Author: Alex V. Cipolle

Back Beat

Music

“KLCC: Let Living Large Live!” is the cri de coeur of the Change.org petition by the Eugene Musicians Collective (EMC) who are urging KLCC to keep Eric Alan’s show on the air. Word is that come July 1, the station is going to cut the popular Eugene show, which features local and touring musicians, and replace it with national news coverage. EMC is hosting a sidewalk rally outside of KLCC (136 W. 8th Ave.) 11 am to 6 pm Friday, June 14, with music by Satori Bob, Sonic Bent and more. Continue reading →

Back Beat

Music

Nima’s Wish Foundation hosts its annual fundraiser concert SPRING FORWARD June 8-9 at Cozmic; $18-$30 (free for kids 10 and under). The two-day event hosts a smorgasbord of local musicians including headliners Reeble Jar and Sol Seed, Laura Kemp, Phoebe Blume, I-Chele and Zambuco Marimba. Funds go to providing aid for people in Gambia, where Nima Gibba’s father is from. The 11-year-old Gibba tragically passed in a car accident in 2009.   Continue reading →

Summer’s Ghost Towns

Exploring forgotten Oregon

Culture

The first thing we noticed was the quiet. Even the wind seemed muted as it whipped through the tall grass. Five friends had traveled 340 miles east from Eugene to find the ghost town of Whitney, and now we stood at a dirt crossroad, reading a sign with a horse-drawn carriage painted next to a steam engine. “Rails of the Sumpter Valley R. R. reached Whitney Valley June 1, 1901,” we read, squinting in the hot July sun. “At one time 150 people called Whitney their home. When the railway was abandoned in 1947, the town closed down.”  Continue reading →

Hip at Heart

Music

On Nov. 3 1961, Dave Brubeck played at the UO’s McArthur Court for $2.50. Less than a year later, Brubeck joined Tony Bennett for the White House Seminar American Jazz Concert with the Washington Monument as a backdrop. On May 28, 2013, Tony Bennett & Dave Brubeck: The White House Sessions, Live 1962 was released after over a half century forgotten in a vault.  Continue reading →

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

The Black Panthers marched there, Bill Clinton spoke there, the Red Hot Chili Peppers performed there and part of Animal House was filmed there; the UO Erb Memorial Union has a long, star-studded and sometimes controversial history. That history has been captured by UO grad Jonna Threlkeld in the documentary Meet Me at the S.U.: A History of the Erb Memorial Union, which premieres in the EMU Ballroom 6 pm Thursday, June 6 (free). Get to the Fishbowl at 5 pm for five-cent ice cream cones and ten-cent root beer floats.   Continue reading →

Bijou Metro Cinema Opens Downtown

News

After some delays and years of planning, the curtain is rising on the newest theater downtown — the Bijou Metro. Saturday, June 1, the art house cinema will open to the public with screenings of the Japanese anime film From Up On Poppy Hill, The Angels’ Share (a whiskey flick), The Rep (a movie about indie cinemas with an appearance by the Bijou’s owner-booker Ed Schiessl) and a midnight showing of a cult classic (TBD). Continue reading →

Fully Satisfied

Music

Seattle has become a hip-hop factory — or at least hip hop with a PNW twist: Blue Scholars, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Wanz, Common Market, Grieves, Shabazz Palaces. And, like most hip-hop scenes, Seattle is dominated by male artists. Then there’s THEESatisfaction, an R&B-leaning hip-hop duo made up of Stasia “Stas” Iron and Catherine “Cat” Harris-White. Continue reading →

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

A wolf in sheep’s clothing? More like a wolf in a hip T-shirt. Sabrina Jackson, the local printmaker behind graphic tee brand Poppy & Moe, is relaunching her company as Wolf Child, featuring a new line of hand-printed shirts with all sorts of symbology: snakes, crescent moons, skeleton keys and the Eye of Providence. The line will make its Eugene debut at Passion Flower Design on Broadway during the First Friday ArtWalk; look for it at WolfChild.com this summer.   Continue reading →

Back Beat

Music

Kaleidoscope Music Festival has raised the bar for releasing music lineups with a highly produced viral video featuring a woman on a treasure hunt. National acts on the roster include Bassnectar, Los Rakas, Blue Scholars, Afroman, Souls of Mischief, Paper Diamond, Com Truise, gLAdiator and Amp Live. According to OneEleven, the producer-promoters behind the fest, the video was only phase one of the lineup announcements. More musicians will be announced May 30. Continue reading →