CULTURE | TRADITIONS “CARRYING THE TUNE,” CONTINUED... quartet Buffalo Bills came to town in 1961. “There’s a recording — we sound like the Chipmunks because our voices hadn’t changed,” Kevin says. Kevin says he’s not taking credit, but he likes to tell about how he put a three-quarter-size guitar with a missing string into the arms of little BethAnn. “Next thing you know she’s playing John Denver and everything else,” he says. Now 87, the patriarch of the family is a steady supporter at Spokane’s theaters and auditoriums, coffee shops and music venues — anywhere his children and grandchildren make music. He’s proud of the family legacy, but deftly pushes the spotlight toward the newer generations. “These guys are the up-and-comers,” he says.
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hile Brandon O’Neill was in Seattle singing with the Seattle Symphony and earning leading roles, his younger cousins were forging their own styles. As teens, Patrick O’Neill and his cousins Curran and Riley Long earned a following and packed the Big Easy as the rock band Mylestone. They moved on, but didn’t stop making music. Twins Curran and Riley, now 24, have been performing more than half their lives. “It wasn’t like our parents shoved us into classical music lessons or anything, we just had a basement full of fun, musical toys,” Curran says. Their older brother, singer-songwriter Kevin Long, has toured with Rocky Votolato and embarked on his own West Coast tour this past summer. Their cousin Patrick, now also based in Seattle, put out an album this year that gives credit to several O’Neills for backup vocals.
Dec 20th - 22nd Dec 26th - 29th 2013 & Jan 1st - 5th 2014 Bring your family to the MAC for a 1910 holiday experience! At this annual event, you can leisurely wander the Campbell House and Carriage House to visit, and play a game of charades, with Mrs. Campbell. Bake cookies with Hulda the cook, and learn about the Campbell’s electric car with Joseph Rainsberry the coachman.
Get into the spirit! 42 INLANDER DECEMBER 19, 2013
The Long family, (left to right) Meghan, Curran, BethAnn, Riley, Colin and Bill sing together at Summit Church. SAMUEL SARGEANT PHOTO It’s been a long time since they shared a stage together, and their shared show this Friday night at the Bartlett is a reunion of sorts. The youngest Long siblings, also twins, also are talented performers. The musical gene continued to the next generation of great-grandchildren — the family’s youngest singer-songwriter is University High sophomore Jamison Sampson, who has recorded with Curran. The whole family agrees it’s about nurturing and encouragement, not competition, though Brandon jokes that it could get ugly if someone won a Grammy. “How do you thank a family as big as the O’Neills?” he says.
“‘He said Kevin’s name, why didn’t he say mine?’” Success gets the headlines, but music has carried the family through hard times, too, as a symbol of what binds them. “Music has always been part of our lives,” Shane says. “And it brought us through the good years and it brought us through the bad.” Like Lions with Bristol and Kevin Long • Fri, Dec. 20 • $8 advance/$10 day of show • The Bartlett • 228 W. Sprague Ave. • thebartlettspokane.com