Corvallis Music History Project proved community can come together

Dave Storrs compared it to Woodstock. He was likely being kind, but he said he felt the same energy there as he did during the ’60s.

Page Hundemer said: “That was the best time I’ve had playing music in this town since I moved here. I had so much fun that weekend. It was great.”

I was talking to both of them in anticipation of the story that runs on page 10 of this week’s Entertainer, and they couldn’t shut up about the Corvallis Music History Project.

For those of you who didn’t read last week’s issue, or who didn’t drop by Old World Deli this past weekend, the CMHP was a two-day event featuring more than 30 local bands. It was free, but the public evidently shared Dave and Page’s assessment, because they coughed up many pitchers full of dough for the musicians.

Hundreds walked through the doors of Old World on Friday and Saturday, and the only common denominator was a love of music. There were the impossibly old and the impishly young and every age in between. There were punks and suits, folkies and yuppies, and a spectrum of ethnicities and religious persuasions.

Now, I don’t want to turn this into some kind of inspirational message. I’m not Rodney King. We can’t all get along. But for two days this weekend, I saw people who likely wouldn’t look each other in the eye on the street sharing overpowering enthusiasm for live performances they might never have imagined they’d have even liked.

While I was most excited about the reunion of noisy metal trio Minus, I couldn’t help but give it up for Tourist and all the other bands in the punk melee. They stabbed me in the ears and the heart and made me like it.

Even more surprising were lovely sets by Tito Amaya and Alejandro Contreras, The Nettles, Ramblin’ Rex, the Hilltop Big Band and songwriter Colin Woekel. As you can guess, they played music ranging from blues to South American sounds, Celtic to swing jazz. Jenna Summer Smith and InEclipse came out and actually delivered after all the boasting I’ve listened to courtesy of Ocean from FireWorks, which is a feat in and of itself. And then, of course, there was Norman and Walk the Plank and Louder Than and, well, way too many more to name.

The Corvallis Music History Project was more than just a concert, more than a chance to record these bands for the sake of the future. It was an unpredictable mess that somehow sorted itself out. It was a cacophony of sounds that somehow blended into harmony. It was an actual example of diversity in practice, and not just that tolerance nonsense we normally have to practice.

It was Corvallis and it was history, and I thank everybody involved for making it happen. Until next time ...

Jake TenPas can be reached at jake.tenpas@lee.net or 758-9514.