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Black
Tie Optional "Snider, you ready to sing some blues?" It's a Sunday afternoon on River Road, and a mess of Eugene's musicians are congregated in a basement. Dan Jones ran through "Here Comes Santa Claus," and Jake Baker and George Ayres of Armored Frog tried out their version of "White Christmas." Dave Snider of Testface, who just arrived, is ready to belt out a James Brown Christmas tune — he doesn't specify which. Some things are best saved for the show — The Fast Computers' Second Annual Christmas Show.
Last year, the Computers' Christmas show was a single-band affair, with the members dressed in kitschy holiday attire and singer/keyboardist Peter Dean handing out prize baskets to audience members who answered trivia questions. This year, it's grown exponentially. "The Fast Computers play a Christmas-y set first," says Dean. "After that we'll take a short break, and the all-star band will take the stage with Tom Heinl announcing. He will host us though our litany of star singers." Besides those already mentioned, Dori Prange (The Ovulators), Ed Cole (The Pinkies), Tina Sarno (another Ovulator), Mo Talaba (Touch Force), Max Arbow and Mike Savage (Home Before Sundown), The Fast Computers' own Jennifer Fox, Eric Jensen (Tractor Operator) and Peter Wilde are all signed up on the holiday tune setlist. The backing band for the set is led by Dean on guitar and keyboards, with Chris Ross (Saltlick, Hot for Chocolate) playing pedal steel guitar and keyboards, Dave Clark (Deke Falcon, Los Mex Pistols del Norte) playing bass and Mike Ronne (Cabinessence, Touch Force) on the drums. Chances are, if you like a few bands in Eugene, at least one of the members of those bands will turn up on stage Friday night. "I really wanted it to be a cross-section of different rock bands in town," says Dean. "As many different people as possible." The show setup was inspired by a handful of holiday classics. "It's 50 percent Lawrence Welk, 50 percent Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, and 10 percent sex appeal. That makes 110 percent," he says. "We have an all-star lineup and it's going to be the best show in town. What more reason would there have to be to come?" Well, black tie is optional, and there's a Secret Santa exchange for those who bring presents. So wrap up something funky and leave Scrooge at home for the night — this isn't the sort of once-a-year thing you want to miss.
Once
More With Filin It's a frosty weekday morning at Jessie Márquez's Eugene home. That means three big dogs barking outside, strong coffee, a crackling fire and packing while the kids are at school. But Márquez isn't just moving across town. She and her family are switching continents, relocating to Latin America in January. She's giving the move at least a year, to see how her sons, 11 and 7, handle the change, but Márquez is confident the family will adjust.
The vibrant, slender woman plans to study music and work with both popular and unknown Latin artists on new musical material. "I'm going to record, produce, work on a new album and study, the whole package," said Márquez. "I'm interested in producing other artists, too." Last year, Márquez sang in Cuba in an island-wide bolero festival held annually. "I met lots of incredible singers and it was an incredible education," because these extremely accomplished artists were living in obscurity, she explained. "If you're not from Havana it's pretty hard, because Havana is the national hub of culture and everything. So I'd like to produce some of these people." Márquez's impending move means Eugene will lose one of its most sultry female voices, one steeped in the warm tones of classic American jazz and Cuban standards. Márquez's relationship to Cuba traces back to her grandmother Ana Márquez, an Italian from a Spanish neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her Spanish skills earned her a job as a translator for Wrigley Company, visiting Cuba on business. Ana married a Spaniard, Antonio Márquez, and the couple moved to Havana in the late 1940s. During the 1960s, Jessie's parents were visiting relatives in the U.S. when relations chilled between the U.S. and Cuba. Unable to return to Havana, Márquez's parents moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she later spent the first few years of her life. The stories she heard from her family about Cuba nurtured her love for the island nation, and in 1996 she accompanied her father back to Havana to visit his boyhood home. It was the first of many trips to Cuba. Making her way to Eugene after attending college on the East Coast, Márquez started a family and began singing with Eugene salsa group Caliente, Eugene-based Cuban son group Son Mela'o and others, saving every penny to fulfill her dreams of returning to Cuba and recording her own CD. In 2003 Márquez traveled to Havana to study Cuban music and dance. There, her instructor introduced her to Juan Carlos Marín, an arranger and trumpet player with Afro-Cuban All Stars. Marín heard Márquez sing one time, over the telephone, and he agreed to work with her on a CD. The result of that hasty meeting was Márquez's luscious 2004 CD Sana Locura, recorded over five intense weeks in Havana with some of Cuba's finest musicians. Here in Eugene, Márquez is building a new repertoire based on Cuban filin, also spelled and pronounced just like the English word "feeling." Filin is Cuba's answer to the languid jazz moods of America's Billie Holiday and other lounge and swing classics. "They love the music so much that they call it 'feeling,' and it means 'feeling' just like it does in English," explained Márquez. The talented singer chooses popular Cuban tunes for her repertoire, selects classic American jazz standards like "Night and Day" or writes her own songs, as she did twice on Sana Locura. Her voice is equally comfortable singing the slow, sensual or lively, and much of the uncluttered arranging shows off her voice to best advantage. You can see Márquez in a few final dates around town, all with guitar accompaniment from Mike Denny or with Mike Denny Trio.
Droning
On Indefinitely When Jonathan Bates dropped out of Berkelee College of Music, he stayed in Boston and started tinkering with recording equipment in his bedroom, locked away from the snow and cold for which his Miami upbringing had failed to prepare him. Five years ago he moved to LA seeking fame and warmth. He named his burgeoning one-man-act Mellowdrone, after a mushroom trip informed him this would be a good idea. A year later, he encountered a fan who would soon become a bandmate.
"A friend of mine was recording him," remembers Tony DeMatteo, "and I had already known about him, and I was like, 'Let him know I really dig his shit, and I want to play guitar for him.'" They've been playing together ever since. Mellowdrone in its current incarnation consists also of DeMatteo's childhood friend, Brian Borg, on drums and Bates' Berklee buddy, Cami Gutierrez, on bass and keys. Although Bates and DeMatteo have, on occasion during the past four years, played minimalist shows, with nothing but recorded loops from an iPod backing them up, it's become a rare occurrence. "Nothing compares to playing with a band, the feeling you get," says DeMatteo. The band calls its music soft-hardcore; everyone else calls it emo. A common comparison used to be Vast, but that was probably just because of the one-man-band thing. Another is Beck, which is more apt these days. Like Beck, Mellowdrone lays down catchy melodies and grinding accompaniments that crackle with playful-yet-soulful energy. "The songs, if they weren't written by me, were written by John. He's an insane songwriter," says DeMatteo, who lists the band's musical influences as "pain, happiness and just about everything in between." Mellodrone has been through Eugene a couple of times on smaller tours. This time they're promoting the Jan. 24 release of their new album, Box. They'll be co-headlining with the similarly influenced, LA-based Marjorie Fair.
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