Arts Hound

Local jazz songbird Halie Loren joins Torrey Newhart on piano, Mark Schneider on bass and Brian West on drum for “I’ll Be Seeing You: Reflecting the women of jazz,” an event featuring songs by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Joni Mitchell 7:30 to 10 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, at The Jazz Station downtown.

UO Fandangueros, a group of students and community members who play and dance to Son Jarocho music, welcomes the Grammy-winning Quetzel, a bilingual activist Chicano rock group from L.A., to host a workshop and jam kicking off at 6 pm Friday, Feb. 26, at The Blair House, 975 W. 5th Ave. Find the “Fandango in Eugene!” Facebook page for more info. Quetzel will also play a concert at 7:30 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, at the UO’s Beall Concert Hall; $12 general, $8 students and seniors. The band will be giving a guest lecture on dance in traditional cultures 2 pm Thursday, Feb. 25, in studio 354 in the UO Gerlinger Annex as well as a public lecture — “Collective Songwriting: Testimonio, Theory and Knowledge Production” — 2 pm Friday, Feb. 26, at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art; both lectures are free.

Ballet Fantastique performs its ballet Dragon and The Night Queen: Celtic Stories Feb. 26-28 at the Hult Center with live music from Eliot Grasso and the Gerry Rempel Ensemble. Visit hultcenter.org for tickets.

The UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts announced that professor John Fenn is a new “U.S. Cultural Agent” for the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture (USDAC). Fenn recently hosted USDAC’s People’s State of the Union series at the UO Many Nations Longhouse to gather people’s stories for a national broadcast that aired Feb. 20. The USDAC encourages Cultural Agents to curate “Imaginings,” or “vibrant, art-infused gatherings in which a community envisions its ideal future and identifies creative tactics to get there.”

Shoryuken League wants you to come “play test” some local and yet-to-be-released video games for “Indie Game Play Test Night” kicking off at 8 pm Friday, Feb. 26: FREE. Local game developers and artist will be at the event to discuss their work.

Feb. 27 is the last Saturday of the month, which means it’s time for Bleepin’ Funny, the monthly stand-up comedy and improv night at Sam Bond’s Garage. The FREE event runs 5 to 7 pm and features some of the best comics in town.

In other campus news, the UO is hosting the “Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon” noon to 5 pm Saturday, March 5, in 200 Lawrence Hall; FREE. The event page states “Wikimedia’s gender trouble is well-documented. In a 2011 survey, the Wikimedia Foundation found that less than 10% of its contributors identify as female. The reasons for the gender gap are up for debate; suggestions include leisure inequality, how gender socialization shapes public comportment and the sometimes-contentious nature of Wikipedia’s talk pages … Content is skewed by the lack of female participation.” The event will be a “communal updating of Wikipedia entries on subjects related to art and feminism.”

The UO LGBTQA3 group is back with its ever-popular annual drag show. “Queerpocalypse” kicks off at 5: 30 pm Sunday, Feb. 21, in the UO EMU Ballroom; $4-$6.

Local “Old Blues” master Walker T. Ryan has announced a series of “master classes” in blues guitar work with remaining dates of March 2 and March 9. “My approach is more like a martial arts class than a western school room.” Ryan writes. “We’ll play a lot.” Contact wtryan@gmail.com.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!