Mac's Restaurant

Dueling Pianos
2020-02-27 19:00 - 22:00, 2020-01-16 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Featuring Skip Jones & Hank Shreve

7th Annual Winter Music Festival
2020-02-15 18:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Advance tickets are now closed. Tickets will be available at the door beginning at 6:00pm for the $35 day of show price.
ABSOLUTELY NO RESERVATIONS, SEATING IS LIMITED & FIRST COME FIRST SERVE ONLY!
Saturday February 15, 2020
$ 30.00 Advance Ticket gets you in the building.
$ 35.00 At the door if available. Will sell this event out at 700 Tickets.
We expect this event to sell out! get your tickets now!
Access to all shows until rooms reach capacity.
Doors open at 6:00 PM
Opening band will start at 7:15 PM
In the Ballroom with a capacity of 400 we are proud to present Eugene’s super popular Candy Apple Bleu rocking hits from the 70’s and 80’s. These guys are so good that you’ll think you are listening to the original artists. Opening for CAB will be DJ Chilla spinning vinyl.
In the Colonial Inn room with a capacity of 200, will feature line dancing lessons and great Country rock with Outlaw Shine followed by Americana, Cajun, Blues sensation Brian Chevalier & Heavy Chevy.
In Mac’s restaurant & nightclub, capacity 225 featuring high energy, award winning blues artist Ben Rice, along with the sweet sounds of Inner Limits.
6 Bands, one building, 1 ticket price gets folks access to six different bands with a unique style of music in each room. This event will sell out!
Ballroom
Candy Apple Bleu
This band debuted as an opener for Satin Love Orchestra at the very first Winter Music Festival back in 2014. Since then they have become one of Eugene’s most popular bands playing hits from the 70’s and 80’s. These guys are so good that you will think you are listening and dancing to the original artists! This band absolutely nails songs like “ Smoke from a distant fire” by John Townsend, “ Saturday in the park” by Chicago, “ Biggest part of me” by Ambrosia, “Kiss you all over” by Exile, “Reminiscing” by Little River band, “ Baby come back” by Player, “ Brandy” by Looking Glass, “ Rich Girl” and “Sara Smile” by Hall and Oates and many many more great hits that you’ll enjoy. We are lucky to have them in our festival this year.

DJ “Chilla”, Marty Chilla of the Sugarbeets will be spinning vinyl to warm you up for Candy Apple Bleu.

Colonial Inn Room
Outlaw Shine
Outlaw Shine is a country band with strong roots in the community. All band members been entertaining since they were children. Several have been in other bands over the years.
This great band covers a lot of popular Country music and will be offering Line dancing and instruction prior to their performance in our Festival. So if you always wanted to learn how to line dance, here’s a great opportunity!
Outlaw Shine plays music to keep the party dancing and covers traditional Country music as well as featuring music from new artists.
Colonial Inn Room
Brian Chevalier & Heavy Chevy
Brian Chevalier & Heavy Chevy play Americana, Blues and Zydeco.
A local favorite, Brain and Heavy Chevy feature sounds of New Orleans with a bit of a
bluesy feel that is extremely appealing. Great saxophone and keyboards are a key to the
playful sounds from this delightful band. They will be an excellent band to keep folks dancing following Outlaw Shine.

Mac’s Nightclub
Ben Rice
His music is deeply rooted in traditional blues, yet at the same time fiercely original. His guitar playing earns labels like “fearless,” “inventive” and “powerful,” and he routinely brings audiences to their feet with his stunning and emotionally honest vocal delivery. Ben is as much home fronting his electric blues band as he is captivating a crowd solo with nothing but his voice and his resonator guitar.
Ben Rice has been leaving huge impressions on audiences around the Northwest and winning awards for his vocals and guitar playing for the last seven years. In 2014 at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, he left the audience speechless with a raw emotional delivery of his version of “Key To The Highway.” On his second consecutive trip to the International Blues Challenge, he made the finals in the solo/duo category and was awarded the St. Blues Guitarist award for best guitarist.
His debut on the international stage in 2014, was a landmark step forward in his career from being a regional act playing primarily around the NW to a national and international touring artist. Captivating audiences and presenting himself as someone who has a lot of depth in the various soundscapes of American music, Ben is gaining fans all over the world who love his playing, singing, songs, and stage performance.

Mac’s Nightclub
Inner Limits
Inner Limits is an energetic blues/funk/rock group that weaves original material and unique arrangements of solid classic blues and rock songs into each set. The group frequently headlines regional craft beer and music festivals and keeps a busy performance schedule at wineries, breweries and casinos. The band consists of Jesse Greenlee on drums/vocals, Olem Alves on guitar/vocals and Torrey Newhart on keyboards/vocals.

Valentines Day Bash with Riffle
2020-02-14 20:00 - 23:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
$7 Cover
A fun cover band that puts on a great show! More than 32 years of creating high energy dance and musical events.
Timothy Patrick on guitar/vocals, Peter Giri on guitar/vocals, Gus Russell on keyboards/keyboard bass, and Jim Reinking on drums/vocals.
Influences
Van Morrison, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Santana, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Bob Seeger, Kenny Loggins, Lynyrd Skynrd, Willie Nelson and many more.

Rooster's Blues Jam
2020-02-11 19:00 - 23:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Hosted by Skip Jones & Byron Case

Closed
2020-02-08 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States

Gus Russell & Paul Biondi
2020-02-05 18:00 - 21:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Jazz & Variety with Gus Russell and Paul Biondi
No cover
All ages

Dueling Pianos
2020-01-30 19:00 - 22:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
With Skip Jones & Hank Shreve
all ages
no cover

Inner Limits
2020-01-29 18:00 - 21:00, 2020-01-15 18:00 - 21:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Inner Limits is an energetic blues/funk/rock group that weaves original material and unique arrangements of solid classic blues and rock songs into each set. The group frequently headlines regional craft beer and music festivals and keeps a busy performance schedule at wineries, breweries and casinos.
The band consists of Jesse Greenlee on drums/vocals, Olem Alves on guitar/vocals and Torrey Newhart on keyboards/vocals.

The Uncommon Denominators
2020-01-24 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
$6 Cover
We are an odd number of four musicians, starring a revolving cast of characters bringing you our favorite Motown, rock, funk and soul hits (and originals!) – Lynn Knight – Guitar, piano, vocals – Bob Beck – Bass, vocals – Darcy Wallace – drums, vocals – David Albert Floratos – sax. We CAN divide by zero!

Outlaw Shine
2020-01-18 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
$5 Cover
We are a country band with strong roots in our community. We have all been entertaining since we were young. Many of us have been in previous bands.
We not only bring country to the venue we bring line dance, which we can lead / instruct. We have picked our songs to keep the party dancing, our music comes from the roots of country to new artists.
We love to play and look forward to entertaining you.

Dusky Blues RDBS "Road to Memphis Challenge" Winners
2020-01-14 18:00 - 19:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
“Dusky Blues” the winners of the 2019 Rainy Day Blues Society’s “Road to Memphis Challenge”.
Dusky Blues to open with a set prior to the Rooster jam on Tuesday Jan 14. Dusky Blues will be performing the new competition set They’ve prepared for the IBC in Memphis which includes 5 original blues tunes and their interpretation of an old classic.

The Ben Rice Band
2020-01-10 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Featuring Marina Crouse & Paul Biondi
Award winning Blues
8:00pm $7 Cover

Ben Rice has been leaving huge impressions on audiences around the Northwest and winning awards for his vocals and guitar playing for the last seven years. In 2014 at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee he left the audience speechless with a raw emotional delivery of his version of “Key To The Highway.” His second consecutive trip to the International Blues Challenge he made the finals in the solo/duo category. Where he was awarded the St. Blues Guitarist award for best guitarist.
His debut on the international stage in 2014, was a landmark step forward in his career from being a regional act playing primarily around the NW to a national and international touring artist. Captivating audiences and presenting himself as someone who has a lot of depth in the various soundscapes of American music. Ben is gaining fans all over the world who love his playing, singing, songs, and stage performance.
His original music blends Soul, Delta-Blues, Rockabilly, Jazz, and Funk into a Roots Stew. Influenced heavily by his parents record collection from Al Green to Alice Cooper, Teddy Pendergrass to Marshall Tucker. Ben at a young age began investigating into Blues and it’s history. Starting with B.B. King and going through the various regions and time periods he is inspired and influenced by historical figures like Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and Skip James to name a few. Ben spent his college years studying Jazz Guitar at the University of Oregon as well as classical music. Playing in the Celtic Folk ensemble and Mariachi group on campus. He has been well versed in a lot of musical styles that all contribute to the unique sound of his originals.
As a performer Ben looks to the greats for inspiration. Always striving to connect with the audience through his music and stories. He also has an interesting arsenal of guitars playing resophonic guitars and homemade cigar box guitars. More important than the visual appeal Ben has an amazing way of making these guitars sound, often bringing audiences to tears with his slide playing.
Ben Rice has been a growing talent in the NW, winning awards for his singing, guitar work, writing, and performing. He is stepping into the national and international scene. Using his vast influences of American music to fuel his music and performance.

Closed
2019-12-26 08:00 - 17:00, 2019-12-25 08:00 - 17:00, 2019-12-24 08:00 - 17:00, 2019-12-07 08:00 - 17:00 | OR

KindTree Autism Rocks Ugly Sweater Contest
2019-12-14 16:00 - 18:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Kind-tree Autism Rocks Annual Ugly Sweater Contest
Event includes an awesome Raffle and Live Music and
SANTA is scheduled to arrive about 4:30!
Help raise money for camp scholarships, support KindTree-Autism Rocks, have fun, and enjoy a great afternoon of music.

2nd Annual Rainy Day Blues Society with The Curtis Salgado Trio
2019-12-13 20:00 - 23:00 | OR
Advance tickets are sold out! Limited tickets will be available at the door!
Award-winning soul, blues and R&B vocalist Curtis Salgado’s earth-shaking vocals and forceful harmonica playing have been devastating audiences around the world for over 30 years. Guitarist Alan Hager has been wowing fellow musicians from his hometown of Portland, Oregon and beyond for decades. Hager has been jamming with Salgado since 2003, and joined his band full-time in 2015. Together, the two blues fans and friends took time out of their busy touring schedule to record Rough Cut, a stripped-down album featuring a potent mix of newly written, timeless originals and carefully chosen blues covers. “We did it for the love of the music,” says Salgado. “This is where our hearts are. These are deep songs that we love to play.”
That love comes through loud and clear on Rough Cut. Produced by Salgado and Hager, the 13 songs on the album (including six originals) range from plaintive to playful. Recorded in one live unrehearsed take, the original I Will Not Surrender, with its haunting and sparse soundscape, showcases some of Hager’s strongest guitar work, and some of the most profoundly emotive vocals Salgado has ever laid down. The canine-lover’s anthem, I Want My Dog To Live Longer (The Greatest Wish), is already a huge fan favorite. Salgado’s soulful singing and Hager’s elegant slide guitar playing shine on Elmore James’ You Got To Move and Muddy Waters’ I Can’t Be Satisfied. “He’s the best player in the business, unlike anybody else,” Salgado says of Hager. “One reason I made this record was to show him off.”
Born in Portland, Oregon, Alan Hager has taken a long and fascinating journey to his current spot as lead guitarist in Salgado’s band. He first picked up a guitar at age ten and became a blues and jazz prodigy. He was playing local clubs as a teenager before heading to Boston’s Berklee School Of Music, where he studied under the tutelage of jazz guitar legend Pat Metheny. A year later he was studying classical music at the famed New England Conservatory of Music, where he graduated in 1979. During the 1980s he toured as part of a classical guitar duo and took up teaching, which he still does. But he never fell out of love with the blues, especially the old Delta sounds of Charlie Patton, Tommy Johnson and Skip James. He moved back to Portland in 1988 and soon met fellow blues aficionado Curtis Salgado. They have been making music together since 2003, with Curtis’ voice and harmonica and Alan’s hypnotic guitar work perfectly complementing each other.
Born in Everett, Washington, Curtis Salgado grew up in Eugene, Oregon. By his early 20s, he was already making a name for himself on Eugene’s bar scene with his band The Nighthawks, and later as co-leader of The Robert Cray Band. Salgado quickly developed into a player and singer of remarkable depth, with vocal and musical influences including Otis Redding, O.V. Wright, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson I and II, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf and Magic Sam. NPR calls him “a blues icon” with a “huge voice.”
In 1977, Salgado met actor John Belushi while the comedian was filming Animal House. Salgado and Belushi spent hours playing old records, with Belushi soaking up the music like a sponge. He used his new blues knowledge to create the The Blues Brothers. Once Salgado joined forces with The Robert Cray Band, he shared stages with many of his heroes, including Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland, Albert Collins and Bonnie Raitt. He fronted Roomful Of Blues, singing and touring with them from 1984 through 1986. Forming his own band, he released the first of his ten solo albums in 1991.
Salgado joined Alligator Records in 2012, debuting with the award-winning, critically acclaimed Soul Shot in 2012 followed by The Beautiful Lowdown in 2016. Salgado won three 2013 Blues Music Awards including the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year. He also won for Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year, and for Soul Blues Album Of The Year. In 2017 Salgado won three more Blues Music Awards: Soul Blues Album Of The Year for The Beautiful Lowdown, Song Of The Year for Walk A Mile In My Blues and Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year.
Salgado and Hager have performed at Portland’s Waterfront Blues Festival, The Chicago Blues Festival, The Tampa Bay Blues Festival and Canada’s Tremblant Blues Festival and on the Legendary Blues Cruise. Salgado has also performed at The San Francisco Blues Festival, Memphis’ Beale Street Music Festival, Denver’s Mile High Blues Festival, as well as in Canada, England, throughout Europe, Brazil, Chile, Panama, The Philippines, Thailand and Hong Kong. Blues Revue, describing Salgado’s performances, declares, “He starts at excellent before segueing into goose bumps, ecstasy, and finally nirvana.”
Along with his accolades, Salgado is no stranger to adversity. During his career, he has overcome multiple health challenges, battling back from liver cancer in 2006 and lung cancer in 2008 and 2012. In March 2017 he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. Now he is back on the road, revved up and firing on all cylinders, performing with his band and as a duo with Hager. His resilience can be heard—and felt—on I Will Not Surrender, Rough Cut’s lead track.
With Curtis’ inspired singing and world-class harmonica playing and Alan’s spellbinding guitar, Rough Cut is the album Salgado and Hager have always wanted to make together—soulful, sparse, haunting—a blues lover’s dream come true. The music is a moving exploration of the joyful, emotionally uplifting power of passionately played and soulfully sung acoustic blues. They’ll perform together as a duo both on their own and during Curtis’ full band shows, giving their fans a taste of what Alan calls “American Classical music.” “This type of music moves us the most,” says Salgado. “You believe it when you hear it.”

Closed
2019-11-30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Go Ducks!

Closed
2019-11-28 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States

RTM fundraiser Round Two with The Rae Gordon Band
2019-11-23 20:00 - 23:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
The Rae Gordon is a high-energy blues and soul outfit fronted by a charismatic female vocalist with astounding range. Vocalist Rae Gordon started her singing career in the piano bars and comedy clubs of Los Angeles, where she honed her ability to relate to any audience – from a small wine bar with a few people sipping libations, to a big festival attended by thousands. Rae’s approachability and onstage charisma are as well-known as her multi-octave range. She has won the Cascade Blues Association’s Muddy Award for Best Female Vocalist five times, landing her in their Hall Of Fame. The band took third place at the 2017 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and has toured through Oregon, Washington, California, Montana, Nevada, Florida, British Columbia and beyond.

The Rae Gordon Band’s first recording, “Blue Lemonade,” hit #10 on the Billlboard Blues Chart; its second offering, “Dirty Flowers,” has enjoyed extensive airplay in the U.S. and beyond. In 2017 the Rae Gordon Band released its third recording, the award-winning “Better Than I Was,” produced by RGB guitarist Kivett Bednar and featuring songs co-written with RGB keyboardist and musical director Pat McDougall. The band is happy to announce its latest release, “Wrong Kind Of Love” – again produced by Kivett Bednar and recorded at Roseleaf Recording by award-winning drummer Jimi Bott. The CD covers a wide gamut of styles, from lowdown barroom blues to dance-worthy funk, from heart-tugging soul ballad to slide-drenched rage rocker, from minor-key blues angst to uplifting soul anthem. Six of the songs on “Wrong Kind Of Love” were written by Pat McDougall, three were co-written by Rae and Pat, and one was written by Portland-based guitarist and songwriter Rod Furlott. All three album will be available for purchase at the upcoming event in Eugene.

Join us for a night off fun and frivolity! The Rainy Day Blues Society is proud to bring you yet another award winning group to Blues you up! We are saving room on the dance floor because we know you won’t be able to sit still! Let’s all come together and help get this years RDBS Road to Memphis finalist Natty “O” (Jerry Leff), and “Blind Billy” (Bill Spiry) to Memphis and back.

“Lets get this show on the Road”

Where: Mac’s Restaurant & Night Club

When: Saturday Nov. 23rd

(Opening Act 7pm-7:30 ~Rae Gordon Band 8-11pm)

Admission: $10.00 General and $5.00 Members

Roosters Blues Jam
2019-11-19 19:00 - 22:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Hosted By Skip Jones & Byron Case
$3 Featured Micro All Night!

SPECIAL EVENT - Comedian Craig Gass from Family Guy, King of Queens, & Sex and the city
2019-11-17 19:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
TIckets available here: Mac’s Nightclub of Eugene presents A Special Comedy Event with Craig Gass
18 & over, 21 to drink
“When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat”. – George Carlin
Modern media insists we categorize talent– you know, put folks in boxes according to their entertaining skill set. It works fine for the one-dimensional. He’s a movie star, she’s a singer/songwriter, he’s a comedian, she’s a stripper. You get my drift. Which brings us to the hydra-headed multi-faceted, standup comic, impressionist, actor, renaissance freak (yes, freak) genius, Craig Gass.
His eclectic resume is scripted from two decades of working rooms, following leads, embarrassing and endearing strangers while building a modest and devoted fan base. Craig didn’t pursue a particular career path, the career happened to Craig; in no small way thanks to his uncanny ability to capture the voice and idiosyncrasies of the celebrities he impersonates.
Craig began doing standup in 1993 by hitting the grueling, bumpy comedy circuit road and cultivating his craft in whatever crappy bar or club would have him. Shortly into the new millennium, shock radio kingpin, Howard Stern, took Craig under his massive, media wing. The Mt. Vernon, New York son of deaf parents made frequent, freaky appearances on Stern, blowing listener minds with his uncanny impressions of notorious celebrities like Christopher Walken, Gene Simmons, Gilbert Gottfried, Tracy Morgan, Sam Kinison, Al Pacino and Metallica drummer, Lars Ulrich. This platform lead to Hollywood, but not like you’d think.
“I never really had an agent, all my TV roles appeared from people who were supporters of mine,” says Craig. “One of Howard Stern’s writers got me the guest part as Miranda’s overweight glazed donut eating boyfriend on Sex in the City. Someone from the show called and said, ‘we heard you talking about your relationship this morning and we think you’d play a really good insecure guy for a storyline we’re developing.’ My impression of Al Pacino on Stern was heard by one of the Family Guy writers. All of a sudden, I’m in a recording studio with Seth McFarlane. Peter Griffin says, ‘This is crazier than when Al Pacino was a slum lord Laundromat attendant.’ They cut to me and I’m riffing the classic Pacino line from …And Justice for All (great Metallica record by the way) at this wall of broken washing machines, ‘You’re out of order! And you’re out of order!’”
In 2004, Craig’s unique ability to sound like famous people led to a co-starring role on CBS’s hit sitcom, King of Queens. Kevin James character hires Craig as the new delivery driver who keeps his fellow employees in bellyaching laughs. Hollywood has known some venerated impressionists – Rich Little, David Frye, Frank Gorshin, Will Ferrell, Darrell Hammond and Frank Callendo, to name few. While they’re all laudable in their parroting prowess, Craig takes impression a step further. He just doesn’t mirror the sound, cadence and mannerisms – he literally channels the individual into a speaking-in-tongues-esque out of body presentation, frighteningly precise without the aid of a single prop. He just doesn’t do Adam Sandler, he becomes Adam Sandler, every character nuance a laser sharp reflection of the original. Craig owes this phenomenal gift to the force majeure of his birth and childhood environment.
“Neither of my parents could hear, so I couldn’t learn how to talk by listening to them,” he recalls. “I learned words and sentences and sounds by copying the voices I heard on television.” Raised in a household of silence and gesticulation, Craig’s childhood was profoundly marked by his media consumption of 70’s and 80’s Zeitgeist. That unique upbringing held him in good stead as he tested his first audiences when he discovered the joys of being the class clown. Craig is a living, breathing, mimicking product of pop culture and his career is an authentic, modern day grassroots destiny play. Which brings us to the here and now, 2013, and the realization of his personal standup prophecy – The Worst Comedy Show EVER.
The DVD/CD, produced on a shoe string budget (more like the threadbare shoe string off a homeless bum) is an absolute masterpiece of satirical self-deprecation that echoes the shattered heart, tortured soul and cracked insights of Louis C.K’s award-winning FX series, Louie. “How about the Doug Stanhope suicide episode of Louie?” he vibrates. “I ran into Artie Lange from the Stern show a couple months after that aired – Artie who tried to kill himself! Know what he says to me? ‘You think I got a lawsuit there?’”
Shot at the “shittiest” place he could conjure in his 20-year-asphalt-tested imagination, Craig took his cameraman/producer/penniless sidekick, Aaron Anderson, to Dave’s of Milton, a burned out but beloved hole-in-the-wall diner/bar located (well) outside Seattle, Washington, where stand up comics galore have gone for decades to test their material on the easily amused and endlessly forgiving blue collar patrons. “The material on the DVD and CD was developed from night after night of near empty rooms in shit hole bars and comedy dives,” confesses Craig. “And now it’s been turned into my dream comes true! I am proud, ecstatic and terrified – but a good kind of terror.”
Craig spent several years in Seattle. He loves the northwest villagers and they love him, from the drunks at Dave’s to the grunge rock legends like Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready who has a hilarious cameo on the DVD; and Alice in Chains’ Jerry Cantrell and Sean Kinney who lend their fractured personalities to several news blackouts on the CD, hearkening George Carlin’s post 60s hippy dippy weatherman.
Craig Gass hasn’t cultivated his steady, professional ascension via influence peddling or favors from superstar friends. On the contrary, he’s resisted walking through doors blown wide open by immensely powerful figures like his comic mentor and hero. “When I first started doing standup, I snuck backstage to see George at the Temple Theater in Tacoma,” he remembers. “His long time opening act, Dennis Blair, introduced us. Said, ‘George, you got to hear this kid’s Sam Kinison.’ He started laughing and said to me, ‘You’re a very talented and funny guy,’ then ran off to do his show. I called a buddy and started crying on the phone. That night began a friendship that lasted until the day he died. George offered to help me with my career many times. But I wanted to learn from him not take advantage of his influence. He was my greatest mentor, a father figure who never stopped imparting wisdom on comedy, people and life.”
Craig Gass will make you laugh, weep, choke, recoil and most importantly, recognize that the faults, flaws and freaky behavior that we all posses, do not define us but rather, unite us. “We all have way more in common than we do that divides us,” he delivers as the Dave’s crowd prepares to depart their favorite shit hole post performance. It’s the perfect postscript for a funny man standing at the crossroads of superstardom – or sitting on the bus stop of professional oblivion. Either way, we’ll be right up front, cheering and jeering.
— Lonn Friend

Lloyd Jones CD Release/ RDBS member appreciation
2019-11-16 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
$17 for non members
$12 for RDBS members
Portland, Oregon roots artist Lloyd Jones has recorded six critically acclaimed albums, toured internationally, and racked up dozens of major awards and accolades. He’s a relentless road dog, hitting festival stages, Delbert’s annual Sandy Beaches Cruises (he’s been a regular on six winter cruises), and clubs all across the land to enthusiastic crowds who can’t get enough of his swampy blues, his backporch picking, his serious-as-anthrax funk, soul, roadhouse two-beats, and old-school rhythm and blues (back before the R&B tag was somehow appropriated for other musical purposes, apparently when we weren’t looking). Yet he may be the most invisible, best-kept roots/blues/Americana secret on the contemporary scene.
What’s he sound like?
Jones is a master of the soulful understatement, the raw growl, and the groove. From his roots in muddy Oregon soil, he’s forged a 30-plus-year career as an impassioned singer and fierce guitar slinger, a clever and soulful songwriter, a bandleader, record producer, and an almost strident torchbearer for all that’s true and good about America’s music. Jones is his own true artist who works diligently at pushing American roots music forward.
What he does, he says, is “combine New Orleans rhythms, the simplicity of Memphis music, and the rawness of the blues, all for the 21st century. This music is not about louder and faster. It’s about time, meter, groove. I thought Muddy and Walter and those guys were pushing the envelope in their era. They were using effects, they were inventing their own sound. They were modern. I want to look at it in a contemporary way.” The gist is all the same — Lloyd Jones is the total package.

Roosters Blues Jam
2019-11-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Hosted By Skip Jones & Byron Case
No Cover
With
$3 Featured Micro All Night!

"Thats Nasty"
2019-11-09 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Award winning musicians from Eugene and Portland will present a specialty blues show November 9. “That’s Nasty” show is a presentation of songs from an era of plain talking blues. From Portland, exceptional guitar player and vocalist Sonny “Smokin’”Hess (the first woman nominated in a male dominated field as Lead Guitar by the Cascade Blues Association. She has opened for Etta James, Jr. Walker, Average White Band, and Bobby Womack), bass player Lisa Mann ( two times Blues Music Award winner for instrumentalist bass, has shared the stage with Paul DeLay, Lloyd Jones, Karen Lovely, Ben Rice, and many others), guitar player Jason JT Thomas (Lisa Mann, Franco & the Stingers), vocalist Lady Kat True Blue (Sonny Hess, Fiona Boyd, Linda Hornbuckle, Janice Scroggins), guitar player and vocalist Kathryn Grimm (Jeff Buckley, Bo Diddley, Michael Bolton, Blues Tools), drummer Kelly Pierce (Sonny Hess Band), and Eugene’s own award winning vocalist Joanne Broh (Joanne Broh Band). Www.JoanneBroh.com, www.SonnyHess.com, www.lisamannmusic, www.kathryngrimmmusic.com, www.reverbnation.com/ladykattrueblue:

The Dirty Blues is a bit of a cliché in some areas, and to many modern ears, it seems more a joke than a legitimate form. But the dirty blues has a long tradition in the blues, and it often resurfaces in modern blues and rock. During the early days of recorded blues, raunchy songs were recorded nearly as often as love songs and laments. These songs were distinguished by their often humorous double entendres and metaphors.
The dirty blues were country blues with taboo lyrics. The dirty blues thrived in the days before World War II. After the war, many record labels concentrated on records that were commercially viable, and the dirty blues faded away, only to be resurrected during the blues revival of the ’60s, when many white collegiates discovered the form.
The first blues record appeared in July, 1920: “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” by Mamie Smith. In 1924 the Gennett company issued the first rural blues recording, “Sundown Blues” by Daddy Stovepipe. This opened the floodgates and began what was to be known are the “race” recording industry.
Within the schools of classic and rural blues, artists soon began to push the envelope of “respectability. Ma Rainey recorded her version of “Shave ’em Dry” in 1924, at which time Bessie Smith’s “Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine” had been selling well for a year. And the phenomenon was not limited to blues. As early as 1923 the FCC had already denied airplay to Gershwin’s “Do It Again” which, somehow, was found to be too lurid for airplay.
Meanwhile, the Vaudville tradition had always been far less than squeaky clean: “I’m a Bear In A Lady’s Boudoir” by Ukelele Ike, “Nellie The Nudist Queen” by Ross and Sargent, “A Guy What Takes Takes His Time” by Mae West, and virtually everthing recorded by Sophie Tucker.
Country and western music was also without it’s risque sense of humor: Jimmie Rodgers “What’s It?”, “When Lulu’s Gone” by Roy Acuff and the Light Crust Doughboys “Pussy, Pussy, Pussy” to name a few.
However, it is within the blues framework is the richest mother-lode of material. Elements of racism and denial of opportunity on the part of the white controlled record industry and class differences limited the venues where black artists could play. The low down “dirty blues” were played in local juke joints, fish fries, and dances. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on a jukebox.

As the music became a nationally popular, lyrics composed in the language of barrooms, streets, and farms were censored and were supplanted by commercial style lyrics.
The records were then imitated by both amateurs and professionals, and the sanitized lyrics became so common that within a generation or so virtually everyone had forgotten that blues once used plain speech rather than the inventive euphemisms of of some of the most clever writing in the history of American music.

Ghouling Pianos
2019-10-31 19:00 - 22:00 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Featuring Skip Jones & Hank Shreve
Costume contest with a $100 cash prize!

Bottleneck Blues Band
2019-10-26 20:00 - 23:30 | Mac’s Nightclub, 1626 Willamette St, Eugene, OR, 97401, United States
Award Winning Blues
$5 Cover
We are followers of the three Kings: BB, Albert, and Freddie. We also listen to a lot of Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. Our music is red hot funky blues.The kind that makes people dance.
Bottleneck Blues Band was voted Best New Blues Act in 2015 and nominated for the Best CD of the Year by the Cascade Blues Association. The band was a featured act at The Waterfront Blues Festival, Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, The Vancouver Wine and Jazz Festival, The Illwaco Seafood Blues Fest, The Kalama Blues Festival, The Taste of Tacoma, The Wallace Idaho Blues Festival, The Gorge Blues Festival, and was the headliner at The Peninsula Blues Festival and The Crawdad Festival.
Bottleneck is fronted by Noah Bell and is backed up by an all-star lineup with Randy Monroe on the bass guitar (Linda Hornbuckle Band), Franklin Spicer (Pegasus Project) on keys and Don Worth (Lloyd Jones) kickin’ the drums. Bottleneck plays red-hot funky dance blues designed to make your body move. They are currently debuting new material on their second album “Storm Bringer.” The title track is going to be featured on next years KGON’s Waterfront Blues Festival 2019 CD. Their first CD “Twenty First Century Blues” was warmly received and the second has been doing even better. The band keeps getting big and better shows. They are currently in a regular rotation of regional clubs.
