BY VANESSA SALVIA
The Sugarbeets are at Sam Bond’s New Year’s Eve.
ensemble breaks out the rhythms of
Carnival. Don’t try to resist the call. Samba
in the new year.
Partyin’ Like It’s 2004
Where to ring in the New Year
G
et out your dancing shoes and pre-
pare to party like a rock star this
New Year’s Eve because no matter
what you’re into, Eugene’s got it goin’ on.
The WOW Hall and the Faerieworlds
Festival host a New Year’s Eve Faerie
Masquerade Ball with reunited Trillian
Green and music from Woodland. The event
also features art from Brian Froud and Jen
Delyth’s lightshows.
Ten years ago Trillian Green’s musical
odyssey began at the Oregon Country Fair.
They performed to appreciative crowds until
parting ways after their 1997 New Year’s
Eve show at the WOW Hall. Last summer
they rediscovered their joy of performing
together and now they’re ready to play for
you!
Woodland’s music explores the realm of
the Faerie through harp, violin, guitar, bass,
drums, flutes and the faerie art of Brian
The Faerie Masquerade Ball
WOW Hall, doors 8:30 pm
$15 advance
687-2746
Froud. Feel free to dress for the occasion in
robes, wings and crowns.
Cozmic Pizza hosts a Last Night
Celebration from 7:30 pm to 1 am.
Performances kick off with tango dance
music from The Tango Trio and end with
Samba Ja, a Brazilian-percussive ensemble.
In between, delight in appearances by
Eugene’s reigning Slug Queen Scarlett
O’Slimera and friends, West African drum-
ming and dancing performances by Village
Pulse, bellydance performances by members
of Ala Nar, and Brazilian dance music by
Macaco Velho.
Don’t miss Grupo Capoeira’s perform-
ance as they demonstrate the “national sport”
of Brazil — a non-contact martial art involv-
ing music and artistic expression between
players. Samba Ja brings the night to a
thrilling close when the 30-piece percussion
Last Night Celebration
Cozmic Pizza, 7:30 pm
$5-$10 sliding
338-9333
With so many reggae lovers in town, it’s
no surprise Eugene has our own resident reg-
gae legend: Norma Frasier. Friday night,
chase away the evening’s chill listening to
her smooth, sunny, tropical rhythms at Lucky
Noodle.
Frasier released her first record, We’ll Be
Lovers, at age 19 in 1961. It topped charts in
Jamaica for more than a year. But it’s her
second album, The First Cut Is The Deepest,
which debuted in 1967, that made her
famous in the U.S. Frasier recorded at Studio
One in Jamaica with Bob Marley and the
Wailers, Ken Booth, The Skatalites, Delroy
Wilson and others.
Though she gained a measure of fame in
the early 1970s, she was disenchanted with
the business end of the music industry and
didn’t perform for 20 years. Luckily that’s
changed and her clear voice is as beautiful as
it was in 1961.
You’re sure to see unshaved pits and
dreadlocks at Sam Bond’s when The Sugar
Beets perform. With two female vocalists,
acoustic guitar, keyboards, fiddle, mandolin,
upright bass and drums, the band delivers an
unstoppable dance groove for Eugene’s
ubiquitous hippies. Eugene Weekly readers
know and love the Beets, and voted them
best band in both 1999 and 2000.
The group knows it’s a band for dirt-
lovers and expresses it with gentle humor, as
on “Did You Ask The Tall Blue-Eyed Hippie
To Stay?,” a track off their 2001 CD Sweet
Ride Home. If you like the jam and groove of
Widespread Panic or Leftover Salmon, Sam
Bond’s is the place to park your tie-dyed butt
on New Year’s night.
ew
Norma Frasier
w/ Steps To Lydia
Lucky Noodle Restaurant
9 pm $5 • 484-4777
The Sugar Beets
Sam Bond’s Garage, 9 pm
431-6603
Maximizing
New Max’s Tavern
reopens to fanfare
M
uch-needed remodeling rein-
vigorated a beloved campus
watering hole recently, and the New
(and improved) Max’s Tavern plans to
reopen and kick off the New Year
with music from the Divers.
Chase Fairbairn bought Max’s
Tavern in 1993 and over time noticed
that the floor was slowly sinking. He
attributed it to settling of an old
building until the floor started caving
in. “Eventually things started looking
dangerous and that’s when we finally
shut down,” says Fairbairn. After
looking under the floor he found that
while the restroom drainage was fine,
corrosive beer and soda had eaten
away the old iron pipes coming out of
the bar’s drainage system.
Six scary feet of “quickmud” had
formed under the bar’s floor. They
closed in August 2004 for repairs,
and used the same technology engi-
neers employed to shore up the
Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. They
sank pillars 16 feet into the ground to
stabilize the load-bearing wall and all
plumbing is now state-of-the-art. “All
the infrastructure of the bar is new.
All the equipment is new, all the cabi-
netry is new, all the seating is new,”
Fairbairn says. “We’ve redone every-
thing, and especially anything that
has to function. It’s like a bionic
building now!” Fairbairn says the new
décor has a “haberdashery” feel, like
an old ‘40s retailer. New Year’s are
typically raucous affairs at the
Tavern, and with the grand re-open-
ing of one of Eugene’s most-loved
bars, this event will be one to tell
your grandchildren about.
DECEMBER 30, 2004 21