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It's
A Punk Show, Dammit!
As record labels go, News From Nowhere Records is as small and D.I.Y. as it gets, revolving around just two guys, Happy Bastards/Detonators drummer Sean Schock and Happy Bastards guitarist Saxon Wood. The pair started N. F. N. "on the front porch, when Happy Bastards should have been practicing," said Wood. "We and the Detonators were having trouble finding anyone we liked to release our stuff, so we decided in true punk rock style to do it ourselves," explained Wood. N.F.N. offers several releases including a Happy Bastards/Human Certainty split LP along with The Detonators' 1988 record Balls To You, and two new Detonators singles. Both bands will play at WOW Hall's Reignition Vol. 14, a monthly showcase of local music. Though N. F. N. has a growing roster of local and foreign bands, another, more high profile label, Profane Existence, will be releasing the Happy Bastards' newest, Box of Hard Knocks. It should be street-ready in time for an April 20 show in Eugene with I Object. The Happy Bastards first made contact with folks from Profane Existence last year when the band played the C.L.I.T. Fest, a female-oriented punk festival, in Minneapolis, where Profane Existence is based. Wood said PE people were there and saw the show. "They knew our drummer Sean from way back and agreed to release our record," he said. N. F. N. hopes to open a small punk rock record stall at Android clothing store, 1018 Willamette St. within a couple weeks. Another band playing this month's Reigntion Rock Showcase is The Detonators, whose front man Bruce Hartnell is cornering the market on drinking holidays as part of his world domination plan. His gringo tex-mex-punk outfit Los Mex Pistols del Norte takes care of Cinco de Mayo; he has a cast of characters under the moniker The Glenwood Rebel Rovers playing Irish tunes for Saint Patrick; and now he has a German polka band playing Black Sabbath covers tentatively titled Beowulf Tone Poem, with Bruno Bersani singing (yes, the hot dog guy . . . he's sung in bands before!). Where did the inspiration for this genetically-mutated experiment come from? Hartnell says, watching basketball games on TV. "You hear the college marching bands playing 'Iron Man' all the time!" Somebody had to do it, and you heard it here first. All proceeds from the show will be donated to help the WOW Hall improve their sound and lighting systems.
Blow
Into This Event It can be called the blues harp, mouth organ, tin sandwich and Mississippi saxophone, but to most of us it's just the harmonica. This mass-produced instrument usually accompanies blues, jazz and folk music, and generally isn't thought of as a starring piece. But you're thinking it's about time the harmonica got some well-deserved attention, aren't ya? Well, Eugene, it's your lucky week. The 4th Annual Harmonica Blow Out is here, with the Northwest's premier harmonicist Bill Rhoades acting as master of ceremonies before succumbing to his need to blow. Literally, not figuratively, of course. Rhoades, of the group Bill Rhoades & The Party Kings, will introduce harmonica connoisseurs Dave Mathis, local Hank Shreve, Mike Moothart, Jon Silvermoon and Matt Sonnenfelt. Each performer will jam for about 20 minutes then reassemble onstage to "blow out" the end o' the show. This is a collection of the Northwest's top harmonicists, and was patterned after the Portland Blow Out former Eugene resident Rhoades organizes each year. "Since [Rhoades] had a harmonica blow out in Portland, I figured we should do one in Eugene," says Greg Sale, organizer of the show. And Eugene harmonica enthusiasts couldn't be happier … about an event that blows. 4th Annual Harmonica Blow Out. 9 pm Friday, 3/3. Mac's at the Vet's Club, $5.
Appleseed
Ascending Some CDs are best listened to while driving, the contained space and changing scenery bringing out the best in the songs. Some are background music, some for parties, some for playing while sprawling on the floor in the dark. And some are for headphones.
The Appleseed Cast's fifth full-length album, Peregrine, falls into that last category. On a computer, in the car, its dynamic sound fades, drifting in the space between the speaker and the ear. In 13 songs, the band changes pace frequently, building songs up with distorted guitar and plaintive vocals only to reverse directions and tear them into tiny, resonant shreds in which every drumbeat is as important as any melody. The sonic skylines of "Ceremony" and "Sunlit Ascending" call to mind The Cure; "February," an emotional ode to past anniversaries, pairs a stumbling guitar melody with Chris Crisci's stark vocal line. Though Peregrine flirts with some musical traits associated with the "emo" tag — lyrics packed with longing and heartbreak, anthemic choruses, an occasional tinkling keyboard — to slot The Appleseed Cast into such a particular category would be doing them a disservice. Peregrine lays its heart bare, but never asks you to feel sorry for it; instead, it finds inspiration in both melodic beauty and swelling, exuberant noise. Atmospheric, intimate, sprawling and gently experimental, Peregrine was recorded mostly live, which bodes extremely well for the band's upcoming WOW Hall show. Former Waxwing frontman Rocky Votolato is among the three other bands on the bill. Makers, Votolato's newest release, is an introspective, heart-on-sleeve, largely acoustic affair, laid-back and unexpectedly radio-friendly — if there were a radio station playing those quiet, scene-setting pop songs that seem to currently have a home only on the best TV shows. ("White Daisy Passing," unsurprisingly, was recently used on The O.C.) Votolato's spare, elegant songwriting sets a perfect stage for his dusky voice and evocative lyrics. The album's closing tracks, "Where We Left Off" and "Makers," are a study in contrasts, one a harmonica-decorated slow build, the other a strangely uplifting barstool ballad. When Votolato sings, "Heaven or heavenless, we're all headed for the same sweet darkness," a pedal steel soaring behind the lyrics, it's more comfort than downer.
Jazzy
Classics Imagine if Britney Spears were to ask Philip Glass to compose a piece for her. That's roughly what one of America's leading pop musicians of an earlier era, Benny Goodman, did when he commissioned the leading American composer of his day, Aaron Copland, to write a clarinet concerto for him. But it wasn't an unprecedented request: Igor Stravinsky composed a concerto for big band swingman Woody Herman, and Duke Ellington and Miles Davis didn't mind covering the occasional classical number, composed recently or otherwise. Too bad that sort of interplay doesn't happen often enough these days, but we can hear some of those earlier American jazz-classical collaborations at The Shedd on Thursday, March 9, when musicians from Eugene's American Symphonia led by stellar clarinetist Michael Anderson play 20th century classical works written for or performed by Goodman. The concert opens with "Benny's Gig" for clarinet and bass, which Morton Gould wrote for Goodman, then continues with a couple of delightfully jaunty, jazzy sonatas for clarinet and piano by Francis Poulenc and Leonard Bernstein. Anderson will play a Goodman favorite, Stravinsky's "Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo," and Eugene's Victor Steinhardt will play George Gershwin's memorable little "Three Preludes." The concert closes with another 20th century classic Goodman commissioned, Bela Bartok's dance-driven Contrasts, based on Hungarian folk tunes.
You can hear some of these same composers at the Eugene Symphony's March 16 concert, featuring the kind of American orchestral repertoire we used to hear from the Oregon Festival of American Music. Even though we've probably heard them too often, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Copland's suite from his ballet music for Billy the Kid remain timeless works of near universal appeal. Pianist Kevin Cole will also solo on Gershwin's hard-driving, too-seldom heard Concerto in F, and the program opens with the strutting dance episodes from Bernstein's dizzily boisterous music theater masterpiece, On the Town. Bernstein — America's greatest man of music — is again on the program in the Oregon Mozart Players March 9 concert. UO faculty violinist Fritz Gearhart is an ideal exponent of one of Bernstein's finest works, the dazzling Serenade after Plato's Symposium. And kudos to the Mozart Players for once again featuring a contemporary work, Richard Danielpour's Apparitions. Danielpour just collaborated with Toni Morrison on her opera, Margaret Garner, and has written for stars such as Yo-Yo Ma and Dawn Upshaw. The program boasts another overfamiliar oldie, Mozart's serenade, A Little Night Music. Bernstein managed to bridge the pop and classical worlds. On March 11, Eugene Concert Choir performs a work by a contemporary composer whose music crosses the borders between jazz, classical, world and so-called New Age. For almost four decades, the Paul Winter Consort has won admirers for its pro-environmental messages and melodic sounds. The Grammy-winning saxophonist was one of the first to incorporate world music influences in jazz. At the Hult Center's Silva Hall, the nine-member group will accompany the ECC in a performance of Winter's Missa Gaia, his 1981 celebration of the Earth and its denizens. The piece also includes a gospel singer, recorded voices of whales, wolves, seals and birds along with the Consort's piano, percussion, cello and more. You can hear more world music fusion on March 11 when the acclaimed duo Hapa yokes Hawaiian melodies and stories to acoustic folk music at The Shedd. And you can hear more fine choral singing at the Hult on March 4 when the UO's acclaimed female vocal ensemble, Divisi, hosts the quarterfinals of a major college a cappella singing competition. If you haven't gotten enough Mozart in this 250th anniversary year, there's ample opportunity this month. On March 3-4, the UO Opera Ensemble will perform his great comic opera, The Marriage of Figaro, at LCC. The cast boasts a number of accomplished veteran singer-actors, accompanied by the University Symphony. Mozart wrote some of his most glorious music for this subtly subversive, proto-feminist story, which some historians regard as an early pro-democratic statement. And on March 8, Taiwan's Chiayi University Chamber Orchestra brings yet more Mozart to the UO's Beall Hall, including the overture to Figaro and the magnificent Symphony #35, along with music by Cimarosa, Mendelssohn, and music from their home country. Also at Beall, guest violinist Jasper Wood, accompanied by UO faculty pianist David Riley, play music by Mozart, Ysaye, Schubert, and Prokofiev's darkly dramatic Violin Sonata #1 on March 5. And on March 6, the mighty Oregon Percussion Ensemble deploys 94 noisemakers to perform that mega-percussion masterwork, Labyrinth, by the Portland-born American maverick, Lou Harrison. The master of melody somehow managed to coax trenchant tunes out of bells, a saw, flowerpots, brakedrums, a water gong, and various Native American, Asian, and other exotic instruments — it's as much a visual as an auditory experience. The concert also includes 20th century and contemporary music by Milhaud, Nigel Westlake and others.
Golden Oldies
Dear Elvira, I know the Oak Ridge Boys aren't exactly your favorite band. I can't imagine going through life, "Hi, I'm Elvira," flinching as the person either breaks into the famous doo-wop bass line from the song that bears your name, or else having to endure the knowledge that the person is fighting the urge to do so with every ounce of self-restraint. Galling, too, must be that deep in your secret heart even you have a hard time suppressing the occasional pop-a-oom-pow! from escaping your own lips. Such is the power of the Oak Ridge Boys. Even if their genre isn't exactly your cup of tea, you have to admit that they can build a harmony as sweet and inviting as the most sonorous mourning dove. You can't resist. Though their biggest hit-making days are long behind them, the Oaks, as they call themselves in press materials now, stick to a touring schedule that keeps them as busy as ever, harmonizing their repertoire to appreciative audiences. One of those songs, Elvira, is bound to be "Elvira." When they start to sing it, just deal with it the best you can. The Oak Ridge Boys perform at 7:30 pm March 7 at Silva Hall. $28.50, $32.50, $38.50, $44.50. Call 682-5000 for tickets. — John Ginn Wynn the Time is Right
Steve Wynn is a skinny white musician who creates critically acclaimed rock music and starred in the '80s Paisley Underground band The Dream Syndicate. He will be coming to Eugene with his band The Miracle Three, and you should step it up and catch the show. Richard Roundtree is a statuesque black actor who creates complex characters for film and television and starred in the '70s Blaxploitation film Shaft. He will not be in Eugene any time soon, but you should step it up and see him spit catchphrases like, "Cut the crap, man, this is Shaft." You may not know it, but these two artists' careers have parallels. Wynn's stardom came quickly on the heels of The Dream Syndicate's debut release The Days of Wine and Roses. Roundtree also found fame early in his film career when Shaft became an instant hit, partly because of lines like "Up yours, baby." After early successes, both Wynn and Roundtree produced unspectacular follow-ups. Critics received The Dream Syndicate's The Medicine Show like an envelope of anthrax; and Shaft in Africa and Shaft's Big Score, although hilarious to viewers who enjoy hearing the word "honkey" used liberally, tanked with critics. But after shedding their respective artistic vehicles, both Wynn and Roundtree have found their own styles and successes. Roundtree was well-received in TV shows like "Soul Food" and movies like 1995's Se7en, while Wynn's newest album, …tick…tick…tick, has been called "a genuine gem of an album." Catch Wynn and The Miracle Three with Dan Jones (sorry, no Shaft) opening at 9:30 pm Saturday, March 4 at Sam Bond's Garage. $6. — Tim O'Rourke
Mike TV Doesn't Like You Have you ever wanted to write something sarcastic based on events in your day that went awry? Need something different than putting it down on a LiveJournal? Well, if Get Set Go lead singer/guitarist Mike TV doesn't like you, he'll put on a fake smile, walk away, and then pen a song about it. "When I started doing that, it really wasn't intentional, but yeah, that's how it eventually turned out," says Mike with a laugh. "Nowadays, especially on the most recent album, we were looking at more songs that hit below the belt and we put them on there. It really puts several of those things in perspective." The band's new album, Ordinary World, is exactly what it suggests: a look at the ordinary world and everyday experiences through the eyes of the singer. The songs are all tongue-in-cheek with titles like "I Hate Everyone" and "Die Motherfucker Die," blending a happy-sounding folk/indie melody with lyrics that rip on everything from politics to romance to that one person at the cash register who has to pay for everything with coins and coupons. It'll make you laugh and at the same time sympathize with Mike's autobiographical plight, because chances are you've experienced the same thing at one point or another. Get Set Go plays at 9:00 pm Friday, Mar. 3 at Diablo's. $5. — Dan Hoyt
Swingin' Along It turns out that Swing Shift is quite a common name for a swing band. Who'd have thought? "I found out about the other Swing Shifts because we were playing the Newport Oregon Jazz Festival last year and someone sent me over a bio of our band," drummer Jim Douglas says. "I found it rather humorous because the bio was of a different Swing Shift." Eugene's Swing Shift, a 17-person big band, has been a dance-starting entity for more than 20 years. The band plays original songs along with covers of classic and contemporary swing. In any case, the object is to get the dance floor rockin'. "A big band that doesn't have dance music is just not functional," Douglas says. The band has been playing at John Henry's on the first Friday of the month for awhile and has attracted some large crowds. Douglas says that it's kind of a strange venue for swing, but that fans are enjoying it. Swing Shift records every Friday performance while they work on a new album. "We want to document what the band has done," Douglas says. This week's performance will be part of the First Friday ArtWalk downtown. Swing Shift goes on at 7:30 pm Friday, March 3 at John Henry's. — Danny Cross
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