We've got issues.
It ain’t just for hippies and trippers no more. In fact, it hasn’t been an exclusively extended drug orgy for a long time (see “Notes of a Fair Virgin” for a hilarious meditation by a non-Fair goer), if it ever was. Continue reading
The endless parade of the Oregon Country Fair An ambient performer To start a fire Continue reading
By July, gardens are burgeoning with flowers and vegetables. They will thrive through the summer only if we pay diligent attention to adequate watering. Digital hose timers are great for extended trips out of town. We also have to deal with combatting weeds and pests. I wrestle with use of poisons. Slug bait offends my organic sensibilities but it seems the only effective way to keep snails away from our hostas and lilies. Continue reading
CAPSTONE 2.0? Regarding the removal of trees and the new apartment building on Orchard and East 15th Avenue, 12 mature trees were removed. Will this be another Capstone project, which is widely regarded to have been a debacle with minimal plantings and inadequate setbacks from the street? Is anyone from the city monitoring this? George Evans, Eugene LOVE NOT WRATH Continue reading
“I started this journey curious about a bizarre sport called competitive endurance tickling,” says New Zealand journalist David Farrier near the conclusion of his strange and upsetting documentary Tickled. “But I now think this was never even about tickling. This is about power, control and harassment. It’s about one person’s twistedness and how far that can go.” Continue reading
Last week I called up my 69-year-old white mum in Minnesota with a special request: Listen to Die Antwoord’s new mixtape Suck On This and let me interview you about it. Die Antwoord would probably top the list of music you shouldn’t listen to with your mother, or vice versa, but, like a boss, my mum accepted the challenge. Continue reading
The Elena Leona Project (ELP) is sizzle, spice and everything nice. Like the lovechild of Lauren Hill and Etta James, this band is funky. ELP started in Eugene and has been performing at local venues for a few years. The band has undergone several makeovers (switching out some band members here and there) since the beginning, but Elena Leona (lead vocals) says, “This feels like the right group.” Continue reading
Kneeling at the altar of The Kinks, The Pixies and Nirvana, Season One!, the debut album from popular Eugene garage-rock trio VCR, has finally arrived. And rest assured, it’s fantastic. The self-produced album, recorded in Portland on analog tape, features Chase Clarke on guitar and vocals, Emily Hurt on bass and Tyler P. Howard on drums. “Outta My Head” is a three-chord blast of pummeling proto-punk ecstasy — a lesson that rock ‘n’ roll is best served recklessly noisy and defiantly tuneful (while staying in-tune remains optional). Continue reading
After 16 years, Boss Hog, a side project of Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, has returned with the Brood Star EP, a self-described amuse-bouche to the band’s forthcoming full-length album Brood X. Boss Hog frontwoman, and longtime partner to Spencer, Cristina Martinez tells EW that after so many years, the time had come to release new material. “We have never stopped playing together,” Martinez says. “Eventually, we had accumulated so much stuff it seemed stupid to not put them on a record.” Continue reading
While the furor over the proposed sale of Kesey Square has died down, those who love public spaces have not forgotten that the corner of Broadway and Willamette Street is not officially safe from future development. A group, Friends of Kesey Square (FOKS), has formed in order to keep Kesey Square firmly in the public domain and to revitalize its use as a downtown space. Continue reading