. What yard-dog tunes will blow
from this whistle? Gonna be interesting. Friday,
Sam Bond's Garage.
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THE
SARDONICS
Nominated for the
2002 Sacramento Area Music Awards, the Sardonic's play their
personal form of J-A-Z-Z. Some toss in a little Latin and free-bop
funk. Others add some groove and the occasional sound of avante-garde,
whatever that is. The Sardonics mix it all together, including
a humorous streak while rejecting the pretension that habitually
comes with the biz. Their release says they're "unique." Who
would'a thought? Saturday, Luna.
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RAMSEY
Y LOS MONTUNOS
Around 1990 Ramsey Embick wasn't playing weekly
salsa jams in P-town, he was laying down tracks with heavy metal
demon-gods KISS in LA. He programmed beats for Gene Simmons, the
tongue himself, but after months when the money no come, he found
himself finally licked. So north Ram came, where though the pools
shine slightly less opaline, he found himself in greener pastures.
Now he scoops the salsa that tugs his heartstrings more than the
sound of a cash-register drawer banging against his eardrums.
His well-tuned Latin Combo takes dips in Eugene. Saturday,
Rumba Room. |
CLICK
HERE FOR CLUBS LISTINGS
Two
Tour
Should
the show have gone on, minus the Ox?
BY JASON MOSS
When Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey * whom some fans now jokingly call The Two * announced their plans
to carry on with a scheduled tour just days after bassist John Entwistle's
June 27 death, a lively discussion ensued on www.Rollingstone.com
that reveals how polarized fans and critics are over the decision.
For example:
"Given the band's (or Pete's) reckless licensing
of Who classics for fucking idiotic commercials, I can't help but
think that this is a cash-out tour. I'm disgusted and saddened to
see it end this way."
"I've been a fan of The Who since the late '60s and
I support Townshend/Daltrey for carrying on with this final Who tour.
Entwistle's reason for living was to play live performances, so for
Pete and Roger to cave in and quit now would be an insult to
John."
Having bought tickets to see the July 6 show at the
Gorge Amphitheater in Washington, I found myself agreeing mostly with
the person who wrote "I don't know what to think about the tour going
on, but I will be there ... trying not to cry."
As my fiancée and I waited for The Two to take
the stage under a sunset-colored desert sky, a longtime fan in a John
Entwistle Band T-shirt named John Urbaniak told me he likened this
tour to the first game of basketball he played with his brothers after
his father died. "Life goes on," he reminded me. "(Daltrey and Townshend)
are coming in with the proper spirit."
If playing a brilliant, edgy set counts for "proper
spirit," then I have to agree. While the Stones' latest tour no doubt
rolls on well-oiled steel wheels, this affair felt like it could go
off the rails at any moment. When Townshend shocked the crowd at the
climax of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by smashing his red Stratocaster
to bits * a one-time trademark he has eschewed since the late
'60s * I had to wonder: Was this a calculated act of showmanship
or has the man finally snapped?
Of course I'll never know, and that's partly what
made this a great rock 'n' roll show.
What critics of these "nostalgia" concerts miss out
on is the impact of hearing a two-hour-plus set composed entirely
of perfect pop songs, which I find sobering as a musician and depressing
as a sometime MTV viewer. If "Can't Explain" and "Substitute" seemed
perfunctory, then the explosive middle section of "Anyway, Anyhow,
Anywhere" started things off properly, letting us know we were in
the company of a guitarist that, 50-something or not, remains a pre-eminent
architect of rock style.
Steeped in the spirit of pop art, Townshend has always
ignored the "less is more" reverance observed by the Claptons of the
world and freely used bombast to try and make transcendant statements.
On this night he succeeded. At crucial points in his improvisations
he left his picking hand poised in the air, as if torn between savoring
the current note and striking the next one. Often that hand came down
in a fist.
Fill-in bassist Pino Palladino kept up admirably,
but with an expression betraying (understandably) anxiety. Entwistle
vehicles like "Can You See the Real Me" glared in their absence, as
did the Ox's legendary thunder, especially on the "My Generation"
solo. Fortunately, Townshend played as if determined to compensate,
and Daltrey nailed all the impossible notes. All the while drummer
Zak Starkey, son of Ringo Starr, injected the proceedings with a fluid
crash-bang that first Keith Moon replacement Kenney Jones just never
found.
Entwistle contributed, too. His passing appears to
have rekindled The Two's belief in connecting with their audience,
which Townshend explored in Tommy and the failed Lifehouse,
but abandoned when he famously commented in the mid-'70s that he didn't
know where his audience came from anymore. In "Who Are You," Daltrey
directed the chorus's question at the thousands of strangers before
him. When the song was over, he shared the gratitude he felt watching
so many people enter the venue that afternoon, assuring the crowd,
"I think we know who you are."
To their credit, the musicians refrained from maudlin
eulogies or sympathy-seeking gestures. Daltrey and Townshend limited
the tenor of between-song patter to the surprisingly funny; at one
point, the singer announced that he had farted onstage, leading to
an exchange that made everyone present convulse with laughter. In
fact, aside from a banner fans draped over a railing that read "We
Love You, John 'The Ox' Entwistle" and a memorial photomontage shown
on video screens before the encore, I saw little evidence of a recent
death in the family.
Which was just as well. When the Two took their final
bow, they didn't strike me as crass exploiters. They appeared as survivors,
teleported by age from a vanished time when rock and art merged in
masterpieces like "I'm A Boy" to one in which commerce trumps creativity
at every turn. I think they understand both that the music precedes
them and that they need one another to make it, however much they
fight.
So is the Ox turning over in his grave? Should they
call themselves The Who in the future? I like the answer that another
participant in the Rollingstone.com discussion gave:
"They can call themselves the Hillbilly Bugger Boys
for all I care. I plan to honor both Keith (Moon) and John (Entwistle)
while watching my favorite singer and favorite composer perform. I
know they won't let us down."
Back to Top
Festival Favorites
Bach's
a wrap.
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Its emphasis on new music made this
year's Oregon Bach Festival one of the most exciting in memory. The
American debut of Tan Dun's Water Passion After St. Matthew
gave Eugene a glimpse of the future of classical music. Multicultural
(in its use of Chinese forms and ideas), theatrical (in the importance
of its visual elements and movements, which Tan actually wrote into
the musical score), and intermittently powerful, Tan's Water Passion
recovered from a slow start by filling what traditionally minded listeners
might consider sparse stretches with the sound of water and other
percussion, movement, and those lighted bowls of water.
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LOVE
COMES TO WOW HALL THURSDAY THE 25TH.
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Tan's Crouching Tiger Concerto also ran a bit
longer than its musical ideas could really sustain, but the accompanying
video offered some compensation. So did the spectacular percussion
elements, the sublime playing of the percussion team (led by David
Cossin), bamboo flutist Renyang Gao and cellist Maya Beiser, whose
flamboyance equaled her immense skill. Tan's two Orchestral Theater
pieces also relied on non-musical elements, with the second proving
more successful. Did you ever imagine the whole Silva Hall audience
humming together like some latter-day happening?
The admirable Waging Peace concert presented
works selected from an international call for choral works on the
theme of peace. Much of the actual music, however, failed to live
up to the noble ideals of its composers or their texts. Only Klaudia
Pasternak's "Sancte Angeli Dei," Veljo Tormis's "God Protect Us from
War," and our own Robert Kyr's "O Jerusalem" and "A Vision of Peace"
(which ought to enter the school choir repertoire) were really memorable.
Virtually all the student works presented in the Composers
Symposium concerts were in an accessible, consonant idiom; I was especially
impressed by Ingrid Stolzl's prismatic "Lucid Dream" (dreams were
a recurring theme in these pieces) and works by Rebecca Oswald, Thade
Jude Correa, and Matthew Svoboda. The highlight was Canadian composer-in-residence
Murray Schaefer's best-known composition, the stunningly beautiful
"Snow Forms." The Oregon Repertory Singers and Third Angle new music
ensemble provided first-rate, precision sounds throughout.
Any showcase devoted to untested art is going to produce,
by definition, some mediocre work. Yet to remain vital, our cultural
institutions must provide such nurturing environments and public performances
* and audiences must give them a chance. For that reason this
community owes thanks to the Bach Festival, especially Helmuth Rilling
(who commissioned the Tan Passion), director Royce Saltzman
(who made the concerts happen), and Prof. Robert Kyr, who organized
the new music concerts.
To their efforts the town responded. Despite the competing
attractions of other events and our typically gorgeous weather, Eugeneans
and others * 30,000 of them * flocked to hear music that
offered no guarantee of pleasure, and most came away the richer for
it.
The old music was pretty good, too. The amazing Thomas
Quasthoff's concerts showed this great artist developing even further;
his recent opera training has allowed him to do more than sing these
great songs; he now inhabits them. So moving yet tasteful is his approach
that he's possibly the only singer on Earth who can still uncork the
first few notes of "Danny Boy," as he did in his Beall Hall encore,
without sending listeners fleeing. And the period instrument performance
of More Maiorum in music of Bach and his Italian contemporaries provided
perhaps the most sonically satisfying show I attended the entire festival.
On Thursday, July 25, the WOW brings Love to
town. One of the great groups of the 1960s, Love's gentle psychedelia
reached a pinnacle in 1967's classic Forever Changes album,
still one of the loveliest products of the rock era. Love frontman
Arthur Lee has had his ups and downs, but word is that he's
back in the groove at last.
And even if he's not, opening act Stew is worth
the price of admission. Like Lee, Stew, who also fronts The Negro
Problem, defies racial stereotypes to craft the kind of penetrating,
clever, often very funny lyrics more often associated with white singer
songwriter types like Randy Newman, Ray Davies, Squeeze, Loudon Wainwright,
or (Stew's own model) Jacques Brel * welded to Beatle-esque
melodies as memorable as any I've heard in pop music recently. He
calls it AfroBaroque, but the lucky audience he blew away at Sam Bond's
a couple months back called it fabulous.
Back to Top
Sizzlin' Salsa
Maiz
moves and the Heat is on.
BY
VANESSA SALVIA
The Reverend Horton Heat appears at
the WOW Thursday, the 18th. The Rev has a brand new album out, Lucky
7, and it's great! Listening to any of the Rev's albums is like
getting a crash course in greaser hip-ness: There's endless references
to alcohol (of course), sex, cars, drugs and the devil. Liking the
Rev or not is what separates the wheat from the chafe in the psychobilly
world.
On 7, the Rev delivers an inspirational message
from the pulpit on "Sermon on the Jimbo," grand surf-y instrumentals,
more on Jimbo ("You've Got a Friend in Jimbo"), and of course, the
car tunes. "Galaxy 500" is a hilarious song about a couple divorcing
and splitting up their worldly goods, while all the guy cares about
is getting the car. (I'll just assume that a copyright problem prevented
The Rev from using the real name of the car, 'cause I know
he knows the "Galaxy" is really spelled with an -ie!)
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ORQUESTA
ALTO MAIZ PLAYS LUNA ON TUESDAY.
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Needless to say, the Rev, bassist Jimbo and drummer
Scott Churilla always set the stage aflame with an unholy marriage
of The Cramps, Dick Dale and "righteous rockabilly rebellion." They'll
be joined by Nashville Pussy playing songs from their new album
Say Something Nasty.
Nasty is just what you'd expect from these
raunch-hounds. From the back cover of lead guitarist Ruyter Suys (pronounced
Rider Sighs) deepthroating a popsicle to the spoken word rant about
pussy opening the CD, it's all about sex, baby. The two girls, Suys
and new bassist Katie Lynn Campbell wear outfits on stage most women
wouldn't be caught dead in at the beach. Suys's gauge as to whether
or not a band is good is if she leaves the concert and wants to fuck
any of the members.
Their stage show builds off everyone's sexual energy,
and their down-home, AC/DC and ZZ Top-style ass-kickin' music just
urges on the drinkin', fightin', cussin', and bare-breastin' * just like you like it. Also appearing will be Honky, a trio
fronted by former Butthole Surfer J. D. Pincus.
Just what does the state of Iowa have to do with salsa
and jazz? Well, folks, I've been there and I can tell you, not much.
That's exactly what makes Orquesta Alto Maiz unique. The band
doesn't travel light * it's an 11 piece * and it's been
a long way from home. Maiz has toured Europe and had a great gig at
the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1998. When you first hear the music,
the playing is so hot you automatically deduce the band to be from
New York, LA, Miami * practically anywhere other than Eastern
Iowa, and this is a fact the band is quite proud of.
For more than a decade now, Orquesta has been producing
some of the finest salsa and jazz around, and now that Latin rhythms
are the hot ticket, their experience has been paying off in the form
of big, appreciative crowds. All those years of playing have resulted
in an exceptional live show with exuberant and unrelenting dance energy.
Not a band to follow fashion, Maiz was kicking out
the Latin jams way before it became a popular type of music to pursue.
While the members may not have played in bands whose names ya'll will
recognize, all 11 have degrees in music, teach music or direct their
own other bands. Not that technical experience always translates on
stage * but in this case it does.
Fellow jazz percussionist and Latin music recording
artist Victor Mendoza sums it up better than I can when he says, "If
your body doesn't move when you hear these guys, you should check
your pulse to see if you're alive." Maiz plays Luna Tuesday July 23rd,
but if you have a chance, check the band out at the Saturday Market
the 20th.
Last but not least, congratulations to Sam Bond's
Garage, which is hosting its 7th Anniversary show Saturday. A hearty
hoorah to those fine folks over there. Festivities that night will
include music by Wheel of Meat and Dan Jones, and bingo.
Back to Top
BAGEL BAKERY AA
760 Blair Ave. * 342-4390
Su: Three Rivers Showcase--10; Acoustic
BLACK FOREST
50 E. 11th * 344-0816
Thu: Dave Young Band--9:30
Fri: Liquid Genie--9:30; American Boogie
Sat: Roy G. Biv--9:30; Psychedelic Rock
Su: Open Mic--9:30
Mo: Emerald City Sessions--9:30Tu: Jessica &
Shadow--9:30
We: Darcy Lee Band--9:30; Blues
THE BRICKHOUSE
4136 4th St. Spfd. * 988-1612
Thu: The Hatchet Man Karaoke--9
Fri: Hip hop DJ--9
Tu: The Hatchet Man Karaoke--9
We: Rock DJ--9
CAFE PARADISO AA
115 W. Broadway * 484-9933
Thu: Louise Taylor--8:30
Fri: Middle Eastern Dance Guild of Eugene--8:30
Sat: Justin King Quartet--9
Su: Women's Open Mic--8
Mo: Jim Hershey's Showcase w/ Mays, LeCompte--8
Tu: Open Mic--8
We: Justin King--8:30
CHANTERELLE'S
5th & Pearl * 484-4065
Thu: Skip Jones & Friends--9:30; Blues
Fri: Jazz Menagerie--9:30
Sat: Jive Lighters--9:30; Jump blues
Tu: Blues Jam w/Byron Case--9:30
We: Nicolette Helm/friends--9:30
CORNUCOPIA
295 W. 17th St.* 485-2300
Fri: Fiddlin' Sue Band--6
COZMIC PIZZA
1432 Willamette * 338-9333
Thu: Celtic Jam-party w/Fiannel Cats--6:30 Poetry
Lives w/Carter McKenzie--8
Fri: Pellet Gun, Ed Cole & Friends--7
Sat: Love, Death and Agriculture--7
Su: Subversive Pillow Theatre--9:30
DIABLO'S
959 Pearl * 683-3855
Thu: L'80s Night--9; DJs Kokblok, DRock, DMoe, Entropy
Fri: Yommie Bootie Nite--9; Hip hop DJs DRock and Tremor
Sat: Big Pimpin'--9; House, disco w/ Won, Howie, Steve, Anmar
Su: Kung Fu Porno--9; Hip hop
We: Steve, Howie & JT--9; Hip hop
DOC'S PAD
165 W. 11th * 683-8101
Thu: Ladies' '80s & Retro Night--9
Fri: DJ Alpyne--9; Hip hop
Mo: Roosters Blues Jam--8
DON JUAN'S #2
33100 Van Duyn Rd. * 684-8695
Thu: DJ Music--8; Country, rock
Fri: Karaoke--9Sat: DJ Music--9
Su: DJ Music--9; '50s to present
Mo: Karaoke--9Tu: DJ Music--9; '50's to
present
We: DJ Music--9; '70s-'80s
DOUBLE TREE HOTEL
I-5 & Beltline * 726-8181
Thu: Dan Henson's Karaoke--9
Fri: Dan Henson's Karaoke--9
Sat: Dan Henson's Karaoke--9
We: Dan Henson's Karaoke--9
DOWNTOWN LOUNGE
959 Pearl * 343-2346
Thu: Nashville Pussy After Party, L'80's Night--10
Fri: Cookie, Alpha Charlie, Softcore, Sleep over Disaster--10
Sat: Cosmo's Raging Family--10
Su: Open Turntable night--8
Mo: Blue Monday--8Tu: DJ Bartendar--9
We: Nik Fritas w/Guests--9
EMBERS SUPPER CLUB
1811 Hwy. 99 N. * 688-6564
Thu: Billy McCoy--9; Country
Fri: Michael Anderson Trio--9; Variety, country
Sat: Michael Anderson Trio--9; Variety, country
Su: Michael Anderson Trio--9; Variety, country
We: Billy McCoy--9; Country
FOXFIRE
4740 Main, Spfd * 747-7900
Thu: Johnny Wilde Band--9:15; Rock
Fri: Prodd, Fungus--9:15; Heavy metal
Sat: Mr. Wizard--9:15; Rock
Su: Karaoke--7:30
Mo: Karaoke--7:30
Tu: Jam with Anton--9:15
We: The Johnny Wild Band--9:15
GOOD TIMES TAVERN
375 E. 7th * 484-7181
Sat: Itchy Itchy, The Robert Brown Band--9:30
HOLLYWOOD TAXI
535 Main, Spfd * 747-0307
Fri: Jet Harris and His Hot Rod Hellcats--9
Sat: Jupiter Hollow--9
Su: Jamorama--9
Mo: Karaoke--9We: Pelt--9
HUMBLE BAGEL AA
2435 Hilyard * 521-3389
Thu: Charlie Parker--6:30; Jazz
Fri: Thomas Mackay--6:30; Jazz
Sat: Charlie Parker--6:30; Jazz
JO FEDERIGO'S
259 E. 5th * 343-8488
Thu: Jo Fed's All-Star Jazz Jam--9:30
Fri: Chestnut Quartet--9:30; Jazz
Sat: Gerry Rumpel Fusion Quartet--9:30
Su: Mark Allan--9
Mo: Chestnut Open Mic--10
Tu: Barbara Dzuro--8:30; Jazz
We: Paul Paydos Trio--9:30; Latin
LAVELLE WINE BAR
5th St. Mkt * 338-9875
Fri: Gus Russell--5:30; Jazz
Sat: Gus Russell--5:30; Jazz
LONE STAR BAR & GRILL
33140 Van Duyn Rd. * 686-8686
Thu: John Michaels--9; Country DJ
Fri: John Michaels--9; Country DJ
We: Coyote Ugly Night w/John Michaels--9; Country
LUNA
30 E. Broadway * 434-5862Thu: Rob
Sheps Core-tet--8:30; Searing sax
Fri: Deb Cleveland Band--9:30; Blues, R&B
Sat: Sardonics--9:30; Free-hop funk jazz
Tu: Orquesta Alto Maiz-8:30; Salsa
We: Thomas MacKay Quartet--8:30
OREGON ELECTRIC STA.
27 E. 5th * 485-4444Fri: Don Latarski
Trio--8Sat: Don Latarski Trio--8
PLANET GOLOKA
679 Lincoln St. * 683-7155
Su: DJ Viran, DJ Kalia--6; New sounds of India
QUACKERS
2105 W. 7th * 485-5925
We: Blues Jam--8
RAMADA INN
225 Coburg Rd. * 342-5181
Fri: Vaness Express--9:15; Rock
Sat: Vaness Express--9:15; Rock
ROADHOUSE
3018 Gateway * 746-6000
Mo: Family Karaoke--5
RUMBA ROOM
100 E. Broadway * 484-1747
Thu: Miami Style Salsa--8; Advanced dancing w/Mike, Simona
Fri: Fiesta Latina--10Sat: Los Montunos--10
SAM BOND'S GARAGE
407 Blair * 431-6603
Thu: Pacific Crest,
Mike Eisler, Sawtooth Mtn. Boys--9; Bluegrass
Fri: Yard Dogs Road Show w/ Eddy Cotton--9:30; Variety
Sat: The Great Sam Bond's Anniversary Show--9;
Variety
Su: Laura Kemp, Irina Rivkin, Emily Shore, Mare Wakefield--8:30
Mo: Panjea--9; Funk
Tu: Bluegrass Jam--9
We: Nucleus--9; Jam
SAM'S PLACE
825 Wilson * 484-4455
Fri: Karaoke--8
SAMURAI DUCK
980 Oak * 345-6577
Thu: Buckminster Fuller, DJc4, Thirteenth Tribe, Point Blank Rangers--9;
Funk, hip-hop, dance
Fri: Zuegmatic--10; Jammin' grooveSat: Panjea, Kawaida--10; Afrodelic
funk
Mo: Carlos Washington and the Giant People Ensemble--10; Funk
Tu: Community Sound System--9
We: American Rebus, Scanners, General Rudie--9;
Ska, rock
SENOR FROG'S
444 E. 3rd * 484-2927
Thu: DJ Karaoke--6:30
Fri: DJ Mario--9; Cumbia, Banda, Merengue
Sat: DJ Jose Cruz--10; Salsa, Merengue
SWEETWATER'S
Valley River Inn * 687-0123
Fri: Greg Nathan Trio--8; JazzSat: Olem Alves
Quartet--8; Jazz
TACO LOCO
7th and Blair * 431-3871
Mo: Stone Cold Jazz--6
TAYLOR'S
894 E. 13th * 344-6174
Mo: DJ Tekneek--10
TINO'S RESTAURANT
15th and Willamette * 342-8111
Sat: Olem Alves, Mike Hanns--6; Jazz
TINY TAVERN
394 Blair * 687-8383
Fri: Sunken Grade, Dan Jones and the Squids--9:30
WETLANDS BREW PUB
922 Garfield * 345-3606
Sat: Jackass Willie, The Whopner Country All-Stars--10; Cow punk
WILD DUCK MUSIC HALL
169 W. 6th * 485-382
5Fri: Solas--9; Celtic rock
Sat: Orquesta Alto Maiz--9:30; Salsa
WOW HALL AA
291 W. 8th * 687-2746
Thu: Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy, Honky--8:30; Psychobilly
Fri: Lost at Last, Tina Malia--9:30; World beat
Sat: The Motet, Psychedelic Breakfast--8:30; Afro-Cuban Jazz
YUKON JACK'S
4th & Broadway * 935-1921
Fri: Steppin' Out--9
Sat: Karaoke--6 Steppin' Out--9
Su: Karaoke--6
CORVALLIS
CLUBS
BORDERS CORVALLIS
777 NW 9th St. * 738-0580Fri: Jeff
Silverman--8; Contemporary Christian guitar, vocals
BIG RIVER RESTARUANT
101 NW Jackson * 757-0694Fri: Sun
Bossa Duo--8:30
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