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Musician fell in love with Ashland on first visit Phoenix Sigalove Friday Feb 24, 2017 at 2:00 AM By Jeffrey Gillespie For the Tidings Phoenix Sigalove is a multi-talented musician who first picked up a guitar at the age of 4. Transplanting to Ashland from the Bay Area some seven years ago, Sigalove has been a regular on the local and regional music scene ever since. I caught up with him to talk about his creative process, influences and his time in the Valley. JG: Phoenix, tell us a little bit about your heritage and your creative influences and how they inform your art. PS: Like all artists, I'm influenced by my experiences and the way I interact with the world around me. In my 20s, I began connecting with my Native culture with which I identify but did not grow up in. I rode horses from Montana down to Mexico, living both in Native communities and in wilderness. Those experiences shaped not only part of my identity, but created a lens through which I see and feel the world. I am also influenced by my heritage which is also Russian and Filipino. JG: What led you to Ashland? PS: About 11 years ago, I was on the road with my band AfterBuffalo. We were based out of the Bay Area and we toured up and down the West Coast for awhile. Somewhere along the way, we met Frankie Hernandez and his band, the T Club. We hit it off, and we'd be a good fit for a double-billing, so we set up a show with them in the Bay, and they set one up here at Siskiyou Pub, now Caldera Tap House. The moment we came into town off I-5, it was clear this was a very special place. Frankie was very gracious and by the end of the night we had several invitations to crash on people's floors. I knew from that first visit to Ashland that this was a place I would love to live. JG: You do a lot of live performance, is there a particular aspect of playing to a live audience that you find more stimulating? PS: For me, the two most stimulating parts of performing are those beautiful moments of connection with an audience and with my fellow musicians. There's an intimacy involved that's very special. It takes a little courage and a lot of openness and when it happens, there are just these moments that are off-the-charts good! I'm lucky to experience that at nearly every show, whether it's a Tuesday night at the Wild Goose with a handful of people, or at the OSF Green Show in front of a couple hundred. I'm blessed to play with musicians who understand that. JG: What are you aspirations, artistically, at this time in the world? PS: It's funny, just when I started taking myself less seriously as an artist, the need to express myself in an authentic and hopefully beautiful way became much more important. For me, this is a time both personally and with the state of things happening in the world, that I feel a requirement to put something heartfelt and hopefully something beautiful out into the world. Every artist I speak with feels this right now. We need to open our hearts and continue to interact in this time and space from that place. That takes openness and a lot of courage, I think. — Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at [email protected].