music
Community:
One SONG at
a Time
Herman Hesse wrote that
“making music together is the
best way for two people to
become friends. There is none
easier.” This idea inspires Timo-
thy Shaw, mastermind behind
SONG, a new performance
space located in the fi rst fl oor
of the historic Calkins House at
the corner of East 11th and Pat-
terson. The Calkins House was
built in 1899 and today houses
the offi ces of Eugene Alterna-
tive Realtors on the second fl oor,
with a private residence on the
third fl oor currently occupied by
Shaw.
The fi rst fl oor of the home,
built in the Queen Anne style,
is currently unused. Shaw and
Eugene Alternative Realtors
owner David Koester hope to
remedy this by hosting live
performances in the space.
With SONG, Shaw attempts
to replicate the intimate
atmosphere of house concerts
while breaking down the “fourth
wall” between musician and
audience. After performances
there are song circles, in which
audience members (who are
encouraged to bring their own
instruments to shows) will be
allowed to play music with the
performers. Shaw envisions this
accomplishing one of music’s
most basic functions: building
community.
SONG is not limited to a
particular art form or style
of performance. The venue
hosts everything from book
clubs to poetry readings,
from photography exhibits
to multimedia installations.
However, Shaw hopes to see
the space used primarily
for live music — keeping the
“quality of the music high” while
maintaining an open and inviting
place for a broad cross section
of Eugene’s creative community.
If this experiment is successful,
Shaw and Koester may one
day add a more commercial
application to the space, such as
a coffeehouse. For now there is
no cover for events at SONG, but
donations are gladly accepted.
For more information about
SONG, go to www.facebook.com/
songcenter or inquire about using
the space at song@songcenter.
info — William Kennedy
Songs in the Key of Sad
The fi rst time I noticed — as in really, really noticed
— Gillian Welch’s music was on a particularly stoned
and sleepy Sunday in Seattle a few years back.
After pouring the morning’s fi rst cup of coffee, I
fl icked on NPR, planted myself at the kitchen nook
and started thumbing absent-mindedly through a
backlog of piled-up New Yorkers. My head started
drifting, not back toward sleep but not exactly
awake either, everything falling forward into a kind
of waking dream. I realized the music feathering out
the radio was casting some kind of spell; the song
was a haunting, harrowing lullaby at once ethereal
and earthen, full of Old Testament ashes and dust,
like a cemetery afl oat in dawn’s fog. Either this was
one seriously heavy-duty edition of Garrison Keillor’s
Prairie Home Companion, or I had huffed way too
much of the kootchie-hoo before breakfast. Intimate
and impassioned, the vocals were chillingly beautiful,
a gentle sonic etching against walls of hurt. But what
fi nally grabbed me — what scared the hell out of me,
actually — was the guitar playing, which was guttural
and pummeling, gracefully clawing its way into some
nether dimension where notes and emotions become
one. The song was “Time (the Revelator),” and the
performers were Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
Likely most folks recognize Welch from her offerings on the bestselling soundtrack for the Coen brothers’ 2000 fi lm O Brother, Where Art
Thou?, which included Welch and Alison Krauss pairing up for a lovely version of the gospel song “I’ll Fly Away.” But for serious fans of Welch
and Rawlings’ music — which, with its deep roots in bluegrass and Appalachian folk, might best be described as American Gothic — the waiting
period since the release of 2003’s summery Soul Journey developed into a somewhat worrisome dry season, if not a downright drought. Rumors,
pushed release dates, trouble in the studio, combined with Welch’s admission of writer’s block, have stretched the better part of a decade. Time,
certainly a revelator, is also a bitch, but then again, if a gestation period of eight years is exactly what was needed for Welch and Rawlings to
reap their new album, so be it.
The Harrow & The Harvest is vintage Welch — spare, spooky instrumentation and lapidary songwriting, everything boiled down in a cauldron
of true grit to its most refi ned essence, without a wasted note or unnecessary breath. Welch, a superlative storyteller with a voice full of ragged
beauty and scarred wisdom, is completely on her game here, and Rawlings’ playing is more emotive than ever. This is a dark and harrowing
album, a cycle of songs written in the key of sad and harkening to a history of dustbowls and early death. But The Harrow & The Harvest is no
throwback; Welch’s style often evokes the sharecropper misery photographed by Walker Evans during the Great Depression, but her hangman’s
tales are timeless, speaking to the here and now. “Maggie Johnson bought the farm, put a needle in her arm,” Welch croons on “The Way It Goes,”
her voice resigned yet defi ant, as though she’s ready to stare down death itself. Because when Gillian Welch sings into the abyss, what echoes
back is the voice of survival.
Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings play at 8pm Sunday, July 10, at McDonald Theatre; $25. — Rick Levin
Ancient Technology & the Electro-Innovator
Jamie Janover is a not just a master of the ancient hammered
dulcimer. He is an all-around innovative musical ambassador. Well
known for his recent live shows with female vocalist impressario
Lynx, in whose company Janover supplied heavy drum beats,
hammered dulcimer and just the right amount of whomp from the
electro-thump-MDMA-laced burner scene, the able Janover has
gone solo and will be rocking Oregon Country Fair with his blend
of crunchy beat-blasting alchemical tunes.
A descendent of the acclaimed Colorado-based trio known as
Zilla, whose eventual dissipation spawned the well-proportioned
musical powerhouse groups Eoto and Vibesquad, Janover is a
road warrior unwilling to gas out. To watch him in concert is to
watch the continuation of a scene that has grabbed the entire
country by the throat — dubstep and electro-hop, having usurped
the throne once presided over by underground conscious hip hop,
would have been nothing more than a brief fl ash in the synaptic
port were it not for the application of live instrumentation the
likes of which Janover brings to the table. Groups such as Beats Antique and those who want so badly to imitate it represent this melding of live
instruments and the modern DJ/laptop show. Janover goes one step further by creating devices that unite these two mediums and more, such
as the miniature amplifi ed drum kit he calls “mini-kit,” or the “RealmsMobile” — a fully-functional festival cruising tricycle with attached “mini-
kit” that allows him to be mobile while playing his instruments and obliterating your eardrums and brain cells in the most tantalizing of ways.
Janover possesses the innovative spark and guttural perseverance required of the true modern musician. To see him in action is to witness
the real thing, still going.
Janover plays 2:30 pm Sunday, July 10, on the Shady Grove Stage at Oregon Country Fair. — Dante Zuñiga-West
Your Natural Resource
in Real Estate
Kristena Cox & Justin Schmick
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