Eugene weekly., January 05, 2012, Page 20, Image 20

arts
SHORTS
Lange’s Lens in Oregon
The art of photojournalism is an undertaking that many dabble
in but few master, and even fewer are remembered for. The old
saying of a picture being worth a thousand words is true almost
always, but perhaps never more unerringly so than when attached
to the work of Dorothea Lange.
American photo laureate of the Great Depression, Lange is
best known for documenting the exploitation of rural
sharecroppers and migrant workers. Her interests were primarily
in capturing the barefaced and harsh realities of people surviving
in dire times. She was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship
for excellence in photography which she relinquished in order to
pursue the photographing of Japanese Americans detained in
internment camps on U.S. soil — and a champion of the modern
artist citizen.
Daring to Look: The Photographs of Dorothea Lange in Oregon
will be on display Tuesday, Jan. 10, at the UO’s Knight Law Center and will run through mid February. The
exhibit, sponsored by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, courtesy of the Oregon Cultural Heritage
Commission, will include more than 50 photographs taken by Lange. — Dante Zuñiga-West
music
Straight Outta Union
File Under: Music, World
When I hear the term “world music,” I reach for my revolver. That category ranks right up there with such fallacious and
vaguely ethnocentric utterances as “reverse racism” and “primitive culture,” and the queasy phrase contains all the smug
bourgeois self-abnegation of a middle-age white dude in a beret reading The Tibetan Book of the Dead over a non-fat vanilla
latte at Café Sniff. Isn’t all music world music? Or is it actually the case that such an empty-set category is just a ruse of
liberal self-congratulation hiding a desire to appropriate the sort of transcendence our nihilistic consumer culture promises
but never delivers? World music my ass — can we just call it fucking music, please.
The Portland-based band Brothers of the Baladi originally formed in Yuma, Ariz., as a mid-‘70s backup band for local
belly dancer Zamara. Fronted by singer and multi-instrumentalist Michael Beach (the only founding member still in the outfit),
the Brothers boast some deep and abiding roots in Eugene’s cultural legacy; they co-founded (and built) the original Gypsy
Stage at the Oregon Country Fair, where they’ve shared the stage with various belly dancers over the years. It goes without
saying that, from the get-go, the band has revealed a strong Eastern music influence, and their East-meets-West sound is an
odd mixture of Don Henley sunshine, Steely Dan groove and the warbly vocals, syncopated percussion and arcing strings of
George Harrison’s Maharishi experimentation.
Even if, like me, this isn’t your cup of tea, the talent and orchestral savvy of this band is undeniable and, what’s more,
there is a large and limber demographic in Eugene that just eats this stuff up. The Brothers of the Baladi have one shy of a
dozen albums under their belts (including the Grammy nominated 2008 CD Just Do What’s Right), their music was featured
on that loopy TV show Lost, they sing in seven languages and play such instruments as the def, riq and midjwiz.
Brothers of the Baladi and District 19 Flamenco, featuring belly dancers Sabine, Tribalation, Deena & Dunyah, play 8 pm
Saturday, Jan. 7, at Cozmic; $8. — Rick Levin
Trippy Tributes
Remember Pink Floyd? Remember that front man who the band supposedly just “forgot” to pick up before a show? That
front man was the cosmically nuts original weirdo Syd Barrett. The late ex-Floydian’s music will be on display at Sam Bond’s,
kicking off back-to-back nights of classic rock.
Syd Barrett’s style and strange eloquence are among the weirdest and most unique characteristics in rock history. With
lyrics that you couldn’t possibly understand unless you wrote them, and jaunty, primitive tunes interspersed between
cascading psychedelia, Barrett stands among the mind-fucking elite, and he did it all with class.
Barrett’s tribute show will feature his tunes as played by a gang of local musicians; Jennifer Dean, Joe Pettit, Jake
Pavlak and Terrianne O’ Rourke will be bringing it to you, so tune in and drop a vial of acid for the psychedelic legend.
Saturday, Jan. 7, the madness continues with a Frank Zappa tribute performed by Pojama People, who take their name
from the 1975 Zappa song of the same title.
How best does one describe the seminal mastermind that was Frank Zappa? Well, in truth, you just need to listen to him.
When you think his music is improvised jam-band fusion funk whatever, it’s probably not, and when you think you’re going to
be listening to psychedelic rock, you might end up listening to a brand of sassy jazz music that you didn’t know existed. Zappa
had so many albums that you really can’t know what you’re in for, so go find out.
The Syd Barrett Tribute starts 9:30 pm Friday, Jan. 6, at Sam Bond’s; $3-$5. Pojama People w/Ike Willis performing the
music of Frank Zappa begins 9:30 pm, Saturday, Jan. 7, at Sam Bond’s; $10. — Andy Valentine
20 JANUARY 5, 2012
EUGENE WEEKLY
It happens, and it isn’t always a bad thing: A band
catches the right kind of fire, garnering minimal
mainstream radio play but a strong word-of-mouth
following of devoted fans who are drawn to
something familiar yet new about the music. And if
that band sticks around long enough, other
musicians start absorbing its style. Lucero happens
to be that band right now; featuring the bourbon-
scorched plaint of Ben Nichols, Lucero’s influence is
opening the door to a new generation of songwriters
heartened by their Memphis-bent take on loneliness,
booze and heartbreak.
Sideways Reign out of Union, Wash. (a one-horse
town on Hood Canal’s Hwy 106, where Bill Gates
keeps a summer house, and where meth, tourism
and logging are the leading industries) immediately
sparks comparisons to Lucero — especially guitarist/
singer Justin Stang’s ashtray-and-gravel vocals. The
comparison does the band no harm, because these
Mason County kids use their apparent influences
— Neil Young, Ray LaMontagne, a bit of ‘90s Seattle
pop-‘n’-sludge — as a starting point for exploring
their own captivating take on down-‘n’-out rock/
country/blues, Northwest style.
Similar in its defiance and tenacious drive to a
certain defunct band that hailed from nearby Aber-
deen, Sideways Reign — whose excellent full-length
debut, A Stand for All Stages, has become something
of a download sensation — creates good, often great
music in a cultural vacuum. And with songs like “Fire,
Lies & Wine” and “Oxygen,” the group reveals a knack
for keen melodies and bittersweet lyrics buttressed by
the intimate, organic instrumentation that only comes
from jamming together for a very long time. If that
ain’t enough stumpin’ for you, check this: Stang ran
for state senator in 2010 on the Sustainability Plat-
form (in the heart of clear-cutting country, no less),
and Sideways Reign has toured overseas, started a
scholarship program and adopted a state highway.
Righteous.
Sideways Reign plays 9 pm Friday, Jan. 6, at the
Black Forest. — Rick Levin
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