The Apheliotropic Orchestra
Friday, October 19
Reed Opera House, 189 Liberty St. NE
9 p.m., free, all-ages
How’s this for a throwback? The Apheliotropic Orchestra will be playing a free show at the Reed Opera House’s Cyrus Reed Ballroom on Friday, October 19 with two Julian Snow-affiliated projects. The difference between this show and the 2004 incarnation is … this one’s free, and there’s a bar! The “orchestra” will be performing to promote its new extended play with The Murmuring Pines (which recently released the excellent soul-sludge-pop single “Viper”) and Snow’s 100-year-old death-ragtime pianist friend Hank C. Porche (whose appearance is eerily similar to Snow). If you are not available to catch the concert or can’t get enough of the orchestra, you can also check out its performance at Browns Town Lounge (189 Liberty St. NE) on Halloween.
In Search of Blind Joe Death: The Saga of John Fahey
Friday, October 19
Salem Cinema, 1127 Broadway St. NE
6 and 8:45 p.m., $12, all-ages
I know, I know. This event is a movie screening, not a live performance. Well, it technically qualifies because local musician Tim Knight will be playing live. However, the film is relevant in its own right, since it IS a documentary about one of the most influential musicians to ever call Salem home. The James Cullingham-directed movie includes interviews with The Who’s Pete Townshend, Chris Funk of The Decemberists and Joey Burns of Calexico about the guitarist and composer. The event also includes a Q&A with Cullingham and producer Doug Whyte. Sort of related: when Townshend was introduced during a recent appearance on The Daily Show, the house band performed a riff from Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” Why is no one talking about this? It rocked my world. Which way is up?
Garage Band Blues
Saturday, October 20
Mac’s Place, 201 N. Water St.
Silverton
9 p.m., free, 21+
With its roots in the small towns circling the capital city, Garage Band Blues has become the quintessential weekend-warrior, go-to-house-band of the mid-valley. The band pops up on rock club calendars, small-town show posters and private party invitations. It has an eclectic set, with covers and original material spread out over blues, country, classic rock and rockabilly and nods to Kenny Wayne Shephard, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jason Aldean, Albert King, and Jonny Lang. The combo – which has been playing since 2009 – features singer Nick Wixom, guitarists Brandon Logan and Aaron Parsons, bassist Mike Link and drummer Brian Wixom. If you can’t make this show, I’m sure they’ll be at a club, wedding, Quinceanera or Bar Mitzvah near you soon.
Shuffleboil with Ty Curtis
Saturday, October 20
Venti’s Taphouse, 2840
Commercial St. SE
9 p.m., free, 21+
McTuff vet Joe Doria and Zony Mash player Wayne Horvitz have teamed up with drummer Bobby Previte and guitarist Tim Young to form the Fender-Rhods and-Hammond-Organ-powered progressive blues band “Shuffleboil”. The Monk-composition-named band’s music is relentlessly progressive and mathematical, but also funky and psychedelic with a whole lotta swagger. The result is epic jams that knock the mind into the far reaches of a 1970’s version of space and the butt into an uncontrollable groove. The night will also feature special guest and local guitar virtuoso Ty Curtis, who has been hitting the local scene hard lately with a new solo album in tow.
The Love Loungers
and Electric Valley Band
Friday, October 26
The Lounge (Gilgamesh), 210 Liberty St. NE
9 p.m., $5, 21+
You may know them as the act that was featured as “the secret band” at this year’s Great Idea at Enchanted Forest, but The Love Loungers have been making waves all over the Northwest lately with their eight-musician-powered live hip-hop. They’re a snappy-dance extravaganza, a groove explosion, an intricately choreographed funky-fresh firework display complete with suggestive front-man winking and sharply-dressed getups (I prefer the latter description). This eight-wheeled groove train will team up with Salem’s DIY doo-wop soul collective “Electric Valley Band,” which includes many familiar to the Salem scene: Mitch Duafa, Audrey Killoran, Aldo Arevalo, Jake Zeigler, Jaime Marie & Brad Hogle.
Brownish Black Trio
Friday, October 26
Boon’s Treasury, 888 Liberty St. NE
9 p.m., free, 21+
Portland’s Brownish Black combines different eras of the Detroit scene, with Motown, soul, R&B and garage-rock revival all finding room in the combo’s back pocket. However, Brownish Black separates itself from the run-of-the-mill Motown or garage-rock revivalist with its grit and honesty. It doesn’t have the feel of a music nerd retreading some dusty vinyl he discovered the year before. The music is loose, fun, raw and unabashed with all of the tones and energy that made Brownish Black’s forefathers successful in their time. Though its Boon’s performance is merely a trio version of the band, I wouldn’t expect the concert to be any less fun.
InAeona, Rollie Fingers, Beard of Bees
Sunday, October 28
The Triangle, 3215 Liberty Rd. S
9 p.m., free, 21+
Boston-based rock act InAeona will visit The Triangle with one-man drummin’ band Rollie Fingers and Nick Pfaff’s and Russell Brown’s hard-rockin’ “Beard of Bees”. Though InAeona boasts three members, its music is amazingly huge and loud, featuring the DIY song-crafting elements often associated with the underground all-ages scenes of late-90’s hardcore and screamo with the big production styles of modern radio-friendly apocalyptic space rock. Rollie Fingers (not the iconic mustachioed baseball player), on the other hand, is sludgy and heavy stoner metal. However, the two bands have something incommon: they both sound much larger than their membership count would suggest.
