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Entries from December 2009

Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes

December 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, December 29th, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 106

The Alchemist

Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes

The perspective of a life-long fan

Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law rejuvenate the characters Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, respectively, for a modern day audience in Guy Ritchie’s new film. The film, an exciting romp around dingy London, succeeds as both one of the most fun Sherlock films ever, and the most entertaining Ritchie film so far this decade.

Sure, just like with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy there exists an endless amount of fans willing to pick apart the details of the umpteenth version of the story. This certainly is not an anomaly relegated to just treatments of British literature, but of entertaining literature worldwide. Still, like criticisms of ships and suits in the ever-changing British series Dr. Who, most complaints are based on favorite representations of, not deviations from, the original form.

So, jackets, pipes and hats aside (and yes, yes, those same hats off to Basil Rathbone for all of you who prefer your Holmes clean cut, your Watson an idiotic oaf) Ritchie and his team of writers really stayed true to the basic tenets of a Holmes story.

The movie takes place early in Holmes’ career when his job doesn’t pay all the rent, at a time when he is suffering from lack of stimulation. His last case revives itself, as it were, and Downey Jr., as Sherlock, throws himself whole-heartedly at the case, analyzing each and every little detail as he runs, jumps, sleuths, disguises, out-foxes and expertly boxes his way to success, all with a little help from his trusty co-hort Watson, with more than his average amount drink, and with Scotland Yard about five steps behind. Not much is absent, but something is missing.

‘It is cocaine,’ Sherlock once told Watson in 1890’s “The Sign of Four,” ‘a seven-per-cent solution. Would you care to try it?’

It is no great surprise that most preceding versions of the famous detective omit Holmes’ drug habits, cocaine and morphine, both quite legal in the England that Holmes is set in. Omitting the habit in a film treatment of this day and age could be incidental, but seems unlikely if you consider Ritchie’s previous works.

Warning: Spoilers mixed in from here on out.

This time, possibly a first for a serious take on the tale, Sherlock takes a genuine interest in his love interest. Rachel McAdams plays Irene Adler, a character penned by Arthur Conan Doyle who never had as big a part as in this movie. She does well as a character that impresses the detective and the audience in all the right ways. Another Doyle character in the movie that was never given much text outside of “The Sign of Four,” is Watson’s fiancé Mary Morstan, played up heavily to counterbalance the utilization of Adler.

A happy change is the rightful return of Dr. Watson, played by Jude Law, as a very capable man at all times, even after great injury. He is smart, handy, a crack-shot both with his pistol and his wit, and he is taller than Sherlock Holmes. Don’t waste too much time looking for it, it doesn’t look that way much in the ads or posters, and there aren’t many shots in the movie where they let you see it. When you spot it though, it’s just weird.

The bad guys in this film run the whole gambit: Live ones, dead ones, alive-again ones, feigners, short ones (a midget, technically), really, really large ones, and all manner in between all the way to the top. That’s right, fans of the original literature, the top: the head honcho of Holmesian crime.

Everyone plays their part expertly and the story draws to a conclusion that was decided long before the first keystroke that went into making this film. That’s right, the detective expertly explains away every little piece of the mystery to the ultimate pleasure of his audience.

Sherlock Holmes is playing at the Carmike Twelve, and the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are on hand at bookstores and libraries everywhere.

RATING: A- ~

By Robin Canfield

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Legendary Surf Rock Guitarist Returns!

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, December 8th, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 101

Vol. 2, No. 101

LEGENDARY SURF ROCK GUITARIST RETURNS!
The “King of the Surf Guitar,” Dick Dale is returning to Corvallis, and to Squirrel’s Tavern, on Wednesday, December 9. This visit comes as something of a surprise just a few months after his last show in town this past summer. Dale had planned to tour Europe for a while but things fell through and now he’s doing another tour down the West Coast because touring is one of the things he likes best.
“I can’t wait to see everybody,” Dale told this reporter, “Everybody’s been sending me e-mails saying ‘I don’t want to wait another year.’”
Now, some of you may still be wondering “Who is Dick Dale?” or “Why is he King of the Surf Guitar?” First off, to some he’s even more than that:
“Put on a Dick Dale recording and you will bare witness to a talent and innovation that defines not just a musical genre but a way of life,” says Craig Farrell, a member of Corvallis’ own zombie surf rock band They Won’t Stay Dead!!, “But to see him live is to expose yourself to a power and virtuosity that blurs generations and causes reason to splinter.”
So most of us weren’t around when “Let’s Go Trippin’” kick started surf rock music, nor did we ever see Dale or anyone else on the Ed Sullivan Show. Let’s skip closer to present day: go watch the start of Pulp Fiction and then come back to this article. Good. That guitar riff: Dick Dale! His music still pops up everywhere, from Black Eyed Peas albums to Guitar Hero games. You may not know it, but you’ve heard Dick Dale’s kick ass guitar playing already.
“I play my music to the grassroots people,” Dale said, “I play on the pulsation so they can feel it.”
After a renewed bout with rectal cancer that kept Dale from returning to Corvallis so soon after his show at Squirrel’s a few years back, Dale has been back on the road ever since.
“I do like the club circuit. I can reach down and touch people from the stage,” Dale said, adding, “I play just as hard whether it’s for one or one thousand.”
Of course, music isn’t all that drives Dick Dale. This is a man that doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t eat red meat, and is clean in most every way. He has another nickname, “The Cancer Warrior.” Not only has he fought off his own cancer, but Dale is a surviving beacon to persons of all ages with cancer and other diseases. He is very frank about his own illness and he says that speaking about it in public has given many others the inspiration to do the same.
“I rode the train of pain and I’m still here,” Dale said during the interview, “I’m coming back for the regulars and those coming out of the closet with their diseases.”
On his last trip to Corvallis, Dale explained, a woman came up to him and told him about how she’d recently had her third brain tumor operation and still had to come out to the show. This sort of thing happens to him everywhere, at home and on tour, and he’s happy to be helping people.
“I bring out of people things they’re afraid to say,” Dale told this reporter, “I’m standing on the stage playing guitar but I bleed like them.”
If music is good for the soul, then this show should help you on all fronts. You’ll even have the chance to say hello, to chat, or to get an autograph as Dale likes to hang around awhile after he plays. So let nothing stop you, because Dale will let nothing stop him.
“I’m going to keep playing the guitar and that’s that.”
The show is at 9 PM at Squirrel’s Tavern. Tickets are $25. If surf rock is stuck in your brain and you’re hungry for more, They Won’t Stay Dead!! is playing at Bomb’s Away Cafe on the 18th.

~Robin Canfield

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Best Electric Performer: Linden Wood

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, June 30, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 78

Vol. 2, No. 78

ALCHEMIST AWARD WINNER:

BEST ELECTRIC PERFORMER

LINDEN WOOD

“How Much Wood Would a Linden Wood Chuck
If a Linden Wood Could Chuck Wood”
A constant reader of the Alchemist already knows who Linden Wood is, both because he received the 2008 Alchy Award for the Best Electric Performer, and because of multiple articles about one of the local bands he plays in, Lost Tortoise. Jam bands not your thing? Maybe you lean more towards metal, and in that case Even in Death is probably more to your taste. That’s Linden too.
At age twelve Linden began to really focus on music, especially the guitar. All told Linden Wood has played in fourteen bands in Corvallis starting with the Deep Wood Band. At age 26 he’s so far averaging more than a band a year.
It was playing in Psychward Junkies, a band that jumped genres a lot, that prepared him for today’s stretch between metal and jam music.
“I get bored if I play one style of music for too long,” Linden said.
The sounds of both bands are reaching bigger and bigger audiences lately, and for good reason. Not only are the musicians skilled, but well practiced at playing with each other. Lost Tortoise is the latest refinement of a band that started out several years ago as Shity Punk, and Even in Death is a year-old change up of the band Azrael.
Between the two bands and some solo gigs Linden plays about three shows a month, and practices about 10 hours a week. Lost Tortoise is looking to up their practice time this summer, though, and that’s still not counting the practice time he puts in on his own.
“I’ve always been motivated to get myself out into the music world,” Linden told this reporter, “Hopefully someday I’ll get to make a living off music.”
He’s certainly on the right track. Even in Death’s song “Frantic Nobody,” was recently featured on Oregon Underground on KFLY, along with an interview of the bands other guitarist, all before the band played at Wow Hall in Eugene as part of the Schools Out For Metal show. Lost Tortoise has played in Eugene and all over Corvallis, including many memorable shows at the now-closed Fox & Firkin, and recently a great free show at Cloud 9.
While Linden has been playing a number of shows recently, there’s not a lot of gigs on his summer schedule. Even in Death has a show in Waldport this July, and Linden is playing at the Downtown Beanery with the Neon Gypsies for the Fourth of July. Outside of that Lost Tortoise is working on recording new music, Even in Death is finishing up a new demo, and Linden is trying to put together his own acoustic demo.
It’s a safe bet that this Alchy Award Winner has more good things in store, so keep listening for good tunes. And if you like what you hear, keep voting.
“I was pretty excited,” Linden said of finding out he’d been nominated, adding, “I was honored to receive the award and recognition for all the hard work I put in.”
~Robin Canfield

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Best Local Band: Valeri Lopez and her Band Aides

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 31, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 65

Valeri Lopez, Vol. 2, No. 65, Pages 3-4

Vol. 2, No. 65

ALCHY AWARD WINNER
BEST LOCAL BAND:
Valeri Lopez
and her Band Aides

The official winner of the 2008 Alchy Award for Best Local Band is Valeri Lopez and her Band Aides. Lopez was able to sit down for an interview recently, fresh off her return from California where she was both performing and recording. As for her Band Aides, well, Valeri doesn’t technically play with a band.
“When I put it on the poster once it was a joke,” she explained, “I think we only did that for one show.”
When she is in Corvallis she tends to play once or twice a month at local coffee shop and bar venues. These sets are acoustic and feature a varying repertoire of instruments including the guitar, banjo, harmonica, piano, toy piano, and melodica. Count in local musician Correen Rowles who has been playing with Lopez lately, and you also add flute and keyboards to the list. Further add the regulars once referred to as her Band Aides and you add drums, bass, cello and more.
“Wherever I go, they would be my band,” Lopez says.
All this instrumentation and talent makes for as much variety in a performance as there is from one show to the next. Her California work earlier this year was more solo, sometimes with performer Andrea Hamilton, but the Band Aides are a Corvallis thing. That lineup includes Andrew and Will Traylor, Brian Harvey, Alec Kretchum, and Casey Hurt. Hurt you may recognize as the 2008 Alchy winner for Best Acoustic Performer and pastor of the local Doxology, where Lopez also performs.
“I’m part of the Dox family,” Lopez said specifically.
There is no big commitment between Lopez and the friends that play with her, however, outside the performance itself and some practice time, usually just before the show.
“They’re just my friends that back me up,” she added.
These local shows are usually in smaller settings like Bomb’s Away Cafe or the Beanery, but things are set to change..
“My audience has grown far too big to be at the Bean,” Lopez commented, “The last time I played there it was packed to the brim.”
So far this year local shows have few and far between as Lopez works on recording music, touring trips and entreating funds for everything from recording to a new guitar. In California, Lopez began working on a studio album with Eric Owyoung in San Diego, then toured and recorded a live album with the aforementioned Andrea Hamilton. The live album should be available this month, and she will return to California soon to finish recording the studio album.
“I recorded two songs with Eric,” Lopez explained, “With those two songs I’m going to get investors to finish the album.”
Considering her performances, recordings, and awards, Lopez has come a long way from flunking a basic voice class in her sophomore year of college.
“I was so afraid to sing in front of people,” Lopez said.
While she has been writing songs for six or seven years she only started performing seriously a year and a half ago, around the same time she came to Corvallis. It was in college that she turned around and started performing for people, including a weekly gig at a bar in Italy while studying abroad, and opening for Dana Glover and Dishwalla as part of a radio contest she won by singing karaoke.
Lopez finished school with a BA in Studio Art but is trying to make music full time. Her art skills are still put to use though, showing up in crafts like beanies and handbags that Lopez sells at her shows.
“It’s so people can take something home that I made,” she explained.
You can’t catch Valeri Lopez in concert until she comes back to Corvallis this April with her sights set on bigger venues like Oddfellows or The Majestic. You’ll have to keep an eye out for her though, because you may not have long before she’s off to perform in New York or Nashville.
Listen to her music at www.myspace.com/valerilopez

~Robin Canfield

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Best Acoustic Performer: Casey Hurt

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 10, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 62

Casey Hurt, Vol. 2, No. 62, Page 3

Vol. 2, No. 62

ALCHY AWARD WINNER: BEST ACOUSTIC PERFORMER

CASEY HURT

Local performer Casey Hurt is many things to many people. He is an artist of music, a pastor, and a tattooed scotch enthusiast who will be twenty-five in March. He was also voted winner of the 2008 Alchy Award for best acoustic performer. Talking with him is like speaking to a regular guy; minus the quick-scribbling on a notepad, the interview was more an enjoyable conversation.
“Words are pretty powerful,” he commented early on, emphasizing that “Words have different meanings to different people.”
As a writer of music on several levels, Hurt can be taken for an authority on this. For his own acoustic performances he writes both music and words, spending one part of his time on the music for every two parts to his lyrics, following the lead of his musical wordsmith influences like the Beatles, Tracy Chapman, and the Violent Femmes.
“I usually write the music first,” he explained, “I’m kind of anal about the lyrics. I don’t want to say what I don’t mean.”
For a person like Casey, such devotion can lead to great music, but also eat up a lot of time, especially for someone leading a local four hundred person fellowship like Doxology. Luckily, Hurt has much the same goals as his own church’s mission: glory to God and joy to the city.
“My actual calling as a pastor was to free me up to do what I was already doing as an artist,” he said.
Hurt has a lot of faith in Corvallis, and not just in the religious sense. He has been in town for the last six years and has watched to many other musicians making the move up to Portland, thinking it is the only way to proceed professionally. In turn, Hurt works with, preaches to, and records many locals, all while extolling the rich diversity in Corvallis.
“I don’t want to fake anyone out. I want to be honest about the writing – to display something truthful about myself.”
Writing an recording have taken up much of Hurt’s schedule lately as he’s kept to a lesser amount of live performances. He still spends a good amount of time on writing pastoral music, but also works on finishing his first album in over two years, and creating hip-hop beats on his computer for friends in LA to rap over. He couldn’t totally stay away from performing though, and put in regular appearances at the Saturday Market and in cafes in the area.
Throughout it all, Hurt is sure to not lose his focus. He writes songs about ups and downs, trials and tribulations, and keeps it all within bounds that people can connect to. He even keeps a regularly updated blog about his music-writing, so people can have an up-close look and a greater understanding.
“Rawness is the thing people appreciate the most,” Hurt explained, and he’s good at it. Maybe that’s why he won his Alchy.
With so many things calling on his time, it is amazing that Casey Hurt can stay as happy and as dedicated as he is. This reporter thinks it is because Hurt is happy to take time out of his day to sit and talk about life, and that is something that everyone can relate to. You can judge for yourself when you attend his show, March 20th at WineStyles up at Timber Hill.
“I’m not trying to throw my religion in people’s faces,” Hurt said, “The gospel is there and it is part of it, but my music is about life.”
~Robin Canfield

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Deep Fried Hillbilly

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, May 13th, 2008, Vol.1, No. 20

Deep Fried Hillbilly, Vol. 1, No. 20, Page 3

Vol. 1, No. 20

Deep Fried Hillbilly

A Hillbilly for all Occasions
by Robin Canfield

Deep Fried Hillbilly is a local band that fits in almost anywhere. In the year that the group has been together they’ve played everywhere from graduation, birthday, camping and wedding parties to benefits, the Calapooia Brewing Company in Albany and The Fox & Firkin downtown. This Friday at 6 PM the band makes their second appearance on Locals Live, a KBVR production in Snell Hall at OSU.
“Someone forgot to press record,” drummer Danny Rawson explained about the band’s first Local’s Live appearance.
The band came away with no video recording last time, and an audio recording missing almost a minute of their first song. This second attempt should correct the problem and give fans a second chance to listen in or stop by the studio to watch.
The recordings should also get the band one step closer to a completed demo tape, an important step for a band that listens, and re-listens, to almost every show they play. Armed with a quality digital recorder, Deep Fried Hillbilly records themselves constantly.
A big chunk of the band’s twice-weekly practices goes to collectively listening to those recordings so each member, Billy Renz on lead guitar and vocals, Justin Richter on bass, Alex Cooper on keys, and Rawson, can listen to what they’ve done. The group discusses the music as they listen, passing suggestions and encouraging emphasis on the parts that sound good. The sessions also serve as a good chance for each member to critically appraise his own performance. The music, however, is not as serious as all this sounds.
“Mostly we play feel good, blue collar music that people like to dance to,” said Renz.
The blues and funk influenced jam band vibe of Deep Fried Hillbilly is certainly a product of refined natural ability, and it’s catching on. The band recently passed the one-year mark around the time they played at a local May Day celebration, the third straight May Day performance for Renz and Rawson, both of whom previously played May Day with the band Milk.
The pair can trace their collaborative roots to one drunken night with a guitar and a hand drum, much the same way that Cooper joined later. The happy, friendly tones of both how the members met, and how they still interact today, shows in their music.
“Our music has lots of emotion,” Renz said, “It carries through the highs and lows.”
You may recognize some of the bands chosen cover songs like The Grateful Dead’s “Behind the Mountain,” or Van Morrison’s “Moon Dance,” though if you tune in to Locals Live all you will hear are all originals, such as “Better Off in Space,” a funk-pop song with solid progression, and “Fish and Famine,” a mellow song with some dark undertones. Each song averages about seven minutes, though breaks may be hard to hear as the band often tries to blend one song into the next.
“We play vaguely political music,” explained Rawson.
“None of us are using the music as a soap box,” added Cooper.
You can check out the sound of Deep Fried Hillbilly on Myspace or on Locals Live. On Thursday, May 22, you can also catch Renz and Rawson playing an acoustic set on the rooftop of the Downtown American Dream Pizza.

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Curtis Monette

December 25, 2009 · Leave a Comment

The Alchemist, March 18, 2008, Vol. 1, No. 12

Vol. 1, No. 12

LOCAL ARTIST OF THE WEEK
CURTIS MONETTE
By Robin Canfield
Local musician Curtis Monette is playing his monthly solo show at Bomb’s Away Café, Wednesday, March 19th. Some people might take this as license to call him a one man band, but this one man is more a musical force.
“It’s the only thing that feels real,” Monette said about playing music.
Working at twenty-plus credits a term to finish degrees in both Music Composition and Business Management, Monette still manages a lot of time to play.
On Friday, the 21st, also at Bombs Away Café, Monette is playing an acoustic set with some fellow bandmates from the former Led Zeppelin cover band Stairway Denied, and some friends, as the project Amigos, Bebidas y Musica. His solo sets at Bombs are monthly, and he does a duet performance about every other month. On top of that Monette is a member of The Badfish Band, a local funky reggae band packed full of talent that has many, many shows coming up, and may do a multi-state northwest tour this summer. Also, once every Stairway Denied bandmember is back in Corvallis the band, tentatively known as “Escape from the Velvet Trap,” could be touting some new music around Corvallis.
Some people would collapse under such a load.
“It’s stress relief, it’s fun, and it’s a way of life,” Monette says.
While he mainly performs guitar and vocals, Monette started learning with the saxophone at 9, and has since taught himself to play the mandolin, banjo, piano, harmonica and various percussion instruments.
Curtis Monette is putting his business management skills to good use too. Working with five other guys and OSU STAND he helped set up a Darfur benefit concert that featured Eleven Eyes and The Badfish Band. He has also helped with multiple benefits for the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence, such as this years two upcoming Beatles at OSU performances. True to form, Monette will also be playing in the band.
Check out Curtis’ playing at:
www.myspace.com/stairwaydenied
www.myspace.com/curtismonette
www.myspace.com/johnnydandhisbadfish

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University Marketing Work

December 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment

All work completed between September, 2003 and June, 2004.

University Marketing

University Marketing

University Marketing

University Marketing

University Marketing

University Marketing

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Edict Has A Hard Time Rocking Salem

December 24, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Salem Monthly

May 4, 2004

Photo of article

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What’s Happening Corvallis – The Black Poets Society

December 16, 2009 · Leave a Comment

10.13.05

Poetry of the people
BY ROBIN CANFIELD

In the Black Poets Society you can speak your mind. The society exists to promote self-expression that opens and engages the minds of others. When all the colors of the rainbow come together, they make black — and that’s the essence of the group’s philosophy.

OSU Associate Professor Michael Ingram co-founded the now 15-person group in 1998. Today he acts as a role model and advisor and is also an active participant in the society. “As an organization, we try to maintain a socially active and aware presentation,” said current society president Brian Dekker. One of the key parts of the group is friendship. Members often become close at meetings and are always at readings to cheer each other on.

“I first got involved with poetry because of hip hop,” said former society president Alex Johnson, “The Black Poets Society allowed me to bridge the gap between academics and spoken word.” He met society co-founder Melvin Young when he first came to the campus and was inspired to keep the group going after most of the original members finished school. Now he serves as an advisor. “I help current members keep perspective on the history of the group and where they want to go with it,” Johnson said.

Anyone can join — all you need is an open mind, a desire to perform and an interest in poetry, any poetry. While slam poetry seems to be the preferred style of many of the members, at Sunnyside Up on Sept. 28, Black Poets big and small spoke, yelled and whispered lines. In front of a packed room, members read aloud as they shook with rage, leaned in close to the audience or stood, looking shy and frail, in front of the microphone.

Members don’t have to perform if they don’t want to, but making it to meetings is important. Starting this year, new members will also have to participate in diversity awareness training. “One of the main purposes of the group is to develop cross-culture bridges,” Dekker said. “It’s not as racially diverse as it is ethnically diverse.”

Colin Wonnacott went to his first society meeting after a local poetry slam. “They went first, and said they were from the Black Poets Society,” he explained. “I went up and mentioned that I wasn’t a member and Brian shouted out ‘You are now!’ The first meeting I went to, I felt kind of intimidated, like I didn’t belong. But everyone was so friendly.”

His own writing stems from listening to hip hop and he said the goals of the society haven’t influenced his writing so much as reinforced it. “It’s still writing and expressing opinion,” he said, “It’s just different in meter and sound.”

The society hosts at least two events per term at OSU, and members often read at events held by others. “On campus we get asked to do a lot of multi-cultural events,” Dekker said. They’re also considering competing in the next National Collegiate Poetry Slam.

Off campus, members are often at venues that host open mic nights, poetry readings or benefits such as the relief effort for hurricane victims that happened at Sunnyside Up in September.

Now is the best time to join if you’re interested. “It feels like a renaissance we’re riding right now,” Johnson said. “It feels like a rise in membership and in community support.” Contact the Black Poets by e-mailing blackpoets@oregonstate.edu

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