Back Beat

Soul Vibrator
Soul VibratorPhoto by Athena Delene

#winning: Eugene Weekly’s sixth annual Next Big Thing music competition came to a close Friday, Aug. 1, at Cozmic with winners in three categories: funk crew Soul Vibrator took home the prize for Best Band, acoustic fingerstyle guitar virtuouso Will Brown nabbed the top spot in the Single/Duo category and Bailee Jordyn sang her self into first place in the Youth slot. Congratulations! Soul Vibrator went on to tear up the Cornerstone Stage Aug. 2 at the Whiteaker Block Party, drawing the praise of 2013 NBT winners Sol Seed. Look for more on the NBT winners soon in these here pages.

More of the NBT family could be found at the Ninkasi Parking Lot Stage during WBP. Three-fifths of 2012 NBT winning band Volifonix — Elijah Medina, Joe McClain, Trevor Forbess — are now playing with the infectious five-piece dance-rock outfit Goldfoot (joining Ruth Heald and Anthony Messano), whose stellar performance was able to pry several in the crowd from their cool spots under white tents into the blazing afternoon sun to dance their sandals off. “It’s all about the dancing,” Medina tells EW over the phone. All band members are now based in Portland but plan to return for a show in Eugene when they release Goldfoot’s first EP. “It will happen before 2015,” Medina says. On a side note: Parking Lot Stage must be code word for Emerald City — Ninkasi’s new administrative campus on Blair Boulevard is large, turquoise and in charge.