Tomorrow morning in GO! Magazine, the music section will be dedicated to the best music of 2009, with a couple pages set aside for Top 5 lists from those closest to the scene — the musicians (plus the Tower Theatre’s production manager and a radio DJ.)
A few weeks ago, I sent out a call to everyone I know asking them for their fave five musical moments of the year, and I got back a lot more lists than I could fit in the paper. So click below The Dirtball’s list to read all those that didn’t make it in print, which range from funny to serious to insightful to self-promotional. And thanks to all the good folks to responded! I appreciate it.
The Dirtball
Bend-based rapper
1. Tech N9ne receiving an MTV Woodie Award
2. Brad Jones’ newly released CD “No Strings”
3. The new release from local bluegrass band Quincy Street, “Small Country Towns”
4. The formation of local metal group Kleverkill.
5. Big B’s new record on Suburban Noize Records, “American Underdog”
Allan Byer
folk singer, the Allan Byer Project
1. Having Keith Greeninger play and sing with me at the after-hours party Saturday at Angeline’s Bakery at this year’s Sisters Folk Festival after the power to stay was cut at 2 a.m. I had just returned from a gig in Corvallis that night and did not hit Sisters until 12:30 a.m. on my way home. Stopped for the heck of it and immediately found Keith at Angeline’s.2. Getting to know Leif James and playing harmonica with him at the same after-hours party at Angeline’s at the Sisters Folk Festival.
3. Getting to play three shows in one day (Saturday, Sept. 26) by playing at Eugene’s Saturday Market at 10 a.m., then playing at 3 p.m. a set with the Allan Byer Project at the Bend Oktoberfest, and wrapping up by playing a band set with the guys at Parrilla Grill that evening at 7 p.m. as part of the Bend Roots Revival.
4. Getting my first ever $100 bill in the tip jar at Chow Restaurant on Sunday, Sept. 13. May there be many more for all of us local musicians.
5. Getting my first ever $50 bill in the tip jar at Avery’s Wine Bar in Redmond on Friday Oct. 2.
Dori Donoho
DJ, Clear 101.7 FM
-Empty Space Orchestra … nuff said.
-World Class Rock on Clear 101 Seven
-Brandi Carlile rocking the Tower Theatre HARD!
-Homegrown Music Showcase celebrates 10 years at the Tower.
Jared Forqueran
drummer, Person People, Warm Gadget, Anastacia Beth Scott, Jukebot
-Person People’s fall tour and acquisition of our bad-ass tour van.
-In The Pocket Artists signing Person People.
-Winning a free video shoot with Anastacia from Far From Earth films.
-The completion and release of “heARTbeats” by Person People (which is available at Ranch Records) and the subsequent release concert at the Domino Room.
-The Underground going under. (HA!)
Sarah Homes
member, Five Pint Mary
1. Zappa Plays Zappa, Nov. 30 at the Tower Theatre. Wow! Absolutely stunning performance of Frank’s incredible compositions, by amazing son Dweezil and his uber-talented band. One of the best concerts I’ve ever seen in Bend!
2. The lovely “girl-singer” Lori Fletcher and her Deco Moon band. Lori rocks it. She is an underdog to the local jazz musicians, opening up her stage and mic to anyone interested in sharing their talents. And she is an awesome singer!
3. Moonalice at Silver Moon. What a treat it was to see G.E. Smith perform with his groovy, counter-culture, traveling road show. Great show. I half-expected John Belushi to come walking through the door. :)
4. Mobile 5 show at the Tower Theatre. Bend’s own jazz whiz-kid Torrey Newhart performed with a line-up of awesome young jazz artists from the U of O. Complete with Red Baron’s infamous “red chair” on the stage, in honor of his influence on Torrey and the other young jazz cats via the Be Bop Coffee House days. Loved it!
5. The Beatles Sing-Along and KPOV fundraiser. A great community effort, tons of fun, lots of good local acts.
Don Hoxie
founder, The Substitutes
1. Recording my yet-to-be-released CD “Can’t Get There From Here”
2. Queensryche “American Soldier” tour, backstage passes
3. Foreigner, “Can’t Slow Down”
4. Kiss, “Sonic Boom”
5. Hangar 52 live at Northside Pub
Gabe Johnson
guitarist, Jukebot and founder, In The Pocket Artists
1. New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, second weekend. 72 bands in four days. 15 hours of sleep.
2. Phish 3.0, Aug. 7-8 at The Gorge.
3. Head for the Hills at Silver Moon, Friday the 13th of November.
4. Rubblebucket, “Rubblebucket”
5. The Staxx Brothers, “We Are The Blaxstonz”
Drew Kelliher
High Desert Booking
1. Moon Mountain Ramblers “Let It All Be Good” CD-release party at the Tower Theatre!
2. Taarka at The Summit Saloon
3. Moon Mountain Music Festival, Elk Lake
4. Darol Anger and Scott Law, Old Stone Church.
6. Coyote Music Festival
7. Lyle Lovett at Les Schwab Amphitheater in a rain storm
Dale Largent
percussionist
-People Person’s new CD. Totally great record!
-Moon Mountain Ramblers’ “Let It All Be Good” CD-release concert at the Tower Theatre
-Moon Mountain Ramblers at the Coyote Music Festival, from 1:30 to 3:45 a.m. in a barn in the rain
-2009 Americana Songwriting Academy near Sisters, proving that anyone can learn to write great songs
-The “vibe” at the 2009 Bend Roots Revival. This community rocks!
MC Mystic
DJ, drummer, promoter, guru
1. DJing the Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker off-the-chizzains dance party at Silver Moon. That was truly an epic evening, much more than I imagined.
2. One particular Slipmat Science Party.
3. Knowing I’m the guy that once knew Matisyahu extremely well but now he won’t return my calls! What’s up with that?
4. “Hot Miami Nights” at Bendistillery Martini Bar
5. Mark Ransom, Parrilla Grill and the Victorian Cafe for hosting a three-day block party, the Bend Roots Revival.
Wayne Newcome
ringmaster, Problem Stick
1. Problem Stick and The Pink Snowflakes at Players.
2. Daniel Johnston at Wonder Ballroom in Portland. So glad he’s still alive.
3. Morgan P. Salvo’s Halloween show.
4. Problem Stick teaming up with The Dirty Words (more than once) as the most excellent and strange double-bill in town.
5. Seeing Jucifer live in Manhattan at The Cake Shop.
Mark Quon
singer-songwriter, The Quons
1. Jim Jam at Silver Moon Brewing. This first annual event was near and dear to my heart. Held in memory and spirit of our good friend Jim Witty, it was a true jam session. From novice to accomplished players, it captured what Jim loved about music. Play, sing your heart out, and don’t give a damn if it’s not perfect. Just sing for the sheer fun on it. Keep your eye out for the second annual Jim Jam in March 2010.2. David Jacobs-Strain at Silver Moon Brewing. I was caught off guard by Jacobs-Strain’s soulful voice and acoustic blues-style guitar playing. A great talent and an awful nice guy.
3. We Are Brontosaurus at Silver Moon Brewing. OK, so I like Silver Moon. WAB is a band of Summit High Schoolers who play well beyond their years. Think Foxy Shazam meets Cold War Kids. Catch them while you can. They’ll be off to college in a year!
4. Empty Space Orchestra at Bend Roots Revival. ESO is probably sick and tired of hearing about that “girl drummer” (Lindsey Elias), but man, have you seen that girl drummer!? She ROCKS. They all rock actually, and that dude (Editor’s note: Tyler Spencer) they called up with the giant didgeridoo (no jokes please) made the hair on the back of my neck dance.
5. Leif James and the Struggle at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. This evening had Shireen Amini on percussion/cajon and back-up vocals which married surprisingly well with Leif’s gravelly voice. Love the addition of Jackson’s trumpet and the throwback sound of Bouhey’s Hammond organ. Just a great composition of players.
Dillon Schneider
Executive director, Cascade Community School of Music
“I don’t have much to say. We’re really about producing music here at CCSM, as opposed to consuming it. The 3 Leg Torso concert at the Tower Nov. 21 was one of the most satisfying musical experiences I’ve had in a long time. Those guys are just wonderful musicians playing very intelligent original compositions.We had a house concert last winter with a Carnegie Hall performer, Mayron Tsong. She specializes in late 19th/early 20th century Russian composers like Rachmaninoff, and it was so exciting I just about jumped out of my chair. Classical music can be that thrilling, but it’s not often you get to experience it in a venue where it can come off that way. I was 5 feet from the grand piano.
Our school fielded 23 performances all over downtown the first Friday evening in June. We called it First Friday Crescendo, and it was a great celebration of community music making. There was everything from beginning guitar students to our classical harp (not harmonica) class to jazz singers to banjo players, and it was really cool.
A couple of weeks ago I went to a recital performed by the violin students of Diane Allen. My 4-year-old daughter is just getting started with Diane; she stood on stage and held her violin in playing position — that was her performance. The final performer that day, Diane’s most advanced student, is a kid named Michael Hodecker. He played the third movement of the Bruch Violin Concerto — it’s a very famous, very difficult piece — and he played it brilliantly. I’m a snob about how classical music is performed, and I was totally inspired by this 17-year-old kid.”
Joe Schulte
picker-about-town and founder, Moon Mountain Ramblers
1. My band’s CD-release party at the Tower Theater
2. Dropkick Murphys concert at Midtown Ballroom
3. Playing with the Bend All-Stars throwing together projects like Tone Red and Sudaki
4. Playing bass with Blue Heart, my band of promising young students
5. Watching Jay-rodd pound the drums at Players Bar with Warm Gadget, so hard.
6. Person People at WinterFest in the freezing cold with the snow park right behind us!
Anastacia Beth Scott
Sisters singer-songwriter
1. Finishing my first solo CD!
2. Playing with Mai for a standing room-only crowd at Sisters Folk Festival.
3. Playing and watching fellow musicians at Bend Roots Revival. This year was the best hands down! Every single act I caught was amazing!
4. Playing at Church of Neil. This was the best year!
5. Playing at the Tower Theater to benefit Ronald McDonald House and to celebrate Homegrown Music was killer! The place was packed and the audience was so supportive and all us musicians had a blast.I feel the music scene in Bend is incredible. A small Austin, Texas. The versatility of the music and the support between musicians and audiences is boundless. It has been an absolute joy to be a musician in Central Oregon.
Amsterdam
MC and half of Top Shelf
Top 5 Bend Artists to Check for in 2010
1. Reed Thomas Lawrence. From performing alongside big-time names at some of last year’s hottest shows to recently being featured on MySpace Music’s front page, RTL is Bend’s best hope for a mainstream splash in 2010. I’m pretty sure you can actually see the word “stardom” printed across his face if you look hard enough.
2. Top Shelf. Eh, you had to know this list wasn’t going down without my group on it. We gave our debut album “Love Rap” away online as a free download, which created a pretty good buzz and has eventually received thousands of downloads. An eye-opening performance at Portland’s POH-HOP festival alongside collaborations with legitimate rap heavy hitters Mistah Fab and Crooked I of Slaughterhouse have officially put Top Shelf on the map. And by “have officially” I of course mean “will hopefully soon.”
3. Brian Paul Bennett. Producer, singer, songwriter, you name it. In barely a year’s time living in Bend since transplanting from Sacramento, Calif., he’s managed to produce tracks for many of Bend’s finest including everyone on this list and more. Possessing a hit-maker mindset all his own, the other man with three first names might just blow 2010 out of the water.
4. Joanna Lee. Anyone who’s seen her perform knows the deal. She’s hot and owns the stage every time out. I have a feeling 2010 will be the year she finally releases the studio debut. I won’t even hold it against her that she was supposed to sing at my birthday party and bailed because she “forgot” her mic stand. Seriously, not even a little bitter.
5. Jay Tablet. You might know him from Cloaked Characters. Or you might have taken shots of Crater Lake with him. I happen to know him as one of my roommates, and his upcoming solo project “Put It On The Tab” is sure to impress.
And finally, an unedited list from Mosley Wotta, presented in his own unique style.
Mosley Wotta
MC, poet, artist
“autonomics , eso, mosley wotta, MIC fish, cloaked characters , oh and dirty words and shireen aminee oh and ruins of ooha thats my top five”
Tags: Best of 2009
Good Lists, but there is no top 5 in bend!! it’s all good! Ive watched musicians grow and fall and grow again, but 2010 Looks to be the year of years..REED is destroying it. ESO, person people, major potential and growing. As for me Im doing the music background for the NIK cartoon Marmaduke! Here’s to 2010 BEND….
CHEERS!!
Been slacking. I think I’ve heard 6 albums that came from 2009, but I enjoy this whole nerding out and listing thing I’m gonna pipe in with a top 5 anyway. (Gwar’s Lust In Space is the one that didn’t make the cut. I actually enjoy spinning their albums one in a while, but a huge meh to this one.)
5. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion; I’m late to the party on this one. Just got around to it, only listened to it a couple of times so far. Can’t really form a full opinion yet but it’s enough for me to know that at the very least I like it and it easily takes Gwar’s top 5 spot.
4. Son Volt – American Central Dust; good, not great. I kinda feel like Jay Farrar’s bordering on being unintentionally gimmicky with the whole Americana trip. Or maybe I just think The Gourds mine familiar alt-country territory but are better at it. Still this is a pretty good album, has its moments and is good enough to not sell.
3. The Gourds – Haymaker; not really anything to say, but I like this band. As much as Son Volt is considered the lead band in alt-country I like The Gourds a good bit more.
2. Wilco (The Album); I don’t know man, I do not know. I keep going back and forth on this one. I do believe that I finally made up my mind that I like this one quite a lot.
1. Napalm Death; Time Waits For No Slave; Dead Kennedy-esque political and social rabble-rousing lyrics shouted over a blend of punk, death metal and thrash with the occasional slightest of nods to a Godflesh style artsy industrial/noise influence. In other words, nothing too far outside of their formula. Anytime a band has been around for over 20 years and still sounds this good it’s impressive. When a band is named Napalm Death it’s not going to stray too far outside of a certain formula; that they’ve managed to stay within this formula and still find ways to make it sound fresh and vital and not sound like they’re repeating themselves makes them that much more impressive. Really, one of my favorite bands.
Also, albums I haven’t heard that I’m guessing should probably be on a year end list:
Dinosaur Jr. – Farm; Ben, until I liked at your list I had completely forgotten this came out. I’m a little bit stunned that I let a new Dinosaur Jr. album go by me. Very next one on the shopping list.
Souls of Mischief – Montezuma’s Revenge
Visqueen – Message to Garcia; female fronted pop punk without the tendencies that make me hate 99.9% of pop punk; after catching them as an opening band, King Me became one of my favorite albums of the 2000s. For some reason I can never remember to keep up with them. If they had found a better way of staying in the public eye, I think they’d be a good deal bigger.
Brian Paul Bennett is killing it. Probably one of the most talented artists on the west coast due to his versatility, creativity and out of the box approach.
where were you guys in august? Sunriver music festival produced world class concerts in sunriver AND bend, a childrens show, piano recitals, klezmer music experience, plus a kick butt pops show? Next august brings on even more great stuff that’s not hearing loss inducing……try the classics, you’ll like it !