Taarka, Laura Love Band & the BOBS

Where else can you find an old man riding a six-foot tall unicycle, beaming a toothless grin while playing a jig on a violin; and immediately thereafter, a giggling troupe of young women with fairy wings, their naked breasts painted in swirls of pink, silver and gold? Anyone? Well, a location that fits this description is the Oregon Country Fair (OCF), a yearly festival that takes place 15 miles outside of Eugene, OR, in the little town of Veneta.
The OCF is a three-day grassroots celebration of the human spirit, a convergence of green-minded souls, poets, skilled craft persons and artisans, performance artists and countless looky-loos. Diverting your attention every 15 feet, the lush, twisting fairgrounds is a spontaneous explosion of colorful sights, enticing sounds and aromatic smells, all vying for your momentary interest.
Of the countless attractions simultaneously occurring on the multiple stages and in every nook of the maze-like fairway, I chose to focus my Saturday on the Laura Love Band on the Main Stage, and later Taarka at the Blue Moon stage.
At 1:30 PM, the BOBS — an a cappella quartet from Berkeley, CA — were taking advantage of the Main Stage’s excellent sound system, flinging their silly combination barbershop and modal chanting on the receptive crowd. The highlight of their set had to be their version of The Doors’ “Light My Fire,” arranged as a medieval canon in four-part counterpoint.
Shaking things up and bringing the crowd to their feet, Seattle’s Laura Love Band set into their gyrating mixture of afro-pop, Celtic and rock. Well-arranged harmonies floated atop Love’s flavorful bass lines and band’s solid groove, spiced up with reeling violin, afro-cuban percussion and tasty guitar licks. Playfully interjecting comments throughout their set, you could tell the band was having a blast on stage, and that feeling invigorated the crowd, all of whom bore wide grins while dancing to the funky music. Laura Love Band’s sound is the musical equivalent of full, swaying hips; their music had ample booty.
Making our way through the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd to where Taarka would be playing in the early evening, we were in constant danger of being sucked into one of the countless festivities, or held captive by the delicious foods from around the globe. Somehow we managed to navigate our way back to the Blue Moon Stage near the Fair’s entranceway right as Taarka began driving the painted and costumed crowd into a dancing frenzy. A four-piece band consisting of octave-mandolin, violin, standup bass and percussion set (imagine a trap kit, but substitute the toms, cymbals and snare for djembes, bongos, chimes and shakers), they combined Roma, Klezmer and jazz, infusing their rousing and exciting tunes with breakneck Zappa-esque breakdowns and insurmountable gusto. Regardless of your particular musical tastes, Taarka is a band that simply must be witnessed.
Soon after their set was completed, the OCF staff began “the sweep.” Starting at one end, their veritable army of volunteers and staff herded the crowd out of the twisting byways, but waiting just outside the gates was a troupe of fire dancers, who proceeded to writhe and twirl flaming objects to the gathering crowd’s delight.
What has been relayed to you on this page is but a miniscule cross-section of the events of OCF 2004; there’s a whole lot more to it. I simply suggest you mark your calendars and clear the second weekend of July and let the fair’s intrigue unwrap itself in waves of colorfully dressed characters and as Dylan so aptly put, “vague traces of skippin’ reels of rhyme.”
– Maurice S. Teilmann

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