Year: 2016

Bach In the Thick of It

James MacMillan’s big choral orchestral work premiere

Music
Monica Huggett

When the Oregon Bach Festival commissioned what turned out to be his European Requiem back in 2012, James MacMillan couldn’t have known how prophetic that title might have turned out to be. The 57-year-old Scottish composer’s big choral orchestral work premieres July 2 at the Hult Center — just more than a week after his compatriots voted to withdraw the United Kingdom from the European Union, a move that might in turn provoke MacMillan’s homeland to seek independence from the U.K. Continue reading →

Ghosting

A brand new Eugene band

Music
Ghost Tour

A brand new Eugene band, Ghost Tour, debuts Saturday, July 2, at Hi-Fi Music Hall’s Lounge. Ghost Tour features several familiar faces for Eugene music fans, such as Olive DelSol (Bohemian Dub Orchestra) on keyboards and vocals, and Michael Steinkirchner (Caitlin Jemma & The Goodness) on lead guitar.  Continue reading →

American Scandal

A combination of thrift-store hats, old-timey folk and Southern blues

Music
Hot Damn Scandal

If toe-tapping and swingin’ beats with eerie, Romanian undertones are your thing, check out Hot Damn Scandal.  The band is a combination of thrift-store hats, old-timey folk and Southern blues — washboard and saw included. In 2008, the founders loosely came together in an alternative drum circle at the Rainbow Gathering. After a few members came and went, six ramblin’ folks officially became Hot Damn Scandal. Now, whiskey and heartbreak seem to fuel Hot Damn’s good ol’ drunk-in-love Southern sound.  Continue reading →

Severely Mentally Ill Not Getting More Help Under New Law

Cahoots provides immediate assistance but cannot hold mentally ill clients

News
Cahoots provides immediate assistance but cannot hold mentally ill clients

Crisis workers in Eugene say they are still seeing repeat cases of severely mentally ill people being discharged back to the community by the jail and PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center University District’s emergency room, despite a 2015 Oregon bill that changed the language describing how people can be committed to a state mental institution. That’s because House Bill 3347 didn’t really usher in any new legislation, according to Andrea Williams, one of two civil commitment investigators for Lane County Behavioral Health Services. Continue reading →

Cash-strapped School Districts to Pay for Lead Testing

News

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say “there is no known safe level of lead in a child’s blood.” Effects of lead poisoning include developmental delays, memory loss and brain damage. The discovery of lead in drinking water in Portland public schools so soon after the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan, ignited alarm in schools across the state of Oregon, including those in Lane County.  Continue reading →

Women Who Care For The Community

News

Wendy Wheeler-Coltrane first had the idea to form a local philanthropy group five years ago. A busy schedule and lack of contacts held her back until last year, when Wheeler-Coltrane and Jean Lee began working to found the Eugene-Springfield chapter of 100+ Women Who Care (100+WWC), a group of women who donate to local charities that provide a service for the community.  Continue reading →

Pollution Update 6-30-16

Pollution Update

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on May 27 sent a warning letter to Jason and Rachel Shannon of Veneta for illegally discharging sewage to the ground at their property on East Bolton Road in Veneta. DEQ’s letter requested that the Shannons take steps to prevent additional illegal discharges, cordon off the affected area “to prevent human and animal contact,” and disinfect the affected area. Continue reading →

Skip Jones

I lied and said I could play bass

Happening People
Skip Jones

Ever since 1999, when the Rooster Man, aka Gavin Fox, long-time host of KLCC’s Saturday afternoon Blues Power program, was struck down by ALS, Skip Jones has kept the weekly Rooster’s Blues Jam alive. “Rooster hired me to be the house drummer in 1990,” says Jones, a regular at the Monday night jams at Taylor’s Bar. After years of hopscotching from club to club, the jam has enjoyed a stable venue for the past six years, Tuesday nights at Mac’s at the Vet’s Club, 1626 Willamette Street. Admission is free.  Continue reading →

The Label Makers

Oakshire and Ninkasi celebrate 10 years in brewing with rejuvenated design

Drink
Oakshire Designer Eric Keskeys with new designs

In his office at Oakshire Brewing, Eric Keskeys flips through a weathered paperback revealing hundreds of ancient shapes and patterns. The room is dark, save for the glow from his dual computer screens, where working templates of beer labels have been put on pause.  He stops on a page to point out some trefoils in what he calls a design bible — the Handbook of Designs and Devices: 1836 Basic Designs and Their Variations, originally printed in 1946. Continue reading →