Some drawings I made of the always wonderful Mood Are 52… and the band they opened for “GEO 4” a new jazz group that leans towards tango, funk, gypsy and (in my opinion) loungy surf rock like “the Aquavelvets.”
Isaac and the Awkward Situations
Comics, Vaudeville, Art Education, and Music
Tag Archives: eugene
Explode-a-Tron
The wacky heavy speed metal Explode-a-Tron blasted the pants off of the Black Forest in Downtown Eugene last night. Giving new meaning to the term “over the top.” Refusing to shed their adult diapers, despite audience requests, Jeffreytron calmly said, “sorry, my body, my choice,” before bursting into a lighting fast song. Jeremytron frenetically pounded on the skins and his double bass work was ins
ane.
MOOD AREA 52, ELEVEN EYES
Mood Area 52, delightfully quirky, tango, jazz, country and experimental, real kitchen sink music.
This fun band reminded me of Paper Scissors… their keyboard player played funky clavs, wurlitzer and B3 sounds… They played “National Anthem” from Radiohead. A very impressive cover of “Sail” by Awolnation. I think that is an excellent song that is not excellent when performed by the original artist. They also played some original funky reggae. Their singer was so beautiful. A joy to listen to and a delight to draw. Great band. Eleven Eyes. Their website is not up to date. there are photos of people not in the band, no photos of Emily, and it says there is a turntable player (there wasn’t tonight) but oh well, websites can be hard to keep up to date. Their music is fast, funky, horny and fun. Reminds me of Ulu and Brazilian Girls. They had a guest “Uncle Nancy.” Who I saw years ago play with his band “The Family Jewels” in Oakland.
Here is a video!
I didn’t take it, but it shows a smidgeon of how awesome they are!
Eugene and Portland Comedians
I have been attending open mics and comedy showcases here in Eugene. I went to the Bar of the Gods open mic a few times, hosted by Xander and Jen Tam.
events here in Eugene have been hosted by Seth Milstein, Mike McGowan, Leigh Anne Jasheway and Nick Hough. Its a fun scene. I’m glad to be a part of it, its kind of a drag to hear everyone do the same material every week, but that will happen in any scene. I hope we can play, improvise, be willing to flop sometimes and do some creative things with the scene. I’ll challenge my fellow comics in some way, and report on the results. Stay tuned for more on this issue. I have some drawings I have made of comics in the scene. Yes, I drew Gina Ginsberg three times. She said “hey, why did you draw Mia all sexy and not me.” I just draw what I see. I think Gina is beautiful, but in drawing her, I capture the “essence” that I see in front of me, and she judges those drawings to not be sexy.
I would say to the comics in my town: lets not be afraid to fail! There is no risk on stage, we have complete freedom, so lets flop and bomb sometimes. Please do new material, and even go up and don’t do anything you have planned- that will make us better. That will make it fun for us, so we can hear new material, so we can laugh at each other (because face it, most of the audience is… us) . We are free, so lets USE our freedom, instead of doing our same 7 or 5 minutes every time with small insignificant variations.
The Moody Blues.
Here are a couple of my sketches of The Moody Blues show.
The Moody Blues in 2013 at the Holt Center in Eugene, Or.
They played 30 amazing songs. Their light show was fun, I was impressed. It was cool that they had a live flutist. Having no live string players was a little bit disappointing. The sound was amazing, never too loud. People might complain about bands that tour with only a few of the original members, but I think this band still had the original members that mattered, Justin? The main guy, his voice is definitely the one on all my favorite songs, and the drummer told jokes and had a thicker accent like Ringo kinda, and he did two of his odd Poem- songs/intros… The space was really nice, its called the Holt center, its gorgeous inside, and everywhere was a good view. (They couldn’t quite sing the parts that were supposed to be really high for really long though) the drummer said he;s 72!
They played Isn’t life strange? Tuesday Afternoon (of course), Question, Ride my see saw, the story in your eyes, the voice, your wildest dreams, blue world, You and me. say it with love” And many more.
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When I was 10 my family had only a few cds. Those got listened to over and over and over again. I even slept with the boombox next to my head and the music at the lowest possible level. I think I remember my mother telling me I wasn’t allowed to sing as I went to sleep. Sgt. Peppers was one of them, Bela Fleck: Fight of the Cosmic Hippo was another, and on the Threshold of a Dream was among the first 10 cds… also Apollo 13 by They Might Be Giants. Rubber Soul… So Moody Blues are a part of my eternal brain waves. They permanently were infused into my creative thought processing, and thats what I learned was “good” music.
The Cherry Poppin Daddies
Fancy shmancy swingin sleaze, delivered with so much charm and swagger. The horn section was so tight. the dance moves, hat juggling tricks and stage banter was all so much fun. I listened to these guys back when I was 19. I think they have new members now. They had a young Japanese guitarist. A fan told me that their bass player had been there from the beginning. I didn’t have my art stuff with me, so I just sketched them in pencil on some flyers that were on a table. Their fans are loyal. They were fantastic.
Mood Area 52
Mood Area 52 is a Eugene based band that experiment with many different genres. They play indie pop sure, but they also play some Tom Waits like dirges, Tangos, traditional Russian Music and just for good measure a spot on Country song or two. I thought they were wonderful.
They are playing many shows in October including Halloween and All Hallows Eve eve (oct 30, 31) at Portland’s Mission Theater with their live soundtracks to F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu and Buster Keaton’s The Boat. I can hardly wait!
check out their full schedule here
http://www.rocketboyarts.com/shows/
I apologize to Amy for not getting her face right, but wow, i sure did a great job on that hand (Billy’s, directly above).
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 