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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 1987)
[PAMPHLET DOES IRCULATE S NOT // ULATE uUyyff* HAPPENING Guide to Local Arts, Entertainment & Events t MAGAZINE Serving Eugene, Springfield & Lane County Since 1982 Jan. 8-14, 1987 C, ee< dysid6, ERAC 2 VALa 7, Ix A C A -5 ) — P> 6 c AR for Jan. & Feb. A fter years of listening to F his father’s collection of records, and getting his mom to buy him a guitar when he was 12 (“All the kids in the neighborhood got guitars when the Beatles came out"), Cray joined his first band in high school in Virginia in 1967. Moving back to Tacoma, Washington where he’d received his first guitar, he joined another band and discovered Howlin’ Wolf, Mud dy Waters and B.B. King. “I was a fanatic about Magic Sam in my high school days,” he says, “and I liked Johnny Guitar Watson because of all the wild stuff he played. The same with Buddy Guy Buddy does all that crazy stuff too.” H e and bassist Richard Cousins soon hooked up together and moved to Eugene and formed the Robert Cray Band. That was in 1974. They soon “took to the road” and worked first with Little Frankie Lee, and then Albert Collins. They were Albert’s backup band for a couple of years. After Cray had a stint in the movie Animal House in 1977, another Eugene bluesman joined the group—Curtis Salgado. He was with them until 1982. A fter performing at the San Francisco Blues Fes tival, Cray and the band caught the attention of a record producer. Their first record was not widely distributed, but they have had great success since then with three more albums, as well as recognition nationally and in ternationally for their unique style, and Cray’s charismatic performance as well as his silky voice. They can be heard at the UO/EMU Ballroom at 8 pm. Opening guests are to be announced. Tickets are available at the EMU Main Desk, Everybody's, Face The Music and Earth River. They are $7.50 for students and $8.50 for the general public. THE ROBERT CRAY BAND returns to its birthplace this Sunday and we can expect their usual fare of hot blues.
