Sound Stories & Interviews

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.

Izabella rock the Old Stone to brighten up your February.With the peppering of warm days we've had in the past few weeks, sometimes it's hard to believe that July is still another four long months away. That means that above-freezing nights, gin and tonics, and most importantly, shaking a little daisy-duke-covered-ass at an outdoor music venue is still a ways off. But Friday night at the Old Stone Church is probably going to feel like summer - and that's not going to help you get over your sun-starved blues, but it will be a taster of a promising summer music season.

Although the bigger, sweeter second annual 4 Peaks Music Festival is slated for July, the festival organizers are giving a sample of the sunny fest on Friday by bringing San Francisco world jammers Izabella to the Old Stone Church. The familiar faces of Southern Oregon's State of Jefferson are slated to open. If the 4 Peaks crew’s show with Poor Man's Whiskey at the Old Stone a few weeks ago was any indicator, Friday should have the warm vibe of the summer fest…but this show will be in February…and indoors.

This is how a Ladysmith Black Mambazo song should make you feel.To many, the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo is synonymous with Paul
Simon, the mega-star who collaborated with the South African a cappella
group on his landmark 1986 record Graceland. What most don't know is
that the eight-piece mini choir had been in existence for more than 20
years by the time Simon tapped their talents in the mid-1980s. Now,
another 20 plus years has passed since Mambazo shared a Rolling Stone
cover shot with Simon, but the group is still very much alive, and
still trekking around the world, reaching into the souls of its global
audience.

"Our aim from the beginning with our music is about
uplifting our spirits and the spirits of the people. From the time we
formed the group we wanted to encourage people to stay strong and stay
positive and that someday things are going to be better," says,
longtime Mambazo member Albert Mazibuko, while gazing out his hotel
room window at a freshly snow-blanketed Flagstaff, Ariz. during a
late-February tour stop.

With three appearances in Bend within the last year, Hot Buttered Rum
is in danger of being mistakenly added to our roster of bluegrass bands
- and we wouldn't complain if they did join our team. The San Francisco
acoustic-that-sounds-electric band is teaming with fellow Bay-Area
roots musicians The Waybacks for a co-headlining tour. Since our
municipality has showed respect for both acts, it makes sense that the
tour is making a stop at the Domino Room.