8 Days a Week

Thursday, February 12

TEDx Disruption
LaSells Stewart Center, 875 SW 26th St. 6 p.m. $20 ($15 for students)
This mini TED conference is a locally organized offshoot of the public speaking idea incubation behemoth that has become synonymous with next-gen thinking for almost a whole gen already. On the speaking schedule for this exhilarating event are Emily Calandrelli of FOX Xploration Outer Space, David Edelstein from the Grameen Foundation, Hanson Hosein with HRH Media Group, Project Runway winner Michelle Lesniak, and OSU student and first Helen P. Rumble Research Scholar Matthew Kaiser.

Comedy Nite
Bombs Away Café, 2527 NW Monroe Ave. 9 p.m. Free
Former Corvallisite and up-and-coming Oregon comedy act Jeff Oliver hosts a stand-up comedy night at Bombs. The show will feature Joann Schinderle, Paul Jay, and Steven Wilber and promises to be a night of big laughs. If you are a heckler, I recommend getting incredibly drunk first. I find that it feels like you win every time if you’re drunk.

Friday, February 13

Funkle Ted
Bombs Away Café, 2527 NW Monroe Ave. 9 p.m. $5
These guys are from Albany, but don’t hold that against them… I don’t even know if that’s a funny joke. Do we even have a rivalry with Albany? You people mystify me. Aaaaanyway… Funkle Ted is a pretty solid alternative prog-pop outfit and they even reminded me a bit at times of Archers of Loaf. I’m not sure if either band would dig the comparison, but I see it. Go see them at Bombs.

The Low Down
Cloud & Kelly’s Public House, 126 SW 1st St. 10 p.m. Free
I wish I still had this in me. I just can’t show up for live electronic dance music. Doesn’t mean it’s not totally good and worth your time, just conceding that I’m old and busted. DJs Modesik and Sayhiro will bump downtempo, funk, and house at this free dance party that the me of 10 years ago would be totally down for. This goes down every second, third, and fourth Friday of the month. Obviously, first Fridays are reserved for pagan rituals and a sexy indoor LARP.

Saturday, February 14

Goldfoot and Brothers Bror
Bombs Away Café, 2527 NW Monroe Ave. 9 p.m. $5
Goldfoot is a rump-shaking soul funk electronic rock outfit from Portland. They sort of sound like Chromeo meets Maroon 5, and for once I don’t mean that comparison derisively. Brothers Bror have a more soul-infused blues and folk sound which is really polished. This is a definite candidate for best show of the week right here. If I can get the battery replaced in my mobility scooter, I will be there.

Valentine’s Day with John Shipe
Calapooia Brewing Company, 140 NE Hill St. 8 p.m. Free
John Shipe looks like the one really obnoxious guy from That Seventies Show. And Valentine’s Day, like love, is for suckers. That said, you could do a lot worse than the smooth sounds of this witty and romantic act at a fun bar like Calapooia’s. Shipe is a really talented and un-douchey singer-songwriter, which says a great deal about him considering the singer-songwriter scene. If you’re gonna do something that’s both fun and covers V-Day requirements, this is it. It’s just… I hated That Seventies Show, and Valentine’s Day is for suckers.

Sunday, February 15

Musical Cameos
Episcopal Church of the Good Samaritan, 333 NW 35th St. 2 p.m. Free
This is a cool set of mini concerts from smaller offshoots of the stellar Corvallis Community Band. I love these guys, so this is a no-brainer. Free songs of folk, ragtime, classical, and contemporary by Flute Cocktail (flutes), Sax Trax (saxophones), Spiritoso Wind quintet (winds and piano), Hornocopia (horns), and a clarinet trio. Don’t squander a great opportunity to hear some standards and maybe some surprises by a fun group.

Blues Jam!
Calapooia Brewing Company, 140 NE Hill St. 4 to 6 p.m. Free
Something about this musical free-for-all makes me want to go all 80s bar bad guy. Like one of the dudes Patrick Swayze destroyed in Roadhouse. If I were incredibly annoying and talked like a jackass, I’d say something like, “Hit up ‘Pooia for some blues jams, brews, and gams!” And then I’d get round-housed in the face. But of course, I’m not incredibly annoying and I don’t talk like a jackass… Sorry, I lost my train of thought. Oh yeah, Blues Jam, Calapooia, good times…

Monday, February 16

Traditional West African Dance Classes
Oddfellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St.7:15 p.m.
To do West African dance right, you’re going to want to have a great live band providing pulsing rhythms. Fefafe to the rescue. Now that that’s covered, you’re going to want to get some rhythm yourself. And don’t move your lips when you’re counting along with the beat. And don’t wear sandals, because honestly, nobody wants to see your feet.

Bryson Skaar
Imagine Coffee, 5460 SW Philomath Blvd. 7:30 p.m. Free
“Are you going to Skaar-bro’s fair?” is what I imagine a hackier writer than myself would write while desperately stretching to make some wordplay land. If it were up to me, I’d probably do something more like, “Buy some Skaar live.” Yeah I hate myself, too. But don’t let that reflect poorly on Corvallis’ hardest working jazz pianist. Show him some love in proportion to your hate for me.

Tuesday, February 17

Community Movie Night
Darkside Cinema, 215 SW 4th St.7 p.m. Free
Just in time to be three days late for Valentine’s Day, Ygal’s got Cyrano De Bergerac (1950), starring Jose Ferrer in his legendary Oscar-winning role as the greatest adventurer/lover/witticist of them all. This movie is free and a great way for people who had to work on Saturday to make up for it with a late romantic Valentine’s date. And then, instead of spending like $100 on a stuffed bear that plays Jesse McCartney songs when you squeeze it, you can just put a fraction of that in the donation box and tell your date it’s for them. You just want to give back to the arts community… ‘cause you’ve got such a big heart.

Space Neighbors
Sky High Brewing, 160 NW Jackson Ave. 8 p.m. Free
Celebrate Fat Tuesday in relative style with Corvallis stalwarts Space Neighbors live at Sky High. These guys are terrific, and they will be featuring special guests Melanie Reid on the mic and Brian Meyers on sax. There’s surely going to be beads at this show, so I’ll probably go; I feel safe around plastic necklaces because my adoptive mother won me in a Mardi Gras raffle. I mean, I like beer. Moving on…

Wednesday, February 18

Wednesday Acoustic Live!
Les Caves, 308 SW 3rd St. 8 p.m. Free
Les Caves really knows how to pair a beer or wine with a delicious plate of food. Which is good, because I have no idea, and I always end up with something good when I go there. Wednesdaynights they’re good enough to pair it with some fine live music. No way to go wrong here.

Nate Wagner
Bombs Away Café, 2527 NW Monroe Ave. 7:30 p.m. Free
I’m not going to sit here and lecture you about coming out to see local music and how important it is to the local art scene and how we owe it to each other to show up for these shows. I’m just going to say, Nate Wagner is a person, and I can find no trace of him or his music on the Internet, which is weird. So here’s my theory: Nate will be awesome, and is well worth free admission, but don’t make too big a deal about it because he’s in a witness protection program and we don’t want to get him killed.

Thursday, February 19

Curtis Monette and Twisted Snout Brewery Tasting
Bombs Away Café, 2527 NW Monroe Ave. 6 p.m. Free
“Curtis Monette got more loops than a toucan!” is what I heard a sassy teen fan of his saying one time… in my head. But seriously, Monette is a big deal in the local scene for a reason. His live show with a liberal dollop of looping and jamming is great, and Twisted Snout brews a mean…brew. Crap. That sassy teen is the best writer here…

Rough Jazz
Calapooia Brewing Company, 140 NE Hill St. 7 p.m. Free
If you’re anything like me, you like your jazz like you like your cats’ tongues. Rough. I want my jazz to get so rough we need to agree on a safe word. So I think you’ll know what I mean when I say Rough Jazz at Calapooia will sate your thirst for the hard stuff. Okay, that was all a false buildup. These guys are pretty smooth. And great.