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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2003)
BY VANESSA SALVIA QUASI PLAYS THE WOW HALL ON SUNDAY. Halloween Screams Fun-filled Friday night concerts. O ne of Eugene’s longest-running bands, The Valley Boys, has stepped up once again to support cancer research. The Valley Boys began in 1983 as keyboardist/ guitarist John Powell and bassist Alan Reinoehl sifted through drummers before settling down with Gary Marullo in 1988. The threesome has been one of Eugene’s premier party bands ever since. The merrymaking musicians have been the featured performers over the last 11 years at the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life; their first Relay for Life gig was on the back of a pick-up truck in Alton Baker Park. 2003’s Relay took place at Lane Community College. This year, the band was personally touched by the specter of cancer, as the 20-year-old daughter of one of Marullo’s friends had a lung removed because of a carsonoid tumor. Seeking to do even more to fund cancer research, the band wrote and recorded one song, “OK Daddy,” and is donating all prof- its from it to the American Cancer Society. “She was the inspiration for the song,” says Marullo. “She’s made it through that and is now a cancer survivor, so we dedi- cated the song to her. It’s a way for us to give something back to an organization that’s done a lot for us in the past, and it’s for a good cause.” The Valley Boys recorded a CD in the early ’90s they called OK, OK, Here’s Your Record, which Marullo says was a witty response to fans begging the band to record. Marullo explains the band’s time-tested appeal: “We do a mix of all kinds of music, whatever it takes to get an audience up and moving and having fun. It’s a fun, party, rock and roll band. Whatever the crowd wants, from country to disco, we’re happy to please them.” “OK Daddy,” which harkens back to the golden age of ’50s crooner music and har- monic vocal pop, is available for $5 at CD World or directly from Marullo (e- mail: gmarullo@comcast.net). The band is engaged for three weekends of Friday-Saturday shows at the Coburg Road Ramada Inn, begin- ning with Friday’s Halloween cos- tume party bash. Eugene’s Scary Poppin’ Daddies (right) are set to rock the house Halloween night at the McDonald Theatre, along with open- ing act Vagiant UK. Daddies front- man Steve Perry is the force behind Vagiant UK, a project he began less than a year ago and blatantly calls “stupid” and “bonehead.” Perry paints Vagiant UK as “early ’70s British glam, like David Bowie and T Rex and stuff like that, mid- ’70s Southern rock, like Lynyrd Skynyrd and late ’70s punk rock, like The Dead Boys or something.” This glammy, larger-than-life persona is not unfamiliar to Perry, who charged the Daddies’ music with the attitude of glam rock for The Daddies’ 2000 release Soul Caddy. Vagiant UK is a Eugene supergroup of sorts, composed of Perry singing, guitarist Jason Moss (also of the Daddies), Jivan Valpey (Yeltsin, Pass Out Kings) drumming, The Courtesy Clerks’ Mark Rogers also on guitar and Ed Cole (Naysayers, numerous other projects) on bass. Perry brings a humorous but blatant sex- uality to Vagiant UK’s stage show, which he says can be disconcerting. “Some people don’t like it because it’s sexy. It’s basically about white male sexuality, which is sort of verboten,” he says. “That hasn’t been OK to do for a long time, and hence the humor. If you’re a white male, you’re not supposed to express yourself sexually, and that’s the joke,” he explains. Vagiant, which has only played a hand- ful of shows since its inception, is mixing a record — done at Eugene’s Gung Ho Studios and due out early next year — ten- tatively titled Plush Opportunities. This is Vagiant UK’s first “significant” show in front of a large crowd, which Perry points out will allow Vagiant UK “to disgust peo- ple in higher numbers.” Costumes are ew encouraged. Lucinda Williams SPECIAL SPECIAL GUESTS GUESTS EASTMOUNTAINSOUTH EASTMOUNTAINSOUTH THIS TUESDAY NOV 4 MCDONALD THEATER TICKETSWEST TICKETSWEST 503-224-TIXX 503-224-TIXX ALL ALL AGES AGES PRODUCED PRODUCED IN IN ASSOCIATION ASSOCIATION WITH WITH TRUE TRUE WEST WEST CONCERTS CONCERTS WIN TICKETS @ WWW.MONQUI.COM COMING TO PORTLAND "A MIND BENDING 24 PIECE SYMPHONIC POP ADVENTURE" TH MISSISSIPPI NORTH ALLSTARS • TICKETS ARE SUBJECT TO SERVICE CHARGE SHOWS ALL AGES UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED "...the kind of revelatory listen for which music lovers hope and pray" -Miami New Times SLEEPY JACKSON • CORN MO RACHAEL RA CHAEL YAMA Y YAMAGATA AMAGA GATA FEATURING GREG DULLI FORMER AFGHAN WHIGS FRONT MAN FRI NOV 7 • ROSELAND NOV 9 • BERBATI'S NOV 18 • ALADDIN NOV 26 • LOLA'S TICKETSWEST 503-224-TIXX TICKETSWEST 503-224-TIXX • 21+ TICKETMASTER 503-224-4400 TICKETMASTER 503-224-4400 21+ NOV 30 • BERBATI'S TICKETSWEST 503-224-TIXX 21+ OCTOBER 30, 2003 27
