Our usual nights for live music are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, plus the Sunday afternoon blues jam. But this last week we had some special guests on Wednesday the 23d. The Peculiar Pretzelmen were cruising through from Reno on their way to Portland and managed to squeeze us in on their “Smile, life’s not as long as you think” tour. This Los Angeles based trio bills themselves as “hammer and brimstone, stomp and holler voodoo swamp jazz.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Imagine if you will, Tom Waits meets the ghost of Spike Jones in some deep-south cemetery. In his 1930′s era step-side pickup truck he has a trash can with lid, some chains, buckets, skillets, a washboard, kid whistles, an accordion, a saw, banjo and an old guitar. They light some candles, and maybe a couple kerosene lamps and evoke a nightmare circus dance of the dead to rattle the bones of the living. That’s the sort of thing that ran around in my head while watching and listening to these guys. One song that really stood out for me was one called “Pretty Eyes,” about a man who falls in love with a robot, and subsequently kills himself when he sees her without her eyes. One regular customer said to me, “Where do you find these guys? Seems like everytime I come here you’ve got some wierd, great band playing! I love it!” That about sums it up. Look for these guys to return.

The Peculiar Pretzelmen: Kevin(guitar), Deacon(percussion), Mike(saw).

Capturing their essence!

Calling us out!

The drum kit.

Another good use of kitchenware.

Here’s a little video to give you some idea of the dynamism of The Peculiar Pretzelmen. This little HP camera doesn’t do them justice, but it’s a nice little taste.

As if all that weren’t enough, and not to detract from The great fun and wildly popular Wild Hog in the Woods on Thursday and the multi-talented loop artist American Nobody on Friday, we had a huge double-header in the warehouse on Saturday…

The show was opened by Corvallis’ own Junior Raimey and the Town Drunks and their outlaw country/hick-hop stylings.

Junior Raimey

From left, Dan Loretz(Calapooia bartender), Junior, Dave Clark, Jake Sellers.

And then came Albany legends, Blind Rhino… 

Blind Rhino and Calapooia's new brewing system, still under construction.

Johnny"Allnight"Fox.

Moe Dorsey, center.

Roy Barnes while his guitar gently weeps.

The indefatigable Tom Hanna.

Here’s a little clip of the fun that was had by all…

Stay tuned for the further adventures of the Calapooia Brewing Company!

Until then, Cheers!