A musical benefit for the nonprofit organization Womenspace might bring out the likes of Ani DiFranco or Tori Amos as headliners.
But at 8 p.m. Feb. 2, experimental Eugene rock band Mister Sparkle will top a bill of male performers at WOW Hall for a Womenspace benefit — and DiFranco they are not.
“We’re kind of a combination of Spacehog and the Foo Fighters,” said lead singer and bassist Jerry Leach. “A lot of the songs we perform deal with abuse or being controlled, but they’re not feminist.”
Womenspace development director Jacqui Lomont said having a male rock band play a benefit “allows us to reach a different section of the population.” Last year, another local band played a benefit at John Henry’s and though the music was not to Lomont’s taste, the reception of the crowd “shook some of my stereotypes.”
The drive to put on this benefit concert all came from Leach; it’s something he said he’s wanted to do for five months. After Leach saw Mister Sparkle drummer Mike Baker and his wife take custody of their six-year-old niece, a victim of domestic abuse, Leach felt a fire ignite.
“Seeing something like that made me mad, and I wanted to do something about it,” he said.
Leach targeted Womenspace as a place to divert his energy and have some impact. He enlisted the help of friend Sam Densmore’s band, Sam Densmore’s Silverhawk and Ennis Bee, to fill the bill.
“I think this show is great because it’s coming from a sincere place in the hearts of the organizers,” Densmore said. “It’s a proactive event rather than just a rock show.”
Womenspace does not allow male volunteers in the emergency shelter. They provide for female victims of domestic abuse and their children, but Lomont said men are involved in the organization by serving on the board and volunteering to do outreach in schools around Eugene.
“This is another way for men to help,” Leach said.
Leach also said he wanted to give some attention to a local charity when so many national causes have been spotlighted. Leach has always been an Oregon-boy, having grown up in Coos Bay with Mister Sparkle guitarist Dave Hiner and Sam Densmore.
“I dated (Leach’s) sister in the eighth grade,” said Densmore.
As kids, Leach and Hiner amused themselves in Coos Bay with pranks such as taking lawn ornaments from people’s yards and placing them in front of other people’s houses. Leach said there is no shortage of lawn ornaments in Coos Bay.
“Sometimes people wouldn’t even notice the switch,” he said.
The friendship between Leach and Hiner is where Mister Sparkle’s name originated. Leach said the two made a habit of quoting an episode of the Simpsons in which Homer bears a resemblance to the icon of a Japanese dish-washing soap called Mister Sparkle. While struggling to come up with a name, Leach said Mister Sparkle just came to mind.
The name for Densmore’s band also has Coos Bay ties: His elementary school’s mascots were “The Silverhawks.”
“I thought it was a cool name when I was eight, but we always lost all of our games, cool name or not. So I figured I’d sort of reclaim the name,” he said.
Densmore currently resides in Coos Bay, “right between Seattle and San Francisco.” He returned home in 1999 after being hit by a car in Olympia, Wash., to nurse his wounds, and has enjoyed “being away from all the rock scene B.S.
“Events such as this benefit make the point that local and underground artists are still valid artists whose contributions to their communities count,” Densmore said.