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Alex V. Cipolle, aka Alexandra Cipolle, was Eugene Weekly's arts editor from 2012 until 2017. She formerly wrote as Alex Notman.
Eugene experienced a devastating loss in the music community this month: Bill Finneran, beloved founder of the Eugene Record Convention (the largest in the PNW), passed away from cancer Oct. 1 at the age of 62. EW last caught up with Finneran in February before the convention’s 25th anniversary when he expressed his eternal love of vinyl. Friend Marc Time, who calls Finneran “a shining light,” says the future of the convention is unsure at this time. Continue reading
In between the breakout 2012 album Look Out Mama and an upcoming release, the New Orleans-based Hurray for the Riff Raff took a nice, long pit stop in covers country. My Dearest Darkest Neighbor (2013), a beautiful and mellow collection, hosts songs by a motley crew of musicians: Lead Belly, Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday and George Harrison to name a few. Continue reading
Boobs. That’s what men on the street stopped to talk to Kari Johnson about when she was painting the “4th and Monroe” mural. What’s wrong with her boobs? Hey, she’s missing a boob! They would holler. The year was 1991, and Johnson was painting her first Eugene mural on a residential building in the Whit, featuring, at its focal point, a nude elder who has undergone a mastectomy. Continue reading
For one weekend, the Hult Center will be transformed into Never Never Land. Channel your inner child (or fairy or pirate) because Eugene Ballet Company is performing Peter Pan, with choreography by Bruce Steivel, 7:30 pm Oct. 5 and 2 pm Oct. 6. Want to feel like an insider and not a “lost boy?” EBC Director Toni Pimble will give a Ballet Insider talk 45 minutes before each performance in The Studio of Hult’s lower level. Continue reading
On Oct. 5 The Majestic Theatre in Corvallis will host one of America’s best contemporary singer-songwriters: Dar Williams. Touring for her 2012 Greek mythology-inspired album, aptly named In The Time Of Gods, Williams mines the stories of our Mount Olympus ancestors for triumphs and tragedies that parallel our own modern-day plight. Continue reading
“I like to paint a picture of a modern woman who’s sexual and who can do the same things as a man,” Sallie Ford tells me over the phone. Sift through her lyrics, her throaty rock vocals or the imagery in her band’s music videos, and it becomes clear that Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside is not just paying lip service. Continue reading
Holy pumpkins! It’s time for Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (known to most as Ginuwine). The Soul Train Music Award-winning artist brings his R&B “Pony” express — Grammy Award-winning songwriter Eric Bellinger and David Verity — with him to the Hult 7 pm Friday, Sept. 27. Part of the proceeds goes to Eugene’s own Housing Our Veterans, a transitional program to support veterans. Continue reading
Who doesn’t want to be a National Geographic photographer when they grow up? The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art brings the legendary publications’ images back into the spotlight starting Sept. 28 with National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West exhibit. Rub shoulders with longtime Nat Geo photographer Sam Abell (he was last at the Schnitz for his exhibition Amazonia in 2010) at the free public reception 6 pm Friday, Sept. Continue reading
Only a fool will tell you how to experience art. But in the interest of EW’s inaugural visual arts issue, Arts Hound, I’m willing to play the fool. You see, in the past year as arts editor, I have encountered a widespread epidemic in Eugene: artphobia. “I just don’t get art,” people tell me, avoiding galleries, museums, art walks like the plague for fear of being, or being seen as, out of their element. Continue reading
At 80 years old, the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is one of the hippest places to see art in the city. But it’s also a cavernous place with nooks and crannies rotating thousands of pieces that can overwhelm the senses. So, where to start? Here, we asked five curators at the JSMA to pick their favorite pieces currently on view and tell us why the works are special. Continue reading