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BATTLE READY YOUR BANDS

June 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, June 1, 2010, Volume 3, Number 126

Vol. 3, No. 126

BATTLE READY YOUR BANDS
…and bring a helmet.
Ready for a night full of free music? Ready to cheer? Ready to boo? Well, you’d best be ready for just about anything because there will be music of all kinds at the 10th annual Battle of the Bands at Oregon State University this Friday at 5 PM.
If you want to catch the start of the Battle, you may want to show up at 4 PM. That’s when Portland band Brightwood was originally slated to kick off the show, without competing, but they have since dropped off the playbill. In previous years there has been a DJ out to start off the music, but what will happen to this 4-5 o’clock slot is yet to be decided.
If you arrive and there’s no music yet, it’s no reason not to enjoy the Quad. Calapooia Brewing will be serving up food and beer in the fenced beer garden on the far side of the quad, opposite the Memorial Union and the two stages that bands will alternate on. There may be a few other booths to check out, and some of the bands will be selling merchandise too. Don’t forget a disc or a ball to toss around if you’d like – nobody says you have to push up against the stage to enjoy the free music.
Or perhaps you’ll pick out a spot to park for a day or two. The day after the Battle is the Flat Tail Music Festival, and the winner of the Battle of the Bands on Friday will kick off the music Saturday, too. The winning band also gets $500 and will host next year’s Battle. Second place comes in at a $300 prize, third place is $100.
THE BANDS:
5:00 PM – EvLove
EvLove is a last minute addition to the line-up, following the cancellation of original openers Otto. The group is a four-piece local band that bills themselves as minimalist rock. Unfortunately there was not time enough before printing to find out more.
5:30 PM – Of Saints and Shadows
Of Saints and Shadows is a 5 piece metal band with a penchant for breakdowns and guitar solos. The band has been together for three years now and has played everything from high school parking lots to the Hawthorne Theater in Portland. If you made it to the Battle last year, you’ll remember these guys as the second place winner. They may sound a bit different with a new lead singer, but they expect to be playing to perfection as they’ve spent the last several months recording a new EP – available free at the show.
The band has more info at their FaceBook and MySpace pages, and had this to say:
“We like to have a good time on stage; we’re not strangers to the ridiculous outfit to spice up the show. Of Saints and Shadows is more than just a feast for the ears.”
6:00 PM – Hallways of Always
Hallways of Always is a somewhat thrown-together funk/rock jam band comprised of three local musicians with much Battle experience. Guitarist and vocalist Matt Jager has played at the Battle of the Bands three times already, including his honorary membership in last year’s winning band, Pseudoboss. Bassist Nate Nerenberg has done the Battle twice, and drummer Matt Haide has been in once. The threesome didn’t quite expect to play the Battle, so there’s not much info, merchandise or music out there to be found, just know that they have a few songs set to go but they really hit their stride with improvisation.
The best part of being in the band according to Haide:
“Either the Alpacas, the geese or the random spur-of-the-moment jams.”
6:30 PM – Stateside
Stateside is a four piece band that plays alternative rock styled after the likes of Coldplay and Death Cab for Cutie. You may have heard the band play at last year’s Battle of the Bands, but if you want to get a better idea you can get a hold of the MUPC’s sampler CD with the band’s best song, “Come Find Me.” The band has no website or music online to hear, but they’ve been practicing a lot and working on new material so really you’ll just have to check them out.
“None of us have the same musical taste; it makes it interesting to see what comes out when we write,” said guitarist Doug Weiss.
7:00 PM – The Angries
This is the first time at the Battle of the Bands for The Angries. The band is a loud and fast punk band with an energy that will definitely get you moving and a passion for their music that shows. This local four piece group has been around for three years now, has a full-length CD and an EP out – both are available at Happy Trails and Interzone, and will be available at the Battle. You may want to check out the CD’s or the bands MySpace of Facebook page to sample their music, with a goal of 15 songs in 30 minutes even favorites like “Hitler Youth (In Power Suits” will fly by.
“We try to keep our performances high-energy and to-the-point; none of that stage bantering, guitar noodling bullshit,” said singer Caitlin Garets.
7:30 PM – The Likeness
The Likeness is a brand new band – the Battle will be only their second show.  Many of the five members have played at the Battle before, and while the line-up of The Likeness is set, who plays what instrument changes depending on what song they are playing. “All That I Am,” is the one song you can listen to on their FaceBook and MySpace pages, though “Mighty Wind” is a personal favorite of the bands and definitely a song to listen for. The band bills there music as indie rock/americana and styles after Coldplay, and Jesus Culture, among others.
They also have a larger message: “We want people to know that they can be truly free and truly loved and the way is Jesus.”
8:00 PM – Target for Tomorrow and The Horns of Destruction
This will be the second Battle performance for rock band Target for Tomorrow, the third if you count a previous version of the band known as Pilot Light. This year there will be eight musicians in the band, with instruments ranging from bass and guitars to clarinets and flugelhorns. You can check them out on FaceBook and MySpace, and you’ll want to because such diversity leads to equally diverse music. This band even took three months off of performing to write up all-new music for this set – timed at 29 and a half minutes so far, so they may pull it all off in a 30 minute set. It all comes down to the best and last two songs the band calls “the 12-minute-monster.”
“Basically it boils down to playing music that smashes styles and influences together in ways that no one has heard before,” said drummer Charley McGowan.
8:30 PM – Future Sunz
According to vocalist Ben Metzger, this duo began with “underground lyrical hip-hop” in 1998. They even played the  OSU Battle of the Bands back in 2002. After a long hiatus Metzger and Chris Kennedy reformed Future Sunz, adding “futuristic electronic party” elements for a sound now billed as Electronic Hip Hop. The music of Future Sunz is very much focused on the state of the world today, from oil to war to politics and society. There’s some samples to be found online, but the new album “Tomorrow” won’t be out until this fall – the band will be distributing 5-song sampler CD’s at the Battle, though.
“Future Sunz demands that the listener break the chains that keep us slaves to a growing threat of Orwellian class slavery and thought control,” said Metzger.
9:00 PM – Motæ
Motæ is a four-piece progressive rock band with tinges of Latin, Jazz, and world music. As a band, the members are always trying to incorporate new aspects to their music and, having played at least one show a week for the last several months, they’ve had chances to work in plenty. Rather than getting worked up over the Battle, Motæ is coming in calm and cool as they would for any other show, ready to perform their best and inspire others with music. You can hear that music on any of the bands several online outlets, including Reverb Nation, or grab a copy of the new EP at the Battle.
“It’s our opinion that music is what it is today because musicians throughout history have trusted their instincts and pursued a sound that wasn’t popular at the time.”
9:30 PM – Lost Tortoise
This will be the first Battle performance for Lost Tortoise, the last band in competition. A local 5 piece band, they’ll be rocking the stage with an eclectic mix of rock, funk, blues and progressive stylings that they’ve been working on for 3 and a half years running. Don’t be surprised if they switch styles mid-song, the band is good at it. This is one group you’ve definitely heard of before – they play around Corvallis all the time, but if you need a refresher you can check them out on the usual websites, or find some video on YouTube.
“Hard core rocking, technical prowess, a variety of musical stylings – there’s something for everyone,” said guitarist Rawley Greene.
10:00 PM – pseudoboss – Host and winner of the 2009 Battle of the Bands
Singer/rhythm guitarist Noah Stroup and drummer Chris Harver take the stage for what will be their 4th Battle of the Bands performance together. Lead guitarist Connor O’Shea rounds out the threesome described by fans as the product of a threesome between Queens of the Stone Age, Rage Against the Machine, and Led Zeppelin. You can check them out on MySpace or at www.pseudoboss.com. “I’ve Been There,” is Stroup’s favorite song pseudoboss has so far, and it’s just one of several you’ll hear as the band rocks the stage while the final votes are tallied for this year’s winning band.
Some advice from one winning band to the next:
“Tune. Practice. And once you’re on stage to perform it’s too late to get nervous, so just play your guts out.”

~Robin Canfield

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Take Me To Your Neighbors

June 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, May 25, 2010, Volume 3, Number 125

Vol. 3, No. 125

Take Me To Your Neighbors

Lately you may have seen two words on fliers around town that don’t seem to have any rational connection. All right, so really that happens a lot, especially in the world of music, especially in Corvallis. This article is specifically about Space Neighbors, a band that actually lives up to its name.
“Uh-oh. This space neighborhood looks kind of sketchy,” Philip J. Fry in Futurama, Bender’s Game Part 1.
All right, so living up to any part of Futurama may be a lofty goal. Luckily, it isn’t the sketchy part the band is going for.
“The name came because we were all within a mile of each other in south town, so neighbors,” explained Space Neighbors drummer, Rigel 7.
What started as a line from TV and a happy coincidence for the original trio became not just a name, but a great idea for music.
“Once we locked into Space Neighbors we found a lot of songs could easily be space-themed,” explained bassist and vocalist Yohan Solo.
“The name helped us develop. We had this hidden cache of space-themed songs,” Rigel 7 said, adding “There’s an overall galactic space theme with funk.”
In their first year, known as “The Space Age,” the band turned out songs like “One Space,” “Your Space or Mine,” and “Space Circus.” Sometimes they break into a space-related theme song mid-way through one of their own songs. Each member took on Space Neighbor names too, as you may have noticed with Rigel 7 and Yohan Solo. There is also the guitarist, The Mysterious Planet Joel, keyboardist and vocalist Milky J, and vocalist and percussionist Jennatronics – also the 2009 Alchy Award Winner for Best Acoustic Performer.
Prior to Space Neighbors, each member has been in myriad other bands playing a variety of music. Planet Joel came from the east coast two years ago, about the same time that Yohan Solo came up from the bay area where he’d played rockabilly jazz with Caravan West, and funk with Booty Sanctuary. The rest of the band is more locally based. While Milky J hails from the Phoenix area, he has been in Corvallis for some time now. This reporter first met him as part of Northstar Gypsies in 2004. He later played in the group This is Us. Since the year 2000, Rigel 7 has jammed in both The Southtown Hounds and The Hounds, played acoustic in Leaf Hoppers, done Cajun and Zydeco in Bon Ton Roulet, and also jazz in Rhythm and Green. Jennatronics is force in her own right, but has been covered often in The Alchemist under her common name, Jenna Summer Smith.
Space Neighbors officially formed just over a year ago to play at May Day, an event they were happy to return to this year. Rigel, Yohan and Joel had been playing together before then.
“We’d met off and on trying to write hip-hop,” Yohan Solo said.
“Then we floated around and decided we wanted to do more funk,” Rigel 7 said.
“I wanted to write reggae but everyone was doing it,” Yohan added, “Hip-hop to funk is a good mash-up.”
Once they officially became Space Neighbors, things really took off. The group honed their skills together and are now up to 13 original songs and about 10 covers, like the Donna Summers song “I feel loved,” and a funk version of The Grateful Dead’s “Shakedown Street.” Of course, when a funk band plays covers one can usually expect to hear some Parliament, but this is a smaller funk band.
“You really need a horn section to do the pure funk,” Rigel 7 explained, and later added “We’re really working on that core section right now. You get too many people trying to write songs and it gets difficult.”
“We’re keeping the neighborhood small,” Yohan said, “We just have to buckle down and get the album done.”
That’s not to say the band doesn’t dabble. Recently the horn section from Sar Shalom sat in with the band at a wedding. Besides the music, at the average Space Neighbors show you can expect things of visual interest – lights shows, fire spinning and such. Of course, music is the strong point, especially at a funk show.
“There’s more to it than just dancing, but we want people to dance,” Yohan said.
You may have danced to some Space Neighbors at the last May Day, or at Cloud 9 on the 15th. If you missed those, you can catch the band at Bomb’s Away Cafe on the 29th, and later this summer at the Da Vinci Days. Keep tabs on their upcoming shows at the bands Facebook and MySpace pages, or give them a listen on their YouTube channel.
~Robin Canfield

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Records Revival

May 18, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, May 18, 2010, Volume 3, Number 124

Vol. 3, No. 124

Records Revival

In case you didn’t know, vinyl (aka records) have never really gone away. They just hung out in the background for a while, letting other formats of music media come and go. Now, in the time of the most versatile music format so far, the portable music player, records are making a strong comeback.
“By and large the quality of vinyl is much better now,” said Doug DiCarolis, owner of Happy Trails.
Many new records these days are on 180 Gram vinyl, different from the cheaper, mass-market records of old only by weight, thickness and amount of vinyl used in the creation of the record.  One new aesthetic change is the release of different albums on colored vinyl – white, orange, red or multi-colored, and even albums like the Sublime releases with the cover image on the vinyl itself.
Audiophiles often argue that vinyl just sounds better, and with 180 Gram vinyl the sound quality lasts because the heavier vinyl stands up better to the wear of normal listening.
“Vinyl does sound better,” DiCarolis added.
The industry affirmed this belief, or their faith in audiophiles, with the release of the USB turntable (aka record player) for copying your vinyl and turning it into a digital recording. The average USB turntable looked quite bland at first, but the USB attribute has since worked it’s way into many home theater turntable systems.
In Corvallis, there are now two places to purchase a turntable. First is Audiofiles, on 9th Street with four choices for turntables ranging from $150 – $900. Each model reflects a classic turntable design, work with either belt or direct drives, and one model converts records directly into MP3 form. Starting in early May, Gracewinds Music, 2008 Alchy Award winner for Best Music Shop, is the second place in Corvallis where you can buy a turntable. They carry two models from Gemini, a belt drive model for $129.95 and a direct drive for $149.95. Both models are very modern-looking, and the belt drive comes with a USB plug.
“I listen to vinyl at home, so when I saw it was coming back we had to,” said Nate Wagner of Gracewinds, on bringing in the turntables, “The main reason we wanted to do this – it helps out local business. The more he can sell vinyl the more turntables we put out.”
“It’s sorely needed. I’ve had many customers come to me interested in turntables,” DiCarolis of Happy Trails explained, “If half the people that tell me they wanted a turntable go over there, they will be inundated.”
More people with turntables is good news for record collectors, as it means more and more records coming through Happy Trails, the best place in town to buy new vinyl. Actually it’s the only shop other than Fred Meyer, where you can choose from a small selection of new and re-released vinyl.
“Each week we bring in new vinyl, a minimum of twenty a week,” DiCarolis said, “In the last two days we brought in around forty records alone.”
These records are a mix of new music and re-issues. One of the boons about many of the new releases, for example “Everywhere At Once,” by Lyrics Born, is the inclusion of a code for a free download of a digital copy of the album. Some other new releases on vinyl include a copy on CD. Re-issues are more likely to have extras like posters. One example is Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” that comes with three posters, one more than the original version; the new run of Jimi Hendrix re-issues have extra booklets inside. The one unfortunate side to most re-issues is that many do not fully reproduce the original packaging – most original Parliament albums have pop-ups, fold-outs, comic books and what not, but not so in today’s re-issues.
If you’re trying to find that cool original cover, say like one in the picture, or if you’re just looking for cheaper music, you can always go with old vinyl. Happy Trails has a room full of old records upstairs, most for just $1, though some go as high as $5. Those records are guaranteed to play. Cheap old records without that guarantee are plentiful in Corvallis; there’s always a box somewhere near the back in The Arc, The Cat’s Meow, and the OSU Folk Thrift Store. Garage sales also make for a fun treasure hunt. The best place to take a chance on old vinyl is Goodwill. There vinyl knowledge is very lacking, so if you see a $20 Led Zeppelin album in the glass case you must beware that it may be so scratched you’ll never hope to get a song out of it. At the same time, you may find a gem in perfect condition for $2 when it should go for $30 or more.
Accessories like needles are going to be available at the store where you bought your turntable, or online. You’ll have to make a trip to a record store in Portland to pick up sleeves for those gorgeous covers, or there are many to choose from online.
Most of all remember, just because you can’t carry a record-player around in your pocket is no reason not to have one. Vinyl is a fun and exciting avenue of music to explore, and the turntables to play them on are only getting more affordable and easier to find.

~ Robin Canfield

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Alice in Wonderland – short, lonely review

April 15, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, April 13, 2010, Volume 3, Number 119

Vol. 3, No. 119

Alice in Wonderland – short, lonely review

The new Alice in Wonderland is actually a return to Wonderland, set a dozen years or so after the original. While kids will enjoy the tale, anyone looking for a return to the wonderland of their childhood will be disappointed. In fact, it’s not even Wonderland anymore; Alice is told she heard it wrong as a child: it’s actually Underland.
The sole character in the film to achieve both likeable and friendly qualities is everyone’s usual favorite, the Cheshire Cat. Visually the cat is excellent, but making him so friendly is contrary to his intended role and deprives the story it’s best source of chaos.
Instead the task of chaos falls to Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. While Depp is a fine choice for the Hatter as the character was intended, here he is made not only a loving devotee of Alice, he is given the role of hero, a role that feels as forced as the story itself. The entire movie is spent looking for a hero, one Lewis Carroll easily provided with the White Knight – a character never brought into the film, which is surprising what with all the other outside references and usually-disregarded pieces of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. That is the sole point on which the Hatter excels. He loves spouting out maddening strings of what seem to be unintelligible words and phrases but are actually parts of the nonsensical poems and other prose Carroll had in the original story. Then Burton had to go and try to explain how the Hatter became mad in the first place and all the fun goes out of it.
The same goes for nearly every character – most of them play their part well, Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen included, but the roles given to them just aren’t that great. Then there is Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, the character everyone on the side of good is supposed to be supporting and also the creepiest character in the film. She inspires no desire to support her at all.
Outside the flashy 3D effects, the most fun parts of the film are the CG characters who Burton managed to get right. For instance Tweedledee and Tweedledum are spectacular, but neither can they be heroes or main characters. The same goes for the March Hare, the Caterpillar and the Dormouse.
The story itself is an epic fail. The beginning is a copy of the original, the middle is a series of continual forced coincidences, and the end is a jumbled mess in need of a real hero: the aforementioned White Knight. There are some fun trips to be had in between, creepy ones too. If you take children they will want to get away from you to creep closer to the screen, but you’ll want to be near them at the moment they realize Alice is crossing a moat by walking across hundreds of vividly detailed severed heads.
After everything is said and done, the new Alice in Wonderland is just eye candy. If you just have to see it, see it now while it’s still on the big screen to get the best 3D effect.
If this were how the original stories went, Lewis Carroll would have been forgotten long ago. He may prefer that to the way he must be rolling in his grave right now.                    

~ Robin Canfield

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Breakfast with the Alchy’s: Best Breakfasts of 2009

April 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, April 6, 2010, Volume 3, Number 118

Vol. 3, No. 118

Breakfast with the Alchy’s
Best Breakfasts of 2009

Breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day, right? Sometimes people eat it in the mornings even. That so many of you weighed in on the Best Breakfast in last years Alchy Awards just goes to show that many of you, our Readers, do as well. It took three months, but two of us at The Alchemist managed to breakfast at your top three picks to give them a quick once-over.
First up, the Best Breakfast Alchy Award Winner: the Wild Iris Platter at Nearly Normals on 15th near Monroe. Don’t show up before eight in the morning and on Sundays don’t bother at all. You order at the counter just inside the door so decide quickly or stick with the Platter like us. And remember, there’s no meat. After that most everything is self-serve, from plates to silverware, to running downstairs for more coffee. Upstairs has great natural light to bask in, but in the summer you want to sit out back.
The platter itself is a great collection of veggies with lots of flavor.
“I can’t imagine this without cheese,” Alchy #1 commented.
“It could do with sauce or eggs,” Alchy #2 added.
Over all we were well satisfied, any additions to the plate would really mean too much food. $14 each covered food, coffee and a tip and felt well worth it.
“It’s probably the healthiest of all three,” Alchy 1 said, “My mind is happy. My body is happy.”
Compared to Nearly Normals’ 30 years in town, second place went to an infant on the breakfast scene: ZIA. The winning dish: the Breakfast Burrito. It leaves a lot to be decided as they have multiple to choose from. Alchy #1 had the ZIA, Alchy #2 went with the Albuquerque.
“It’s very filling and tasty,” Alchy #2 commented.
The coffee is as tasty as the southwest style food, and the service came often and friendly, a hold-over from their time starting out at the Corvallis Farmer’s Market. You can spice up with red or green chile or lay off if your stomach is feeling weak, but don’t figure on stumbling in before 11 AM unless it’s the weekend. You might also stumble upon live music inside, but cramped inside the small area you may or may not want to hear it. Overall, it was a good meal for about $12 each.
“It was awesome,” Alchy #1 said, “I’m assuming they still use hand-rolled tortillas. That’s why it’s special.”
Third down the list was The Peacock 2×2×2 breakfast. That’s two eggs, two pancakes, and two pieces of bacon or sausage for just $2. Add a cup of coffee and so far you’ve almost doubled the cost. The service was good, with ambiance a bit different from your normal idea of going out for breakfast, but you can tuck yourself away in a corner if you feel like dining alone.
“`If you’re used to being here at night you may want to wear sunglasses,” Alchy #2 said.
The convenience is more the trump for the 2×2×2 breakfast. Doors open at seven in the morning, and even if there is a crowd there will always be a seat open. You just may end up closer too the jukebox than you’d like while you enjoy your meal. That may be your preference, though, if you pick up where you left off the night before and have a stiff drink as well.
“It’s the most affordable versus what you pay at home,” Alchy #1 commented.
“It makes me feel bad about paying for a Shari’s pancake,” Alchy #2 added.
That’s it for the three winners, but there is one more restaurant we added as the Editor’s Option. The Amber Room at Darrell’s is out where you may not notice it on the edge of town – at least it probably was the edge of town when Darrell’s opened in 1967. Now it sits just past Circle on 9th Street. There is a lot of traditional fare for about $7 – $9 a plate, and breakfast is served from seven in the morning to nine at night every day. Without a reader’s choice to go with, Alchy #1 decided on a Denver omelette and Alchy #2 tried a veggie skillet.
“Plenty of cheese and good flavor,” Alchy #1 said after finishing.
“The skillet wasn’t fantastic but I liked it,” Alchy #2 said, “The fruit on the side was hard to identify but tasty.”
The Amber Room also offers stiff drinks with breakfast. They have comfy leather seating, attentive service, and distractions galore – darts, billiards, scratch-its, etc. Plus, if you’re dining with a big group this place is perfect.
That’s it for the Alchemist’s breakfast exploration. Perhaps next we’ll check out the three choices for Best Dessert or Best Beer. What about you?
Find the rest of The Alchemist Award Winners from 2009 at www.corvalchemist.com.

~Robin Canfield

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2009 Alchy Award Winner – Best Local Band: Sar Shalom

March 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 30, 2010, Volume 3, Number http://www.corvalchemist.com/wp-covers/2010/March10WeekFiveCover.jpg117

2009 Alchy Award Winner – Best Local Band: Sar Shalom

The reggae band Sar Shalom is relatively new on the Corvallis music scene, but the group is packed with local talent and really good at keeping things moving. That must be why you chose them for an Alchy Award for Best Local Band last year.

“We’ve really only been around for a little over a year now,” said lead singer and rhythm guitarist Santino Cadiz.

Originally the group started as a trio with Cadiz, Brad Burnheimer on drums and Aarron Wootton on bass. Both Burnheimer and Wootton have been playing with local bands for some time, including last years Best Acoustic Performer Jenna Summer Smith. Burnheimer is also a former player in the Willamette Valley band The Crescendo Show, and Wootton also plays in Corvallis band Kaddy Wampus.

“I’ve been in Corvallis like two years now,” Cadiz added.

Most recently hailing from Eugene, Cadiz didn’t even pick up a guitar until he was 22 year old. Nowadays, after over a decade of playing music, he’s on his third album, has his own solo act going, and is going to school for independent film.

Since the original inception Sar Shalom has added several members. Ed Propst, a trombonist and keyboard player who played in the Badfish Band and Kaddy Wampus, joined the ranks. As did lead guitarist Luke Thomas, a nominee for 2009 Best Electric Performer who is a veteran of the Southtown Hounds and has played with Propst before. The sixth member of the band is saxophonist Peter W.A.

“The veteran of the band, the Yoda of the group,” Cadiz said of W.A., “Much respect for him musically.”

Cadiz sounds humble, but it may not be that hard considering the depth of the music backgrounds his band mates have. Two of them teach music; Wootton builds guitars even.

“I don’t have an extensive knowledge of [music] theory but everybody else does,” Cadiz said.

Each members talent and experience must have mixed well from the start because the band already had it’s first album on iTunes in September, after only about half a year together.

“Now that we’ve got that base we’re collaborating more together,” Cadiz commented.

Sar Shalom enjoys playing hip-hop, jazz and blues, but has really come to be a reggae band. The music is slow and wanders, and listening is good fun. Most of the song lyrics are originals by Cadiz, and contain traditional reggae roles and values.

“A lot of times the music we play has those underlying themes in there – though the rest of the band doesn’t subscribe to those beliefs,” Cadiz said.

That’s not to say the others don’t believe in good wishes on top of good music. The name alone testifies to the opposite: Sar Shalom is Hebrew for Prince of Peace.

“The cool thing is the word shalom, peace, typically means absence of conflict. It also means to be whole, to be complete. So a little bit more than absence of conflict,” Cadiz explained.

The band is currently on break to occasion guitarist Luke Thomas’ wedding, but is eager to get back to playing soon. Besides several shows coming up, they also want to get back to recording.

“We’ve already got enough songs to record our next album,” Cadiz said, “We kind of rushed to record this first album to have something to show people, so we want to go spend time in a studio and work on a single.”

This is happy news for fans Sar Shalom has made up and down the valley. The band has played shows in Eugene and Portland, as well as last years “Reggae on the Mountain” festival and local Bradstock event. This year they are confirmed to play at the local May Day festival, and are waiting to hear back from the Oregon Country Fair. In Corvallis there are many venues they are likely to return to, including Bombs Away Cafe and Cloud 9.

“We have a pretty committed fan base. They’ll drive all the way out to Eugene to see us,” Cadiz said, “A pretty big crowd came out to Calapooia [Brewing].”

This April you can catch Sar Shalom in town at Fireworks on the 24th, or head out to Summit, Oregon on the 17th for Clinton’s Annual 420 Party. At www.sarshalomband.com you can keep tabs on the band’s shows and recording, and members usually post info on their other projects, too.

~Robin Canfield

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Pop Rock at the Troubadour: Marty Baggen Band

March 16, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 16, 2010, Volume 3, Number 115

Vol. 3, No. 115

Pop Rock at the Troubadour: Marty Baggen Band
This Saturday, the 20th, is the second time this month you’ll have a chance to catch the talented act of Marty Baggen & Band. This four piece uncommon mix coming to the Troubadour Music Center is made up of musicians not looking to get signed, but rather just out to have a good time.
“You can never have enough keyboards,” Baggen started explaining the bands arrangement.
The band is uncommon both for instruments in, and not in, the group. Keyboards, for instance, make up half the foursome. Baggen plays rhythm guitar and sings, alongside Terry Takahashi on bass, Carolyn Krueger on back-up vocals and keyboards, and Bill Schwebke on keyboards. That’s right, two keyboards and no lead guitar or drums.
“You know how it is these days, everybody’s got real jobs,” Baggen added about the line-up.
The roots of this pop-rock band began in around the start of 2004, when Baggen and Takahashi began playing together. Takahashi, a professor, also plays bass in a funk-blues cover band and plays upright bass in a swing band.
“He’s an absolute chord crusher,” Baggen said, “You can describe a beat and he just does it.”
Two years later Krueger, a the sole Corvallis resident in the band and a cake-maker by trade, joined on keyboards to form the current band.
“She adds a tremendous amount,” Baggen told this reporter, “She learns so quickly.”
For a while the band had a drummer, but none of their usual venues were quite right for the style. The band played in a few various formations up to the near-present, when Schwebke joined as the second keyboardist.
“The most pure musician in the band,” Baggen said, “Bill added improvisation and soloing to the band.”
The new addition has certainly added a creative kick to the group which has no lead guitar and no stand-out solo instrument outside singing. Baggen and Band have been playing more since Schwebke joined in an effort to bring him more into the band. Usually the group averages about three shows in the valley per every two months, but after playing Fireworks at the start of March they are now on their second show in Corvallis for the month.
“The thing we’re excited about is getting Bill more used to us, more into the fold,” Baggen explained.
Part of the fun is the Schwebke and Takahashi combination; the two have already been playing together in the funk-blues band for some time now.
“They’ve really got a jazz influence,” Baggen said, “These guys start playing and you just want to sit back and listen.”
That’s not to say improvisation is all this band has. They may revel in it, but Baggen has about four albums worth of music to go off of as well.
“We do a couple of covers but mostly my stuff,” Baggen said.
You can listen to some of Baggen’s recordings on his Myspace page to check him out. To give yo ua better idea of their style, one of the bands usual covers is Space Oddity by David Bowie. Another cover, one Baggen doesn’t expect to play this time around, is the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt, played in the style with which the late Johnny Cash claimed the song.
“I’m going to have a compilation available at the Troubadour,” Baggen said.
Culled from his various albums, the music on the CD will be most of what is played at the show, however much of the recordings were done by guests that are spread about the country, none of whom play at the live shows.
The doesn’t mean the band or the audience is apt to have any less of a fun time.
“The big change from the past few years is much more freedom for improvisation,” Baggen said cheerfully.
The show is five bucks at the door and starts at 8 PM at the Troubadour on 2nd Street. After that the band will be playing off and on in Eugene throughout the spring.

~Robin Canfield

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2010 Alchy Award Winner: Best Electric Performer Mark France

March 9, 2010 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 9, 2010, Volume 3, No. 114

Vol. 3, No. 114

2010 Alchy Award Winner:
Best Electric Performer
Mark France

Last year’s winner for Best Electric Performer has been all over town lately with Xenat Ra, but there is a good chance you’ve seen him before. Mark France has been a part of the Corvallis music scene for years. Decades, actually.
“Almost thirty years,” that’s how France describes his years playing guitar.
Currently the man owns seven guitars, counting in a five-string bass, a student guitar, a seven string, and a classical.
“My main one is a six string Ibanez my parents got me in junior high,” France said.
There’s a good chance on any day that you’ll find him with a guitar in his hand. Besides the three local bands that France currently plays with, he has also been giving guitar lessons at a shop in Albany for a long time.
“I’ll take days off, but typically I like to play a couple hours a day,” France explained, “It depends what you’re working on: practice, learning songs, recording. There’s a lot you can do with your instrument.”
Instrumental bands are more France’s forte. He and Xenat Ra bandmate Dave Trenkel formed the instrumental band Minus with drummer Henry Franzoni back in the early 90’s.
“I played a lot with Dave in general prior to that,” France added.
Minus falls somewhere in the category of an electronic jazz band that mixes in funk and dub. The group managed to turn out two CD’s during their run; the first was a self-titled improvisational album, and the second, Dark Lit, was composed beforehand but still contained some improvisation.
“It just lost steam. It’s unfortunate but I’m really proud of the CD we put out,” France said of Minus and Dark Lit, “It captured us musically at a good point.”
Several other projects took France around the Pacific Northwest during this time, especially the release of “Matador’s Mistake,” that France recorded on with the band Thousand Pieces. Many of the projects were through Seattle connections such as singer/songwriter Aiko Shimada and composer Christian Asplund.
“I used to spend a lot of time up there,” France commented.
These days he has mostly been playing with local groups. The name you’ve probably heard the most is Xenat Ra. If you’ve thought the name is confusing, well, join the club. It may not help much to know, but the name is a mix of three other names: jazz composer Sun Ra, Greek composer Xenakis, and Frank Sinatra.
“I joined them about a year ago and enjoyed seeing them before,” France said.
The band was first a trio known as Top Dead Center with Trenkel, J.D. Monroe aka The Turntable Enabler, and Matt Calkins; the latter two France had previously played with in the band Eleven Eyes. France and unique rapper Monk Metz joined to form Xenat Ra, which France describes as a fusion band.
“Which can mean anything,” he explained, adding, “It’s a jazz-rock band, not a bebop band.”
Xenat Ra plays mostly original music, but when there is a cover it’s likely of musicians such as Charles Mingus or John Scofield.
Walk the Plank is a mostly instrumental trio that France plays in with Page Hundemer on bass and Brian Bucolo on drums. This jazz group has been together for about three years, and has played the likes of Sahalie’s and Calapooia Brewing in Albany.
“We improvise a lot,” France said, “Sometimes it’s over a steady beat.”
His third current group, El Kabong Orchestra, has been around the longest. While not his average band, they have a singer even, El Kabong is a fun group. They play sporadically, though. The last time was at The Peacock in mid-December, the annual “Non-President’s Ball.”
The odd thing about all three groups is that none of them have a website you can just jump to to find their next show. You may have caught one of his bands playing lately, but it seems now they are all taking a short break from the stage, so you’ll have to keep your eyes on the fliers around town to know when you can catch this Alchy Award Winner next.
“I think there are people in the bands I play with that deserve it more,” France said of the award, “But it feels good.”
~Robin Canfield

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A Little Bark and a Lot of Bite The Wolfman Review

March 3, 2010 · 2 Comments

The Alchemist, March 2, 2010, Volume 3, No. 113

Vol. 3, No. 113

A Little Bark and a Lot of Bite
The Wolfman Review

The Wolfman is a film with many drawbacks, especially a script lacking in style and substance, and an overall feel of being forced.
Let’s start with a horror movie checklist.
- Scary? Check. You’ll definitely jump in your seat.
- Blood and gore? Check. The deaths and various inner organs were excellent.
- Prize actors? Check. Right down to the damsel in distress.
- A period setting? Overdone and overpriced, but check.
- Everything the creators of Mystery Science Theater 3000 looked for when they chose a movie? Check and double check.
This is the werewolf film that movie studios wished they could have made 70 years ago. If all your looking for in a horror film was on that checklist, stop reading now and avoid a few spoilers. Just go see the movie, it will be worth it.
Director Joe Johnston made some interesting choices on this film. First and foremost is the make-up and effects. A veteran of creature effects, he even did the final designs for Yoda and Boba Fett for Star Wars, it should be no surprise that the severed limbs, gruesome deaths, and fields of bloodshed looked great. However, Johnston stuck with makeup and suits for most of the movie. This isn’t a bad thing when the wolfman is on the move, but when he is still, or morphing, the CGI effects just seem tacked on. The CGI effects aren’t bad by themselves, they just don’t mesh well with the make-up jobs. All right, sometimes they are just plain bad. Watching the wolfman sprinting on his hind legs is more laughable than fear-inspiring.
One of the most successful scenes of the film is also the most predictable; picture thirty men locked in a room with a wolfman and see where your imagination takes you. This segues the movie into a wild rampage through London that felt very reminiscent of watching a T-Rex rampage through San Diego, a scene Johnston certainly studied before he directed Jurassic Park III.
There are two quirky ideas added to the old werewolf tale in The Wolfman, one turned out well and the other did not. An officer of the law is ever-present in these stories, and sometimes they display enough intelligence to defend the gypsies instead of leading the attack, but none have ever been so clever as Abberline. Played by Hugo Weaving, he is an officer from Scotland Yard sent to solve the mystery. Abberline is a smarter-than-average detective that is very modern in his thinking, complete with very clever wolfman-hunting tactics. The only drawback is his Australian accent, but it is easy to lose the sound of it among myriad English accents throughout the film, or lack thereof.
The other, ill-fated idea is too much of a spoiler to fully explain. The story smartly treads lightly over the origin of werewolves in general, but adds far too much complexity to the life of the current wolfman. Let’s just say that one wolfman and a lot of humans makes for a blood-filled, scary scene. Wolfman versus wolfman action on the other hand, especially in their silly suits, isn’t great.
The ups and downs aside, Benicio Del Toro as the main character, Lawrence Talbot, and Anthony Hopkins as his father, Sir John Talbot, both have commanding screen presence. Emily Blunt plays a perfect confused love interest as Gwen Conliffe. The sets are convenient and often too embellished, but still manage to satisfy the requirements of being dark and dreary. The story takes a few departures from the norm, but ends with the usual moment of sad redemption and, in this case, an audience calling for the characters to rain down the silver bullets.
All the elements you could want in a classic horror film are here, just don’t look for anything deeper than that. The Wolfman is not destined to be a classic itself, not unless Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns.
C+
~Robin Canfield

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‘That Evening Sun’ a cold comfort

February 19, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Full Article

By Robin Canfield, For the Entertainer

Ever gone to see a movie and walked away wondering, “Why’d the director do that?”

You’ll have the chance to ask  him yourself if you make it to the Darkside Cinema for the 7 p.m. premiere of “That Evening Sun” on Friday, Feb. 19.

There will be a question and answer session with director Scott Teems and executive producer Larsen Jay after the film. Tickets are $8, and are first come first serve.

Teems and Jay will not actually be present in the theater, but you’ll be able to see them on screen as they answer your questions via Skype, an Internet phone service.

“We do this quite a bit. If it’s someone I know, or someone is local I’ll do a screening for them,” said Paul Turner, owner of the Darkside Cinema. “We do this at all levels.”

A moderator will take questions after the film and pass them on to Teems and Jay, who will not be able to see or hear the audience directly.

“This techno-whiz stuff is cool,” Turner added, “But I want to emphasize that the film will be great on its own.”

“That Evening Sun” is a sad and depressing film, but it’s also very good. It’s the tale of a bitter old man who’s lonely and hasn’t much left in life except the stubborn ability to cling to his memories and his home.

Abner Meecham is the old man, deftly played by Hal Holbrook, a 60-year veteran of the screen, most recently noted in Sean Penn’s “Into The Wild” (2007).

Now at the ripe old age of 85 years, Holbrook doesn’t just have things in common with his character, you’ll sometimes wonder if he’s still acting or if he just so perfectly embodies Meecham that he doesn’t need to.

The film starts with Meecham making his escape from an old folks home. He arrives at the family farm only to find that it’s been rented to the son of a man Meecham used to hate — probably one of many he hated.

While Meecham starts as a likable character, the escape especially draws on your sympathies; once he arrives home he is set adrift between moments of genuine appeal and pure, maddening confusion.

The only thing that keeps Meecham from becoming a part-time villain in his own story is Lonzo Choat, played by Ray McKinnon, the “white trash” father of the family now inhabiting the old farmhouse.

Meecham stays in the old slave-quarters house close by, setting the scene for the across-the-yard back-and-forth battle that makes up much of the film. Though the older man can say and do some truly nasty things, it is always Lonzo who will sink to doing the worst and leave Meecham on the high road.

Meecham’s son Paul isn’t much of a sympathetic character either. In fact, the only character to show  kinship with Meecham is his closest neighbor, Thurl Chessor, played perfectly by Barry Corbin (best remembered as Maurice in the 1990s CBS television series “Northern Exposure”).

A more calm, more complacent version of Meecham, Chessor has also seen most things he knows come and go, but he’s managed to hold on to his own home, and is satisfied to spend most days on his front porch whittling.

Meecham’s true opposite can be found in Pamela Choat, Lonzo’s daughter; while Meecham wants nothing more than to live on his farm again, Pamela only wants to get away. Played by Mia Wasikowska, Pamela is a strong icon of innocence at the far end of the spectrum.

(Wasikowska also plays Alice in Disney’s new “Alice in Wonderland” scheduled to be released March 5, in which she co-stars with Johnny Depp.)

This is not a film about a man’s life of happiness, make no mistake. It is based on the original short story “I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down” by William Gay, a title that is a much better clue that you are about to experience the sad twilight of a man’s life.

The film’s strength lies in great character portrayals that are well-supported by fine music scored as a perfect reflection to the deep surges of emotion in the film.

Through friendships, flashbacks and fights you will see what used to make Meecham happy, and what mistakes he’s made in his life will be laid bare. If you’ve ever  dropped your jaw in silent confusion over something your grandfather did, this is a film that will help you understand what he was thinking.

All together, it will tug at your heart.

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