EVERY THURSDAY NITE IS MOJO’S
Open Mic
T A L E N T
C O N T E S T
$50 Prize
will be awarded
every Thursday nite
for the winning act!
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Mose Allison
plays the Shedd
on Friday.
hosted by Jon Michaels from KKNU
• Singers can bring karaoke discs for back-up
• Comedians • Guitarists • Musicians
• Any Performers Welcome
SIGN UP - 8PM • FIRST ACT - 8:30PM
I-5 Coburg Exit
★ 686-8686
www.TheVLT.com
The Very Little Theatre presents
One Shoe
Off
A play by Tina Howe
Suzanne Shapiro, director
May 30-June 1*,
June 5-8*, 12-14
Southern Sounds
* Sunday Matinees
TICKETS $12
(Students $9 on Thursdays)
Box office open 2-5:30 Wed.- Sat.,
2350 Hilyard St.
344-7751
A host of hot tunes around town.
Voted 2nd favorite Eugene
Station by EW Readers
Fri June 6 Turkish Aksent
6 - 8 pm
with Mahmut Genceli & Sally Cowan
(many vegan options)
(no onions or garlic)
(Halva, Sweet Rice)
(+ other ingredients)
inside Friendly St Market
40 JUNE 5, 2003
I
love this time of year. Not just because
of all the beauty bustin’ out all over, but
also because so many musicians from
the wellsprings of American music, the
South, start migrating this way, refugees from
the heat and humidity of their native climes.
Mississippi native Mose Allison (who now
now lives on Long Island) brings the coolest
voice in the Western hemisphere to the Shedd
on Friday, June 6.
First Allison picked cotton on the family
farm, then went to college, then joined the
Army. He got his start as a pianist on the jazz
label Prestige in the 1950s, recording the
classic album Back Country Suite. That
album so enchanted Pete Townshend (who,
judging by that voice and accent, thought
Allison must be black) that the Who included
his “Young Man Blues” in their live sets.
Allison moved on to Atlantic, Columbia
and other labels, including Blue Note. Over a
40-year span he recorded a steady stream of
blues/jazz/pop whose cleverness (“Middle
Class White Boy,” “Your Mind’s on Vacation
but Your Mouth is Working Overtime”)
matched his voice’s understated, incompara-
ble cool.
The 75-year-old Allison remains a scintil-
lating pianist, a wryly funny songwriter, and
a laid-back singer. Any fan of the blues, jazz,
or piano should see this true legend of
American music.
Daniel Lanois is actually a native of
Quebec, but following his Acadian/Cajun an-
cestors, moved south to New Orleans. There,
he built a recording studio and earned a repu-
tation as the preeminent rock producer of his
generation, imbuing such albums as U2’s The
Joshua Tree, Peter Gabriel’s So, the Neville
Brothers’ Yellow Moon, and Bob Dylan’s
Time Out of Mind with a compelling, moody
atmosphere learned from working with Brian
Eno on ambient classics like Apollo.
That captivating darkness suffuses his
own haunting solo albums, including his best
so far, the new Shine, which features guest
appearances by buddies like Bono and
Emmylou Harris. His superb drummer, Brian
Blade, will open Lanois’ concert at the Wild
Duck on Tuesday, June 10. And look for his
Neville collaborators here soon.
Another Canadian visitor, Harry Manx,
hits Luna June 7. His combination of the
blues and the sounds of Indian ragas on the
20-string mohan veena somehow creates a
confluence between the Mississippi Delta
and the Ganges, yet it’s still bluesy enough to
have won him blues awards.
And speaking of moody, on Saturday June
14, the queen of dark (not to say despondent)
ballads, Lisa Germano, comes to the
WOW Hall with our own tasty tangonauts,
Mood Area 52, opening.
Germano used to play violin with John
Mellencamp, but the hushed intensity of her
whispery, haunting solo work channels more
of the dark side of Marianne Faithfull or
Rickie Lee Jones. The WOW hosts a sunnier
show on Wednesday, June 11 when the fla-
menco masters Sonidos Gitanos bring
gypsy dance and music from Spain to
Eugene. Guitars, singers, percussion, and
dancing feet — both solo and group — create
a stirring visual and aural experience.
Some innovative improvisational music
hits town on Friday, June 13, but you’ll have
to choose between avant/punk jazz quintet
Canoofle (drum set, electric bass, clarinet,
accordion, percussion and electric piano) at
Sam Bond’s, and Tim McLaughlin’s Eleven
Eyes (turntables, saxophone, trumpet, gui-
tar,
bass
and
drums)
blistering
funk/techno/jazz fusion. Tough choice —
both are well worth hearing live, both for jazz
and rock fans.
Bond’s also features the Billies saxo-
phone quartet on the 11th, while on the 12th,
Luna has one of the great jazz bassists,
David Friesen, with two superior gui-
tarists, Dan Balmer and Jerry Hahn, in
one of the Northwest’s finest jazz aggrega-
tions.
ew