THURSDAY 6/23
5TH ST. PUBLIC MARKET Taste—
6pm; n/c
AXE & FIDDLE New Folksters—
8pm; n/c
B&B LOUNGE Karaoke—
9:30pm
BARN LIGHT Karaoke w/Bre—
9pm; n/c
BEERGARDEN Shreve, Jones &
Shreve Experiment—7:30pm;
n/c
BLAIRALLY DJ Crown—10pm;
’90s hip hop, $3
BLACK FOREST Granrojo,
Gygax—10pm; Metal, n/c
THE BOREAL Safe & Sound,
Southtowne Lanes, Knave,
Glacier Veins, Get Wise—7pm;
$5
BREWSTATION Peter Giri—6pm;
Variety, n/c
THE COOLER Karaoke w/
Cammi—10pm
COWFISH Purrsday w/Kitty
Trap—9pm; Hip hop, trap, edm,
n/c
COZMIC Roy G Biv—6pm; n/c
[The Kitchen Dwellers—11pm;
Psychedelic bluegrass, $10]
CUSH Guitar Club Open Mic—
8pm; Originals only, n/c
DEXTER LAKE CLUB Karaoke—
7pm; n/c
DRIFTWOOD Karaoke w/Slick
Nick—9pm; n/c
EL TAPATIO CANTINA Karaoke—
8pm; n/c
GREEN ROOM Open Mic
Comedy—9pm; n/c
GROWLER UNDERGROUND
Acoustic Underground Open
Mic—8pm; n/c
HAPPY HOURS Crystal Harmony
Karaoke—8:30pm; n/c
HI-FI Whopner County &
Wheels—9pm; $5
HULT CENTER Matthew Halls
conducts Bach's Mass in B
Minor—7:30pm; $35-$72
ISLAND HUT Karaoke—6pm;
n/c
JAZZ STATION Tim McLaughlin’s
Revolving Trio—7:30pm; $7-$10
LUCKEY’S Grateful Dead Jam—
10pm; $2
MAC’S Gumbo Groove—6pm; n/c
MAX’S DJ Victor—10pm; n/c
OLD NICK’S Jargon, Get,
Lonesome Randall, Pretty
Drunk—9:30pm; n/c
THE OLD PAD Karaoke—9pm;
n/c
OVERTIME TAVERN West Side
Blues Jam—8:30pm; Open jam,
n/c
REALITY KITCHEN Acoustic
Reality—5pm; Open mic, n/c
RESTOBAR Steven McVay—5pm
SAM BOND’S BREWING The
Slippery Slope—6pm; n/c
SAM BOND’S GARAGE October
Sky, Black Delaney—9pm; $5
STEELHEAD Peter Giri & Lloyd
Tobert—6:30pm; n/c
TERRITORIAL VINEYARDS Dirty
Spoons—7pm; n/c
TRAVELER’S COVE Timothy
Patrick w/Omar Alaniz—5pm;
n/c
TSUNAMI BOOKS Kevin Burke—
7:30pm; $18.50-$20
VANILLA JILL’S Josh Caraco—
7pm; African harp, n/c
WANDERING GOAT Rock
Forming Mineral, Paul Abner,
Purple Frankie—8pm; $5
FRIDAY 6/24
5TH ST. CORNUCOPIA Dark
Buffalo—9:30pm; n/c
AXE & FIDDLE Dorado—
8:30pm; Folk, n/c
BLACK FOREST Era Coda,
Bullets or Balloons, Hyding
Jekyll—10pm; n/c
BLAIRALLY ARCADE ‘80’s Night
w/Chris, Jen & John—9pm; $3
THE BLIND PIG Karaoke w/Jim
Jim—9pm, n/c
BREWSTATION Men from Surf—
7:30pm; n/c
COWFISH Freek-Nite w/SPOC-
3PO—9pm; Hip hop, juke house,
$3
COZMIC Pretty Drunk Music—
6pm; Bluegrass, n/c
CRESWELL BAKERY Mike
Davis—5pm; n/c
D’S DINER Karaoke—9pm; n/c
THE DAVIS DJ Crown—10pm;
Hip hop, dance, trap, $5
DEXTER LAKE CLUB Heavy
Chevy—8pm; n/c
DOC’S PAD Karaoke w/KJ
Mike—9pm; n/c
DRIFTWOOD Karaoke w/Slick
Nick—9pm; n/c
EL TAPATIO CANTINA Karaoke w/
KJ Rick—9pm; n/c
THE EMBERS The Survivors—
9pm; n/c
FRIENDLY ST. MARKET Michael
Kevin Daly—6pm; n/c
GROWLER UNDERGROUND Tyler
Morin—8:30pm; n/c
HAPPY HOURS Normal Bean
Band—9pm; n/c
STEPHEN BUETTLER IS PANCHO
PHOTO BY ATHENA DELENE
THE JESTER’S
COURT
Weimar Cabaret meets Eugene
Blues with local rising band
Pancho + The Factory
S
tephen Buettler is the principal provocateur
behind rising Eugene band Pancho + The
Factory. He’s also the primary songwriter and
vocalist. Sitting next to me at the bar in
Eugene’s Wayward Lamb, Buettler vibes like
an off-duty, dock-working Pagliacci with a rock ‘n’
roll edge — due in no small part to his blue-collar
handlebar moustache and black fingernail polish. He
has a malleable, expressive face, a gentle, kindhearted
sadness in his eyes and a soft, teddy bear-like physique
that some might call cuddly.
This makes sense, because when Buettler adopts
his larger-than-life on-stage persona as Pancho, he
draws inspiration from clowning — both literal
clowns as well as performers who fit a broader
definition of foolery.
Whether you’re talking about rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest
front-people, Kabuki performers or vaudevillians,
Buettler says a willingness to be vulnerable is central
to any performer engaging an audience. The best
performers expose themselves to ridicule while
heightening the inner drama to an absurd level.
Buettler is a native Philadelphian, and he recalls
22
June 23, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
one of the city’s oldest traditions, the Mummers
Parade, affecting his aesthetic.
“It’s on New Year’s Day. It’s basically these groups
of guys called the Mummers,” Buettler explains.
“They’re union guys, blue-collar chubby dudes. For
one day out of the year they get lavishly dressed —
feathers, sequins — and parade down Broad Street,
which is our main street.”
He says his love for the theater of baseball also
inspires him, particularly the Philadelphia Phillies
and especially the lonely, rigid yet emotive role the
pitcher plays in the game. Buettler sees links between
baseball pitchers, rock stars and even mariachi singers.
On a basic level, what Buettler says he brings to the
persona of Pancho, and what really turns him on as a
performer, is a love for all sorts of populist-leaning
folk traditions that nonetheless have strict stylizations
and a focus on elevated personal experience, whether
it’s a drag queen, a grizzled old bluesman or a hellfire-
breathing gospel preacher.
“It’s about being so over the top,” Buettler explains.
“You really make this imprint on people. For me,
being a frontman is about having a mask to dance
behind. And I very much enjoy that role of being that
jester, that clown, to be who I am in my room in front
of an audience.”
Classically trained, Buettler relocated to Eugene
four years ago, simply because it intrigued him and it
seemed like a good place to be an artist. He calls his
seven-piece band’s sound “rock” but also “working-
class music,” or “Midwest Opera.”
He runs the show, but doesn’t consider himself a
dictator, allowing for collaboration. He laughs: “I have
funny rules. I don’t let anyone wear hats on stage. Hats
are too cultural,” he says.
“I’m proud of the fact we’ll get punk kids at our
show,” Buettler says. “We’ll get older dudes at the end
of the bar. It’s rock, it has a certain spirit and feel to it,
but I want to create the expectation that if I want to do
a TLC-inspired song, I’m going to write that song.”
Much of Pancho + The Factory’s music is built
around familiar formulas: ’50s-era rock, 12-bar blues
or Django Reinhardt-style gyspy jazz. All of it is
viewed through the same subversive lens that saw the
’60s meet early punk in New York bands like The Fugs
or The Holy Modal Rounders.
Three backup singers provide a gospel edge and a
frequent girl-group vibe, while Buettler often sounds
like Nick Cave, particularly on “Girls on Horses.” It all
combines into a Cramps-esque carnival atmosphere
with Buettler as undisputed ringleader — Andy
Kaufman meeting Jim Morrison, or Screamin’ Jay
Hawkins mixed with Iggy Pop.
Despite claiming so much inspiration from the East
Coast, the Midwest and even Berlin, watching Pancho
+ The Factory gives you a sense that Eugene music — a
scene Buettler contends is hitting its stride — might
have finally found a distinctive sound, not in a limiting
kind of “local band” way, but instead in terms of
finding a balance between Eugene’s punk rock and
hipster sensibilities, its working-class atmosphere and
Oregon Country Fair-style theatricality, while at the
same time transcending it all. — William Kennedy
Pancho + The Factory performs with Portland’s Laura Palmer Death
Parade 10 pm Thursday, June 30, at the Hi-Fi Music Hall Lounge; $5,
21-plus.