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Ellen Mcllwaine
B.J. Kelly's
Jan. 25
O’Callahan’s
Feb. 4
The Ellen Mcllwaine Band
brought its own special brand of
fire and brimstone rock and roll
to Eugene and set the town
aflame with its dynamic and
original sounds
Ellen Mcllwaine is a shadowy
figure on the outskirts of the
rock world Due to her increas
ingly esoteric style, which has
evolved from blues to a hard
punching rock over the last 17
years, she is often misunder
stood or overlooked by many
who would enjoy her in
dividuality Her music is the es
sence of rock and roll — overtly
erotic in texture and content;
her voice like a wildcat in heat,
matched in its electricity only by
the raw power of her guitar.
From the moment she ap
peared on stage for a sound
check, everyone knew the
evening would be different It
was no ordinary sound check
The first high notes she hit on
her slide guitar caught everyone
Ellen Mcllwane
Between rock and a hard place
in the house rubbernecking
From this point on she had them
right where whe wanted them
Mcllwaine's slide guitar play
ing is more akin to Jimi Hendrix
than to the blues slide most of
us are used to It was accen
tuated by the crafted rhythm
section of Mitch Elrod on bass
and Roger Martin on drums
Together with Mcllwaine they
are like a three-sided coin, each
allowed equal and ample room
for improvisation
Mcllwaine faces two chal
lenges as an artist The first is
classic: having one s art ac
cepted without compromising it
She has never played main
stream music In the beginning
she chose to navigate the
headwaters of the blues tradi
tion while others like Bonnie
Raitt marketed a watered-down
product, more popular but wth
less vitality
Now she has forged her own
style of esoteric rock and roll
that sounds like a combination
of African tribal chanting,
recent King Crimson and Jams
Joplin in her prime As Elrod
said, ‘ the (recording) industry
wants everyone to suck up the
same thing ” Needless to say
the Industry will never be beat
ing down Mcllwaine s door
The second challenge makes
the first look easy Mcllwaine
wants to be recognized as a
guitarist while many of her fans
want her to be primarily a
vocalist "They spotlight me
when I sing, not when I play,"
she says
This attitude. Mcllwaine says,
often results in requests to turn
down the guitar volume But
she's used to this sort of thing
and doesn't let the catcalls
bring her down, as was obvious
when she launched into Dig for
the Reason, a syncopated
repeating vocal tune guaran
teed to make the audience
move. The band pumped for all
it was worth and the dance floor
filled to capacity to hear the
Gospel According to Ellen
A smile crept over her face as
she pulled out some of the real
show-stoppers Take Me to the
River, an Al Green song (and
more recently, by Talking
Heads) was reworked into a new
funk mold The band laid down a
Herbie Hancock-ish riff which
Mcllwaine punctuated with
crisp thrusts from her wah-wah
This led into Albert King's
classic "Born Under a Bad
Sign which the band treated
with more feeling than "The
King' himself mustered up
when he was in town in Sep
tember She almost spoke some
of the lines on this one. with a
gruff realism that reminded me
of the tone a lover uses when
whe's had it up to here with you
By the end of the set Mcll
waine was beaming The first
Natural
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thing she said as she grabbed a
Henry's was, "What do you
think of these guys, aren't they
great? (Other musicians) either
lay back too much or beat the
hell out of you These guys let us
all be equals
"I'm doing what I always
wanted to do " she said, but I
was always afraid to try it
because people refuse to let
females be anything but
vocalists "
Ellen Mcllwaine is up against
a wall that no woman in the
music business has succeeded
in breaking through I have a
feeling that she's going to jump
right over it
by John navazio
Fahey at
WOW Hall
tonight
John Fahey, nationally
known acoustic guitarist, will
appear at the WOW Hall tonight
for two shows with The Tree
People
Fahey is donating both of the
performances to a fund for sav
ing the WOW Hall, which is fac
ing possible closure due to fin
ancial problems
Tickets for the concerts are
$5, and are available at the
WOW Hall. 291 W 8th Ave The
shows start at 8 and 10:30. and
the doors will open at 7
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764 E. 13th