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06/25/08

Secrets of the Season

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July is a Music Monster in Small Oregon Coast Village

Todd Wolfe, a former member of Sheryl Crowe's band, performs in Yachats this month

(Yachats, Oregon) - An unprecedented flood of local, regional and national musical performers is slated to invade the Landmark in Yachats during this summer's month-long "July Music Monster."

Touring rigs from Louisiana, New York and Colorado join the line up with acts from Portland, Eugene, Corvallis and San Francisco. The series kicks off during the Fourth of July weekend and continues until the end of July, with 16 bands in all.

The Landmark is located at 111 Hwy 101 in Yachats. It includes a full service restaurant and bar with breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Italian food and fresh fish are featured, with an ocean view from every table. See www.landmark-yachats.com for music calendar, menus and Yachats trivia or call 541-547-5459. All shows are free unless otherwise noted. They are all over 21.

Thursday, July 3. J.C. Rico and Zulu Dragon. For the past 15 years or so J.C. Rico has performed with the extraordinary voice and a soulful style that keeps people coming back. His band ebbs and flows around him, usually an all-star lineup drawn from the best in Eugene. Consistently in the Top Three of the blues bands rated by readers of the Eugene Weekly, J.C. is a cat not to me missed on his infrequent jaunts to the coast. 9 p.m.

Friday, July 4. 1 p.m. The Surfonics. The Surfonics have been treating Eugene-Springfield fans to their own western-flavored brand of "old-testament" surf rock since 1993. Fronted by the infamous "Captain Reverb" (Mike Graves) with Kenny Sokolov on drums and Trey Longstreth on bass. The surf sound here remains true to its school without getting fussy about it.

Portland's The Insomniacs

Friday, July 4. 9:30 p.m. $5 cover. The Insomniacs are one of the hottest bands on the West Coast. They walked all over the 2007 Muddy awards in Portland with six nominations and the prize for "Best Contemporary Act" for 2007. They were nominated for a Blues Music WC Handy award in the Best New Artist category for the 2007 release, "Left Coast Blues" and made it to No. 5 on the blues charts with "Crime Scene." The band lays down a groove layered with taste, soul, and an authentic style melded with a traditional blend of jump blues and roots rock. The band is fronted by Vyasa Dodson, 25, one of the hottest young players to emerge from the Portland scene.

Saturday, July 5. 9 p.m. Papaw’s Blue Jelly Band. This is a band that has been playing together for over a decade and it shows in the tightness of the covers and the quality of the originals. Jonathan Carroll is a New Yorker guitarist playing counter to David Bryant, who hails from Clarksdale, Mississippi. Somehow the mesh is no mess and out comes everything from Hendrix's "Little Wing" to Buddy Guy's "Heavy Love."

Two members of Taarka fiddling around (yeah, nice pun...get it?)

Sunday, July 6. 9 p.m. Taarka. The classically-trained violinist meets the wild mandolin player from the West and voila - the Tillers. The violin, Enion Pelta-Tiller, arrives via the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, New York City punk and jazz circles and a stint with the crown prince of Hungarian New Wave, Menyhart Jeno. David Tiller comes from the alt-pop scene, sharing stages with the likes of the Dave Matthews Band, Sheryl Crow, Ricki Lee Jones, and Blues Traveler. The pace with this bunch is breakneck and the quality of the music tops. Recently relocated in Denver, rumor has it that David has started to sing.

Wednesday, July 9. 9 p.m. Dikki Du & the Zydeco Krewe. The music was in his house and in the culture and long before he was Dikki Du, the leader of this band was soaked in the zydeco sound. He was not, however, content to repeat the past and like other young players from Arcadiana, Dikki Du pushes the tradition. He has broken out of his Lawtell, Louisiana, home ground, traveling the country. His reputation is for high-energy dance shows. You never know when Dikki and the Krewe will blast off in a triple accordion shootout or run away with a washboard crazed dance step. Look out - most people don't, but Dikki Du.

Thursday, July 10. 9 p.m. Wolfe. From New York City, it’s a psychedelic rock and blues from former lead guitar player for Sheryl Crow's touring band. Todd Wolfe is without doubt one of the Top Five best guitar players to grace the Landmark stage. His sweet and sour, toughly tender style has taken him a long way. Crow was a rising star when he played with her as she opened for a rather distinguished crowd in the mid-90s. The list includes Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones and the Eagles. Todd got off the road around 1998, began running the blues jam at Manny's Car Wash in New York City, then evolved this new touring band that hits the Landmark. Lately, this band shared the bill with the likes of The Allman Brothers, Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Friday, July 11. 9 p.m. Wildwood Holler. This is a folk string trio consisting of banjo, mandolin, and bass. Formed in 2002, the Holler! has performed mostly in northern Colorado, playing traditional instruments with a fresh original sound. The band met in North Carolina, where the tradition for this kind of music spreads up into the hills for 300 years. There aren’t many true bluegrass in the Landmark - the jam bands have appropriated the style. But these guys sound are for real. Pick it up!

Saturday, July 12. 9 p.m. The Streamliners. This band plays music by everybody from Louis Prima to Ray Charles, presenting a different approach to the blues. The lead guitarist is Michael Anderson, a West Coast guy who has played all over, solo, in jazz groups and behind the soundboards recording and producing. He can whip his guitar through just about anything and has a solid voice perfect for the style. On drums is Rick Markstrom, keeping the beat since the late 60s, and on bass is New York City native Mike Hatgis, who has performed Top 40, Middle-Eastern dance, R&B, Blues, Jazz, and Latin.

Rockin' Jake

Sunday, July 13. 9 p.m. A national act - Rockin' Jake - graces the stage at the Landmark. Think Paul Butterfield meets the Fabulous Thunderbirds, toss in an Emerile-sized portion of cajun spice and you've got the Jakester, last sighted in a fancy new Bourbon Street club in New Orleans. Jake moved from Connecticut to New Orleans in 1990 and lived there until forcibly removed by the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina. Always a lover of the road, Jake continues to tour from his new base in St. Louis, traveling across the county to bring his sound to big and small venues. It's a sound developed in a South Louisiana gumbo, mixed up with Marva Wright, Mem Shannon, Coco Robicheaux, Little Freddie King, Tommy Ridgley, Eddie Bo and other local legends. The five-time winner of Off Beat Magazine's coveted "Best of the Beat" award for best harmonica player.

Thursday, July 17. 9 p.m. Stevie B. One of the Bay Area's best known folkies, Stevie's songs cleanse a room, making it feel fresher and closer to the cool ground. His connections in San Francisco include former band mate Country Joe McDonald. He plays all over the coast, from Mill Valley to Vancouver. His songs never fail to make everybody who listens a little lighter. Cast off your burdens!

Friday, July 18. 9 p.m. The Summit Underground. Riley is a consistent and generous blues player who has lived the life all his life. This band is 15 years old, a testament to the mellow style and the depth of appreciation its members have for the music. The blues lives because musicians live the blues. Mike is backed by Vegas and LA session harp player Kooch Kucera and Bongo Bob Pettit on drums.

Saturday, July 18. 9 p.m. Kevin Selfe & the Tornadoes. Selfe, before moving to Portland two years ago from his base in Roanoke, Va., played over 1,500 gigs in 15 states, conquering a wide circle of East Coast venues. But his new start in the Northwest has given him a fresh outlook and he is getting some recognition, with two Muddy nominations from the Cascade Blues Association. He’s become something of a mainstay at the Landmark, giving a variety of performances, suitable to the crowd, the weather, the whatnot.

Friday, July 25. 9 p.m. Saltlick. Saltlick is an original indie-rock band from Eugene with a country twang and is something of a legend at the Landmark, based on a performance a couple of years ago. The band was formed in 2000 by Steve Taddei following the demise of his seminal country/rock outfit, Hillbilly Holocaust and has been battling away in the Eugene club scene more or less ever since. The lineups have changed behind Taddei, now with Chris Ross (lead guitar/pedal steel), Ryan Tocchini (keys/vox), Mike Last on drums and Brian Patrick on bass. The sound is reminiscent of Dylan and The Band with echoes of the 1980's Athens, GA scene.

And then there's the always captivating scenery in Yachats.

Saturday, July 26. 9 p.m. Henry Turner Jr. & Flavor. Henry Turner Jr., aims at creating something different here, bringing the influences of B.B. King, Bob Marley and George Benson into the sound of south Louisiana. His guitar and vocal work are complimented by an all-star Louisiana band featuring Irie Hip on bass and vocalist, an urban reggae artist/ bass player who has played from the San Francisco Bay Area to Louisiana, Europe, Canada and Japan. The senior member of Flavor is Ronnie Houston, an R&B drummer who has toured the United States and Europe since the early 1970s.

Sunday, July 27. 9 p.m. Eddie Turner. Eddie was born in Cuba and raised in Chicago, bringing two great musical traditions together in one fast guitar. Here's the skinny from Blues Revue Magazine: "If anybody ever went down to the Crossroads and let the Devil tune his guitar it was probably Eddie Turner. Man, you get chills every time the guy strikes a note! And the expressions he makes while he's talking out each lick leave one convinced he's channeling other-worldly ancestral demi-gods." He was the winner of the 2006 WC Handy Blues Music Award for “Best New Blues Band of the Year,” an award that helped put Turner on the list of the elite blues guitarists currently performing.

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