Year: 2016

Letters to the Editor: 4-7-2016

Letters

VOTE FOR LIVABILITY I’ve lived in Eugene almost five years and one of the things I love best about this place is the one- and two-story homey feel of this friendly small town. I intend to stay.  Unfortunately, powers-that-be are working to turn our downtown into Portland’s Pearl District. Yuck! Every time I turn around, City Council has said OK to another eight to 10 or 12 story apartment building close to or inside downtown. Save Kesey Square. The South Willamette scheme is a whole other discussion. Continue reading →

The Midas Touch

Film

Jonathan Gold is the first and only food critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. Let that marinate for a moment.  Then disabuse yourself of any notions of what a food critic of that caliber might be like — perhaps an uptight gourmand enamored with his own palette or some self-important foodie.  Gold is none of that, so it’s no wonder filmmaker Laura Gabbert chose to wrap a film around the writer and the myriad flavors of his beloved hometown Los Angeles. He has a penchant for suspenders, wrinkled shirts and his green pickup. Continue reading →

Back Beat

Music

On April 9, Old Nick’s celebrates its one-year anniversary. Over the past 12 months, the Whiteaker rock club across from Washington Jefferson Skatepark has upped Eugene’s punk, metal and hardcore game. “We would like to thank all of the local bands, DJs, comics and burlesque performers in the Eugene scene for supporting Old Nick’s with your amazing talent,” says Tim Kinney, Old Nick’s booker and co-owner. “We will continue to bring in great music and keep Eugene rocking.” Continue reading →

Coldest White Rapper

G-Eazy talks to EW about being poor, being rich and being white in the rap game

Music
G-Eazy

G-Eazy is such a big deal that iconic rapper Lil Wayne remixed a song from his new album last week and NBA superstar Kobe Bryant greeted him at a recent Lakers game. On Billboard’s website, Nielsen Music charts hip-hop and R&B songs using a metric that calculates radio airplay, streaming and music sales. Each week since Feb. 20, G-Eazy’s “Me, Myself & I” ranked higher than any other rap song save Drake’s “Summer 16” and Rihanna’s “Work” (which also features Drake). Continue reading →

Alt-Rock Double Bill

The sensual rock tunes of Cape Cod’s Highly Suspect and Luz Elena Mendoza

Music
Highly Suspect

Get ready to feel some serious butterflies from the sensual rock tunes of Cape Cod’s Highly Suspect and Luz Elena Mendoza (of Y La Bamba) coming to WOW Hall April 9.  Mendoza has a wispy, sultry voice that will woo you into a trance. She’s also very Portland alt-rock. Her songs are stories that build by layering vocals with sometimes whimsical, sometimes dark, melodies. Now on her third album with Y La Bamba, Ojos Del Sol, Mendoza has a sound that is easy to swallow but at any given moment could send chills down your neck.  Continue reading →

County Looks at Spraying Roadsides with Herbicides

News

Lane County is considering changes to its longtime ban on spraying roadsides with chemicals.  The Lane County Vegetation Task Force proposes changing from the current “Roadside Vegetation Management and Last Resort Herbicide Use Policy” to the “Roadside Integrated Vegetation Management Plan” that takes into account using a limited amount of chemicals to control vegetation. Continue reading →

‘Listen To Her’ Tour to Visit Eugene

Emily Evans, executive director of Women's Foundation of Oregon

News
Emily Evans, executive director of Women's Foundation of Oregon

On April 16, the Portland-based Women’s Foundation of Oregon will arrive in Eugene to listen to local women and girls as part of a statewide tour. The “Listen to Her” tour gives women all around Oregon a chance to share their concerns about pressing issues that affect their lives, including pay equity and living wage jobs, childcare and domestic violence.  The stories shared on April 16 will be recorded, with permission from participants, and outlined in a Women’s Foundation of Oregon report that will name issues important to female Oregonians.  Continue reading →

Presidential Primary Election Questions

News

In the aftermath of the Arizona primary election fiasco, with voters waiting in long lines and ballots getting thrown out, Lane County voters are wondering how they can make sure their ballots get counted. Concerned area residents have contacted EW saying their voter affiliation is incorrect and that they had registered as Democrats but recently received a notice from the Oregon Secretary of State Elections Division saying they were unaffiliated. Continue reading →

Stephen Wooten

I started my study of anthropology at home

Happening People
Stephen Wooten

“I started my study of anthropology at home,” says Stephen Wooten, the youngest of nine children in an Irish Catholic family in Weymouth, Massachusetts. “My dad was on the police force. He was a beat cop, on his feet, building relationships with people.” Wooten continued his study at UMass Amherst and got his masters and Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Illinois. He’s been a professor at the UO since 2001.  Continue reading →

Slant 4-7-2016

Slant

• A local politico raises the old question of the city of Eugene buying the EWEB building on the river for the new Eugene City Hall instead of proceeding with the itty-bitty city hall on the former site with all its problems of money, space, seismic safety and so on. Back in the day Councilor Mike Clark (now mayoral candidate) favored buying the EWEB building. Continue reading →