Features Editor:
LisaToth
lisatoth@daUyemerald.com
Thursday, November 29,2001
Calendar-a-go-go online
A full listing of local events for the week
is available on the Oregon Daily Emerald
Website, www.dailyemerald.com
Courtesy Photo
The Tony Furtado Band brings its
blend of delta blues, Celtic, Appalachian
and jazz sounds to Eugene on Friday
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Whether audiences enjoy
dancing or simply absorb
ing the music, the Tony Fur
tado Band offers something
for everyone with its “new Ameri
can roots” music. The band has just
begun the Western U.S. tour that
brings it to Eugene.
The Tony Furtado Band will
perform with openers Living Day
lights at the Wild Duck Music Hall
this Friday.
Though this is its first time per
forming at the. Wild Duck, Tony
Furtado is no stranger to Eugene.
During the past few years, he and
his band have played at the
Willamette Valley Folk Festival
and the Eugene Celebration.
The band consists of slide guitar
and banjo player Tony Furtado,
electric guitarist Gawain Matthews,
drummer Aaron Johnston and
bassist Myron Dove.
“The whole Northwest is really
awesome and extremely recep
tive,” Furtado said.
He said they plan to play songs
from a variety of their albums, as
well as some new music they will
be recording in the studio this
winter.
Furtado said he, his manager and
his publicist invented the new
catch phrase for the band’s type of
music, called “new American
roots.” He said it comes from the
bluegrass world and is a blend of
delta blues, Celtic, Appalachian
folk and jazz.
Douglas Fuchs, president of Fly
ing Ink Media, who booked the
event at Wild Duck, described, the
music as a blend of many styles,
from slide blues to Colorado jam.
“They do more than play to a
watching and waiting audience,”
Fuchs said. “(The music) is some
thing you can get up and dance to.”
Many of the band’s songs are
laced with lively Celtic rhythms
that start toes tapping.
“Ever since I was a kid, I loved
to listen to and play Irish music,”
Furtado said. “When I was a little
boy, I decided to play the banjo.”
Furtado said he remembers
seeing Doug Kershaw, the “Ra
gin’ Cajun,” who was famous for
carrying an umbrella case full of
fiddle bows.
Furtado said he is also excited
for Friday’s performance be
cause a special guest, Celtic ac
cordion player Johnny Connelly,
Turn to Furtado, page 7
I
Slide guitar and
banjo player Tony
Furtado is no
stranger to the
Northwest music !
scene.
Orchestra puts ‘rock-symphonic twist’ on Christmas music
■The Rose Garden in Portland
will host Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s
Christmas rock opera Dec. 9
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Since the 1995 release of the song
“Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24,” the
Trans-Siberian Orchestra has reinvented
Christmas music.-They have mounted a
national tour for their popular rock opera
“Christmas Eve & Other Stories” that will
bring them to Portland this holiday season.
The Theatre of the Clouds at the Rose
Garden will host the Trans-Siberian Or
chestra’s production Dec. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
“It's like ‘Phantom of the Opera’ with
more rock edge to it,” said Paul O’Neill,
producer, composer, lyricist and gui
tarist for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
“It’s a full-scale musical production that
brings together the stirring elegance of a
classical orchestra along with the power [~
and fury of a hard-rock band surrounded
by stunning lighting. ”
O’Neill said part of the inspiration in
creating the Trans-Siberian Orcheslra
was the desire to find a way to take mu- I
sic to a deeper emotional level, and he |
believes rock operas accomplish that by |
setting the songs in the context of a story.
O’Neill originally created the CD’s
centerpiece song, “Christmas Eve Sara- *
jevo 12/24” for his rock opera “Dead
Winter Dead” in 1995. The song was
based on the true story of a cellist who
continued to play outdoors amid the
gunfire and violence surrounding him
in his native city of Sarajevo.
“This album was an attempt to cap
ture the magic that Christmas Eve some
how — against impossible odds —
seems to work on the human spirit,”
O’Neill said.
Turn to Trans-Siberian, page 8
Musical director,
co-writer and
producer Robert
Kinkel (left) and
founder, lyricist,
co-writer and
producer Paul O’Neill
give Trans-Siberian
Orchestra its life.