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Lunar
Visions When NASA called Laurie Anderson a few years ago and offered to make her the space agency's artist in residence, she hung up the phone. "I was sure it was a fan who had figured out my secret dream," she said, "and was trying to torture me."
Even before her breakthrough 1980 album Big Science, Anderson, whose pioneering blend of electronic music, violin, storytelling, visual and performance art made her one of the 20th century's most admired and innovative artists, had been fascinated by technology and its attractions and dangers. Now, after her two-year study of NASA from the inside, we'll get to see Anderson's "final report," a 90-minute multimedia spectacle called "The End of the Moon" Saturday, March 12 at the Shedd. Long before the New Frontier, Americans associated outer space with the future, and Anderson's musical monologues will touch on those dreams and aspirations as well as their dark side — the militarization of space. But in Anderson's allusive, fractured style, the storytelling also references Thomas Pynchon, a heavily armed audience in Turkey, gay penguins, robots, nanotechnology, quantum physics, and much more — all refracted through her trademark wry humor and sense of absurdity. We recently saw Beowulf recounted by a master storyteller/musician, Ben Bagby; Laurie Anderson is a modern bard, with a contemporary interpretation on our myths. Anyone interested in the art, music and science of our time should be at this absolutely essential event. Don't let Laurie's lunar luminosity eclipse a lesser-known yet still brilliant light. Jazz and contemporary classical fans need to be at the Shedd on Thursday, March 17, when Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko brings his young quartet to town. After starting off as a free jazzer in the 1960s, Stanko steadily refined his sound to arrive at a dark, spare aesthetic that, by the 1990s produced some of the most beautifully atmospheric yet intensely exploratory music to emerge on the innovative ECM label. Dubbing anyone the next Miles Davis (as happened to Stanko years ago) is as unfair and inaccurate as calling this month's folkie the next Dylan. Yet anyone who cherishes Miles' moody, broody 1960s quintet will love Stanko's haunting jazz noir. And his recent CDs, as well as the new ECM disk by his backing trio, affirm this group's position at the pinnacle of European jazz. The 62-year-old Stanko is one of the most original and compelling composer/performers in music today. In the Shedd's sweet acoustic, it should be one of Eugene's most intimately powerful concerts of the year.
Master
Jams With Protégé Last May, 15-year-old Brooks Robertson, a finger-picking guitarist from Eugene, made it to the finals on Prairie Home Companion's "Talent From Twelve to Twenty" contest. He wowed the judges and won the contest, a remarkable feat considering Robertson had only started playing guitar three years earlier.
His father played music and encouraged him to pursue it, but it wasn't until 2001 when father and son saw finger-picking guitarist Buster B. Jones in concert that something clicked. "It amazed me. I couldn't believe it," Robertson said. "His playing really inspired me to play. I just told my dad, 'That's what I want to play like.'" Finger picking is a complicated style of playing where a pick is used on the thumb, freeing the other four fingers for more complex playing. "There's four strings you can be doing stuff with instead of just one. You can have a lot more going on," Robertson said. And Buster B. Jones had so much going on that Robertson became his protégé, learning Jones' unique style straight from the master. As a teen in Iowa, Jones copied the guitar playing styles of Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed. He never took formal lessons, so he learned his craft through trial and error, developing a technique all his own. "There's a lot of traditional players that Buster sprouted from but he changes it so much," Robertson said. "He's the only person I've ever heard who plays the way he does." Jones has a new CD due out this summer, and the pair will have more time to play together when Robertson isn't in school. Jones and Robertson have played many shows together locally and nationally, including Bangor, Maine's National Folk Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival and a Guitars for Life benefit gig in France. Robertson's goal is to win the annual national Fingerstyle Guitar Championship held in September in Winfield, Kan., which Jones himself won in 1990. This Friday's Luna show will be a special live Oregon Public Broadcasting videotaping for a segment of Oregon Art Beat. Buster B. Jones with Brooks Robertson Luna, 8:30 pm. Friday, March 11 / $10. 434-5862.
Desert
Drummer For the first half of the '90s, Seattle grunge defined a generation's worth of rock. That's a given. The dreary skies, depressed economic conditions of old industry, and dense greenery were perfect fodder for this fresh face of rock with its new forms of guitar noise and youthful angst.
Simultaneously, yet culturally and geographically disconnected, a similar sounding music grew out of Southern California's palm desert area where cacti, Joshua trees and puffy clouds dominate the view. Stoner, or desert rock, as it was called, was as important to Southern California's music scene as Grunge was to Seattle's. One man who helped pave the way for this sludgy, psychedelic down-tuned, riff-laden music was Brant Bjork. In 1987, Bjork, along with high school buddies Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri and John Garcia began KYUSS (pronounced Ka- Yuss), and the stoner's soundtrack was forever redefined. Tad, Mudhoney and Nirvana were great bands, Bjork explains, but the guys from KYUSS were proud not to be from the Northwest. "After 10 years, people started to understand that KYUSS was the flipside to what was going on in Seattle," Bjork says. That flipside involved thick, droney guitar riffs that enveloped entire songs; Guitars were tuned down to create Sabbath-like melodies. Stoner rock represented a new type of Americana, pulling from '60s psychedelia in the forms of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Iron Butterfly, as well as the motorcycle freedom rock of the '70s ala bands like Steppenwolf. It infused the combined essence of rock with what was going on in Southern California at the time: Low-riders, punk music, surf and skate culture. After leaving KYUSS in 1994, Bjork went on to work with surfer-stoner rock band Fu Manchu, Oliveri's band Mondo Generator, as well as former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur's solo project. In '97 and '99, he collaborated with Homme on the Desert Sessions project, which essentially laid the groundwork for Homme's band Queens of the Stone Age. Creating his own music seemed to soothe his restlessness as a musician and in 1997 he released his first solo album, Jalamanta. In his solo work, Bjork, a drummer in the other bands he'd played in, was free to experiment and recorded all the instrument parts on his own. He says he doesn't regret leaving KYUSS or not following Homme to found Queens of the Stone Age. There are no hard feelings between Bjork and the other band members. But, as he explains, his solo career allows him to tap into the music that inspires him. "My solo shit is definitely my priority," he said. Bjork will perform with his live band, The Bros. Labelmates Vic Du Monte's Idiot Prayer will open the show.
Ear
To The Underground Folk Meets Punk Meets Rock
If you're looking for something low-key, a little different and free, check out David Boone at the 5th Street Beanery on Friday, March 11. On tour all the way from Missoula, Mont., Boone's not quite your average singer-songwriter. Yes, he's got the wonderful, sweet voice typical of all those oh-so-trendy bigger names like Jack Johnson and Ben Harper. But he doesn't always use his "instrument" the way they do. He does sing lovely, melting melodies. But he also howls and moans in terse angry bursts then brings it down to a riff or a gentle melody for a roller coaster ride. Even "Tuesday Night" — the best tune off his release Ignore The Orange Hand — starts out soft and sultry with a catchy little melody, then explodes out with a stricken, emotion-laden chorus at the end. An added bonus is that Boone doesn't stick to one sound either, incorporating rollicking country beats and occasionally, hard rock distortion and punk-influenced angst.
S.O.B's (Sounds of Brazil) Few musicians have had the opportunity or the honor to study under the very players who defined a genre of music. David Burgess has. He studied guitar with Andrés Segovia, the man who defined classical guitar in the same way Miles Davis defined jazz. But Burgess has other influences as well, namely the hot, steamy rhythms and grooves of Brazilian bossa novas, salsas and sambas and intertwines them with Spanish guitar and even contemporary pop into complex, rich songs. His technical brilliance is unparalleled except by the very best. Every track on Silver Nuggets and Fool's Gold breathes and pulses with emotion and depth. Cascades of flowing notes leave you breathless. Rhythmic nuances and startling percussion on songs like "Berimbau" are captivating. Fans are begging for another CD soon. And the few critics worth a grain of salt who've actually reviewed him are raving. Rightfully so. The opportunity to see such a talented musician before he becomes really famous is rare, even for Eugene. So don't miss his show Sunday, March 13 at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Fellowship on 2945 Circle Blvd. in Corvallis. $10.
AX BILLY GRILL & SPORTS BAR BEANERY All Ages BLACK FOREST
CAFE PARADISO CLUB TSUNAMI COFFEE GROVE COOPERATIVE COUNTRY SIDE RESTAURANT COUNTRYSIDE COZMIC PIZZA@THE STRAND All Ages DA HOUZE DOWNTOWN LOUNGE DUCK INN EMBERS SUPPER CLUB EUGENE WINE CELLARS GAME DAY SPORTS BAR GOOD TIMES JO FEDERIGO'S JOE'S BAR & GRILLE JOGGER'S BAR & GRILL JOHN HENRY'S LATITUDE 10 CAFE All Ages LAVELLE'S WINE BAR & BISTRO LION'S DEN LOUNGE
LUCKEY'S CLUB CIGAR LUNA MAC'S AT THE VET'S MCDONALD THEATRE MONROE STREET CAFE THE O BAR & GRILL OREGON ELECTRIC STATION OVERTIME GRILL PEABODY'S PERUGINO QUACKER'S
SAM BOND'S GARAGE SAM'S PLACE SAMURAI DUCK STACY'S COVERED BRIDGE SWEETWATER'S TAYLOR'S BAR AND GRILL TINY TAVERN WETLANDS
WOW HALL All Ages
CORVALLIS AJ'S BOMBS AWAY CAFE IOVINO'S RISTORANTE MURPHY'S PLATINUM NIGHT CLUB SQUIRREL'S TOMMY'S PEACOCK UNITARIAN FELLOWSHIP
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