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Rock
Time In the late '80s and early '90s Eugene had a vibrant underground music scene. Hundreds of shows took place each year in people's basements, featuring touring and local bands such as Snakepit with Mike Johnson, who went on to record with Dinosaur Jr. and have a solo career. The Detonators' guitarist Bruce Hartnell wanted to translate that scene's energy into an above-ground club, and in 1992, with the help of some financial partners, John Henry's shot from the womb along Willamette Street and said " 'Sup, dawg?"
The club nurtured a (mostly) punk scene for one sweaty, smelly decade, then folded when St. Vincent de Paul took over the property at 11th and Broadway. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, albeit at bureaucratic speed, John Henry's reopened two years ago at 77 W. Broadway under new ownership. Booking agent Keith Martin became involved in the first John Henry's four years ago as a bartender, then took over booking in 2001. He said he hoped the new club "would provide an alternative for the different stuff that comes through town and stuff that doesn't really show up on the radar but there's an audience for." When I asked Martin what criteria he uses to book the club, he laughingly said he throws darts to decide. That sums up the club's attitude: anything goes. "We're wide open to whoever, whatever, whenever. We're broad strokes as far as what we do." That could mean country from Hank Williams III, free jazz with Sex Mob, bluegrass, electronica or DJ'd dance nights. "We still pick up the odds and ends, the Burlesque show is a perfect example," he says. "No one else is doing anything like that." That show, which takes place every Sunday night, features carnival-type performers, dance revues and burlesque booty shaking. Local DJs Steve Sawada and Sean Mediaclast put on Freaks in the House on Saturdays once a month. "It's a weird event that fits in at the club," Martin said. Martin said he hopes everyone feels comfortable at John Henry's, from just-turned 21-ers doing the pub crawl to senior citizens, such as the 85-year-old woman who showed up for the recent Wayne Hancock show. "I think we've done a good job of spanning the age gap." And the crowd seems respectful, said Martin. "It's been amazing downtown. We haven't had any problems." The new club kept some of the dark and dim aesthetic of the Willamette Street location, but that wasn't necessarily intentional. According to Martin, that was a "happy accident." Club owners tried to make the space, which is long and narrow as opposed to cavernous like the old club, seem intimate, so bands would feel more in touch with the audience, enabling the energy of the live performance to reach more of the crowd. Coming up: One worthy show is Crown City Rockers on Sept 27. The popular group features two awesome MCs, a turntablist, keyboards, bass and drums, for a live hip-hop treat which leaves audiences slack-jawed. "You know a band is good when there is absolutely no one buying drinks!" Martin said, referring to the last time the band played the club. "With this band they're either standing in front of the stage mesmerized or dancing. Every single [audience member] was crowded up as close to the stage as they could get!" John Henry's also has a country western swing show scheduled for Sept. 28 featuring the Whopner County Country Allstars along with Little Bit & the Customatics. A night of experimental and local indie rock crystallizes on the Sept. 24 with Crash Engine, Mine Thirtyseven, A Mind Like Yours and Outspent. An early heads up on another incredible show, happening Monday, Oct. 18: Eagles of Death Metal, featuring Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Josh Homme. Wow! Watch EW Clubs and Music for more details on this caustic metal review.
Type O Negative, Life is Killing Me, 2003 ROADRUNNER RECORDS By Matt Stone For people like me, a band such as The Cure is far too cheery. For the rest of us who like our Goth-music DARK and LOUD, there is Type O Negative.
Brooklyn-based quartet Type O Negative has released Life is Killing Me: a 15-track blast of beautifully orchestrated layers, evenly paired with distorted riffing, all composed by vocalist/bassist/songwriter Peter Steele. This installment returns to the musical genres of the band's breakthrough '93 album, Bloody Kisses, made of fast-paced punk and funeral dirge Goth epics. Songs like "I Don't Wanna Be Me" and "I Like Goils" stand out with their less-is-more formula, while others such as "Anesthesia" and "How Could She?" are carefully constructed by more than two hands: Steel; guitarist Kenny Hickey; keyboardist Josh Silver; and drummer Johnny Kelly. Hedwig fans will be delighted to find the band's cover of "Angry Inch" within the disc's digital depths. Punk and metal show their notable influences via this track's aggression and alternating vocals between Steel and Hickey. Demonstrated here is the necessary struggle between darkness and light to find and validate one another. Look no further than "Nettie," Steel's touching tribute to his mother.
Blonde Redhead, Misery is a Butterfly, 2004 4AD/BEGGARS RECORDS By Matt Hudkins I hate giving out secrets, but here I go: Misery is a Butterfly is the best album of 2004 (so far). And, it will be an album that decorates the best lists at the end of this decade. It kills all those horrible comparisons I tried to create in my first draft of this uber-review. I have to answer the one question: Why should you listen to it? Because, dammit! Don't let another day go by being satisfied with the status quo of music. If you are in a rut, a bad relationship, a monotonous job, throw in this music while you're stuck on the Delta Highway for the umpteenth time, and count yourself lucky. This album is what the best of us dream to be. Way to leave out any information about the actual music. — ed.
Carlos Guitarlos, Straight From the Heart, 2003 NOMAD RECORDS By Tom Wilt Carlos Guitarlos has given lovers of American roots music a stunning masterpiece. Straight From the Heart is a look into the mirror of the former street musician who suffered from years of substance abuse. First and foremost, Guitarlos is a bluesman, in contrast to someone who simply plays the blues.
His writing ranks with blues masters Son House and Robert Johnson. The title song is a reflection of a fallen soul, who admits he has not talked with god for "years and years, as a friend." Even though the subjects are often deep pain and lost love, there are songs that make you want to find a dance floor. "Poppin' and Bumpin'" is one such song. "You Don't Know What Love Is" takes the listener to the days of biting Texas blues guitar, invoking the likes of Gatemouth Brown. Guitarlos is equally at home with deep soul, and Cajun. Guitarlos is aided by some old friends on this album: Dave Alvin (Blasters) and John Doe (X). Years from now, students and writers will mention this as one of the best albums from the early 2000s. Pick it up to see what they will be writing about.
Neurosis, The Eye of Every Storm, 2004 NEUROT RECORDINGS By Justin Gast Every generation has that one group whose music rings of a sound completely outside the norm, untouchable in the creative way in which it represents itself. In the same way that Pink Floyd separated themselves with their unique obscure style of music, so Bay Area rock legend Neurosis has done with its latest release, The Eye of Every Storm.
This epic follow up to their 2001 release, The Sun That Never Sets, Storm goes in a direction that leaves Neurosis unmatched by other artists. No group produces such emotionally driven rock with dark lyrics, while simultaneously combining dynamic, eclectic sounds of tribal, folk and metal. These are used to drive each of the album's eight tracks. With vitally inspiring songs that clock in at around eight to nine minutes on average, you become lost in the sounds of churning guitar rhythms, droned out folk instruments and screams of pain, anguish and struggle. The Eye of Every Storm illuminates Neurosis' consistent musical perfection. During almost twenty years of existence they have continued to succeed in separating themselves, musically and spiritually, from all other groups out there today.
BEANERY BLACK FOREST CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages DIABLO'S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE DUCK INN EMBERS SUPPER CLUB GAME DAY SPORTS BAR GOOD TIMES JO FEDERIGO'S JOHN HENRY'S JUANITA'S HIDEAWAY THE JUNGLE THE KEG LATITUDE 10 CAFE LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO LONE STAR BAR AND GRILL LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MAC'S AT THE VET'S MCDONALD THEATRE THE O BAR OREGON ELECTRIC STATION OUR PLACE TAVERN PEABODY'S PERUGINO PRIME TIME SPORTS BAR QUACKER'S RAMADA INN SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAM'S PLACE SPIRITS STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S TAP 'N' KEG TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL TINY TAVERN WETLANDS THE WOODSMAN WOW HALL All Ages
CORVALLIS BEANERY FOX 'N' FIRKIN NEW MORNING BAKERY THE PEACOCK PLATINUM NIGHT CLUB
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