The Best Cellar Coffeehouse - A monthly music series (usually 4th Fridays), featuring area and regional performers, usually held at either the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2945 NW Circle, Corvallis or the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue. Admission is on a sliding scale of $2 to $10 (kids are free), with coffee, juice, teas, and sweets available at a nominal charge.

The Best Cellar continues its mission of bringing great acoustic music to the community for a price anyone can afford. The Cellar has lots of fans and plenty of fine musicians that want to play there. We could use a couple more volunteers. We have enough volunteers right now to make an evening of music happen, but not quite enough to cover if one or two folks can’t make it. The jobs are simple enough. Cookies, coffee, taking admission, and selling the occasional CD for the artists. No heavy lifting. If you’d like to join Diane Roth, Bob Duval, Van Fister, and me in helping to create this community event, please get in touch with me, Mark Weiss, 752-7456. Thanks.

Jan 22, 2010 (Fri)

7:30 — Gary and Shy Nolde
Gary and Shy first played the Best Cellar in 1974. Now, "after 35 years of rehearsal," they are back, with two or three special friends sitting in.
8:30 — Johanna Beekman
Johanna grew up in the Corvallis music scene. Now she returns with her special brand of songwriting and wonderful voice. Joining her will be George Beekman on percussion and the Lyris Cooper on bass.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

Dec 4 (Fri) — LBCC Night at the Best Cellar Coffeehouse

7:30 pm, First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue. (Enter from the back / north side)
Linn-Benton Community College has an unusual number of good, acoustic musicians and singers and they are all headed to the Best Cellar. This special evening will benefit The Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence.
For the last several years The Best Cellar has had one evening to benefit CARDV. This year I've asked many of my friends and colleagues at LBCC to perform and, kindly, they have all accepted. A few of these names are familiar to folklore society members and several are not. But I will tell you that all of them are good musicians and performers, and it pleases my no end to work at a college filled with the kinds of folks who are willing to help support an important social service agency in our community, an agency that, as a college counselor, I have at the top of my referral list for students.
The list of performers for our December 4th show includes:

Audrey Perkings	Developmental Writing
Scott McAleer	History
Ian Priestman	Business
Tom Demarest	GED,
Janeen Phillips	Career Services
Tom Chase	English
Ron Sharman	Water/Wastewater Technology
Mark Weiss	Counseling

And there may be a guest star or two. I hope you'll consider joining us. It should be great fun.

Oct 23 (Fri)

7:30 — Cooper Hollow
Great old time band. Wonderful singing, championship fiddling, and more.
8:30 — Three-Fingered Jack
Really fine Irish group. One of our best local bands.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

Sept 25 (Fri)

7:30 — Anne Weiss
Well known singer-songwriter and a long time Corvallis favorite
8:30 — True North
One of the hottest bluegrass bands in the Northwest. Tight harmony singing and real instrumental excellence.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

May 29 (Fri)

7:30 — Dave Plaehn and Jeff Hino
The best Acoustic Blues around.
8:30 — River Rocks
River Rocks is an ensemble of four musicians — Laurie Childers (vocals, keyboard, guitar), Mina Carson (vocals, guitar, mandolin), George Beekman (percussion), and Bill Veley (bass) — who play "songs with words that matter." Their songs combine lyrical expression with the gentle beauty of harmony. Both Laurie and Mina write songs with a strong social conscience. With influences of folk, rock, and jazz, it’s hard to pigeonhole the chord structures or the instrumentation but difficult subjects are given a hopeful, sometimes humorous, voice.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

April 24 (Fri)

7:30 — MC Squared
Cliff and Chere Pereira with Mark Weiss. Nice three part harmony with some great guitar licks
8:25 — John Swanson and Susannah Doyle
Vocal standards with outstanding piano accompaniment.
9:15 — Tim Hardin
(Master of his own genre: "Satire Folk") joined by Larry Bills.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

March 27 (Fri)

7:30 — Marlene Dickey
Yes, it's true! Marlene Dickey returns to the Best Cellar. After many years of performing and living elsewhere, Marlene has returned to the community that loves her, and her soulful, beautiful voice and guitar. A truly professional song stylist.
8:30 — Shanghaied On The Willamette
A long time Best Cellar favorite, this duo brings sea shanties and other folk favorites to audiences throughout the northwest. A real treat.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.
For the first time in a long time, The Best Cellar will try a show during spring break. It's a bit of a risk, given that many Corvallis-ites leave town, but for those of us who need to stick around, and those who take shorter trips, there's often not much going on, music-wise, during the break. So, this year we've decided to load up with a couple of very special musical acts (Marlene Dickey and Shanghaied on the Willamette) and hope you all will join us for a wonderful evening of tunes and tales.

Feb 27 (Fri)

7:30 — Wild Hog In The Woods
One of the finest, and fun-est old time sting bands around. Wild Hog really plays a variety of musical styles, and they do them all well. This is foot stompin’ music at it’s best. A good will be had by all.
Hershel Olmsted — clawhammer banjo; Ted Tom — guitar, dobro, tenor banjo; John Simonds — bass, vocals; John Donoghue — mandolin, tenor guitar, cello, chromatic harmonica.
8:30 — Spanner
Songwriter Todd Samusson will be debuting his new duo, Spanner, with guitarist Rick Brodner. The duo will be performing all original material, most of it new to Corvallis ears. Samusson’s songwriting has a knack for conveying big picture issues through the small print of a personal perspective, and his previous performances at the Best Cellar have been favorites with local audiences.
Location: The cellar of the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

Jan 23, 2009 (Fri)

7:30 — Swing Habit
Michael Proctor (bass), Steve Moore (guitar), and Dave Thormahlen (mandolin) bring the joy of hot, acoustic, swing music back to The Cellar. Loads of fun!
8:30 — Adam Scramstad
One of the Northwest’s finest blues guitarists and singers. Soul satisfying blues done right.
Location: the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

Dec 5, 2008 (Fri)

7:30 — Sid Rosen and Friends
Beautiful finger style guitar instrumentals with great percussion accompaniment.
8:30 — The Bluegrass Transition Team
Hot Pickin’ from Mark Weiss, Alex Hargreaves, and David Hargreaves, Linda and Ed Waymire.
Location: the First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Avenue.

Oct 24 (Fri)

7:30 — Madera
(local music group that sings truly beautiful Latin folk songs, with great guitar, to boot).
8:30 — Tom Rawson
(great Seattle based folk singer and long time Best Cellar favorite)
Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship , 2945 NW Circle, Corvallis.

Sept 26 (Fri)

7:30 pm — 35th Anniversary Special Event
Special Location: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2945 NW Circle, Corvallis.

The Best Cellar for September 26th promises to be one of the finest programs we have ever had. Some of the very best musicians will be on hand to help us celebrate 35 years of bringing great, acoustic music to Corvallis. We also hope to have most of the "founders" of The Cellar present to take a bow; and for sure, we will have one special founder, Larry Edgar. Larry not only helped create The Cellar, but has done sound, as a volunteer, for 34 of the 35 years the Cellar has existed. Some will remember that we originally scheduled this show for May, but Larry was unable to be there, and there could be no such celebration without his presence. We will take a moment to honor Larry, in particular, and pepper the stage with many of his biggest fans, the musicians that he has done sound for (and helped to sound good) through the years... And, as a special treat, we hope to have the infamous, "original recipe" Best Cellar Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The Best Cellar began in June, 1973, when a group of friends decided the town needed a venue where local musicians could count on a good gig and anyone from the community could afford to come and have a great night of music. In the beginning The Cellar ran every Friday and Saturday night of the year, but it was the 70’s and half the people in the world were aspiring musicians and the other half were avid listeners. As music and the pop culture changed, acoustic music became less popular, but just when it seemed that The Cellar might fad away, as so many great small town efforts do, The Corvallis Folklore Society stepped forward to sponsor The Cellar, and it has been going strong, as a once-a-month event, ever since.

April 25 (Fri)

7:30 — Sharon Thormahlen
Beautiful originals on harp
8:30 — Cooper Hollow
Old time, country string band. Foot stompin’ fiddle and great vocals

March 14 (Fri)

7:30 — James Wilson:
Celtic influenced tunes on a variety of instruments
8:30 — Yvonne McMillan and the OSU Jazz All-stars
Swing and jazz from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s

February 22 (Fri)

7:30 — Creighton Lindsay
Roots music at it’s best
8:30 — Dave Plaehn and Jeff Hino
Oregon’s finest blues duo

January 25, 2008 (Fri)

7:30 — Doggone Divas and Dave
Great vocals and hot fiddle from Loretta Brenner, Jenni Wells-Whitney and some guy named Dave.
8:30 — Brian Cutean
Singer, songwriter, humorist, and a great stage performer

November 30, 2007 (Fri)

7:30 — Adam Scramstad
Blues and really good finger picking guitar.
8:30 — Nancy and Lisa Spencer
The creator of the Corvallis Folkore Society returns with her musical saw, her daughter who sings like a meadow lark, and her first CD. Nancy is the "national saw champion," and has performed on Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor, twice.