Desperately Seeking Salem

He introduced himself to me at the Space on Broadway NE in Salem and I didn’t believe it was his real name.

“Chance,” he said, holding out his hand.

Yeah, right, I thought.

“Is that your real name?”

So he pulls out an Oregon Driver’s license in which he is staring at me, sans fu manchu, sans big bushy mop of hair, and it says it right there: Chance Wiesner, 25, of Silverton.

Chance doesn’t look like he’s 25.

He looks like Jim Croce and Gumby’s love child — tall and lanky and wearing bright red pants and a breezy white button down shirt. He is a complete throwback.

I didn’t chat long with Chance, because within minutes, he stopped dancing by the bar at Salem’s living room-styled indie music venue and had taken the stage with a guitar, a mike, and a PBR that someone had bought him so he would play.

Chance is a former singer of the now-defunct Salem band Nodding Tree Remedies.

When he began to sing, it was clear he sings because he absolutely has to sing. He writes and sings his own songs, such as a haunting, grab-your-throat piece about “working in the plastic factory.”

There were six people in the room.

I’ve heard Chance does this most Tuesdays.

I’m not sure what happened to his band — word is it ended bad — but I’m sorry I missed them while they were around. Chance says he has a new gig with a band called Lust Wagon, and I’ll keep my eyes open for them.

Until then, will someone please give this guy a paying gig? I’ve never sat so close to brilliant on a Tuesday night.

UPDATE: Chance is now fronting the Salem band Lust Wagon, which can find on MySpace.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 8:37 am and is filed under Music to my ears. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.