Eleven Eyes, that’s what. Comprised of some of the best musicians in the Willamette Valley, Eleven Eyes is a music nerd’s wet dream. I’ve been listening to Eleven Eyes since the band was born and have been following the musical adventures of about half the band since the mid-nineties. Based in Eugene, Eleven Eyes truly had it’s genesis in the fertile musical soil of Corvallis. I would argue that Corvallis has a greater number of good musicians per capita than any other place in Oregon. With a much smaller overall population than any other good music town, Corvallis enjoys a unique phenomenon. With all these extremely talented musicians crammed into such a small space, it doesn’t allow for the formation of  scenes.  Where larger towns have a blues scene, a jazz scene, rock scene, country scene, etc, in fact scenes within scenes, Corvallis’ musicians are forced to play with one another despite any differences in musical style. As a result, difficult to define fusions are created and an opportunity for real musical exploration is available to the practitioners as well as the aficionados. Eleven Eyes is a great example of just such a mash of varied musical styles. Perhaps most accurately dubbed Jazz/Funk/Fusion, Eleven Eyes will stimulate both your brain and your booty. Whether you are the kind of person who must first free your mind so that your ass may follow, or you’re inclined to free your ass that your mind may follow, Eleven Eyes is for you. www.myspace.com/eleveneyes.

As far as I can tell, this will be the first ever performance of Eleven Eyes in our little town of Albany. Don’t miss this once in a lifetime opportunity to see them perform in the Calapooia Brewing Company warehouse, where there is plenty of good beer and food to fuel your ecstatic inner and outer gyrations. The price is only $5. How could you not?

Friday, August 6th, 7pm, Calapooia Brewing Company. Eleven Eyes. $5.

Smog Clip

Eleven Eyes | MySpace Music Videos

Paulrus

Since long before I became a fixture of this little pub in a big building at the corner of Hill and Water, there has been a blues jam, most every Sunday, led by a fella named Froggy. I do remember my first impression of the jam; a loose band of wandering minstrels comparing notes and honing their tools just inside the front door of the pub, converting it from a place for family and friends to a Bohemian artists retreat where the beer flows like water from the walls. A little awkward for the first time visitor, walking in through the front door (which was essentially part of the sprawling stage) all eyes on you (being that you practically walked right into the center of the action), as if they thought you were here to make a musical contribution as well. “I just wanted a beer and a burger,” you might have said under your breath, feeling a little apologetic for no particular reason.

Then the musical spheres shifted their harmonies just a little and the entire ensemble was convinced to move the jam to the back part of the room in front of the dart boards, where the musical entertainment otherwise plays. This opened the room to greater comfort for the customers  (to the consternation of the hard-core dart players) and it had the added benefit of improving the overall sound quality of the music. In time, where there had been a pretty continual flux of players and sound style, all reigned by the anchorman Froggy, a form began to coalesce. The core came together and the catalyst, in my opinion, was long time Willamette Valley talent, Dennis Monroe. I honestly couldn’t tell you when Dennis began playing in the jam. He might if you asked him, or Froggy, or Stephen, or some of the other guys might know, but in time it became apparent that something had changed. Now stay with me because this is where it gets a little fuzzy for me.

At some point, somewhere, on some foggy precipice over-looking the timeless Pacific, Froggy invoked a goddess and from oceanic fury and gentle sea-foam, from the hot places in the cold deep and the cold places under the hot sun an avatar was formed and she came to be called Vicki Stevens. There may be other stories out there, some urban legends about her being some simple country girl with stars in her eyes and a song in her heart, but those are really too mundane to be believed. If you have ever been in a room when Vicki enters, or as she takes the stage, you know what I mean. She is something special. And when you add the miracle of the blues jam and how the disparate elements came together to form The Vicki Stevens Band, we’re talking about the stuff of legends.

You think I go too far? Think I’m full of it? Well, you wouldn’t be the first, but on this account test me. Come see, this Friday. Get close, don’t be afraid, they won’t hurt you. Get right up there and risk getting a little on you. You will not be the same afterward.

Come get some of this!

Dr. Tom helps the band warm up the crowd for Vicki.

Feel it!

Calapooia Brewing Company. Friday. 8pm. $3. Do it.

Paulrus

Friday, July 9th marks the 3d visit from the L.A. based ensemble The Peculiar Pretzelmen. They are difficult to describe but allow me to take a stab at it: It’s the sardonic grin over a broken heart; the grim determination to trudge spiritedly through a gloomy world; laughter in the face of death; whistling in the dark. The first time I heard them I thought, Spike Jones meets Tom Waits in a graveyard at midnight to do musical battle using the bones of the deceased. To hear them pound out their rhythms using the cast-offs of many kitchens and garages mingled with frenetic banjo, pulsing guitar, perhaps the wail of a saw or even the caressing of glass, elicits a sense of depression-era despair tempered with a fierce hope. Lest I find myself in a verbal rabbit-hole of my own making, allow me to share with you some video clips of their last visit to the ‘Pooia. Check out their myspace page for better quality video. Enjoy, and then come down to the ‘Pooia on Friday night and experience them live. To use the tag-line of their previous tour, “Smile, life’s not as long as you think.”

See you on the other side. www.myspace.com/pretzelmen.

Paulrus