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About The Chronicle : Creswell & Cottage Grove. (Creswell, Ore.) 2019-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 2019)
12 — THE CHRONICLE & HEARD scene THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019 SCENE COMMUNITY & HEARD LOCAL ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Thoughts from the desk at Kalapuya Books… BY BETSY AND HAL HARTZELL Ordinary Elephant’s Pete Damore and Crystal Hariu-Damore. PHOTO PROVIDED/KIM STILL UNPLUGGED Nomadic roots folk duo rocks the Grove BY DANA MERRYDAY CONTRIBUTING WRITER COTTAGE GROVE – An intimate crowd at the Cottage Events Venue was treated to an evening anything but ordinary last Thursday. Looking like they just walked out of a Dorothea Lange photograph, a husband/wife duo stood out in the simple, cream-colored setting of the venue as their Americana band, “Ordinary Elephant,” brought soulful songs to Cottage Grove in their fi rst appearance. Their newest album “Honest,” released in May, has been acclaimed by the Associated Press, Popmatters, and has charted number one on the Folk Charts. They played an unplugged show using just one area microphone that picked up their sound with clarity. Main vocalist Crystal Hariu- Damore strummed solid rhythm guitar, while Pete Damore alternated between clawhammer banjo, octave mandolin accompaniment and vocal harmonies. Music was the Damores hobby, turned into a calling. They had both trained for other profes- sions – Pete as a computer programer, Crystal as a veterinary cardiologist. They came to the realization that they were destined to become a “nomadic roots folk duo” after Pete met Crystal at an open mic night in College Station. The two later moved to Houston, Texas, and embracing music as a livelihood, the couple and their four dogs later moved into a home on wheels, taking their show on the road. There was none of that rock star egoma- nia that sometimes accompanies performers. Between songs, they took turns revealing snip- pets of their lives and the origins of each song. Crystal also shared several of her poems that she has collected into a book, “Words to Read.” It is a rare treat to hear distinctly well-crafted lyrics. Their voices weave together intricately; with wistful harmonies, a sound is crafted which is both bittersweet and haunting. The Damores said they have daily writ- ing exercises in which they spend 10 minutes focused on a random object and record their flow of consciousness. Many of Crystal’s poems have come from these exercises, she said, noting that it is important to always have your songwriting radar on, because you never know when you will come across the seed of the next song that will sprout and grow. Every song on “Honest” is a piece of jour- neyman songwriting. The song “If I Am Being Honest” talks about what parents should be teaching their children, as they are being raised in an uncertain world with so much division. “The War” came out of a whirlwind trip to Washington D.C. and serendipitously coming upon the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Crystal related that to hear the number of dead is one thing, but to see all the names was overwhelm- ing. The song speaks to the living casualties whose names are missing from the memorial but carry the burden of war just the same. Other songs came from family, such as “Railroad Man,” about Crystal’s father and the grandmother who raised him, which is found on their second album, “Before I Go.” Their name is a reminder that there is no such thing as an “ordinary” elephant, that we are surrounded by a world full of seemingly ordinary things that – under closer examina- tion – have unique and magical qualities. You can’t lump them all into a generic form of grey. Ordinary Elephant reached their last song too soon, even though the hour was getting late. Great selection of beer, wine & spirits Cottage Grove’s Place To Be! Featuring local live music Now serving Sunday Brunch 10am to 2pm August 30 • 8:30 pm Everything made in-house August 31 • 8:30 pm Canyoneers Greg Nestler Open 2 p.m. every day except Sunday ▲ 541-942-5942 ▲ 657 Main Street Cottage Grove We have great outside seating! Go to www.axeandfiddle.com to see bands and daily events Toni Morrison, in her Nobel acceptance speech said, “We die. That may be the mean- ing of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” Language is what inhabits Kalapuya – words to inspire change in the world, bound in books. In this book, “Here on the Edge,” Eugene historian Steve McQuiddy stimulates thoughts about what it means to take an unpopular stand, based on conscience, and how that act of personal integrity carried forward to broaden its impact. Key members of the Waldport CPS (Civilian Public Service) camp – a forest service camp for conscientious objectors during World War II – coalesced into the Beat Movement, which in itself became the cata- lyst for a renaissance of critical thinking in America. Language… words… can lift us Betsy Hartzell is in her element at eclectic Kalapuya Books, which she and husband Hal own and operate in Cottage Grove’s historic downtown. CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO up and encourage us to make a better world. Books can offer a counterbalance to the feeling of being powerless, which is needed in this crucial time. “Here on the Edge” is such a thing. Steve McQiddy will give a presentation on this unique piece of Oregon history at History Pub at 6 p.m. on Sept. 3 at The Axe & Fiddle, 657 E. Main St., Cottage Grove. BOOK REVIEW ‘Here on Edge,’ by Steve McQuiddy REVIEWED BY JOSH FAT TAL Steve McQuiddy provides a close-up account of the experience of conscientious objectors in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) camp at Waldport during World War II. In particular, he pays special attention to a small, vibrant group of people who developed art and sophisti- cated political ideas amidst the rugged camp life. Conscientious objectors during WWII have received somewhat scant attention in history books partly because the war against the Axis powers remains popular in the American imagination. However, whether their position on the war deserves approval or not, it is undeni- able that the small groups of war resisters had an outsized infl uence on the politics of later generations. The camp at Waldport proved an interesting case study. Originally a Civilian Conservation Corps site, the camp was one of 150 CPS camps scattered across the country. In coastal terrain familiar to Oregonians, the detainees offi cially labored in projects of “national importance,” planting over a million trees, stationing fire towers and crushing rock. McQuiddy focuses on the “Fine Arts Group” who imbued the camp with its historical import. The group was largely made up of “temperamen- tal anarchists” who engaged in work stoppages, walkouts and slowdowns to protest conditions of their intern- ment. In this isolated experi- ment in communal living, the “creative act” became the lifeblood of their resis- tance to the regimentation of war, conscription and “mass society.” McQuiddy reveals how the arts, theater, poetry and publishing endeavors spread from Waldport across CPS camps nationwide. Some of the comrades continued their collaborations after the war, carrying with them and spreading their countercul- tural ideas while continuing to oppose the postwar mili- tarization of society and the centralization of political and economic power. Reviewer Josh Fattal has recently returned to the Cottage Grove commu- nity with his young family, is writing a doctoral thesis in history and hoping to teach in the future. He is the author of “Sliver of Light,” reviewed several months ago in The Chronicle. He will join McQuiddy onstage at History Pub, which will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 3-5 at the Axe & Fiddle in Cottage Grove, to make the presentation more conversational with a ques- tion-and-answer format. The Brewstation Homemade Savory and Sweet Pies ▲ Quiche ▲ Bavarian Pretzels ▲ Beer Cheese Soup Ploughman Platters ▲ 14 rotating beer taps ▲ 2 craft ciders ▲ Nitro ▲ Expanded bottled beer from around the world ▲ AUGUST 27 | Trivia Tuesday with Heather Teams up to 6 players welcome Tuesday 6:30 - 10:30 pm AUGUST 30 | The Huckleberrys Americana Friday 7:30 - 10:30 pm AUGUST 31 | Petri Dish Folk / Bluegrass Friday 7:00 - 10:00 pm Monday Sept. 2 – Feed Store is closed all day, Brewstation is open for regular hours 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Live Music Friday and Saturday 106 South 6th St. Cottage Grove Never a cover ▲ 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. 541-942-8770 Wonderful outside seating and pet-friendly patio Opens 11 a.m. daily except for Sunday at noon
