Juan Martinez is known as the pain proof man, he is a blockhead and has many piercings and performs sideshow in Austin at the museum of the wierd! http://bigtoppiercing.com/?page_id=116
We got to see the man frozen in ice and many other oddities! I can’t post photos from Sfanthor, the horror wax museum, but it was very fun too! Austin is awesome!
Daniel Romano ( and friends ) at the sxsw flatstock stage.
Excellent gentle country with a wink and very smooth pedal steel. Probably many people tell him his voice sounds like Willie Nelson. I look forward to him releasing a funny song he played for us called ” they don’t have a word for that yet.”. https://www.facebook.com/danielromanomusic
I am boarding a plane and going to texas. This is where I really started drawing seriously and its embarassing to look back at my old drawings from 2003/2005 and see how awful I was then. I will be drawing bands I see in the street and posting the drawings here. I have no idea what to look for, as I have been out of the new music buzz scene for several years, but I am looking forward to seeing Anamanaguchi and Those darlins play the Grackle. I might make it to that show, But something else more enticing may veto it! When I return I am hosting a comics workshop in Cottage Grove. I will post drawings and photos of the students soon!
Here is the link to the workshop!
W. Kamau Bell brought some political humor to the WOW hall. He also opened up to us and told us how defeating it was for his show to be canceled. He had a very Zen attitude and reminded us not to give bad reviews of restaurants, whenever we are eating out, we are living better than 99% of humans that lived before us! WE are rich enough to have fresh food prepared for us, so show some freakin’ appreciation and give a 5 star review even if it had a little hair in it.
The very funny Zach Sherwin opened. One of his claims to fame is an appearance in “Epic Rap battles of History,” playing Stephen King, Sherlock Holmes, and Egon Spengler,
Marco Benevento played his droney shimmering, danceable instrumental jam band pop at the Axe and Fiddle last night and it was a magical show! His band was awesome. That drummer (Andy Borger) was amazing. BAss player Dave Dreiwitz was on his game too laying down the fuzz. I don’t know what to say about the show other than that I loved it.
years ago i Reviewed one of his cds, here is the review originally published in Performer Magazine. He’s made two new albums since 2012! I have got to catch up!
Marco Benevento: Between the Needles and Nightfall
(Domestic)
Trout Recording in Brooklyn, NY where engineer Bryce Goggin
Mixed by Mell Dettmer (Sunn O))), Eyvind Kang, Jesse Lauter (Low Anthem, Elvis Perkins) and Vid Cousins (Amon Tobin, Kid Koala)
Benevento delivers another fun and lively collection of funky keyboard music.
A friendly bass riff supplied by Reed Mathis from (Tea Leaf Green and the Jacob Fred Jazz Oryssey) is a prominent part of the title track. “Numbers” chugs along like “Benny and the Jets” but with whirling whizzing, synths and circuit bent toys by Tom Stephenson from Math Robot.
An eye-opening cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You know I’m no good,” features some extremely overdriven organ. Drummer Andrew Barr really shines here, bringing unexpected counter rhythms and colorful rim shots. Benevento says, “Its such a catchy ditty, it should be in the next fake book or Real book, I’m sure it will stand the test of time!”
The dreamy shuffle on “Music is Still Secret” reminds me of Kid Koala. (maybe that sound is from the collaboration with Vid Cousins.) “Snow Lake” has a creepy shamisen-like sound chiming, these are processed bells from Scott Amendola.
There is always a certain feel to a Benevento song: a pleasant skip in your stride mood, that lends itself to walking with a forward lean. “Ila Frost” is a highlight, and an ideal example of melodies that sound truly optimistic. Swirling organs provide the poetry, and VInce Guaraldi-like piano riffs bring hope and joy.
There is a Mellotron, an Optigan, various Pianos and Organs and a Harpsichord, processed through bit shifters, delay effects and ring modulators, each joining in like adorable muppet characters in an avant garde opera.
You are sure to hear more layers each time you indulge in this eccentric album.
I went to a STEAM PUNK TEA PARTY at the Shelton McMurphey House and made drawings of guests and the hosts.
If you’d like me to do this as your event, just ask! These photos of me drawing are by Brenda Eley.
Everything looks better on women, especially men’s hats!
Steve makes working props in the style of steam punk and deisel punk and sometimes atomic punk. His creations are fantastic, he shows them in his gallery, and they are all functional. Here he is with his fortune teller. 
For more info on his incredible invention/sculptures/performance art
look at his site.
One of the most delightful, talented bands I’ve seen in Oregon: Three For Silver. Some compare them to Tom Waits, I think they sound a bit like Dark Dark Dark and the Squirrel Nut Zippers! I do like to draw accordions. Andrew played clarinet at this show and played on their album. They said they were friends with another band I have drawn, the G String Orchestra.
Body Language is a modern disco/ electronic dance band from Hartford, Connecticut.
They rocked at Cozmic Pizza this week! Zow! Its fun to hear processed vocals in a live show! But where is the guitar!?
When I was teaching art at Mecca, Sometimes I’d start the day by showing students drawings I made over the weekend, to model to them that artists should practice every day. I don’t have any students to share with anymore. 😦 May I share them with you dear reader?
Every Year in February Eugene has an Asian Celebration with dancers, music, vendors and art! Here are some of the drawings I made this year. 
These are Belly Dancers who sometimes dance at MEDGE nights at Cozmic Pizza.
Here are some more of the dancers who shared their heritage and culture on the main stage.
A real highlight was this Koto music. She was joined by a Kalimba (or a Mbira?) and an accordion and piano
Here are a few more miscellaneous drawings, I didn’t finish coloring all of them. The Taiko drums are always exciting!
If Terry Gross were to ask me: what does this song mean?
Well Terry, I wrote this song so the album would have more jaunty, happy tracks. It’s a style of song I have noticed from artists as diverse as Beck and the Beatles, think of the nonsense list song, “I am the Walrus.” One could just call it a collection of nonsense words that happen to rhyme sometimes.
But the words I choose do have a meaning to me, when I visited New York City to try and “make it,” I saw many talented street performers playing in the Subway, most of whom were very well trained and showed remarkable skill. Some appeared homeless or addicted to heroin, one seemed to have been weeks since a bath, gaunt and ill and falling asleep while he was playing, but the music he was playing was gorgeous, and sounded like Bill Evans mixed with Rachmaninov, this was on a dinky Casio battery powered keyboard that didn’t even have touch sensitivity or a sustain pedal. I thought, wow, a real musician doesn’t need those things, and hey, this guy is better than some of the people that others pay big bucks to see.
We might judge those people, but I also have sometimes appeared so haggard, tired and dirty as to be perceived as homeless by others. So I was writing about what others might think of me, and when you look at anyone, even a homeless person, they are a mirror of what you could look like if you made some poor choices and had a series of unfortunate events and bad luck.
The “fountain of Greed,” lyric, is a statue of a man holding a moneybag in a New York city Subway station. I heard that people who are poor and wealthy both rub it or touch it as they go by, hoping for a little more wealth to come their way. It occurred to me that we might think ourselves above such superstitions in the West: kissing the blarney stone or visiting Mecca, but we do actually have our own physical rituals here such as throwing coins in the fountain.
Then the “hard part” in a minor key, is the perspective of the money makers, the corporate CEOs and their profit oriented goals. They aren’t sure who it was who said “the meek will inherit the earth,” but they intend to fleece everyone including the meek. I kind of cringe at the obviousness of my lyrics here, but its ok to be blunt sometimes. The phrase “domestic disturbance” has always tickled me as its a sort of oxymoron like “civil war.”
When I mention the brand name Tostitos. It’s a joke making fun of rappers who brag about specific brands of guns or champagne. I think its funny to brag about mundane things, or products that anyone can afford. Also, Panda Bear is a musician in the band “Animal Collective.” He doesn’t play the harmonium, as far as i know, but it sounds good. If you think something in the song means something to you, Great, it does then.
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 