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Get
Your Politico-Folk Groove On Catie Curtis never loses her sense of humor. As she tours in Virginia before heading out to the West Coast, Curtis notes that Virginia is about to vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. She's outraged, clearly, but she quips, "The next thing they're going to do is change their bumper sticker to say, 'Virginia is for some lovers.'"
Curtis released Long Night Moon a couple of months ago, and damn, are true folk fans and fans of both her forthright politics and her sense of humor glad. Her last album, Dreaming in Romance Languages, came out in March of 2004. Curtis' usual time between albums is two years, but she says, "I attribute the extra half year to the fact that I've got two kids now." In the time between records, she and her partner Liz (of "Elizabeth" and "Magnolia Street" fame) adopted a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, and they even got married in their home state, Massachusetts, where same-sex marriage is legal. Some of the songs on Long Night Moon, like its title track, refer to the kids directly. But Curtis says that almost every song on the album has something to do with being a co-mom, whether the song concerns relationship shifts or "wanting the world to be a better place because the kids are involved." The national response — or lack thereof — to Hurricane Katrina anchors "People Look Around," the album's most talked-about song. Curtis wrote it with friend and fellow singer-songwriter Mark Erelli. "People Look Around" is a catchy tune with serious, angry lyrics — "Jesus said 'Feed the hungry'/Jesus said 'Help the poor'/'Take care of each other, love one another'/People look around, we let them down." But again, Curtis' sense of humor comes into play: the album's final track is "People Look Around," the karaoke version. "It's the most groovy track I've ever produced," Curtis says. "A lot of people don't know how to play an instrument, but they could be singing, spreading the political message while enjoying the groove." Curtis has been singing songs of love, songs of protest and songs of wry observation since her first album, 1991's recently rereleased From Years to Hours. Yes, that's a nod to Virginia Woolf; Curtis, who went to Brown University, often frequents bookstores and finds inspiration in literature. But fans know her better from 1996's Truth from Lies, which contains both the perenially popular "Dad's Yard" and "Radical," a sweet love song ("I'm not being radical when I kiss you/I don't love you to make a point/It's the hollow of my heart that cries when I miss you") which may have been the song a Boston paper meant when it said Curtis wrote "gay anthems." Since she didn't think of the song that way, Curtis decided she'd better write an anthem. The result was 2003's "Honest World," often requested in concert and available on Curtis' self-produced album Acoustic Valentine. She hasn't been to Eugene since the 2005 Eugene Celebration, when she sang to a frozen, soaked audience that retreated periodically to beer tents for a hint of warmth. "I'm looking forward to playing an intimate concert in Eugene," she says, and as usual, she'll be taking occasional requests from the audience. Joni Laurence, a warm-voiced Midwesterner who recently moved to Portland and who just returned from a CD release tour for With No Apology, opens for Curtis. "She seems like she's really going to get going in Oregon," Curtis says, and Laurence's local fans, who often host her for house concerts, agree. The combination offers an excellent night of humor-leavened singer-songwriter bliss.
Up from the Ocean Once upon a time, there were Unicorns. Like the stories say, they were rare and alluring, drawing the attention of any who heard of them. They disappeared too soon, leaving only rumors and myths in their wake.
What the stories don't say is that they also wrote a damn fine hook, were oddly obsessed with bones ("Jelly Bones," a piece of pop brilliance) and ghosts ("Tuff Ghost") and put out a second album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?, that was one of the best of 2003. And then they broke up. Last year, two-thirds of the Unicorns formed a new group, Islands. This April, they released Return to the Sea, a playfully logical progression from that beloved Unicorns record. Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur's sense of whimsy remains intact, if not increased; Return plays like the soundtrack to a really bizarre video game. But when the lyrics start to come through more clearly — beyond ear-grabbing snippets about bones, sailing on a whalebone and hot rains made of magma —you realize maybe there is a story here, one that traipses through adventures and puns, up volcanoes and across the sea. It's a story that dances, jaunty and skillful, rambling and creative, through styles and genres, always led by Diamonds' low-key vocals and buoyed by a tumbling feeling of forward momentum, the anticipation of something new around every bend. Though Diamonds is the main songwriter, his collaborator and drummer, Tambeur, left the band in May, which could leave a gap. But as their Web site says, "Islands are forever." And hey, the band is still home to a pair of prizewinning Nintendo players and Woody Guthrie's grandson. Or so they claim. Islands, Blueprint and Subtitle (who appears on Islands' song "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone") play at 9 pm Wednesday, Nov. 8 at the WOW Hall. $10 adv., $12 door. — Molly Templeton
Humble Magic
Bassoon lovers, rejoice! Normally, we must pity the poor bassoon. It's a big, beautiful instrument with a lovely deep voice, sure, but does it ever get the attention paid to, say, a flute? Are its practitioners divas on the level of principal string players? And does the bassoon have its own super-touring solo player stars out there? No, says UO bassoon professor Steve Vacchi. "The bassoon is a humble instrument; we don't usually have much going on melodically." But at the Oregon Mozart Players' "Magic Bassoon" concerts, coming this weekend to a concert hall near you, preconceptions of the bassoon will poof into the thin and vibrating air. Frank Morelli, the featured soloist at these two concerts, "plays like an opera singer sings," Vacchi says. People might wonder, Vacchi thinks, "What's so magic about the bassoon?" But in the program, which begins with Richard Strauss' Duet-Concertino for clarinet, bassoon, strings and harp and continues with Mozart's Bassoon Concerto in B-flat Major, Vacchi says the audience will hear a true master. "He plays so expressively that the bassoon is very lyrical and very vocal." The concert concludes with Schubert's Symphony No. 5, prominently featuring the bassoon in its third movement. And that's not all. In another of the OMP's special pre-concert recitals, UO piano professor Hung-Yun Chu and Vacchi join Morelli in a series of charming shorter works. Whether you love the Grandfather in "Peter and the Wolf" or you're wondering who died and made the bassoon God for the weekend, these shows are for you. The Morelli/Chu/Vacchi recital is 8 pm Thursday, Nov. 2 at Beall Hall. $12-$20. The "Magic Bassoon" concerts are 8 pm Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Hult Center and 8 pm Sunday, Nov. 5 at Beall Hall. $12-$30. — Suzi Steffen
Your First Glance at Emily Jensen
Emily Jensen's path to music has been long and varied. Raised in Juneau, Alaska, where it rains a lot more than it does here, she began singing on stage with her father at age 8. She traveled alone throughout Italy, Turkey, Greece and Syria, then moved to New Orleans. At Loyola, she majored in music therapy, studied classical opera and got married. Most of Jensen and her husband's family relocated from Alaska to Eugene, and the couple felt that New Orleans was not quite right for them. "We were worried about buying a house that was 40 feet below sea level," Jensen says. "[My husband] quit his job on a whim, and we moved here without work or anything!" In New Orleans, Jensen had been gigging full time, including performing with opera companies, but it took her a while to become familiar with Eugene's local music. "I just didn't feel like I had the ability to jump into the scene here," she remembers. "I didn't know a lot of musicians here in town." Eventually, she found an outlet for her music therapy skills, working with an organization that helps autistic children. When Jensen returned to music, she recorded her EP, First Glance, with the help of an old friend. Her music is a folksy, rootsy combination that pulls from many Southern traditions, and that New Orleans grit is there though her voice can't help but reveal classical training. There's even some drumming that gives an Eastern tinge to her palette. Jensen enjoyed the birth of her daughter, Ruby, a year ago, and Ruby made her presence known during recording. "I think on 90 percent of the takes we had to erase something because there was 'la la la la' in the background!" Jensen jokes. Fifteen percent of the profits from First Glance will go to local non-profit Doulas Supporting Teens, an organization that helps pregnant teens have a positive, healthy birth experience. Emily Jensen plays 8 pm, Sunday, Nov. 5 at Sam Bond's. 21+ show. $3. — Vanessa Salvia
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