 |
  |
 |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||||||
|
Little
Punks
Three 14-year-olds and two 16-year-olds have emerged on the Eugene punk scene with a band called Face Eater. I spoke with Cassidy Kane, the group's 14-year old drummer, and guitarist Max Schramm, who is also 14. The young musicians have been exposed to a wide variety of music throughout their lives, thanks to family members' influence. Kane's mother is Raenie Kane, drummer extraordinaire who's played with numerous local bands including The Danged and, currently, The Shudders. Schramm's father plays guitar while his mother runs the stage at Saturday Market. Vocalist Vince Marucci's father is the owner of House of Records. His stepfather works there, along with Raenie, and both are walking encyclopedias of musical knowledge. With so much exposure to music, it's no surprise the boys turned to performing for personal expression. The fivesome, including bassist Robin Clemmen and Jesse Lynch on guitar, are friends from school. All but Clemmen attend South Eugene. The idea arose 11 months ago "to jam together just for fun," according to Schramm. "It started out as me, Kassidy and Robin," he explains. "We decided to get together and jam and it kind of turned into a band." The crew honed their chops playing Nirvana songs, although that influence has since been dispersed. "Now, we're playing all our own stuff," says Kane. When asked to describe their music, Kane and Schramm each speak a few words, completing the others' thoughts on the subject, with the consensus being "rock with a hardcore influence." "Two of the bands that we're into the most are Minor Threat and Black Flag," says Kane. The friends are big into Fugazi right now; also MC5, The Descendents, Stooges, and Minutemen. In other words, just some of the best punk and rock music ever made. With confidence Kane says, "Of course we think highly of ourselves, but I'm not sure how much some of our influences show." The name Face Eater was chosen because it rhymes with "space heater" and also because it was part of an inside joke, which initially manifested as Face Burner. The catchier name stuck. The pair says that the best thing about playing in a band is the music, plain and simple. "It's definitely not about popularity or anything like that. It's just about playing music and having fun." Kane follows that up with a quick, "Yeah!" Kane and Schramm wrap up our conversation by letting me know that Face Eater holds a vaulted place in their world. "Face Eater is the most important thing. Well, maybe not the most important, but it's the thing we all enjoy the most," Kane says. "By far," they both say at once. The group will perform at Agate Hall on Oct. 29 at 8 pm, with local bands Entropy and 20th and Kincaid. Folk fans will enjoy Zoe Lewis's performance at Sam Bond's Garage on Oct. 28, along with Brian Joseph. Lewis is a soft-spoken transplanted Brit (originally from the seaside village of Rottingdean) who now hails from Provincetown, Rhode Island. She has a unique, vaudevillian approach to folk music, and finds her modus operandi in whatever inspiring events and people she's privy to. In Lewis's world, everything is worthy of a song, and the result is a joyous outlook that celebrates the seemingly mundane. One song, "Pies for the Public," is about an elderly neighbor and friend whose cupboards were so bare she could only make one pie. She sold the pie for ingredients to make a few more pies, then sold those, and eventually found herself with a thriving pie business. Another a cappella song pays tribute to a London flower seller. Between tunes Lewis banters with the audience, encouraging them to hoot and holler if they like, or just sit back and listen, perhaps enjoying a pennywhistle solo.
Spearhead
How are you feeling? Michael Franti: I'm tired. I'm on an hour's sleep. We were up in the studio all night. I'm writing a new album and I'm editing this movie about my time in Iraq. During your trip to Iraq, Jordan and Israel this year, did you get some different perspectives? Yeah, there were a lot of different perspectives. There were a lot of Iraqis that had a sense of hope that maybe things might actually work out for the better. They were very hopeful that with Saddam gone there was going to be an opportunity for them to have a freedom that they'd never had before. But things in Iraq are so difficult, and time and time again Americans are proving themselves to not be a security or peacekeeping force in the area, but an occupying army. With all the civilian deaths that occur each day there, it's getting more and more difficult for Iraqi people to understand that's it's anything more than a hostile takeover. How did the organization of that trip come about? In March I gave my manager a call, saying that I wanted to go to Iraq, and after her initial … What the fuck!? Yeah, exactly, after 'what the fuck,' and 'are you joking?' she went about this task of discovering exactly what you need, and we were surprised to find out that you needed very little in terms of any type of visa or clearance. You just show up, and that's what we did. The most difficult thing to overcome in terms of getting there was the fear of going. As we were planning the trip all the photos came out from Abu Ghraib, and part of my mind was imaging myself hooded in some cell somewhere. Also the first beheading had taken place as we were planning the trip, so the other side of it would have been captured and held as a potential ransom. And there's always the thought that you can be anywhere on the street and get caught in a crossfire or a mortar attack, or in some accident. How close did you come to actual violence? Well, it's all around you. Everywhere you are in Baghdad you can hear gunfire, mortar fire, especially at nighttime, and everyone carries a gun, so literally everywhere you look there's someone on the street with a gun. The closest we got to any live fire was at a refugee camp in Hebron, Palestine, and I was walking down the street playing music and some Israeli soldiers came around the corner and opened fire on the crowd. People died. What was the most interesting thing you were asked in your last interview? Well, it was about how people view America. I go to a lot of different countries. After this last election, people said to me, wow, Michael, Bush is really making life difficult for the whole world right now. We really understand that there's a difference between American people and the American government, but if Bush gets elected this next time around, we're going to have a hard time making that distinction. You still run any ball? (Franti played college basketball) Uh, you know, I don't very often. I played soccer a lot when I was on tour with Ziggy. We played soccer a lot with the band. Can you still dunk? I can still dunk. I'm 38 years old, so I feel pretty good about that. Do people in your past say you're a good lover? I would hope so, but I'd be more concerned that the people in the present say that. Have you ever met the Dali Lama or do you have any plans to? I would love to and I have yet to. That would be very, very exciting. I assume he's waiting for you. [Laughs] How's your body doing? The touring experience. Do you keep pretty healthy? Yeah, I try to take care of myself, eat healthy, and I practice yoga everyday; I try to keep my body going. The most difficult part is getting enough sleep. What's the number one way you've changed these last couple of years? I try to be less judgmental about myself and others. That's one way. Another way is that I've become very clear in what I want to do. I want to be the most effective musical communicator of social justice I can be. I want to practice my music, become a better songwriter, become more able to touch people, to have first hand experience, to remain playful, and to pass that on to my audience. With urgency, but also with playfulness. What's the most spiritual you get? Well, when I'm worried about the future, when I'm dwelling on the past, when I'm not in the moment … I'm most happy in the moment, whatever moment it is. It's the experience of being able to quiet my mind. If I'm looking in a pond and trying to see my reflection, if I'm constantly dropping pebbles into the pond, it affects the clarity. It's when I arrive at a clear pond. I believe that God is contained in every breath of air, drop of water, animal and plant and rock, and when my mind is quiet I see the connection a little more clearly.
String
Fever
The phrase "string quartet" often suggests images of fusty, tuxedoed types playing dusty, mouldering music. But in the 1980s, two fantastic foursomes helped demolish that stereotype: The Kronos Quartet (which played avant garde, rock and other contemporary "art" music, spawning successors such as Ethel), and the Turtle Island String Quartet, which brought American vernacular, jazz improvisation, and world music influences to what had been a European classical music configuration. On Wednesday, Nov. 10, the TISQ returns to the Hult Center's Soreng Theater to perform a concert featuring the music of everybody's favorite jazz album: Miles Davis and Bill Evans' Kind of Blue. Certainly one of the landmark works of 20th century music, that record's impressionistic, evocative atmosphere should make a fascinating transition from the horns of Davis, Coltrane, and Cannonball Adderley to the TISQ's violins, viola and cello. This is a concert that jazz and classical fans alike should enjoy. The next evening, the Turtle Islanders join the acclaimed young Chicago-based classical Ying Quartet for an equally intriguing concert at the UO's Beall Concert Hall featuring music of Mendelssohn, TISQ originals, and one of the great jazz-classical fusions, Darius Milhaud's delightful The Creation of the World, which somehow blends 1920s New Orleans jazz, African folk tunes, and French classical traditions into a swinging brew. That concert is just one of a promising series of collaborations between the Hult and the UO. Another occurs at the Hult's Silva Hall on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 31, when Oregon Bach Festival founder and Music Director Helmuth Rilling will lead the University Singers, Chamber Choir, and Symphony in a free concert featuring two of the greatest works of European sacred music: J.S. Bach's Magnificat and Mozart's Mass in C Minor. Back at Beall, on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the wonderful duo of Anne Azéma and Shira Kammen return to perform another free concert, this one comprising medieval French songs and poems about mythical animals, love, the seasons, and other natural and supernatural phenomena. Anyone who saw the pair enchant an audience at the UO's Gerlinger Lounge a few years ago will remember Azema's warm, expressive voice (she's one of the world's leading early music singers), Kammen's sensitive playing on medieval stringed instruments such as the vielle and harp, and their engaging rapport with the audience. Kammen, a member of two of the finest early music groups, Ensembles Alcatraz and Project Ars Nova, returns to the UO on Nov. 6 with her new band, Fortune's Wheel, which includes UO music professor Eric Mentzel singing tenor, to celebrate the 700th birthday of the great humanist, environmentalist and poet, Petrarch. The concert will present Italian and French music of the 14th century. Both of these free early music concerts should be real beauties, and it's a joy to see so much splendid pre-classical music performed by such accomplished musicians here this fall. Other worthy UO concerts this month include pianist Richard Zindars playing one of the great works of American music, Charles Ives's first piano sonata (a celebration of his Connecticut country childhood), on Sunday Nov. 7; and harpist Laura Zaerr in original music for Celtic harp (including one accompanied by tabla) and a romantic concerto by Henriette Renie on Nov. 9. Everybody knows the most influential American band ever: New York's legendary Velvet Underground. But not enough rock fans realize that its co-founder, the Welsh violist John Cale, had earlier been a member of an equally important American avant-garde aggregation called the Dream Syndicate, with the great composer La Monte Young. Cale worked with everyone from John Cage and Terry Riley to Brian Eno and Patti Smith to the Stooges, and some of his solo albums are landmarks of thoughtful, surprisingly accessible art music. Cale's striking new CD, Hobo Sapiens, which incorporates electronic textures and powerful imagery, is one of his best efforts and one of the finest albums I've heard this year. Cale is bringing a quartet to perform music from that album at the Shedd on Monday, Nov. 1, and any fan of intelligent, adventurous popular music should be there. That's only one of a slew of great concerts at the Shedd. On Saturday, Oct. 30, Steve Bernstein brings his slide trumpet and his wild and wonderful band Sex Mob back to Eugene. One of New York's most acclaimed jazz ensembles and winner of two Downbeat awards, Sex Mob has found a funky and appealing way to combine experimental and classic jazz influences, covering everything from James Bond movie themes to Duke Ellington. This is probably the concert of the month for fans of jazz and adventurous music.
BLACK FOREST
CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages DIABLO'S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE DUCK INN EMBERS SUPPER CLUB EUGENE WINE CELLARS GOOD TIMES JAKE'S PLACE JOE'S BAR & GRILLE JO FEDERIGO'S JOHN HENRY'S
THE JUNGLE THE KEG LATITUDE 10 CAFE LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MAC'S AT THE VET'S
MCDONALD THEATRE MORNING GLORY/OUT OF THE FOG THE O BAR OVERTIME TAVERN PEABODY'S PERUGINO PRIME TIME SPORTS BAR QUACKER'S
SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAM'S PLACE SAMURAI DUCK STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S TAP 'N' KEG TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL TINY TAVERN WETLANDS WOW HALL All Ages
CORVALLIS THE PEACOCK All Ages PLATINUM NIGHT CLUB SQUIRREL'S
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
