You know something explosive is happening when the piano player’s legs start flying up in the air and landing on top of the instrument.
Piano prodigy and Corvallis, Ore., native Brady Goss was just a little kid when he absorbed his father’s devotion to the keyboard and especially to the musical histrionics of Jerry Lee Lewis, the demon behind “Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.”
But Lewis’ aggressive showmanship masked a supremely creative musical talent, and once Goss got past Lewis’ wild-man persona, he realized that this one notorious player was his invitation to explore a vast, varied and endlessly exciting musical world. Goss’ musical Bible became a video of a particularly stellar Lewis concert in London in 1983.
“I put that video on when I went to sleep, I played the piano to it, I recorded it onto a cassette and listened to it in the car … as I mowed the lawn … doing anything and everything. It was my way of studying,” Goss says in his website biography.
If You Go
New Year’s Eve at Northwood, featuring pianist Brady Goss
• When: Music starts at 9:30 p.m. Dec. 31
• Where: Northwood Public House and Brewery, 1401 S.E. Rasmussen Blvd., Battle Ground (in Battle Ground Village)
• Cover: $5 at 10 p.m.
Big Band New Year’s Eve, featuring the Minidoka Swing Band
• When: 7 to 10 p.m. Dec. 31. Music starts at 7:30 p.m.
• Where: WareHouse ‘23, 100 Columbia St.
• Admission (online sales only): $75 (seating with bandstand view) or $50 (seating with river view)
• Purchase tickets at: www.tickettomato.com/event/5288 (for $75 package) or www.tickettomato.com/event/5287 (for $50 package)
That was just the start of his musical explorations, which have now covered everyone from Hank Williams to The Eagles and Stevie Ray Vaughan to John Mayer. Add his warm, easygoing, soulful vocals and you’ve got a crowd-pleasing piano star that always propels an audience onto its feet.
Expect no less during Goss’ New Year’s Eve show at the Northwood Public House and Brewery, which is fast becoming Battle Ground’s go-to party hall. Goss, who has performed many times at Northwood over the last few years, will start his fingers flying (and, we expect, his feet) at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night, and barely slow down until the following year — at half past midnight.
There’s a $5 cover for the show. The Northwood will be offering party munchies at Happy Hour prices, as well as a menu of late-night small-plate suppers, including prime rib, jambalaya and barbecued spare ribs. The place’s 21 beer taps will all be flowing, and the in-house Little Dipper Brewing Co. will celebrate the occasion by releasing two brand-new beers: a “Bourbon Barrel Need of the Many Vulcan Imperial Stout” as well as a “CASCadia Starlight IPA,” which was brewed in collaboration with Hazel Dell’s Brothers Cascadia Brewing.
Big band bash
There’s one more New Year’s Eve celebration that we want to call to your attention — despite the fact that organizers seem to have done their best to hide it. It took a goodly amount of digging to confirm that the storied Minidoka Swing Band will be back for its annual Big Band New Year’s Eve, an early Sunday evening event that gets going at 7 p.m. at WareHouse ’23. The obligatory New Year’s Eve countdown will be held on East Coast time — that is, midnight there is 9 p.m. here.
What’s so storied about the Minidoka Swing Band? It was started about a decade ago by descendents of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at a camp called Minidoka in Idaho during World War II and pays tribute to the many prisoner bands that kept spirits alive during that dark time.
The Big Band New Year’s Eve features hors d’oeuvres, a gourmet dinner by chef Mike Culver, wine and a champagne toast. The $75 ticket gets you reserved seating with a view of the bandstand; the $50 ticket gets you a view of the river. The dress code is business casual but many old-fashioned revelers go straight for elegance: dresses and gowns, suits and tuxedos.
