Mark Hosler of Negativland came by Cowfish to play us an extended droning synth composition. Many of his pedals weren’t labeled, they must be customized. There were no samples with English words in this piece, and the music never stopped. I’d like to go to more experimental shows like this.
We had many performances from local entertainers who volunteered their time to support two local establishments that help make Eugene special: Tsunami Books for Network Charter School.
Eccentric clown John Roy read us some ee cummings and played some silly music.
Mary Leighton and Maya Rabasa are running for school board and told us some words to convince us their a good fit for the position.
Revka told us hilarious stories of awkward situations and called out their parents for helping make them so weird.
Jon Deline did magic, sang us a song and juggled! what a triple threat.
Student band “Feeble” played for us songs they have been practicing at school with their instructor Mara.
Ari and her Banjo is always a delight, such fast fingers.
Local Poet and rabble rouser Jorah Lefleur
Owzzla the OK and Stellar the Shaky are creative wacky clowns.
Nicole danced for us, she teaches belly dance, dances at MEDGE events and is often in Trek Theater Productions.
I think Gabby Jesus is one of our funniest and most unique local voices. She told us about her problems dating.
The beautiful and exotic Souzana danced for us with her wings and her finger cymbals
My next squiggly show will be may 27 at Vanilla Jills. There again we will have Owzzla the OK, Invincible Vince and Cienna Jade and special guests Eden Powell and Mike McGowan.
High Step society is going on tour and they released a new album! They always bring the funk and pack the house when they play here in Eugene. They are playing San Francisco and LA and many other places. Here are two drawings I made of this fun, energetic electro swing band. This picture is from a Rebecca Connor “Solo” show she played at Sam Bonds.
this was one i sketched at old nicks. 
I drew them over a year ago here.
This Eugene band plays charming folk rock with real touching lyrics about yoga, community, friendship and compassion! Some songs were just Osprey and their drum, others were a full band with guitar bass and keys. They aren’t sure about their name yet, so it might change. You can hear some of the songs here.
This delightful show, sponsored by Eugene Musicians Against Sexual Violence had psychedelic oil and water and ink and paint projections on the wall throughout the whole show provided by Mad Alchemy. To make these drawings, I inked, then penciled, then worked in images of oil and water shows in the background.
I also added some gentle layers of lime and onion prints from my work at Mecca. ( This was fun, notice the “shivasshivasshivas” written in the background. Then I took a layer and made it super dark, put that over the regular layer, then erased circle shaped holes around their heads. If I had been less than confidant with my drawing, I sure could distract from messy details (such as sloppy hands) with some of this psychedelic mess, huh?
The Shivas play classic surfy rock and roll. Some tracks sound like the Kinks, others like the Doors or the Velvets, they all sound catchy and awesome. There are so many classic tracks. I love to listen to them while I drive, and I sing them in my head all the time. “You know what to do,” “you make we wanna die,” “Thrill yr Idols,” “baby I need you,” and many catchy more songs.
My favorite is probably “big mama casio.” (the swirl of the bands name looks pretty cool with the swirl of the oil and ink behind it! You might have to look hard to see the onion prints!
Here is this illustration in a more traditional style. I had a fun time with detail in the shirts.
EGOTONES play fierce, tried and true surf rock with the occasional wurlitzer keyboard riff and funny samples from old movies much like Man… or Astroman? I will definitely be checking them out more. The above drawing is superimposed over an oil and watercolor photograph. This next one I started filling it in with marker.
Now here is the final piece with shading and full colors.
There were other great bands too! I really enjoyed “the blimp” (riffs reminded me of Zappa) but I wasn’t able to draw them. Psycho Magic is a great band too!
Paleons play huge thundering spacey post rock! Shimmering, shattering, convalescing, coalescing, brobdignian riffs! They have an analog synth player! I often can’t hear what he’s doing under the volume of the cymbals and the huge guitar amps but… the gear is cool.
What a delight to catch Bettreena Jaeger’s band: they released recordings as “Betty and the Boy” but the other night at Old Nick’s it was Betty and the Babes.
Her voice sometimes could remind someone of Joanna Newsome and Beth Gibbons. There are beautiful arrangements of the strings played by Michelle and Nanci. Wearing costumes as ghouls made it especially fun for me to draw. I was entranced by the music and delighted by the “Nightmare Before Christmas” cover, “Sally’s Song.” Cool Inks, and fun to use grey as a color.
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As a fun bonus, I was playing with an app that lets me make kaleidoscopes out of my drawings 🙂
I was invited to a private party where bands played inside a living room. These bands are so delightful. Era Coda plays accessible mathy rock. Its delightful.
Jor-Dan plays electro rock. It’s huge and loud and sounds shimmering!
Saffron plays heavy grungy rock. It’s catchy, but has a sharp edge.
Ghost Tour plays pop with keyboards and sometimes horns. some songs are sung by Olive and some are sung by Andy.
PAncho and the Factory are a fun, Eugene based, party band at hifi lounge! They have a real B-52s meets Rocky Horror Picture Show vibe, with makeup and decorations and sexy songs! Check them out here!
Highly recommended!
Their opener was doom country Velvet Underground-esque Laura Palmer’s Death Parade. There are many bands in Austin, Texas that sound like this, including Cold Dead Space, and Ringo Death Star.
I spelled her name wrong. Oops! Always look at the flyer! I also performed comedy reading my comics, and we had burlesque and circus performances by Josephine DeLove, Invincible Vince, and Jon Deline. Thanks Hi-Fi Lounge for a fantastic show, let’s do it again sometime!
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 