Grasshopper plays Luna on Thursday, May 27.
BY VANESSA SALVIA
Roots in Rock
Grasshopper alights on Luna;
variety abounds through town.
‘There’s really nothing more
American than a grasshopper.’
– Tony Gilchrist
Also on the 27th, Sam Bond’s welcomes
two eclectic pop singer/songwriters: Ivan
Okay and Sandman. Okay, formerly Ivan
Klipstein, crafts music using funky sojourns
into human beatboxing, samples, answering
machine messages and “found sounds” gar-
nered from carrying around a hand-held tape
recorder. In short, Okay uses anything to get
the sound he wants. A Wisconsin native,
Okay’s recorded music is a “purposeful mish-
mash” of sounds he doesn’t even try to dupli-
cate live. Performing with only his guitar, you
get just him and his spontaneous, creative id.
Chris Sand, a.k.a. Sandman, is an equally
multi-faceted performer, strongly influenced
by the cowboy culture of North Dakota and
Montana, where he grew up. As a child, he was
hooked on breakdancing, then rap, listening to
Ice T in between his parent’s force-feeding of
George Strait and Alabama.
In the early ’90s, while in college, Sand
bravely starting his first rap band, DJ Dave and
done anything with his own compositions be-
yond recording them in his home studio.
Hamm encouraged Gilchrist to give his songs
life in a band and despite his initial reluctance,
he did.
The pair played at open mics to “get our sea
legs back,” according to Gilchrist, and they
gradually met other musicians who wanted to
play the same brand of blues, country and
rock-based Americana music. Bassist Mike
Nemeth, who has played in a number of north-
west bands, joined Grasshopper when
Gilchrist took his amp to Nemeth for repair
and complained that he couldn’t find a bassist.
Drummer Chris Munson, who currently plays
with Honey Buckit, Peter Wilde and Sun
Bossa, worked as a session player in Nashville
and has played with such figures as Vassar
Clements. Lead guitarist Paul Hobbs has per-
formed and recorded with Colin Raye and
Brother Weasel.
Gilchrist, an admitted “insect freak” who
would likely be an entomologist had music not
swayed him from that pursuit, chose the band’s
name in part because it’s memorable and also
because “there’s really nothing more American
than a grasshopper,” he says. “It makes you
think of being out in the country, in farmland.”
As of March, the trio Rasputina has re-
leased the anticipated follow-up to 2002’s
Cabin Fever. The new CD, Frustration
Plantation, is performed by founder and cellist
Melora Creager, cellist Zoe Keating and drum-
mer Jonathan TeBeest.
Rasputina began as an ensemble of women,
clad in dress of the late Victorian era and influ-
enced by the music and literature of those
times. Having welcomed a man to the fold was
an unexpected move, even more so since
TeBeest’s background in music is in ska —
however, he fits right in with the girls and adds
an even more unique texture to the music.
Plantation was inspired by Creager’s time
spent in Louisiana and shows all the hallmarks
of her creative vision: creaks and crackles like
a drafty old house at night, ghostly vocals and
dramatic flair. Rasputina appears Friday at
WOW Hall.
Looking ahead to June 2nd, the WOW Hall
hosts Phoenix,’s Reuben’s Accomplice and
San Luis Obispo’s Watashi
Wa.
Accomplice’s latest CD, The Bull, The Balloon
and The Family, is released on Western Tread
Recordings, a start-up imprint run by Jimmy
Eat World’s singer Jim Adkins. It features
guest vocals and piano by Giant Sand’s Howe
Gelb, vocals and guitar by Adkins, steel guitar
and banjo by Jon Rauhouse (Neko Case, Old
97’s) and vocals by Pedro the Lion’s David
Bazan.
Arizona natives Jeff Bufano and Chris
Corak, the core of Reuben’s Accomplice, de-
buted in 2001 with I Blame The Scenery. After
splitting with their rhythm section, they en-
listed their “extended family” to help them
record the follow up.
The Bull’s urgent energy and catchy
melodies are softened by a wistful tone, espe-
cially on “Tonight We Drink,” which features
Gelb’s fantastic, sun-baked voice. Each song
starts out with an infectious energy and pulls
the listener through with pulsating bass lines
and distinctive melodies.
Adkins’ production gives the guitars a razor-
sharp rock edge but allows an overall shambling,
plaintive mood to shine through. This CD is des-
tined to become one of my favorites.
Watashi Wa was formed in 1996 by four 13
year olds who are now 20 and touring to sup-
port their third album, The Love of Life. The
guys combine mature lyrics with melodic
power pop and punk.
ew
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Full Bar
Organic Café Mam
Coffee
Organic Menu
for
Lunch & Dinner
Wireless Internet
Locally Owned
& Operated
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Sandman. Montana’s rapping cowboy then
came out west to attend Evergreen College in
Olympia, where his mingling with the anar-
chists and hippies left a permanent mark on his
psyche. He found a way to merge his upbring-
ing in western culture with his direct sexuality
and awareness of politics, filtering it all
through his “post-modern troubadour’s hip-
hop heart.”
Over at Luna, Eugene band Grasshopper
takes the stage on the 27th. Singer/songwriter
and guitarist Tony Gilchrist and vocalist Paige
Hamm migrated north to Eugene from Austin
in 2001. Hamm was a classically trained musi-
cian who “wasn’t doing much of anything with
her talents,” says Gilchrist, while he had not
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T
he week kicks off with several great
bands vying for attention on
Thursday, May 27. First up, seven-
piece ensemble Macaco Velho (Ma-ca-cu
Vel-yo, literally “Old Monkey”) brings the col-
orful music and dance of Brazil to Café
Paradiso. Velho specializes in the traditional
aspects of the music, especially the accordion-
driven Forró (pronounced Fo-ho) from the
rural countryside.
Brazilian-born singer Heliane Ferreira-
Pinto fronts the group, with an expressive
stage presence and irresistibly powerful voice.
Wistful melodies and irrepressible rhythms
will transport you to the verdant hills and vi-
brant streets of Brazil.
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13th
& M
Oak
(formerly
Field’s)
• 434-6553
MAY 27, 2004 39