Brainstorm and Maggie Mo

Back on August 10th I made a point of going to See Maggie Morris as she came on tour through Salem, stopping to play with Ghosties and Brainstorm. I've been a Maggie Mo fan for a couple years and I was really excited for a chance to see her live again. Sadly, the turnout was pretty poor that night. I know it was a Monday, but it was pretty disappointing to be one of only two people there who weren't playing in one of the bands or working behind the bar. Still, Maggie Morris rocked it, playing with a band behind her.



Brainstorm actually opened the show. They're a Salem band I hadn't heard to much about but I really liked there stuff. They're a two piece act, but they work in a number of instruments including keyboards and a tuba. It's experiemental, but they're doing some interesting stuff. Here's a taste:



I've got a Ghosties video from that night, too, but I feel like that's all I've been posting here lately, so just go to my YouTube profile if you want to see it.

High Scores and Records

Devin Gallagher is not a big fan of being on stage. This is a strange thing to hear from someone who has played with over twenty bands and as many as nine at once in Salem and Portland. He’s a member of three bands now: Typhoon, the Black Black Black and Ghosties. But he’s happier when he can play on the floor—in the crowd. The Black Black Black famously set up their amps on the floor and play with the audience right on top of them. Gallagher made a similar choice on his most recent performance at The Space with his solo act, Ghosties.

The Space is looking really good these days. They knocked out the wall that once divided the interior. Now it’s a much wider, more inviting and open space. The elevated stage is new as well, but Devin didn’t use it.

He had just taken Ghosties on the road with a quick tour up to Canada to participate in the Music Waste festival in Vancouver, BC. At times he plays with a full band. Many of his talented friends from other bands will back him up to give his songs that layered, complex sound you hear on his many albums and EPs. Unfortunately the Canadian border agents can be touchy about letting visitors across with a bunch of instruments and no work permit. Devin’s solution was to strip down his act to the bare essentials and travel with just a ukulele.

The mini-tour included stops in Portland and Olympia where Devin has many connections to the local music scenes. He’s from Salem, but he has lived in Olympia and currently resides in Portland. Everywhere he goes he makes connections with local artists.

This comes in handy in his role as co-owner of Boy Gorilla Records. Founded in 2005 with Tyler Ferrin, another Salem native, they quickly became darlings of the Portland indie music scene. Boy Gorilla has since put out 23 releases featuring bands from Salem, Portland, Seattle, Olympia and San Francisco. The name Boy Gorilla has come to represent a collective of talented musicians as much as anything else.

On this night Devin was alone. He set up a chair in the middle of the floor out in front of the stage. He didn’t bother with a mic or any amplification. It was Tuesday, not the venue’s busiest night, but the laid back crowd lent to the intimate atmosphere. The audience sat around the room in a ring and listened to him strum on the uke and sing.

It was an auspicious time for this performance. Devin is in the middle of launching a new record label, High Scores and Records. Boy Gorilla is not the nimble venture it once was and at a certain point Devin felt he needed the freedom to try out some new ideas. But there’s no bad blood there. He describes High Scores and Records and Boy Gorilla as “sister labels”.

One of those new innovations is the digi-store at highscoresandrecords.com. A big influence on Devin has always been the independent labels that emerged in the late 80s. They were able to create buzz with small runs of cassettes that could be produced inexpensively in house. “Because of this, I’ve always romanticized tapes. But tapes are no longer the cheapest and easiest means of releasing music.”

MP3s are that new format. Once a recording has been made the songs can be distributed effectively for free online. His new digi-store reflects this. The new digital LPs by Ghosties and Guidance Counselor are sold for only $3.00 each. If you buy either right now you also get a free single by Masters and Johnson. The release of a new Ghosties EP is also imminent, to be priced at $2.00. They have a pretty impressive list of bands lined up as well: Typhoon, Support Force, el comé homé, The Last Slice of Butter, The Black Black Black, Total Bros, and Brainstorm.

Devin Gallagher’s tireless devotion to music is self evident. He is himself a prolific songwriter, performer and is now the founder of multiple indie labels. He is also a big supporter of the Salem music scene, of which he himself is a product. When I asked him about Salem music his greatest praise goes first to the venue he plays so regularly. “I cannot say how much I love The Space and want everyone in Salem to realize how lucky they are to have it.” I could not agree more.

Devin will be back in Salem on August 7th, playing The Space again as part of the big Boy Gorilla west coast tour this summer. It was planned as a Maggie Morris/Ghosties tour originally, but so many Boy Gorilla artists will be part of the entourage that it’s hard to say what band you’ll see on each date. You can be sure Devin will be there singing, drumming, playing guitar or on his ukulele, but whether he’ll be up on a stage remains an open question.


NOTE: This was an example article I wrote for a potential new arts and culture magazine based in Salem. I don't know that it will ever be printed due to various stalls in the process, but Devin was nice enough to grant me and interview and I wanted to share what I've written.

Ranch-Records.com

I should have mentioned this earlier, but back in May I started work on a new website for the legendary local independent record store, Ranch Records. it can be found at http://www.ranch-records.com

The site is now live and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I am working on getting the staff to post regularly on the Blog. I know there are plenty of people around Salem who'd love to see David's recommendations each week. There will also be and online shop down the road at first for some of the more interesting and rare items, and perhaps more and more inventory as they have time to enter items.

So visit the site and be sure to subscribe to the feed. If you need a site for your small business I am available for hire. I've started a web design firm called Dirigible Web Design with my brother-in-law, Wes, and Ranch is but one of our growing list of clients.

Ghosties at the Space on a Ukulele

Headed down to the Space Tuesday night for the first time in a while. They've remodelled since I was last there, taking out the wall opening the space up considerably. I'm told they just started doing happy hour during the week between 7-9 with drinks half off. They've also put in an elevated stage, though as you'll see not everyone uses it.

Devin Gallagher, AKA: Ghosties, played a solo set on a ukulele. He was just back from a trip to Vancouver BC for a musif festival and I guess they are weird about letting musicians in to the coutry with a lot of instruments without a work permit so a uke was just the thing. It was a cool, intimate show. Devin set up a chair in the middle of the room and played without amplification. Of course, the lighting wasn't great which had an impact on my video, but not the music. The above is an original Ghosties song. He also played and Elec Morin cover I captured:

Ghosties has a new album dropping on Jun 19th. It will be on the new High Scores and Records label Devin is launching. One of the original forces behind Boy Gorilla, the new label is focusing on vinyl releases and digital downloads. The new album is called "hone o oru".

Mr. C and the Sprague High School Choir

Well, that may be puting it a bit dramatically, but I did take the chance to attend the final Sprague Choir concert of the year a couple weeks ago. Long time choir director, Russ Christensen, is leaving his position after much success and taking a job at OSU. As former students of Mr. C's and as big supporters of Sprague's choir program in general, my sisters and I made a point to attend the spring concert held at Willamette University at the end of May.

I had something of a rocky relationship with high school. I was only there for two year, leaving after tenth grade to get a GED after deciding I was wasting my time. Not the best choice I've ever made. It's one of the pitfalls of being a really smart teenager, often times no one will challenge your judgement even in cases where maybe they really should. At any rate, participating in Concert Choir was one of the highlights of my high school experience. Mr. C was a wonderful teacher and pushed us all to great heights. Sprague has one the Best in the Northwest festival held at the University of Portland every year since I was a sophomore. They contend year after year for first place in the OSAA state championship. Sprague's music program has also been honored by the Grammy awards for excellence in music education more then once in the last 12 years. I'm proud to have been a part of such an elite choir and I'm priveledged to have worked under Mr. C.

While I was at the concert I shot a few videos of the different groups performing. First is a song called "Mack the Knife" performed by Framework, Sprague's elite jazz choir.

Next is a couple videos of the barbershop quartet at Sprague. It's a tradition to have a quartet that started back when I was there, though the name of the group and the participants have rotated over the years. This years iteration was called Shave and a Haircut. I got two of their songs, "In the Jungle" and "Faith", a George Michael cover.

Finally, a number by the biggest and the best, Sprague's world famour Concert Choir. I'm afraid I don't know the name of the song off the top of my head. I had saved a program for reference but it has disappeared in the interveneing time. Still, a beautiful piece of chamber music.

My only disappointment was the lack of a cool Negro Spiritual to bring the house down. My favorites and the biggest crowd pleasers were always the spirituals arranged by Moses Hogan Sprague does on a regular basis. My sophomore year we did "The Battle of Jericho" and Moses Hogan was one of the judges at Best in the Northwest that spring. When our performance was over he came down and workshopped the song with us. It was a real thrill.

Still, we had a great time. At the end of the show my systers and I even went up on stage with all the other alumni to sing the "Old Irish Blessing" as is tradition at the Spring concert. I wish Mr. C good luck at the next level and hopefully Sprague has another great director lined up to continue the tradition of great music at the school.

I’m ashamed to admit this…

But I missed the Widgets reunion show featuring the Mopps. I’ve been having some really terrible back problems since November, but was hopeful upon my last update that the doctor’s appointment I had scheduled for December 22nd would lead to some relief enabling me to attend the show.

 

And then the ice storm came, preventing the doctor from making it to work. And my appointment was postponed until January 9th, this after waiting about 4 weeks for the first date!

 

I’ve been effectively housebound for almost two months and there was just no way I was going to be able to make it down to the Space the day after Christmas. That really, really sucked.  I hope it went well, though. The photos I’ve seen looked like it was a good time. I’m bummed I didn’t get to chat with Becki and Nick, though.

 

If anyone has any videos taken at the show please send them my way. I’d like a chance to at least live vicariously through your technology and to feature a song or two from the reunion here on the blog.

 

On another note, the medication I’m on now has been working a bit better, so I’m hopeful I’ll be able to at least make it down to Ranch Records sometime next week to spend the gift certificate I received for Christmas. Wish me luck!