Posted inMusic

Jamming Away the Cool: The unapologetic covers and improvisations of The Zen Tricksters

Whatcha looking at? Did Jerry just drop out of the clouds?In the hip circle of music critics to which I pretend to belong,
admitting that you like jam bands is akin to wearing Velcro shoes in
public or showing off the collection of G.I. Joes you keep beneath your
bed - it isn't going to give you too many cool points. I like indie
rock, indie folk, indie power pop, indie hip-hop (indie, while once an
abbreviation of "independent," now seems to mean "cool") and a good
deal of other genres and styles, but I've held fast to my fascination
with the noodles and genre mashing only found in the poorly labeled
"jam band" arena.
Jeff Mattson plays guitar and sings in The Zen
Tricksters, a New York-based quartet with heavy Grateful Dead
influences and affiliations, and he too likes jam bands - probably
because he plays in one (two, actually). While Zen Tricksters has been
Mattson's band for the past couple of decades, he, along with the rest
of his band, also meet up and tour with former Dead vocalist Donna Jean
Godchaux McKay to form Donna Jean and the Tricksters.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the week of 1/31 – 2/6

Stand up Comedy Night – Wednesday 2/6

Randy Liedtke hosts the fourth and final installment of this local laugh factory before he moves his funny ass down to Los Angeles - we knew he was too good to last. So show up and send Liedtke off in style as the redheaded funny man plays his weird little keyboard thing and tells jokes about dogs pretending to be cats. 8:30pm. $10. Summit Saloon and Stage, 125 NW Oregon Ave., 749-2440.

Posted inNews

Vinyl…it just sounds better: Digging through the bins of the vinyl world

In a corner of Brian Jones' bedroom there's a wooden trunk overflowing with LPs, many of which were recorded decades before the 22-year-old was even born. Iconic album covers, each 12 inches by 12 inches, cover one wall of the room. Jones is thumbing through his collection of more than 300 records (ranging from a comprehensive Beatles section to a wealth of semi-rare blues albums) in his Seattle apartment and is trying to tell me why these pieces of vinyl are so important to him.

"The presentation of the album is what got me excited. The visual
aspect of it - opening up the insert, holding it in your hand," Jones
says. "I think the process of actually shuffling through and pulling it
out and looking at the record, not just scrolling on a computer, is
what attracts me to vinyl."

Posted inNews

Unger vs. Daly: Redmond Mayor hops into the county commissioner race

Last week, Redmond Mayor Alan Unger announced that he will be running
for a spot on the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners. Unger, a
Democrat who has served as Redmond's mayor since 2001, will be seeking
the seat currently held by Republican Mike Daly.

Unger, a lifelong
resident of Oregon, was actually born in the city of which he is now
mayor. Before taking the city's top office, he served on the Redmond
Area Planning Commission and was then elected to the Redmond City
Council.

Posted inOpinion

Environmental Bigfoot Found in LA

Beckham after learning he just poked a hole in the Ozone.Which human being has the biggest carbon footprint in the world? According to British environmentalists, it's soccer star David Beckham.

As reported in the UK's Daily Star newspaper, Beckham - who now plays for the Los Angeles Galaxy - won the dubious distinction largely because of the tremendous amount of jet-setting he does around the world.
"The amount of flying David does means he holds the dubious crown of having the largest carbon footprint in human history," said a spokesman for the Carbon Trust. "In the last year he has traveled more than 250,000 air miles, a length which could have taken him to the far side of the moon and beyond."

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