Music

A long way from alice’s restaurant.Legendary folk hero and activist Arlo Guthrie is coming to town to play a benefit for KPOV (106.7 FM), and we wanted just a bit of his time, say ten minutes or so to catch up with him - and he gave us almost half an hour, and probably would have stayed on the line for half the day if we asked kindly. Here's a look at what he had to say about his music, the music of others, and everything else in between.
Looks like you're on the road for a while now?
Jeez, it's going into next year and beyond, so it's getting a little nuts. Where are you calling me from again?
Bend, Oregon.
Oh, Bend. We're looking forward to getting up there.

A rare shot of the Buckethead species (kentuckyfriedus bucketenius) in its natural environment.

There are really only a few things we know for sure about Buckethead. One: he wears a bucket on his head. Two: he doesn’t do interviews and if he does he provides largely nonsensical answers by way of a demented hand puppet. Three: He can play the shit out of a guitar. Buckethead is also the man behind the song “Jordan” which is largely considered one of the most difficult tracks to play on “Guitar Hero.” In addition to his new fame within the ever-expanding “Guitar Hero” stratosphere, Buckethead has long been respected by fans of metal as well as funk, and many styles in between. He’s a true student of the axe and also wields a pretty mean pair of nun chucks – but more on that later.

The real life men of the Greyboy allstars.The Muppets have always creeped me out. But if you turn the Greyboy
Allstars, the rejuvenated San Diego funky, jazzy boogaloo band, into
fuzzy puppets, then I can cope, as long as they bring the funk.

The
band's video for their James Brown-flavored track "Still Waiting"
features the Greyboys onstage in a juke joint, each member somewhat
accurately depicted in Muppet form. Without a live actor in sight, the
Muppeted men of GBA rip through the funk-laden track with the
representation of saxophonist/vocalist Karl Denson leading the way as a
dancefloor of fellow fuzzy figures dance their fake little asses off.

The many faces of A.P.O.S.T.L.E.Hip-hop artist, educator and social activist A.P.O.S.T.L.E's first live performance was a reading of "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He was in the second grade.

"I instinctively put rhythm to it in order to better memorize it," he said of the reading. "I started writing my own poetry a few years later."

Now, some 25 years after his first "live performance," A.P.O.S.T.L.E (real name Jeff Campbell) has become a widely celebrated member of the hip-hop community and beyond. He's done most of his touring with his former band Heavyweight Dub Champion, although he's currently on the road with the heavily hyped DJ Quest.

That’s the sort of excitement that gets you through a summer in the wild.Just as he's done every spring for nearly two decades Greg Bryce will
soon pack up and leave Bend for the remote wilderness of Alaska. With
him will go blackflowersblacksun, the blues project that he's
cultivated into a local favorite during his past couple of winters
gigging around town. It will be November by the time Bryce brings his
National guitar back to Bend, but it's likely his reputation for
down-home blues (as well as his drummer, C.J. Davis) will still be
waiting for him.

Bryce, who looks and speaks somewhat like a slightly
weather-worn Luke Wilson, spends his summers working as a wilderness
firefighter in the remote village of Galena, Alaska. And by remote, he
means honest-to-God in the middle of BFE. Bryce tells me that Galena
isn't accessible by road and that the only way to reach the town is a
200-mile trip by air, or a 400-plus mile boat ride along the Yukon
River. While he does bring his guitar in tow, there aren't any
opportunities for Bryce to bring blackflowersblacksun onstage. He does,
however, find some inspiration out in the wild.

The more strings attached the better when you're talking about Celtic Fiddle Festival.Holy crap, it's March. That means that yet again, it's almost St.
Patrick's Day. And that also means that it's quite apt to talk about
Irish-influenced music. But before all you snot-nosed Flogging Molly
and Dropkick Murphy punks get your suspenders in a twist of
anticipation, let's make clear that the following is entirely about
traditional Celtic folk music, which can still be cool.

And it's
especially cool if the folk music is provided by the Celtic Fiddle
Festival - which to the less fiddle-familiar individuals out there is
not actually a festival, it's a band comprised of some of the world's
finest four-string bowers. The group isn't entirely Irish, as one might
expect, but actually features a player from Quebec as well as one from
a Celtic region of France. To add to the geographical and
nomenclature-related confusion we've likely created thus far, Kevin
Burke, the fiddle pioneer known as one of the best living players still
touring, actually lives in Portland. So, in short, Celtic Fiddle
Festival plays Irish-inspired music, without really residing in or near
Ireland.

A setlist from any of The Essentials recent live performances explains what the band is all about: legendary music.

Covering the likes of Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding and Prince, while also tossing in some originals, The Essentials should produce a horn-heavy, soulful show at The Annex on Saturday night. The Essentials are a 10-piece mixing bowl of talented musicians that infuses tight percussions, saxophones, keyboards, bass, guitars, trumpets, trombones and soothing vocals to form a throwback sound with a modern feel.

Just a few of the many Lafa Taylor fans pack the legendary budokan Arena in tokyo. Watch out Cheap Trick…Lafa Taylor is big in Japan. He's seriously really big - the guy is 6
feet 5 inches tall, and when he had an afro, he was even bigger, making
him tower over the average Japanese citizen.

But in terms of musical
popularity, Taylor is also huge in Japan. The Eugene-reared-but-now-living-in-Portland-as-of-last-week hip-hopper
traveled to Japan a few years ago and was embraced by a duo called Def
Tech known for their Jawaiian (if you guessed that this is a
combination of Japanese and Hawaiian styles, you're right) reggae
vibes. Before Taylor knew it he'd become, well, kind of famous.