Whew, it’s been quite a busy Summer, with the launch of www.experienceeugene.com, working out all the bugs, adding events, businesses, listing for artist and musicians, etc., and trying to market it as much as possible, all around my client work which is paying the bills right now. Oh, and trying to attend the events going on around Eugene also.
One of the events attended was, of course, The Eugene Celebration and it was excellent! I have never attended a 3-day event with such incredible bands playing for only 12 bucks for all 3 days! If you love music, you can’t beat that deal. I was especially impressed with Sonny Landreth, who played Friday night. His band is a power trio and he played some incredible slide guitar on a variety of Fender guitars. His combination of tapping, hammering and scales was over the top as far as slide guitarist go. Some of his instrumentals had an Eric Johnson sound to them which seemed appropriate, since Eric has appeared on some of his albums and they have practiced together often. I thought it was just a great show and certainly worth the price of admission alone. It turned out to be a very long night that night as I stopped at Sam Bonds for even more music.
The following day I was not able to spend as much time as I wanted, but did manage to see a few more bands. Zepparella was impressive. I was able to listen to much of the music on KLCC while I was working away on projects. I really wanted to see The Iguanas also, but was not able to make that. It’s always fun running into friends and acquaintances, trying out the food, (where was ToFurkey?) seeing all the artwork… a big “thank-you” to the people who work so hard to bring this to our town and gathering such a great line-up of music. If you’re not able to enjoy yourself at the Eugene Celebration…well, I’m not sure what to say about that.
Was not able to attend the Bonnie Raitt/Taj Mahal concert as I am on a budget and had to choose between them or Crosby, Stills and Nash. I chose the latter as they have always held a special place in my heart, which started a long time ago when I was in the seventh grade and first heard them in the back of my brothers ‘56 panel Chevy while he was driving us to school on a very snowy day in Grass Valley, Ca. It was quite an experience then and was last Friday as they put on a very entertaining and professional show for almost 3 hours. It seemed to be almost full capacity! It’s really good to see such a turnout, even during these tough economic times going on.
And now, there’s great Fall line-up of bands coming down the pipline! Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Eugene Symphony, Mason Jennings, Bob Dylan, The English Beat, Dweezil Zappa and so much more!
You can, of course, see the all the bands coming to Eugene on Experience Eugene!