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Blues
Power to the People
If good things come in threes, then it must be darn good to be named Guy Davis. Bluesman Guy Davis released his seventh album Legacy last summer, which showcases his commitment to acoustic blues and his lifelong influences of Blind Willie McTell, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt, Elizabeth Cotton, Buddy Guy and others. Davis teamed up with two other men named Guy Davis throughout 2004 and now he's bringing his bluesy, groovy thing to Eugene. One Guy Davis illustrated a comic for Legacy's CD booklet about the musician Davis meeting the Devil at the crossroads. Another Guy Davis, a vintner from California, supplied his wines at select Davis concerts. I spoke to the bluesman Guy Davis to find out more. How did you find the other Guy Davises? It was actually my manager who spends a lot of time on the Internet. He Googled my name, found these other fellows, got in contact with a few of them and he burst this Guy Davis project on me! Will you continue the collaboration with the other Guy Davises in 2005? Well, not necessarily, I was happy to do that but that's not what I do. So I will not close my mind to it but if that happens that's fine and if that doesn't happen that's fine too. This is my seventh album that's out now and as I go, we'll just have to see what adventure comes next. The only thing I stick with that I've been with for 37 years is the guitar. That's the only thing that's been consistent in my life. In other ways I've been kind of flaky. So I'll continue to stick with the guitar. How do you feel the blues has influenced the cultures of rap and hip hop or how do you feel they can relate to one another? Blues is an ancestor, an ancestor to what you hear now. The blues and rap seem to talk about the same things. They talk about men, women, they talk about hard times, they talk about trouble with the law. The blues is no longer cutting edge music but you find that the conditions that the blues came out of, some of them are still here now. It might not be direct Jim Crow kind of stuff but you still have situations where there are, say, disproportionate numbers of black kids running into bullets fired by cops. And I'm not making some condemnation of police, but I am saying some of these things still are here. Do you have any plans past Legacy at this point? Just like all my CDs I support them and I continue to work on new music, that's my M.O. Legacy is what's current but when I do a concert, I play all my music, not just what's on the last one. I play everything. The idea is when people come to see the show the music is highlighted and the stories and the feelings are highlighted. Legacy is my latest offering and I'm happy with it. Tell me about the other Guys. One is a vino maker who lives in California. What a pleasant guy. I've tasted his wares. I'm a red wine kind of guy and I like the taste of what he's doing. And the Guy who is the illustrator, well, this is something that's kind if close to me because I won't call myself an illustrator as much as I am a picture-drawer. I love to draw. My son also loves to draw. So seeing what the other Guy Davis can do makes me a teeny bit envious, but I admire his work. I think there's something about us Guy Davises, we find something we like to do and we stick with it! Do you have a favorite song you never tire of playing? Whoa, that's a hard one. Well, right now that song is "Loneliest Road I Know" which was derived from Fred McDowell's "61 Highway."
Rock
Solid Eugene
Friday the WOW Hall hosts the first of what organizers hope will become a monthly showcase of rock in Eugene. The show, dubbed Reignition, is an opportunity for local bands to come together and create a strong culture of local music. The masterminds behind Reignition are the creators of www.eugenerockmusic.com (ERM), a new website featuring more than 80 rock bands in Eugene. "By creating a continuous, cheap, monthly local rock music showcase to attend," said event coordinator Rei Mastrogiovanni, "ERM aspires to unite the local bands, fans and the scene. In addition, all proceeds will go toward the WOW Hall's sound system and lights, which will improve Eugene's only all-ages venue, benefiting the scene once again." He hopes the shows will work as a stepping stone for Eugene's local music scene by consistently bringing various local bands together on one stage to perform for the hungry music lovers in the community. The idea is to get the music to the fans and, by doing that, increase the fan base. At the first show, check out Cap Gun Suicide, a punk band out to have fun and to let people know how they feel about politics, growing up, and beer. Speedshift has a hard-driving modern rock sound mixed with a healthy dose of all-American punk. Sweater Club claims to defy genre-labeling and combines a potent combination of the melodic horn lines of ska, the energy and emotion of punk, the message and feel of reggae, the improvisational abilities of jazz and the power of rock. Finally, Unknown Horizons is just a good old native Eugene rock 'n' roll band void of gimmick, but with a passionate, energized sound that's usually bass-heavy and loud. Come and be a part of the growing local music scene of Eugene.
Keeping
It Real The night before leaving on a three-week tour, Angelo Moore, lead vocalist and saxophonist for Fishbone, is using his last bit of free time to see Fahrenheit 9/11. With another tour on the horizon, several new members, and a new album in the works, Moore has just now found the time to contemplate the production. "I've been trying desperately to watch it," he said. "I think it's right on the money." The band deals in what Angelo Moore refers to as "realities," and Fishbone's lyrics often contain pointed social and political commentary paired with a zany sense of humor. But it's upbeat, chaotic melodies containing ska, funk, reggae, and punk rock influences that have helped Fishbone carve out a name. "We get to enjoy the jams," said John Norwood Fisher, bass player. "They're the peanuts in the turds." Throughout their 22-year career, Fishbone has shared the stage with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Stone Temple Pilots, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and No Doubt. But unlike their peers, Fishbone did not skyrocket to MTV-brand, teeny bopper stardom. "A lot of what was underground became mainstream throughout the years," said Fisher. "It got diluted a little bit, in some cases. At least people are making music and having fun and expressing opinions. I recognize a lot of good in music. There's a lot of bullshit, but that always was and always will be." Although Fishbone does receive more recognition in Europe and Japan than in the U.S., Moore believes that the American industry often sets the entertainment standard for the rest of the world. The result is what he calls "musical segregation." "When you look at MTV and VH1, you don't see any black rock and roll bands on there. You don't see any Japanese bands playing reggae. What they don't show, ain't nobody gonna know. If you're black, then the stereotype is to play R&B, hip hop, or reggae; if you're Spanish, you play salsa; and if you're white, you play rock and roll. If you're black and play rock and roll, that's weird. We like to play rock and roll, and that shouldn't hold us back, 'cause it's only music." Fisher still believes Fishbone has stayed true to what the band stands for — "keeping it honest" and "keeping people dancing." "The intention that I had playing music when I was a teenager is still alive and well and kicking, and this is the expression of it," Norwood said. "It changes, and we do expand on what it means to be Fishbone, but at the root of all that shit, it's still right there. It's something that I can wake up every day and be glad that I do." Fishbone plays at The Jungle Thursday, Jan. 13.
Telling
Her Story
Before hip hop merged with trance to form trip hop, before Luscious Jackson broke open the genre to female musicians, before anyone else was intertwining rich, silky melodies with urban grit and groove, Kinnie Star was out there doing it. By 1996 she had already been scooped up by a major but quickly found her free flowing, raw style didn't mesh. Her most recent release, Sun Again, taps into natural rhythms that dip and flow, draws on the energy of reggae, harnesses the bump of hip hop, and weaves together her sultry, smooth voice with lyrics that contain an unmistakably socio-political message. It's fresh like strawberries just picked from the field, cool like the ocean on a day so hot the sand burns your feet. "These are my stories," she said. "Not that I find my stories to be first and foremost important, but I think it's important for people to tell their stories; that people continue to speak out about their lives and what they experience." As we talked by phone, she sat in her car looking out across the slate gray line that formed between the ocean and the sky, traveling from Vancouver to Sechelt, B.C., the closest town to her home. "I care about communication," she said. "I'm a mixture of Mohawk, Irish, German and British. For the last two generations, people who were of mixed roots changed their names, registered their babies as white and never settled on a reserve. A lot of people never identified themselves as native and lost their rights. Now that's changing. There's more awareness, and native people have some good ideas for protecting both the creatures that are living here and the people." She sees the world a little differently and glorifies in it. Her music is a celebration, an offering, a vast exploration. "It's all in my music," she said, quoting a few of her lyrics about the sun, the mountains and the sky. "It's about a native perspective on everything." Kinnie Starr plays Sam Bond's Thursday, Jan. 20. –MB
THE BEANERY BLACK FOREST CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All
Ages COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT DA HOUZE DUCK INN EMBERS SUPPER CLUB EUGENE WINE GOOD TIMES
JO FEDERIGO'S JOE'S BAR & GRILLE JOGGER'S BAR & GRILL JOHN HENRY'S THE JUNGLE THE KEG LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO LATTITUDE 10
LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA
MAC'S AT THE VET'S MONROE STREET CAFE MULLIGAN'S PUB THE O BAR THE OLD PAD OREGON ELECTRIC STATION OVERTIME TAVERN PEABODY'S PERUGINO PRIME TIME SPORTS BAR QUACKER'S RAMADA INN SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAMURAI DUCK STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S TAP 'N' KEG TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL TINY TAVERN WETLANDS
WOW HALL All Ages CORVALLIS BOMBS AWAY CAFE PLATINUM NIGHT CLUB
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