BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Celtic
Convocation
The music of summer festivals
Cynic that I am, I admit to being put off by
the name of the annual Faerieworlds
Festival , which this year comes to Secret
House Winery outside Eugene on July 23 and
24. But what matters is the music, and in that
department, the festival has scored big with its
headliner, the spellbinding contemporary Irish
singer/pianist Karan Casey and her band.
Since her days fronting the Irish/
American supergroup Solas, Casey has
drawn worldwide raves for her bell-like
soprano, which seems equally at home cover-
ing traditional Celtic and English ballads,
Appalachian folk tunes and modern singers
from Billy Bragg to Billie Holiday. Recent
Karan Casey
shows, including several at our own recently-
closed Café Paradiso, have featured more of
her own socially conscious songwriting, but
it’s that gossamer voice and her deft use of it
that put her in the pantheon of modern Celtic
chanteuses such as Mary Black, Susan
McKeown and so many others.
The festival also includes another frequent
Eugene visitor, the agile Portland-based fid-
dler Kevin Burke with Ged Foley . One of the
world’s greatest Celtic fiddlers, Burke (who
plays Saturday) alone is worth the price of
admission. Along with Casey, Sunday’s lineup
features another silly name/great music
combo, Magical Strings (Celtic harp and
more), Country Fair vets Trillian Green
(flute, cello, and percussion virtuoso Jarrod
Kaplan), Eugene’s (deservedly) most popular
band, the Sugar Beets , and many more
Northwest-based Celtic ensembles. Check
www.faerieworlds.com for the full schedule.
A different kind of festival happens
Friday, July 22, when Joint Forces Dance
Company brings two dozen international
dancers downtown for a community dance
bash. The dancing, the culmination of a
weeklong workshop taught by Eugene cho-
reographer (and Guggenheim grantee) Alito
Alessi , starts at 4 pm at the downtown
library, moves to Broadway Plaza and then
the Hult Center. It continues that night at the
WOW Hall, where the dancers will join the
jazz-funk-electronica ensemble Eleven
Eyes . If you haven’t caught this energetic
group yet, this is a great opportunity to expe-
rience one of Eugene’s hottest bands.
On July 21, the WOW brings another jazz
influenced group, Philadelphia’s eccentric (or
“deranged” as one review calls them) Need
New Body , whose wild and wacky combina-
tion of free noise, funk, punk, jazz, ethnic and
bluegrass influences, eccentric costumes and
props, and more might appeal to fans of uncat-
egorizable acts from Zappa on down. The
show features similarly strange yet compelling
experimental rock from the more convention-
al new wavish (remember that?) Aerodrone
(see story on p. 27) to Chicago’s intriguingly
off-center Pit er Pat (compared to Blonde
Redhead), featuring spacey vocalist Fay
Davis-Jeffers, and Eugene’s one-man industri-
al triphopper, Unkle Nancy . This sounds like
a show for listeners who want to explore the
outer reaches of rock-based music.
For a mellower jazz experience, you can
hear singer Cynthia Beal with pianist and UO
music prof Steve Larson performing ballads,
blues and Latin love songs at the latest dona-
tion-only MusEvening performance at the
UO Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art on
Wednesday, July 27 from 6:30-8 pm.
Anyone who caught Scott Cossu ’s set at
Country Fair knows what a lively show the
Olympia based pianist/composer puts on.
Pigeonholed as a new- ager thanks to his early
association with Windham Hill, Cossu is far
more than a gloopy mellowmeister. His music
runs on barrelhouse boogie woogie, uptempo
jazz, blues, mambo and other Latin rhythms, in
part based on his field research in Andean music.
He won’t have Jarrod Kaplan or David Jacobs-
Strain for his show at Luna on July 30, but he
will be joined by fab flutist Ann Lindquist for
what promises to be a delicious show.
Luna features another Washington-based
instrumental master on July 28, when
Eduardo Mendonça brings his percussive
Afro-Brazilian guitaristry and vocals to town.
A star in his native Bahia, Mendonça leads the
Seattle-based band Show Brazil! and his solo
recordings feature a more upbeat brand of
bossa than that purveyed by some of our other
recent Brazilian visitors. You can hear another
Brazilian-influenced guitar master, Eugene’s
own Craig Einhorn , at Eugene Wine Cellars
on August 3. And African music fans should
check out Eugene’s Jennifer Kyker and
Zimbabwe’s Musekiwa Chingodza , who’ll
play duets on mbira (a harp-like plucked
instrument) at Cozmic Pizza on July 29. Both
these musicians have studied and performed
Zimbabwean music for years, and this should
be a treat for world music fans.
ew
VE
Fantastic Four PG-13
SHOWTIMES FOR FRIDAY JULY 22
THROUGH THURSDAY JULY 28, 2005
Mr. & Mrs. Smith PG-13
Bad News Bears PG-13
Bewitched PG-13
(1:30, 1:55, 4:15, 4:45) 7:00, 7:20,
9:35, 9:55
The Island PG-13
(1:00, 1:45, 4:00, 5:00) 7:00, 8:10,
10:00, 10:40 FRI & SAT
Wedding Crashers R
DOUBLE FEATURE
(12:00, 1:30, 2:30, 4:15, 5:15) 7:00, SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2005:
8:00, 9:30
(1:15, 4:10) 7:05, 10:00
(12:15, 2:40, 5:05) 7:30, 9:55
Batman Begins PG-13
(1:00, 4:00) 7:00, 9:55
Star War Episode 3 PG-13
(12:45, 3:50) 7:00, 10:00
Must Love Dogs PG-13
7:00 followed by
Batman Begins PG-13
9:55
() Bargain Shows
Advanced Tickets now on sale at theater
and Fandango.com. 1-800-FANDANGO
and our box office
©2005 PABST BREWING COMPANY
CARMIKE 12 CORVALLIS OR
DOORS AND BOX OFFICE OPEN
11:30AM DAILY.
Saltlick
Saltlick is an original indie-rock band with a coun-
try twang. Lead singer Steve Taddei‘s unique voice
is distinctive, backed up by three part harmonies
creating a sound reminiscent of Bob Dylan and The
Band with echoes of the 1980’s Athens, GA scene.
Saltlick patches it’s influences of garage rock and
traditional country into the quilt work of America’s
cultural heritage while providing their audiences
with first quality entertainment.
(1:20, 1:55, 4:15, 4:50) 7:10, 8:00,
9:50, 10:30 FRI & SAT
JULY 21, 2005 23