John Craig Comes Home

Ah, Portland, our colossal neighbor to the north. It’s got all of the things a big city needs: buildings, parks, rivers, bridges — and let’s not forget the artists. In fact, Portland has been home to a whole lot of great musicians in its time.

Here’s another that nobody should miss: John Craig, who started out his days as a musician right here in Eugene. As UO students, Craig and his friend Ryan Dobrowski — who now plays his part for Blind Pilot — created Tympanic, gaining mild success on the West Coast before graduation. Since then, Craig has pursued a solo career based on a touching blend of electro, rock and pop that is hard to categorize. At times, his voice is reminiscent of Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), while other times it’s just something completely different.



Craig’s music is mellow yet danceable, colorful yet gray, grounded yet spacey and everything in between. In each song, he achieves a rich framework of textures and sounds that aims to please. If you are in need of a reminder that Oregon still rocks ridiculously hard, this is your man. John Craig plays at 8:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 3, at Taylor’s Bar & Grille. 21+. Free.

[EW 9/30]
Also Scope: The Best Kissers in the World

Do Clouds Still Taste Metallic?

The end of a transformation for The Flaming Lips

1983 is important for many reasons in our world. It’s a song by Jimi Hendrix; it’s also the year Return of the Jedi was released, the Tokyo Disneyland opened and KISS first appeared on TV without makeup. But all of these momentous events seem obsolete in the face of one thing: ’83 marked the formation of the psychedelic, fuzz driven, colorful, magical, beautifully wild, shows-that-will-reputedly-blow-your-mind Flaming Lips.

Hailing from Oklahoma City, the Lips fuel their music with a range of different influences and styles. Dreamy vocals echo between fuzzy synthesizers and flanged guitars to create a symphony of psychedelia, while mid-tempo drums carry the listener along through an array of flowing melodies, licks and breaks — techniques reminiscent of those found on Pink Floyd’s cosmic Dark Side of the Moon. In testament to this Floydian influence, The Flaming Lips recently covered the entire Dark Side of the Moon album, and boy, did they do it well. Currently the Lips are touring to back last year’s Embryonic, and they’ll only be making one stop in Oregon. How lucky we are that they chose our McDonald Theatre for that stop.



Now imagine, if you will, a stage. Throw in some naked people, some Teletubbies, bubbles, aliens, bouncy balls, confetti, lights, giant hands, microphones and instruments. Now make the entire thing explode into color and life. You’re at a Lips show and the world is bursting at the seams with beautiful rays of light. This might sound a little more like a carnival than a concert, but that’s just the point.

Since Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots was released in 2002, it seems as though the Lips’ older albums have become lost in a haze of fuzzy, mellow-artistic engineering. There is certainly no denying that Yoshimi and At War With the Mystics are solid records, but they indicate that the group’s slow transformation into a psychedelic funny-house band is drawing to a close.

In 1995, Clouds Taste Metallic blasted the ears off of those people who had managed to hear about the Flaming Lips — most of them probably hanging on every note of “She Don’t Use Jelly,” which was released in 1993 — and this slop infested, psychedelic, noise driven masterpiece left an impact that seemed like it could be everlasting. Unfortunately, those days of noisy, gain-up-too-high slop rock seem to be over for the Lips, and their recent music has gained an art-rock quality that still aims to please but won’t entirely satisfy those fans from the ’90s.

Embryonic, however, has a lot more old-Lips style mixed into it than the previous two albums (especially At War With the Mystics), and this gives great hope to fans of the dirty production and sound effects of Transmissions from the Satellite Heart and Clouds Taste Metallic. Fingers crossed that the Flaming Lips will soon find the perfect way to blend their older, crazier stuff with their cunningly engineered post-millennium sound. As of now, Embryonic is the closest example of this.

Back at that carnival things are still going wild, and you love it. You love yourself and everyone around you. Here’s where the Flaming Lips have truly succeeded in leaving a mark — friendship and connection. So is it ultimately a bad thing that they have transitioned from a sloppy, noisy rock band to a colorful, well-produced dream machine? The answer is undoubtedly no. They’ll still rock you sideways.

The Flaming Lips, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti. 9 pm Wednesday, Sept. 29. McDonald Theatre • SOLD OUT

[EW 9/23]

Calling From the Sun

Re-discovering Marcy Playground

There’s no denying that Marcy Playground was one of the better one hit wonders of the 1990s, but they happened to be sitting on a whole mountain of gems when their eponymous LP was released in 1997. Forgotten in a haze of constant “Sex and Candy” airtime, the other eleven tracks that fill the record are not only enjoyable, they are fucking awesome.



Grunge meets nineties pop, folk and rock to create a solid—and remarkably original—effect. Acoustic guitars, often layered, lie at the foreground of many tracks while John Wozniak’s vocals ring out in a calm, dull drone beneath (for an example of this technique go back into the annals of your memory and re-listen to “Sex and Candy”). Other tracks, such as “Sherry Fraser” and “One More Suicide” find Wozniak at the front, singing his heart out.


The truly remarkable thing about Marcy Playground is that their entire existence was drowned out by that one song—which is, in my opinion, far from the best track on the record—and all of those other beauties were forever buried somewhere. Who knows, maybe a few people out there would still love to see Marcy Playground live to hear their other tracks. I, for one, would definitely get down.

Booch Light?

Kombucha gone missing equals "a bummer"

Considering the recipe for kombucha is about as old as Jesus, it comes as no surprise when a stench resembling the bottle return center comes drifting out from beneath the cap of this sour, fermented tea. Yes, it's tea, but with a twist. This organic drink contains live bacteria that help to promote a strong immune system as well as aid dietary function. In fact, kombucha really appears to live up to its reputation as a “wonder drink.” Unfortunately for those who have fallen deeply in love with the stuff, the swift removal of most brews from shelves has left a hole in the hearts of many kombucha drinkers.

The tea was pulled due to suspicions that its alcohol content may rise above a half-percent ABV (alcohol by volume)—the limit for beverages to be deemed non-alcoholic—and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, in collaboration with the FDA, is running an inquiry into this claim. For many brewers, this has meant a complete halt in business unless they’re willing to sacrifice quality and give way to pasteurization, a technique that ensures the drink stays below the legal limit. For many drinkers of non-pasteurized kombucha—“purists”—this means the hunt is on.



Whether or not kombucha can be placed in the same category as beer and wine is uncertain, though the invention of Booch Light could be on the horizon. The nature of fermentation is tricky, and with a thousand different home-brews up for grabs, it’s hard to believe that every last bottle has been left to ferment for the perfect length of time.
Stores still carry kombucha in small quantities, including Kombucha Wonder Drink, which is brewed in Portland and became incredibly popular before the recall. However, the tea is now pasteurized and the aforementioned “purists” surely won’t abide it. Those drinkers who aren’t purists, though, don’t seem to mind in the least. “People are kombucha crazy!” says Emma Buckley of The Kiva grocery. “When we didn’t have it I had to field the question about twenty times a day; where is it? Why don’t you have it?”

A scan of the UNFI website—a major distributor—shows that GT, a popular brand of kombucha, has halted all manufacturing for the time being, and plans to soon release a tea with a much higher alcohol content. This product—code named AP5—will of course only be available to buyers who are over 21. As for many of the other brands mentioned on the site, it appears that they are simply giving way to the “reformulation” by installing new machinery and diluting their product. With the most recent update on the UNFI website, the text simply reads: “Demand continues to exceed the supply.”

Most drinkers whom I know describe the entire situation as “a bummer,” but forums and blogs frequented by die-hard fans hold a much stronger reaction: “I NEED mah fuckin booch!!!!!!” etc. Many other forum users ponder the reasons for the drink’s recall: “[Kombucha] was banned ages ago because mushrooms started growing in people’s stomachs.” As the list piles higher, the theories become more and more absurd, and some even go so far as to blame the ban on celebrities: “Oh my god, you're not going to believe it....It's all that bitch Lindsey Lohan's fault.”

Those forum users with different attitudes, however, discuss more than just their chagrin over the ban. “Is kombucha safe if I’m nursing?” “Does [kombucha] put my sobriety at risk?” and similar, valid concerns are often to be found among the babblings of booch conspiracy theorists.

Is kombucha truly the “wonder drink” to be hailed by all as a gift from Mother Nature? Or is it simply another thing that beer snobs will one day find pleasure in? The proof will be in the pudding (or in this case the beverage) when the FDA gets completely through with its inquiry. For now, I guess all the avid booch lovers out there will have to search far and wide for their fix of this amber colored, sour beer scented, “healthy”-as-can-be fermented tea.


[EW Chow! Restaurant Guide 9/16]

Looking on the Whiteside

The Whiteside Theatre has long been a dormant historical landmark for Corvallis, and on Sept. 19, 16 Oregonian acts will perform benefit-style for the theater’s rehabilitation in the first Whiteside Jam.

Dating back to 1922, the Whiteside Theatre has a charm not unlike that of our local McDonald. With all proceeds going toward rehabilitation, the hope is that Corvallis residents will soon have a significant historical venue to call their own.




Jaime Williams — the mind behind the jam — is a member of the Whiteside Theatre Foundation, which has existed for two years. The foundation has received good grants but has never had a truly spectacular fundraiser. “We needed something bigger than piddly little fundraisers,” says Williams. With 16 acts, two stages, Oregon Trail Brewing supplying the beer garden, Crêperie Du Lys and Purple Moon Organic Coffee supplying the provisions, a VIP tent for sponsors and talent, the awesomeness of this event only seems to grow stronger with each item. Williams agrees, saying, “What better to do on a Sunday than just hang out?”

Williams’ hope for the festival is somewhere close to $5,000. That kind of money would allow for the major fix-ups that the theater requires in order to open its doors — new bathrooms, new electrical systems, etc. — and from there the revenue generated by functions will pay for all those other, minor cracks to be spackled.

The Whiteside Jam runs 11 am to 11 pm Sunday, Sept. 19, at Benton County Fairgrounds, Corvallis. $12. See www.whitesidetheatre.org for more info.

[EW 9/16]

Upcoming Events: Ashland Mind Music Festival

Ashland locals Kaargo Bossajova have worked tirelessly since their formation to promote local music and community spirit with the use of festivals, and on October 8th they will host another grassroots rager down there in southern Oregon. The Ashland Mind Music Festival boasts camping, open jams, and a place to kick back and listen to some awesome local names.

The lineup includes some of the names found at this year’s Apple Jam—an event hosted annually by Kaargo—and a whole lot of new ones too, including Eugene favorites Forever Growing. Beyond the music though, the festival is about much more; friendship, community and a fun atmosphere.



Though complaints about the price have occurred (albeit rarely), tickets include a full weekend of camping, and all night access to amenities—including beer—so although the prices may seem steep at first, it all evens out to a fair price in the end. Complaints about price tend to originate from the fact that many of the bands are unknown, but as the organizers put it: “All of the best were unknown until the community came out to listen.”

The Ashland Mind Music Festival is on October 8th, AMMF property, Ashland, OR. More info @ http://events.myspace.com/Event/7060427/The-Ashland-Mind-Music-Festival

High Violet & City Lights

I must admit it took me listening to Boxer several times before The National started to grow on me. There was something that just didn’t click at first—perhaps Matt Berninger’s baritone voice just wasn’t something that I was used to hearing, perhaps it was just the overall sound. In any case, a recent midnight drive to up to Portland from Eugene made the Brooklyn-based group fall perfectly into my heart. I’m guessing that my propensity to envision every late-night drive I take as a scene from a movie allowed The National become my perfect big city soundtrack.



Their latest full length High Violet is mostly similar to Boxer, the only noticeable difference is that the composition feels warmer and fuller, despite the apparent emptiness that the lyrics often convey. Again, the music itself is driving and epic, well layered and complete. The production is flawless except for a few occurrences of overused reverb on the vocals, but that’s hardly a deal breaker.

So long story short I would definitely recommend High Violet be added to the library of anybody that has previously enjoyed The National. The album is solid and thoroughly enjoyable, the ideal background music to welcome you back to those man-made lights after a long night of driving in the countryside.

Not So Hard On The Ears

Seattle has often been a hub for talented musicians and artists to join, gather influences and produce original results. With the rise of indie music over the last few years, many of these artists have become lost in a sea of names, making it hard to find a band that displays noticeable influences while still maintaining a solid level of originality. The Soft Hills, however, is one Seattle group that achieves this feat seamlessly.



Radiohead’s ambience, Bread’s guitars, a splash of Flaming Lips’ rhythm and some fabulous songwriting skills add up (remarkably) to create that poppy, indie sound that has managed to enchant music lovers and hipsters. The Soft Hills’ second release, Noruz, shows improvement from their older songs in most facets. The songwriting, instrumentation and production are tuned more finely, showing off the experience the group has gained since their debut release. Even fans of the “slop-rock” scene — which to most would include groups like Pavement and Sonic Youth — could find comfort in frontman Garrett Hobba’s vocals, which at times possess a jittery feel not unlike those found with fellow Seattle rockers Girls.

I guess what we’ve learned from all this is that leaving multiple variables open to influence can create a single outcome that isn’t half bad. And for those like me who don’t really understand math: The Soft Hills prove to be a smorgasbord of influences and originality, so don’t be surprised if you hear some familiar sounds shine through. The Soft Hills and The Stagger and Sway play at 9 pm Sunday, Sept. 5, at Cozmic Pizza. $5.

[EW 9/2]
Also scope: Lance Sparks' piece on the Southern Willamette Artisan Wine & Food Celebration HERE.