Come down to the WOW Hall on Thursday, February 2, when the Community Center for the Performing Arts and KLCC proudly welcome back the Wood Brothers with special guests Sarah & Christian Dugas. This is one show that is not to be missed.

Chris and Oliver Wood have run separate musical courses to end up where they started, playing music together. Sharing a musical foundation in childhood, each has independently developed his own style, so different but still so much in common.

Growing up in Colorado, The Wood Brothers dove deep into their Father's record collection and were drawn to the sounds of old blues masters like B.B. King and Albert Collins and later by classic rock legends Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. With their Father being a constant performer, Chris Wood notes growing up in a household where they would have regular old hootenannies and sit around campfires listening to their father and others play. The lyrical styling's of the Wood Brothers are largely influenced by their mother, a poet, who taught them about storytelling. Their songs resemble that of classic folk lyricists like Bob Dylan or Old Crow Medicine Show.

The American roots sounds of folk, blues, bluegrass and country are brought to life by the full, rich sound of Chris Wood's standup bass. Heralded as a bass player's bassist, Chris Wood's musical journey took him to the New England Conservatory of Music, where he developed his signature sound (he is noted for using paper behind his strings to create a unique snare effect). Sucked into the realm of all things jazz, Chris notes studying under luminaries Geri Allen and Dave Holland.

In the early 90's Chris Wood, John Medeski and Billy Martin formed the experimental and improvisational jazz phenomenon Medeski, Martin, and Wood. MMW released a series of discs that combine jazz, funk, blues and psychedelic instrumentation. This experience allowed Chris to become an absolute monster on both the stand up and electric bass.

Oliver Wood has a voice that’s a cross between Ryan Adams and David Grey. After playing with his brother in their teenage years, Chris went east and Oliver moved west to attended UC Santa Cruz before dropping out of school. Inspired by the sounds of the dirty south, Oliver moved to Atlanta.

“I was learning how to be a working musician,” he recalls. “A regular Tuesday night gig at Fatt Matt's Rib Shack enabled me to hone my chops on guitar and learn from older players.”

Traveling bluesman Tinsley Ellis became a mentor for Oliver and eventually encouraged the once shy guitarist to sing. Once Oliver began to write his own material, he formed the band King Johnson (a tribute to all the famous Kings and Johnsons in blues and Americana roots). King Johnson toured for twelve years.

In 2004, King Johnson opened for Medeski, Martin, and Wood in Winston-Salem, N.C. Oliver sat in with his brother's band and the musical chemistry that the two shared was undeniable. “It opened our eyes that we could communicate on a musical level,” states Oliver.

Oliver took music the two brothers had recorded at a family reunion and added some lyrics, and Chris learned a handful of Oliver's songs. Putting together a demo, the manager for Medeski, Martin, and Wood was able to get them a record deal almost instantly with Blue Note Records. The Wood Brothers' first release (other than an EP Live at Tonic recorded at the New York Club) was Ways Not to Lose in 2006, which was produced by MMW's John Medeski.

Medeski says of Oliver, “He's an unbelievable songwriter with amazing composition. His material is deep; I can't tell you how many of Oliver's songs I thought were old traditional standards. They just sounded classic.”

In 2008 Medeski produced The Wood Brothers' follow up album Loaded.

Currently touring in support of their third album, Smoke Ring Halo, produced by Jim Scott (Johnny Cash and Tom Petty), The Wood Brothers' feel as though they have reached a new level in their musical journey. Chris has taken up more of the vocal duties while incorporating the harmonica and Oliver's guitar licks have deeper layers and are filled with more soul.

In 2010 the Wood Brothers hit the road with drummer Tyler Greenwell as opening act for roots-rock legend Zac Brown. This gave the Brothers some great exposure by playing for crowds of up to 20,000. Brown also wooed the Woods over to his own label, Southern Ground; he served as executive producer on Smoke Ring Halo.

SARAH & CHRISTIAN DUGAS

Opening the show is another set of siblings, Sarah & Christian Dugas, who play old school soul, rock and roots. Although hailing from the French quarters of Winnipeg, Canada, they vicariously immersed themselves in Southern music and this unmistakable connection expanded into a full-blown musical path. They have since shared the stage with John Paul Jones, Los Lobos, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Wood Brothers, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Arrested Development and the Zac Brown Band to name a few.

Christian and Sarah bring a hard-hitting, dynamic and heartfelt energy to their diverse original compositions, improvisations and a few chosen covers -- all of it, delivered with the awe-inspiring vocal and musical chemistry only seen amongst siblings.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $17 at the door. Doors open at 7:00 pm and showtime is 8:00. Partial seating will be available on a first come, first serve basis.

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $17 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.thewoodbros.com   http://www.facebook.com/sarahandchristiandugas   

2/03 : Necryptic, Ohmnility, Saviorself, Elohim

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $5 Door.

http://www.myspace.com/necryptic  http://www.myspace.com/omnihility  

2/04 : The Dimes with The Royal Blue

On Saturday, February 4, the University of Oregon Cultural Forum hosts The Dimes with special guests The Royal Blue.

The Dimes are a folk-pop collective centered around guitarists/vocalists John Clay, Pierre Kaiser and Kelly Anne Masigat. The Portland, OR based band has released two full length albums and three EP’s to date on Timber Carnival Records.

Primarily known for their stellar songwriting, glowing harmonies and sixties-pop production, the band has broadened its sound of late, adding pedal steel, mandolin, harmonica and dobro to its recent recordings, evoking a sweeter California-country sound reminiscent of Neil Young’s Harvest recordings. Live, the group has grown to a 7-piece and has shared the stage with the likes of Liam Finn, Kathryn Calder (New Pornographers), The Head and the Heart, The Mother Hips and Todd Rundgren, amongst others.

Their most recent full length “The King Can Drink the Harbour Dry” was released in 2010 to strong critical acclaim from Spin, NPR, Allmusic and a host of online publications.

THE ROYAL BLUE

The Royal Blue is a five-piece indie folk rock band based out of Eugene. The band features male and female vocals accompanied by acoustic and electric guitar, upright bass, Rhodes, and drums. The intricate vocal and instrumental harmonies add a fullness to the folk songs that draw on styles similar to those of Neil Young and Mason Jennings.

The Royal Blue has been performing in support of their debut album “The Legionnaire” released last October. During the fall the band also broke into the west coast college music market and became a major player in the local Eugene music scene.

Admission is $5 at the door. Doors open at 8:30 pm and showtime is 9:00.   SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $5 at the door.

http://thedimes.bandcamp.com/  http://www.royalbluemusic.com/  

2/06 : Secret Chiefs 3 and Dengue Fever

On Monday, February 6, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome a co-headlining tour as Secret Chiefs 3 joins forces with Cambodian/American rock band Dengue Fever.

Dengue fever and Secret Chiefs 3 share a long and varied history, but this is the first time the bands have toured together. Secret Chiefs 3 founder Trey Spruance released Dengue Fever's first eponymous studio album in 2003 on his Web of Mimicry label. Almost a decade earlier, in 1994, Dengue Fever guitarist and Secret Chiefs 3 drummer Danny Heifetz were band members in legendary Bay Area band Dieselhed until they disbanded in 2000. Prior to Dieselhed, Holtzman and Dengue Fever bassist Senon Williams were attending college at Humboldt State University where they met and became friends with Spruance and Heifitz who then became members of the cult band Mr. Bungle w/ Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton.

DENGUE FEVER

Dengue Fever, whose exotic blend of Cambodian rock, Afro grooves, surf and garage psych returns with Cannibal Courtship, is Cambodian songstress Chhom Nimol, Zac Holtzman (guitar/vocals), Ethan Holtzman (keyboards), Senon Williams (bass), Paul Smith (drums) and David Ralicke (horns). The band recently returned from a tour of Southeast Asia that was made possible via an Arts Grant by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. It was their third tour of the region and included club dates, massive outdoor festival shows, charity performances and workshops.

In 2011, Dengue Fever released its fourth full-length album, Cannibal Courtship, the group's first studio album since 2008’s Venus on Earth and their Fantasy Records/Concord Music Group debut. With 11 new tunes, Cannibal Courtship features songs sung in English, and Khmer (Cambodian). The album also features beautiful backing harmonies by The Living Sisters.

Last year band toured the United States, France, Asia and England in support of the record. In fact, Dengue Fever was invited by The Kinks' Ray Davies to perform at his 2011 Meltdown Festival, which he curated, as well as making their sold-out Paris debut and second Glastonbury performance. Davies calls them "a cross between Led Zeppelin and Blondie.”

Dengue Fever has released three previous albums: Dengue Fever, Escape From Dragon House, Venus On Earth and the DVD/CD soundtrack to the band's documentary Sleepwalking Through The Mekong, in addition to a collection of lost Cambodian classics, Dengue Fever Presents: Electric Cambodia.

With Cannibal Courtship the Los Angeles based sextet has reached a powerful new plateau, deftly balancing the wide-ranging influences that inform their sound and songs.

“Before it was partly Cambodian and partly indie rock,” explains Williams of the band’s evolution. “Now it’s 100 percent both.”

Longtime fans will get their required dose of Nimol’s haunting vocals and the band’s spooky, kinetic, mood-swinging sound on the new disc but the group, which produced the set together, has upped the creative ante. From snaking, driving rock (“Cement Slippers,” “Family Business,” “2012,” and the title track) to Cambodian dub psych-groove (“Uku”) and everywhere in between (the bilingual, gear- shifting tour de force “Only a Friend,” the mesmerizing “Mr. Bubbles”), Cannibal Courtship is, like the tropical malady that gave the band its name, wildly catching.

The seamless musical chemistry evidenced here is a reminder that the band is celebrating its 10- year anniversary in 2011. The seed for the project was planted when Ethan Holtzman traveled to Cambodia in 1997; during that trip he fell in love with the country’s take on rock music (Khmer rock as it came to be known) – and saw a friend suffer through the illness that would give Dengue Fever its moniker. He and his brother had begun to assemble musicians when they heard Nimol, a star in her home country who’d performed for the King and Queen of Cambodia, sing at Long Beach venue the Dragon House. Her powerful singing, marked by a luminous vibrato that adds exotic ornamentations to her vocal lines and hypnotic traditional dance, complimented the band’s driving Cambodian/American sound.

The eponymous debut disc found them covering their favorite Cambodian rock tunes from the 60s & 70s. They immediately won a rabid fan base and were named L.A. Weekly’s Best New Artist in 2002. Their follow-up albums, Escape From Dragon House (one of Mojo’s Top 10 World Music releases of 2006) and Venus on Earth (2008) offered mostly band-penned tunes. This natural evolution from Cambodian covers to original material continues to this day as Nimol’s grasp of the English language improves. The band toured Cambodia for the first time in 2005 (chronicled in the documentary Sleepwalking Through the Mekong; the DVD and soundtrack were issued in 2009). The band also curated an anthology of vintage Cambodian rock tracks, Electric Cambodia, which was released in 2010.

Since their inception, the band’s unique take on 60s Cambodian pop and American surf rock has garnered praise and attention from fans and critics alike. True Blood named an entire episode after one of their songs and featured the band’s music throughout the show, Spin highlighted the band in their ‘Breaking Out’ section, and profiles on the group have appeared in the New York Times, Magnet, Wired, and NPR’s “Fresh Air” and Radio Australia.

All these adventures have culminated in what the band considers its most focused music so far. “We’ve been friends and a band for a long time,” Williams reflects, “and everything has led to this moment. It’s all us and all focused; that’s the vibe, from beginning to end.”

SECRET CHIEFS 3

Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an instrumental rock group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (formerly of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different lineups, as the group performs a wide range of musical styles including surf rock, Persian, Arab, Indian, death metal, film music, electronic music, and various others.

In 2007, it was announced Secret Chiefs 3 has always been a general name for seven different bands, each representing a different aspect of Spruance's musical and philosophical interests. The seven bands are The Electromagnetic Azoth, UR, Ishraqiyun, Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, FORMS, and NT Fan. The albums Book of Horizons (2004) and Satellite Supersonic Vol. 1 (2010) were conceived as compilation albums featuring the satellite bands under their own names. All bands have appeared on at least one of these albums. Some satellite bands have also released records on their own.

SC3's music, album artwork, liner notes, and lyrics feature theological and philosophical themes influenced by Henry Corbin, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, Aryeh Kaplan, Julius Evola, René Guénon, Hakim Bey/Peter Lamborn Wilson, Seraphim Rose, and many others. More on the Secret Chiefs 3 philosophy and influences can be found in the Web of Mimicry Museum Without Walls and the SC3 Myspace page.

Spruance formed the band in the mid-1990s with fellow Mr. Bungle members Trevor Dunn on bass and Danny Heifetz on drums. Some of the many musicians who have since recorded or toured with SC3 include violinist Eyvind Kang, percussionist William Winant, drummer Ches Smith, bassist Shahzad Ismaily, former Mr. Bungle member Clinton "Bär" McKinnon, and Estradasphere members Timb Harris, Jason Schimmel and Tim Smolens. Musicians tend to float in and out of SC3, so the concept of "current" and "former" members isn't entirely applicable.

Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 pm and showtime is 8:00.

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $13 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.secretchiefs3.com  http://www.myspace.com/denguefevermusic  

2/09 : Jackie Greene with Jabe Beyer

On Thursday, February 9, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome Jackie Greene back to the WOW Hall along with special guest Jabe Beyer.

Celebrated singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jackie Greene is on a short Northwest Tour that includes stops at Aladdin Theater in Portland, Crocodile Cafe in Seattle and WOW Hall in Eugene, after which he rejoins Phil Lesh and Friends for three shows in Broomfield, CO, alongside Phil, John Scofield, Warren Haynes and Joe Russo.

At age 31, Jackie Greene has accomplished what many artists strive decades for. He has recorded seven albums of original work, an EP, DVD, and a recently released book of lyrics. Greene has been involved in many high-profile side projects. Included in his endeavors are performing with Levon Helm at Levon’s famous “Ramble” and featured performer at Warren Haynes annual Christmas Jam. He is currently planning a summer tour with a new ensemble, Trigger Hippy, featuring Steve Gorman of The Black Crowes and Joan Osborne. There will also be a series of shows with Jackie Greene, Bob Weir, and Chris Robinson as an acoustic trio.

Constantly touring, Jackie has a reputation for putting on an energetic live show and has earned the respect of critics and musicians across the country. He tours 100 to 125 dates a year, playing to a devoted and growing fan base, and has been featured at many high profile venues and festivals.

While difficult to pigeonhole his music, (frequent comparisons are to Bob Dylan and The Band) there is a consistent influence of Americana Roots Music that runs through the themes in his large musical catalog. At times, his songs are playful – other times they are sorrowful. But always, they are soulful.

Greene is musically rooted in the rock and roll tradition, though he is emotionally attached to other forms of American music like country-western and rhythm and blues. Armed with a voice that turns heads and a near-mastery of several instruments, Greene has been dubbed “The Prince of Americana” by The New York Times.

Jackie Greene’s most recent release isn’t an album, its a book. Written and self-published, Gone Wanderin' - The Songs Of Jackie Greene is a comprehensive collection of Jackie's works from 2001 through 2011. The book is a collection of song lyrics for every song Jackie's written over the past 10 years, many of which have never been heard before. Jackie has also included insightful commentary and background on many selections.

Greene’s most recent solo album, his sixth, is 2010’s Till The Light Comes.   Produced by Greene and Tim Bluhm (of the Mother Hips) at  San Francisco’s Mission Bells studio, the recording followed his highly acclaimed 2008 release Giving Up The Ghost. 

“Greene finds himself returning to his solo artist roots with his finest work yet,” reports Jambands.com. “In many ways, he stretches beyond himself to collect from history, and add on to the rich American traditions that have rolled past him.”

As for what he’s doing currently, check out Scott Murphy's blog (Salt Lake Magazine, Jan, 22, 2012), linked below.

JABE BEYER

Jabe Beyer has released six solo albums while working as a producer, recording engineer and touring musician, and has won songwriting awards from The National Academy of Popular Music, The Songwriting Hall of Fame, Sesac and BMI. Jabe sat in with Jackie Greene & Friends at the Warren Haynes Xmas Jam, along with special guests David Hidalgo and Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.

With over 300 songs in his catalog, his namesake band, JABE, won the Abe Oleman Songwriting Award from The Songwriting Hall of Fame as well as a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Debut Album. Six self-produced, self-released albums along with extensive U.S. and European tours earned JABE a reputation as one of Boston's best and hardest working live acts.

The Boston Globe hailed Jabe Beyer as "a leader in the roots music renaissance," and Jam Magazine listed the 2-disc album Drama City at Number 2 in their Best 100 Albums of The Last 10 Years.  Beyer's side project, The Benders, bloomed into alt-country-bluegrass favorites, embraced nationally by the press and a hardcore fanbase.  Beyer has had numerous film and television placements including HBO’s hit series True Blood and FOX’s Lie To Me.   He lives in Nashville, TN.

Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the door. Doors open at 7:30 pm and showtime is 8:00.

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://jackiegreene.com/home/  http://saltlakemagazine.com/blog/2012/01/greene-gives-all-in-low-key-inspired-depot-gig/  

2/10 : Medium Troy, Yogoman Burning Band, Tribal Spectrum

On Friday, February 10, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome back Medium Troy and Yogoman Burning Band along with special guests Tribal Spectrum.

Eugene’s Medium Troy has been voted “Favorite Local Band” three of the past four years in balloting for the annual WOW Hall Awards and is back to defend their title. The band has remained popular while by-passing the record release process, choosing instead to put out new material via the internet.

Check out the first official Medium Troy music video - Space Tree.  It was directed by the amazing Rachel Goldberg, with cinematography by Austin Hoogen and incredible VFX and editing by William J. Meyer.  

Medium Troy consists of lead singer and guitarist Yonaton “JoJo” Ferreira, bassist Jesse Ferreira, keyboardist Leif Burton, turntablist Connor Sullivan, drummer Parker Cohen, and guitarist Corey Hatcher. They describe their sound as “Bohemian “Dub”, a blend of alternative rock, reggae, funk, dub, electronica and hip-hop. Unsurprisingly, it’s hard to compare this genre to any other bands’, but iTunes suggests MGMT and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as similar-sounding artists. The boys of Troy list Ratatat, The Beatles, Bob Marley and Flight of the Conchords as some of their musical influences.

On the band’s website, you can listen to a multitude of tracks from Bohemian Dub, MT’s debut album that was self-produced in 2007. The MT player also features some unreleased songs including “Space Tree” and “Run Run Run”. Bohemian Dub can be purchased on iTunes, and mp3’s of the band’s February 2009 WOW Hall performance can be downloaded for free through the band’s MySpace page.

Formed in 2006, Medium Troy had a lightning-fast rise to fame: within eight months the guys were opening for artists such as Lil’ Wayne, State Radio, The Abyssinians and Sean Kingston.

A reason for Medium Troy’s success could be credited to the members’ laid-back, down-to-earth attitudes. Perhaps it’s this small-town familiarity that keeps MT grounded, although this may not be the case for much longer: the band jokingly states on Facebook that they “expect to be rich and famous when [our next album] drops, so hit us up before the fame gets to our heads and we don’t write back.”

YOGOMAN BURNING BAND

Yogoman Burning Band has built a strong name for themselves up and down the West Coast USA, and is becoming internationally recognized for their unique musical experience.

Jordan Rain of Bellingham, WA took the name Yogoman as his DJ Moniker in 1998. Yogoman is the name of a comic book created by Rain's youth friend and current Seattle Hip Hop DJ Mad Max Wallace. Yogoman hails from Planet Yog, where vibrant and nonsensical dance moves are commonplace.

Beginning with a range of musical genres including classic rock, hip hop, soul to punk, DJ Yogoman found a love for Jamaican music, with its playful, laid-back, yet intense, and steadily danceable rhythms. Yogoman also recognized Jamaica’s early music (Mento, Ska, Rock-Steady, Reggae, early Toasting & Dub) as being friendly to all ages and backgrounds of human beings. While respecting the ingenuity of the D.I.Y./Underground culture that informed his earliest performances, Rain seeks to fuse the raw, anti-rock star, queer positive, and forward thinking elements of underground music with his simultaneous desire to unify people through a music palatable to all-ages and backgrounds.

Rain formed Yogoman Burning Band (YBB) in 2006 to forge his own musical vision. YBB’s latest sound showcases vocals and horns over a prominent drum and bass foundation with the intention of moving the spirit in a positive direction, seeking reciprocal exchange though dancing audiences.

YBB has toured with Iron and Wine, collaborated/improvised live with Pato Banton, Junior Reid, Geologic of the Blue Scholars, Winstrong, and many independent M.C.'s and instrumentalists, while sharing the stage with Clinton Fearon (of the Gladiators), RJD2, the Cave Singers, Helio Sequence, Dengue Fever and Orgone.

Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $8 Advance, $10 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.mediumtroy.com  http://www.yogomanburningband.com/fr_aboutybbplayers.cfm  

2/11 : Blind-Folded Trance Dance

  SHOWTIME: 7:00 - 11:00 PM, PRICE: $10 - $20 Sliding Scale.

http://coalessencedance.blogspot.com/    

2/15 : The Coup

by Ross Shuber

On Wednesday, February 15, the CCPA and University of Oregon Campus Radio 88.1 FM KWVA proudly welcome The Coup back to the WOW Hall.

The Coup, formed in 1992, is a politically motivated hip-hop/funk group based out of Oakland, California, that features Chicago born emcee Boots Riley and DJ Pam the Funktress. Currently, The Coup are in the process of finishing up their first album since 2006 called Sorry To Bother You, which is also going to serve as a soundtrack to a darkly comic independent movie of the same name. The movie is an interesting project that will star Boots Riley alongside hilarious comedians Patton Oswalt and David Cross.

While the Sorry To Bother You film sounds very intriguing, it's the funky beats along with socially conscious and politically revolutionary lyrics that have kept The Coup so popular for all these years. If you are into Dead Prez or Brother Ali, then The Coup is definitely going to strike the right chord.

The Coup has released five studio albums to date: Kill My Landlord (1993), Genocide and Juice (1994), Steal This Album (1998), Party Music (2001), and Pick a Bigger Weapon (2006), along with a 2002 re-release called Steal This Double Album.

Rolling Stone says about 2006's Pick a Bigger Weapon: "Riley's rhymes work so well because they're more about real life than rhetoric... it's the rare record that makes revolution sound like hot fun on a Saturday night."

Although its been six years since the last release, Boots Riley has stayed busy by touring with former Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello as the rap rock outfit Street Sweeper Social Club, as well as booking speaking engagements on racism, capitalism, and grassroots organizing.

Since their formation, The Coup has mixed funk soul beats with amazingly crisp and poetic storytelling that points the finger at political and economical injustices, but also can sometimes be humorous. Mic grabber Boots Riley has also been seen bringing his communist ideas to the american public on pop culture/current event shows such as HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, where he shared the round table with comedian Harland Williams, soap actor Eric Braeden and activist Erin Shannon.

The Coup varies from most of today's hip-hop artists in that while DJ Pam the Funktress is involved in the creation of the albums, Boots travels with a three piece band that adds a lot to their live performances.

As was written in the Austin-American Statesman (Austin, TX) about a live Coup concert: "The Coup isn't a rock 'n' roll band. It's a hip-hop band. But they are a miracle of everyday life and proved it at Emo's on Saturday night. I have no idea when the Coup turned into one of the best bands on the planet, but here we are."

So while you are waiting for the highly anticipated album Sorry To Bother You to be released, which Boots calls “as emotional as it is aggressive, and radical --whatever that word means.”

Come down to the WOW Hall on the 15th and catch the real deal. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic    

2/16 : Sazon Booya

On Thursday, February 16, Two Hype Feet and 1:11 Productions proudly present Sazon Booya (DJ Set) with light design by Renaissance Raven.

DJ two-piece Sazon Booya, made up of NYC natives Mr. Vega and DJ SAV, has been making substantial waves across the blogosphere with their original Moombahton Productions since the beginning of 2011, and they’ve received countless nods of respect from top tier tastemakers from around the globe ever since. Sazon Booya debuted their first track “IIuvia” via Moombahton creator Dave Nada’s soundcloud and website to much success, instantly gaining play support from Munchi, Heartbreak, DJ Sabo, Obeyah, Skrillex, Boyfriend, Fellow and of course Dave Nada himself.

Sazon Booya continued making newsworthy moves by dropping the first ever Moombahton video for their single “La Bomba” which no-less zealously premiered on their friend Skrillex’s Facebook page shared by over 1.7 million fans. With over 17k views to the video, they followed up on July 4th, 2011 with their 7-track-deep debut EP titled La Bomba. The La Bomba EP soared as far as #14 on Beatport’s top 100, placing among the likes of Zedd, Swedish House Mafia, Afrojack, Feed Me, Crookers, Mord Fustang and more. Sazon Booya’s latest project, Moonlight, went straight to #4 on Beatport’s Top 100 in less than seven days. They released the project in conjunction with a US tour that reached 12 cities along the East Coast, Midwest and West Coast.

Aside from their unhindered determination, the key to Sazon’s big moves in such a short amount of time is their ability to seamlessly blend different contrasting sounds and rich audio flavors, while maintaining particular sensitivity to integrating familiar strokes and engaging vocal samples. Whether they’re hitting the more traditional Cumbia mid-tempo or re-rubbing popular electro house originals to their own stylings, with endless approaches to sound in between, the Sazon Booya trademark simply cannot be pinpointed to a single signature note.

Purchase Early Bird Tickets for discounted admission: $5 before 10:00 pm; $8 after 10:00 pm. Purchase advance tickets on Two Hype Feet’s event page (linked below).

Doors 8:00 pm; showtime 9:00 until 1:00 am.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $5 before 10:00 pm / $8 after 10:00 pm.

http://www.facebook.com/sazonbooya  http://twohypefeet.com/?page_id=3959  

2/17 : Vagabond Opera, Mood Area 52, Aeon Now

by Brandon LaFavor

On Friday, February 17, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome back Vagabond Opera along with special guests Mood Area 52 and Aeon Now.

A collaboration of sub-genres comes alive when this sultry six-piece brings their gypsy-steampunk themed operatic cabaret to town. The Vegabond Opera is the embodiment of the Pacific Northwest's version of the Neo-cabaret movement. For over ten years these hard working, theatrical performers with song lyrics in 13 languages have shared the stage with the likes of Pink Martini, Devotchka, The Decembrists, Balkan Beat Box, Al Franken, and the Oregon Symphony.

The lineup includes: Eric Stern - Operatic Tenor and Accordion; Robin Jackson - Tenor, Saxophone, and vocals; Jason Flores - Standup Bass; Mark Burdon -Percussion; Skip Von Kuske - Cello; Ashia Grzesik - Vocals and Cello.

Based in Portland, the Vegabond Opera's performances offer styles found in all corners of the map. While your eyes are tantalized by Bohemian Cabaret, your ears will be on a journey around the world with the sounds of Paris hot jazz, gut bucket swing, tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, Yiddish-Klezmer, and a host of originals.

In an NBS Washington article, Kate Michael writes, “the folks behind the unique vaudeville group Vegabond Opera didn't set out with the intention of forming an eclectic musical phenomenon - it was as if they were compelled to do it” “Like-minded weirdoes can smell their own,” muses Jason Flores.

When vintage Americana and Victorian-industrial meets science fiction and fantasy infused with loads of energy and a hint of naughty, to me, that sounds like one heck of a good evening in Eugene. So put on your fish nets, grab a top hot, tighten that belt buckle, clean the fancy vest and leather boots and get down here to the WOW Hall for an evening your senses won't soon forget.

Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 8:30. Tickets are $12 advance, $15 door and $20 reserved (available only at WOW Hall). Also available only at WOW Hall are special two-day tickets for Vagabond Opera AND MarchFourth Marching Band for $20.

  SHOWTIME: 8:30 PM, PRICE: $12 Advance, $15 Door, $20 Reserved, Two Day Pass (Feb 17 & 18) available at WOW Hall for $20. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.vagabondopera.com    

2/18 : MarchFourth Marching Band with Samba Ja

On Saturday, February 18, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome back the MarchFourth Marching Band along with Eugene's own Samba Ja.

MarchFourth comes in February this year. No, it not a new twist on an Abbott & Costello routine. MarchFourth is a mobile big band spectacular consisting of a diverse percussion ensemble, a brassy horn section and electric bass -- visually enhanced by costumed dancing beauties, acrobatic stilt walkers, unicycles, life size marionettes and many more theatrics. The sound is huge, melodic and dynamic. MarchFourth writes and performs its own material. It also draws from an eclectic range of musical influences as well as television, film, circus and vaudeville.

What began as a Fat Tuesday party on March 4, 2003 in Portland, Oregon has become one of the nation’s best live touring acts. MarchFourth wins over audiences of all ages at every occasion, and has consistently been named a “festival favorite.”

Aside from the band’s marching band themed costumes, percussion corps and brass, M4 is far from a “marching band” in any traditional sense. M4 is anchored by funky electric bass, and has been evolving into a more guitar- and vocal-driven musical experience. In one 90-minute set the band will take you on a journey from the swamps of Louisiana to the gypsy camps of Eastern Europe to the African jungle by way of Brazil, along the way stopping to sample the deepest grooves of the best of American funk, rock, jazz and boiling it all together in cinematic fashion with high-stepping stilt-acrobatics and sexy dancers. This genre-busting approach is usually the territory of DJs, but this band is real people making music and art in real time — and every show is different.

MarchFourth has been writing and arranging all of its own material, designing and fabricating its own costumes and merchandise, developing its own choreography and managing itself from Day One. With the addition of their booking agency (Skyline Music) in 2010, M4 has been touring relentlessly. The band is akin to a team sport with a roster of approximately eight horns, five drummers, bass, guitar, and five dancers/stiltwalkers.

The first two studio albums released by MarchFourth were recorded, produced and mastered entirely “in-house.” Their new release, Magnificent Beast (out Oct. ‘11) was produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) and features a wide array of genre-mashing groove-based material that incorporates more vocals and guitar than previous albums. Following their 2009 release, Rise Up (a tribute to post-Katrina New Orleans), Magnificent Beast has now evolved into a full-blown big-stage brass-rock-funk assault peppered with moments of swing, jazz, bollywood, ska and metal.

With so many members and writers, M4?s influences are all over the map, but fans of Sgt Pepper, Duke Ellington, Gogol Bordello, Ozomatli, and Cirque Du Soleil would likely feel at home in the audience. MarchFourth has shared the stage with a wide variety of acts, including Pink Martini, Budos Band, Balkan Beat Box, Trombone Shorty, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Beats Antique, Bassnectar, Antibalas, Melvin Seals and JGB, The Motet, Hot Buttered Rum, and Yard Dogs Road Show.

An Oregon Country Fair favorite, the band has had return appearances at Wakarusa, Bumbershoot, Voodoo Festival, Telluride Jazz Festival, High Sierra, Wanderlust, Lotus World Music Festival, and Strawberry Music Festival, as well as recently appearing on ESPN’s Espy Awards (Los Angeles) and WGN-TV (Chicago).

“Part New Orleans brass ensemble, part groove-heavy rock group, and part vaudevillian circus, this group unleashes such a technicolor experience that using the word ‘concert’ to describe their performance falls flat,” states 5820 Magazine. 

Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door, with kids 6-11 half price and five and under free. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $12 Advance, $15 Door, Two Day Pass (Feb 17 & 18) available at WOW Hall for $20. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://marchfourthmarchingband.com/  http://sambaja.org/  

2/19 : Andy McKee with Antoine Dufour

On Sunday, February 19, the CCPA and KRVM proudly welcome Andy McKee plus special guest Antoine Dufour.

Andy McKee is one of the world's finest solo acoustic guitarists and his crossover success to more than 150 million YouTube viewers underscores his emergence as one of the most important and popular artists to surface in years. To fans of virtuoso musicianship, it is Andy's attention to song structure and melodic content that elevates him above the rest. To fans of popular music, Andy entertains both the eye and the ear as he magically transforms the steel string guitar into full orchestra via his use of altered tunings, tapping, partial capos, percussive hits and signature two-handed technique. Andy was the cover story of Acoustic Guitar's January 2011 issue and the June 2011 cover story of Acoustic Magazine in the UK. His latest release is the CD/DVD package Joyland.

Andy McKee is considered one of the world's finest acoustic guitar soloists. His dedicated online community has raised his YouTube video views in excess of 78 million plays and at one point he held the #1, #2 and #3 positions for Top-Rated Videos of All Time on YouTube. McKee’s online media success has impacted both album and ticket sales -- allowing him to tour internationally with over 200 live shows a year.

Hailing from Topeka, Kansas, the self-taught McKee first garnered international attention as one of the top finalists at the prestigious National Finger Style Guitar Championships in Windfield, Kansas. Since 2001, McKee has released five albums independently selling upwards of 40,000. Andy also had the honor of playing guitar on Josh Groban's Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum Christmas album, NOEL.

McKee’s live shows are a true testament to his art of stringsmanship and engaging repartee. He manages to capture both the everyday music fan and guitar aficionados with his expertise and down to earth wit and humor. Whether it be explaining how his harp guitar tunes or why his frets are backward, Andy maintains his love for both fan and guitar player.

McKee’s unique skill allows him to transform the guitar from a simple stringed instrument to a dynamic calliope of sound. Andy’s deft talents give his music life through altered tunings, syncopated rhythm guitar taps, and his textural use of polyphonic tones and drones. All of these are played on both standard sized acoustic guitars and a hand-built 12 string harp-guitar. His highly-developed two handed technique is reminiscent of some of Andy’s cherished guitar mentors and heroes: Preston Reed, Don Ross, Billy McLaughlin and Michael Hedges. He honors the path blazed by these pioneers with his unique multilayering approach as he alone plucks, strums and taps the strings and body to provide the illusion of a full band accompaniment.

ANTOINE DUFOUR

With six albums of original material released to critical acclaim, two live performance DVDs, and more than 25 million views on YouTube, Antoine Dufour has emerged as a young star of fingerstyle acoustic guitar, building a worldwide reputation for innovation and creativity. Antoine has toured across Canada and the UK and toured several times in USA with other artists such as Don Ross and Andy McKee. In addition, Antoine has performed at major festivals such as The Montreal International Jazz Festival.

”The youthful Antoine Dufour's million views on Youtube are easily understood,” states the The Herald of Glasgow, Scotland. “His style packs a rock band's punch behind extraordinary fluency and features highly effective flamenco-like percussion and deftly reflective melodies as well as urgent, nimble picking.”

Antoine won the first place at the Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Championships, placed third at the international fingerpicking championships at Winfield (USA), and hosts seminars, workshops and masterclasses as part of his tour schedule.

This is a seated show. Tickets are $15 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 pm and showtime is 7:00.

  SHOWTIME: 7:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.andymckee.com/  http://www.youtube.com/user/andymckee  

2/20 : Cursive with Ume

On Monday, February 20, Mike Thrasher Presents welcomes Cursive along with special guests Ume.

Cursive is the longtime trio of Tim Kasher (vocals, guitar), Matt Maginn (bass), and Ted Stevens (guitar, vocals), with Patrick Newbery (keys) and Cully Symington (drums). I Am Gemini (out February 21, 2012 via Saddle Creek), the band's seventh LP, is the follow-up to 2009's critically praised Mama, I'm Swollen, which caught the attention of publications including Alternative Press, Billboard, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and Time Out New York, among others, and earned the band their network television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman.

Cursive has released six full-length albums -- including the heralded Cursive's Domestica (2000), The Ugly Organ (2003), and Happy Hollow (2006) -- two EPs, a disc of rarities, and numerous singles since the band's 1995 inception. The band is also known for their vital, magnetic live show, earning rave reviews from outlets including the Cleveland Scene's C-Note music blog ("[Tim Kasher's] effect on the crowd was chilling last night...Cursive was focused and on-spot, composed and gripping"), Nuvo Weekly ("...the five-piece slashed through a near-perfect set of songs from their last nine years of albums"), and the Orlando Sentinel's Soundboard blog ("...the band still knows how to rock on stage...[Cursive] thrashed away with an abandon that heightened the passion of Kasher's dense, emotionally charged wordplay.").

I Am Gemini is the surreal and powerful musical tale of Cassius and Pollock, twin brothers separated at birth. One good and one evil, their unexpected reunion in a house that is not a home ignites a classic struggle for the soul, played out with a cast of supporting characters that includes a chorus of angels and devils, and twin sisters conjoined at the head.

Recorded in the summer/fall of 2011 at Omaha, NE's ARC Studios and mixed at Red Room in Seattle, WA with producer Matt Bayles (Mastodon, Minus The Bear, Isis), I Am Gemini marks the first time front man Tim Kasher, holding the completed story already in mind, wrote album lyrics in a linear fashion, in order, from song 1 to song 13. The result is thirteen singularly cohesive song chapters that blend effortlessly into one unique narrative.

The moody and playfully sinister I Am Gemini is Cursive's musically heaviest in years, with alternately muscular and angular guitars, pounding drums and driving bass. From the eerie introductory sounds of epic barnstormer "This House Alive" and the irresistibly catchy, insistent "The Sun and Moon", to the searing "Double Dead" and the split personality prog-pop of "Twin Dragon/Hello Skeleton", to the roaring, mournful closing track "Eulogy for No Name", the album is a dynamic, mind-bending, and imaginative ride.

UME

Ume (pronounced ooo-may) is an Austin trio who have built a reputation as one of indie rock's heaviest live bands. On their new EP, the power of Ume's live show has been captured and surpassed. With this sophomore release, Lauren Larson's ferocious guitar riffs and fiery vocals have combined with a melodic beauty that completely transcends their previous efforts. With a rock-solid rhythmic foundation provided by Eric Larson on bass and Jeff Barrera on drums, Ume has delivered a unique combination of catchy pop sweetness, delay-drenched noise, and jaw-dropping intensity.

Behind Ume's explosive music is an unassuming and quite shy trio. Guitarist/vocalist Lauren says (in her southern drawl) that show after show she meets people who don't think she could possibly have played in punk rock bands for over a decade. She has even had audience members ask if the guitar parts were prerecorded, because "nobody could play guitar like that, wail, and flail around so much on stage." Sorry folks, this pint-sized shredder is the real deal.

One of her first fans was bassist Eric Larson, who asked the then 15 year-old guitarist to go out after seeing her grind-core band perform on a skatepark vert ramp. While attending Houston-area DIY punk shows, the high-school couple met drummer Jeff Barrera. They ran into him a few years later at an Unwound concert and formed Ume in 2002. Shortly thereafter, Lauren moved with Eric to Pennsylvania to pursue a graduate degree in philosophy. Though only able to practice a few times a year, the band stayed together across 1,600 miles.

Doors open at 7:00 pm and showtime is 8:00. Tickets are $15.00 advance (available from WOW Hall and TicketsWest, $18.00 at the door.

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.myspace.com/cursive  http://www.myspace.com/umemusic  

2/24 : Keller Williams

On Friday, February 24, the CCPA and KRVM welcome back Keller Williams for a solo show.

Prolific singer-songwriter and one-man band Keller Williams returns with a new batch of songs. In December Williams released Bass, his 17th album.

Starting with 1994’s Freek, Keller has done solo albums, live albums, one with The String Cheese Incident, another with Bob Weir, Michael Franti, Bela Fleck and a bunch of other personal heroes, a bluegrass covers album with Keller & The Keels, a children’s album, a remix album, and more. Here Keller shows off, you guessed it, his bass skills with his first record that finds the multi-instrumentalist only on bass guitar. Bass is also the first album to be recorded with Keller’s live reggae-funk band Kdubalicious. Formed in late 2010, in addition to Keller on bass and vocals, the group features Jay Starling on keyboards and Mark D on drums.

Though Keller’s music, both what he listens to and what he puts out, may always be changing and evolving, there’s always one constant: his unique, playful songwriting. Bass is no different in that regard. This may be reggae music -- with heavy doses of dub, funk, jazz and even bits of pop and psychedelia -- but at the core, it’s a Keller Williams record, his warm voice and equally inviting attitude driving the positive vibrations.

Most artists would bristle at the term self-indulgent, but Keller Williams often invokes it in describing his own approach to music. To Williams, being self-indulgent means creating music that satisfies him — if he likes what he’s produced, he figures, then his audience is more likely to embrace it too. If he’s not happy with it, why would they be?

“I’m a music lover first, a musician second and a songwriter third,” Williams says. “I love writing songs and I love performing my songs — almost all of them.”

Keller’s reputation has been built on his live performances, no two of which are ever alike. Most of his career has been spent performing as a one-man band — his stage shows are built around Keller singing his compositions and choice covers while accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar connected to a Gibson Echoplex delay system that allows him to simulate a full band. That approach, Williams explains, was derived from, “hours of playing solo with just a guitar and a microphone, and then wanting to go down different avenues musically. I couldn’t afford humans and didn’t want to step into the cheesy world of automated sequencers where you hit a button and the whole band starts to play, then you’ve got to solo along or sing on top of it. I wanted something more organic yet with a dance groove that I could create myself.”

Technology has allowed Williams to go out on tour week after week, year after year, and play music by himself — without limiting his sound to what we most often associate with the solo singer-songwriter: a guy strumming a guitar and singing. With his arsenal of tech toys, Williams can expand his reach onstage by, in essence, jamming with himself.

Unlike his live gigs, Williams has nearly always invited fellow musicians to contribute to his albums, and an alliance with String Cheese Incident led not only to Williams signing with the band’s label SCI Fidelity, but a collaborative effort on 1999’s Breathe album.

Keller’s thirst for music of all kinds has also led him to the world of children’s music. In 2010 he released Kids, his first children’s record, and toured with Yo Gabba Gabba! Live.

Tickets are $19 in advance, $21 at the door. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $19 Advance, $21 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.kellerwilliams.net  http://www.facebook.com/kellerwilliams  

2/25 : "ExtravaGanja" Tour: Normal Bean Band performing with members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ms Lacy with Rappin 4-Tay, Dr. Bob, Liquid Light Steve

On Saturday, February 25, the CCPA and University of Oregon Campus Radio 88.1 FM KWVA proudly welcome the "ExtravaGanja" tour featuring the Normal Bean Band performing with members of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony along with special guests.

ExtravaGanja tour is An All Star Cast featuring different artists from Bones Thugs-N-Harmony (Layzie, Flesh N, Bizzy), Ms Lacy with Rappin 4 Tay, Dr. Bob, plus special guest Liquid Light Steve. Come take a journey on a visual and musical adventure of historic events set to a hip-hop-hippie jam combo!

Normal Bean and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony first got together at the 2011 Sacramento Hempfest. Warren G was up first, then BT&H, followed by Normal Bean Band. The Bone brothers were impressed with the guitar antics of Normal Bean at the show, and the following morning before the encore show, they asked Normal to sit in with them on a side project tour. The magic was created. Combining the talents of BT&H's vocal power with Normal’s hippie vibe made for an instant musical success. Taking hip-hop to the next level by combining it with a live jam band, the new hippie-hip-hop combo will kick out some old BT&H classics as well as in the moment new jams.

While on the "ExtravaGanja" tour, Flesh N’ Normal is set to record a new single for release by GRA Records out of San Francisco.

BONE THUGS-N-HARMONY

Bone Thugs-N-Harmony began in Cleveland in 1991. It originally consisted of five rappers but currently consists of Layzie Bone, Flesh-n-Bone and Bizzy Bone. The band debuted in late 1993 with the hit single "Thuggish Ruggish Bone".

A tribute to the recently deceased Eazy-E, "Tha Crossroads”, off the second album E. 1999 Eternal, won Bone Thugs-N-Harmony a Grammy award in 1997. In 2000 the album Resurrection reached platinum in one month.

The group went on hiatus before returning in 2007 with the major label release Strength & Loyalty, this time released by Swizz Beatz's label Full Surface Records. Their newest album Uni-5: The World's Enemy was released in 2010 by their own record label, BTNH Worldwide, with distribution by Warner Bros.

Due to internal conflicts, longtime members Krayzie Bone and Wish Bone officially left the group in April 2011. Despite speculation that the group was splitting up, Flesh-n-Bone announced that a new album with him, Layzie and Bizzy will be released soon.

NORMAL BEAN BAND

Normal Bean is an amazing front man who has been working the crowds all over the States for umpteen years. He gets them on their feet and off their heads playing his guitar frontwards, backwards, behind his head and every other way. But it’s not just showmanship, it’s the jams and grooves that have made audiences demand more Bean again and again.

This longtime musical journeyman has worked with Three Dog Night, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Merry Pranksters, Kid Rock, Buddy Rich, Lee Garrett and Dark Star Orchestra, and Warren G, to name just a few. A prolific songwriter himself, Normal is also the star of The Normal Bean Show, a cable television series shown up and down the West Coast.

Just like the experiments of the Sixties, the Normal Bean Band can be formed into other permutations, incorporating live painters and dancers onstage and other guest artists ranging from John Lennon band alumni Ken Peterson to New York radical David Peel to Lester Chamber of The Chamber Brothers to practically anyone else.

4-Tay made his debut on the Too Short album Life Is...Too Short, back in 1991, and followed up in 1994 with Don't Fight the Feelin', which included the hits "Playaz Club" (which sampled the song "Private Number" by William Bell and Judy Clay and hit #36 on the Billboard Hot 100), the "Dank Season" featuring Seff Tha Gaffla, and "I'll Be Around" (which hit #39 on the Billboard Hot 100).

In 1995, two Rappin' 4-Tay songs -- "Problems" and "A Message For Your Mind" - were featured on the Dangerous Minds soundtrack. "A Message For Your Mind" sampled “I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5.

In 2003 Rappin' 4-Tay released the album Gangsta Gumbo with the single "Burning, Burning", followed up by the album That's What You Thought in 2007.

As a percussionist, Ms. Lacy has performed live and in studio with Sam Bostic, Velvet Jones, Elizabeth Vandervennet, Sister Carol and the Yellow Dubb Squad, DWayne Wiggins, Mimi Fox, David Martin, Ras Attitude, Jah Sun, Ishi Dube and the Masagana Band, Dallon Santos, and a host of other jazz, soul and reggae artists.

Ms. Lacy performed her first release, Urban Masterpiece, with a nine piece ensemble at the Concord Chronicle Pavilion. Ms. Lacy has written and/or produced tracks for Mc Eiht, Spice 1, Rappin’ 4 Tay, Ashanti "Rock Wit U", and Sean T.

Tickets are $13 in advance, $15 at the door. Doors open at 8:00 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $13 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.myspace.com/bonethugsnharmony   http://www.normalbeanband.com   

2/26 : Be Mine, Zumba-Time

On Sunday, February 26, Ivorie Snyder of Southern Oregon Zumba and Zumba D’Carlos team up to host Be Mine, Zumba-Time, an afternoon of dancing and refreshments featuring performances by Zumba instructors.

Come party with us Zumba style and get to know the flavor of Eugene and Southern Oregon Zumba instructors. Join us for an afternoon of some appetizers and dancing Zumba Style.

Performances by: Zumba D' Carlos, Danielle Butera, Debra Rachelle, Dianna Brock, Cerri Bunten, Erika Lincango The Dancing Flower , Debra Hargett, Hillary Kretchmer, Joy Zuidmulder-Goss, Shakaia ...and more.

Appetizers and bottled water are free with admission. This event is suggested for ages 16 years and older. Music and sound by our very own DJ Opie.

Tickets can be purchased at the following: Eugene: WOW Hall Box Office, and Jungs Mongolian Grill; Roseburg Area: Zumba Fitness in Drain (235 W C Street Drain Or. 97435); Medford: Zumba Dance Studio (1030 Court St. #B ), Medford Tools and Supply; Grants Pass: Grants Pass Community Center ...or through participating Local Zumba instructors.

Doors open at 2:00 pm. Dancing starts at 2:30 and ends at 5:00 pm. Tickets are $18 in advance and $23 at the door.

For more information, feel free to call or email Ivorie Snyder: or 541-531-7234.

  SHOWTIME: 2:00 - 5:00 PM, PRICE: $18 Advance, $23 Door.

http://www.SouthernOregonZumba.com    

3/02 : Typhoon, Motopony, Ravenna Woods

Attention readers!! A Typhoon is scheduled to hit the WOW Hall on Friday, March 2, accompanied by Motopony and Ravenna Woods.

Typhoon is an indie rock band that began in Salem in 2005 and is currently based in Portland. The band has numerous members and has released two albums, two EPs, a split 7 inch record with Olympia-based band LAKE, and have contributed to a number of compilations. Last August Typhoon made their television debut on Late Show with David Letterman.

Typhoon's music has always been marked by complicated arrangements and careful orchestration. Live performances routinely involve 12 or more band members playing at once.

"The group masterfully combines indie rock instrumentals and vocals with violins, percussion, hand claps, xylophone, horns and a choir of other instruments, making for inspiring and catchy songs,” states Lauren Rosenthal (mySpoonful).

In 2010 Typhoon was voted #2 in Willamette Week's annual list of the Top Ten Best New Bands in Portland. They have opened for The Thermals, Quasi, Yann Tiersen, Explosions in the Sky and The Decemberists, and toured with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper.

Band Members include Kyle Morton (lead vocals, guitar), Toby Tanabe (bass), Dave Hall (guitar), Pieter Hilton (drums), Alex Fitch (drums), Tyler Ferrin (horns), Ryan McAlpin (trumpet), Devin Gallagher (percussion), Nora Zimmerely (vocals, piano), Shannon Steele (violin), Jen Hufnagel (violin), Eric Stipe (trumpet) and Samantha Kushnick (cello).

“In person, the Portland collective is both joyful and dark, subtle and — with around 10 members at most shows — entirely overwhelming in its explosiveness,” reports Willamette Week. “Between the sweat and the choir — everyone in the band sings — Typhoon shows can feel like I’d imagine church feels for religious people. It’s soul-stirring. It would seem to be an experience that no compact disc or vinyl record could hold. And none has, until Hunger and Thirst.”

Typhoon followed up 2010’s Hunger and Thirst LP with the EP A New Kind of House in 2011.

MOTOPONY

The hard-soul/glitch-folk contained on Motopony’s self-titled debut is guided by soulful machines Daniel Blue and Buddy Ross along with guitarist Brantley Cady and drummer Forrest Mauvais.

The band’s beginnings are intrinsically tied to the day that Blue picked up the guitar at age 27, after years of expressing himself through the design label he began years previously, but has since put on hiatus to pursue music. Blue’s foray into music happened to be the five-year anniversary of his mother’s death, and the nascent stages of Blue’s songwriting were consumed by this loss – his grief the lens through which everything refracted.

In the intervening four years, the depth of Blue’s songwriting has deepened and grown, and is complemented by Ross’s tempered arrangements. Blue’s bizarre tunings – three E-strings, spaced out in an odd pattern – were the perfect marriage to Ross’s modern, anchoring cadences.

“The songs are really captivating – and there’s so much space for me to fill it up with what I do,” explains Ross.

RAVENNA WOODS

Seattle’s Ravenna Woods is a three-man band that plays haunting urban folk full of eerie vocals and spiraling fingerpicked guitar.

The group's drum-driven sound is spare and rhythmic, punctuated by harmonic howls and whoops. Sometimes it calls to mind a native pow-wow; sometimes, a soundtrack to a spooky movie. It's all played at a volume dialed back just enough to hear the patterns and textures, and it's not nearly as cerebral as it sounds.

Notes The Seattle Times, "combining dark melodies, intricate vocal harmonies, and insistent hard-hitting percussion, Ravenna Woods represents the dark side of Seattle's indie folk movement; a Kafkaesque figure in a room of Guthries and Gershwins."

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door. Doors open at 8:30 pm and showtime is 9:00.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $10 Advance, $12 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.wearetyphoon.com  http://www.myspace.com/wearetyphoon  

3/03 : Scion, Insomniac & Red Cube present The End Is Near Tour feat. 12th Planet, Flinch & Kastle

by Amanda Day

On Saturday, March 3, Scion Presents The End Is Near Tour with 12th Planet , Flinch and Kastle.

12TH PLANET

12th Planet is an LA born Electro DJ classified as ‘Dubstep ‘and ‘Jungle’. His sounds are not for the faint of heart but for those looking to seriously shake it. With deep, heavy bass lines in every track and some gravely entrancing vibes, 12th Planet has a powerful Dubstep dance draw that will be putting the Hall’s floating dance floor to the test.

Born John Dadzie and raised on the genre known as ‘Jungle”, Dadzie became the man, DJ and producer we know today as 12th Planet. Originally creating more of a drum and bass type sound under a different alias, 12th Planet shifted his efforts to more of a raw and uncensored Dubstep focus.

His career began when he started a record label by the name of Imperial Recordings after linking up with DJ Lith, a fellow producer. 12th Planet now owns SMOG records and produces alongside Flinch, SPL, Noah D, DLX, Pawn, EMU, and Kelly Dean. But not all of the multitalented Dadzie’s time is spent in the studio; as a DJ 12th Planet has smashed festival after festival with his raw power including the biggest electronic festival in North America, the Electric Daisy Carnival. The power of his bass has also been felt throughout the crowds at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the Ultra Music Festival, Nocturnal, and Beyond Wonderland.

The multiple alias DJ and producer has been around long enough to touch the careers of a number of big names in the business including Rusko, Skream and Skrillex. Frequently his own remixes are heard through the speakers of these very artists sound systems from show to show, as he has not only worked in the studio with but toured alongside many big names, most recently with Skrillex’s The Mothership Tour.

Usually playing larger venues, 12th Planet’s intergalactic vibrations and The End Is Near Tour will surely bring a packed and hungry crowd to the WOW Hall for some apocalyptic Electro.

FLINCH

Coming into this world as one Adam Glassco, Flinch, is a veteran producer who began his career in the realm of Drum and Bass as do many electro stars. Originally making beats in LA, his sound eventually moved toward a synthy-based dupstep that can knock you off your seat while simultaneously keeping up a catchy melody and some gentle vocal tracks. Robotic sounds topped with a dash of soothing female vocals are a surprisingly tasty recipe.

Kicking things off in the year 2000, Flinch also spent his early career in the production business. Now based out of Huntington Beach, California, he has teamed up on SMOG records alongside 12th Planet but also works on the label known as Trouble and Bass, which recently released a compilation by the name of Heavy Bass Champions of the World vol. XV. The bass focused compilation includes artists like Drop The Lime, Acid Jakcs, AC Slater, and 12 other bass heavy weights (Flinch included).

KASTLE

Humbly coming from somewhere other than the electro heavy LA, Kastle originated in Pittsburgh growing up on a self taught guitar and piano. He began to move towards a more electronic career around the age of only 14 and soon enough Barrett Richards (better know as Kastle) was making waves in the dance scene. The talented Richards didn’t jump right into the world of the DJ; his well rounded sound comes from a degree in engineering paired with 14 years of experience in the world of production. This man is no rookie.

Several different labels and multiple artists have been graced by the work of Kastle in the past including Ministry of Sound and Scion A/V records. He has also done production work for some big names such as Blu Mar Ten and The Glitch Mob. With bass breaking beats, original and sampled vocals, and his lifetime of experience Kastle will bring a veteran’s touch to The End Is Near Tour and the WOW Hall.

Tickets are $20 in advance, available at WOW Hall outlets. Doors open at 9:00 pm and the events ends at 2:00 am.

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $20 Advance. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.redcubepdx.com/  http://www.myspace.com/12thplanet  

3/14 : Hot Buttered Rum and Cornmeal

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $12 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.hotbutteredrum.net  http://www.myspace.com/cornmealinthekitchen  

3/15 : William Fitzsimmons with Denison Witmer

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://soundcloud.com/nettwerkmusicgroup/sets/william-fitzsimmons-filter/  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH8GlXDMJ_E  

3/16 : Floater (acoustic)

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $12 Advance, $15 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.floter.com  http://www.myspace.com/floater  

3/17 : Robert Schwartzman (of Rooney) with The Relationship feat. Brian Bell (of Weezer)

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $8 Advance, $10 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.robertschwartzman.com/   http://www.facebook.com/TheRelationship?sk=wall   

3/18 : Seun Kuti and the Egypt 80

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $18 Advance, $20 Door.

http://www.myspace.com/seunkuti  http://www.knittingfactoryrecords.com/artists/seunkuti  

3/29 : Emancipator with Shigeto

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.emancipatormusic.com/about   http://emancipator.bandcamp.com/track/elephant-survival  

4/06 : The Heartless Bastards

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.myspace.com/heartlessbastards    

4/10 : fIREHOSE

  SHOWTIME: 9:00 PM, PRICE: $15 Advance, $18 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://hootpage.com/hoot_gallery-fhose.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firehose_(band)  

4/12 : Tea Leaf Green with The Silent Comedy

  SHOWTIME: 8:00 PM, PRICE: $14 Advance, $16 Door.

http://www.tealeafgreen.com  http://www.thesilentcomedy.com  

4/21 : Doug Benson with Graham Elwood

On Saturday, April 21, for the second year in a row, Square Peg Concerts welcomes comedian Doug Benson to the WOW Hall.

Tickets are $20.00 in advance, $25.00 day of show, and are available from TicketsMaster (linked below even through it says Ticketweb).

  SHOWTIME: 7:30 PM, PRICE: $20 Advance, $25 Door. BUY TICKETS NOW

http://www.squarepegconcerts.com  http://www.myspace.com/doug_benson