THE TOURS

From the beginning, two distinct streams of music have been evident in the city. The first, the tours, have kept the city anchored within the national mainstream. An easy week night stop for bands on the San Francisco � Portland route. Billy Holiday, Duke Ellington, the Doors, Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, and the Dead Kennedys were among those who came. If you were present at any such events, which have become infrequent over the years as costs of booking nationally known performers has risen, we need a record of it.

THE FRAGMENTING OF LOCAL TALENT

The splintering of Corvallis’s vast array of musical talent in the City is remarkable. Classical, rock, ethnic, and folk musicians are often completely unaware of developments in one another’s sphere, despite similar obstacles and hopes. The Music Project will be an opportunity to share a rare unity among the city’s performers, to show appreciation for the city’s unknowns as well as those who have found their 15 minutes of fame, whether living or no longer among us. . If you have performed, or are doing so, in any musical field, or have been part of the necessary support network of building or repairing instruments, or teaching, we need a record of it for posterity. We are not isolated individuals. We do not record history for its own sake, but because we are all a part of that history.

THE FUTURE

The events of June 6-7 will not be an isolated event. Plans are to continue the Project into the future, with regular performances, from different eras, generations and genres, as well as to promote new talent in Corvallis. Venues will vary. If you want to be a part of the project, we need you, whether or not you’ve ever performed yourself, contact us.

Further information about the project will also be posted at http://www.corvalchemist.com and http://corvalliscommunitypages.com.

Who are those guys in the picture?

J.C. Lottsenheiser, Charles Franks and James Punkett circa 1857.

“After the company was disbanded the four men scattered and never met again for many years. Then twenty-five or thirty years later they all came back and played together again. They were much in demand for celebrations and political rallies. I think I never heard finer music than they made.” –Bertha Plunkett Johnson, 1934 (WPA interview)

Prior to the American Civil War, Fort Hoskins was established to the west of town to protect the Indians on the reservation from the depredations of local residents. The trio of musicians pictured on the cover of this brochure were originally at Fort Hoskins. The commander at the time this photo was taken was Philip Sheridan, who went on to become a major figure in the War and did as much as any in inding slavery as an institution in the United States. Subsequently, his role in the wars on the Indians tarnished his reputation to such an extent that the Grande Ronde Indians today, in funding community institutions throughout the state from the proceeds of the Spirit Mountain casino, specify that in Sheridan, Oregon, no funded building is to be named after Sheridan.

The three musicians all fell in love with local women, from King’s Valley to Corvallis and settled down as homesteaders before gradually migrating back into Corvallis, where they became a much loved trio. The tenor drum referred to is the modern snare drum. The bass drum remains the same though less prominent, perhaps, and the fife – called by many names - has nearly disappeared except in ethnic (often Irish or Latin American) music.