Back Beat

If you strolled downtown last weekend you may have caught a glimpse of new lights on Broadway: The Jazz Station revealed its new double-sided neon sign pairing the venue’s name with a saxophone. The sign helps highlight the West Broadway block as the arts and nightlife anchor its becoming with neighbors Oregon Contemporary Theatre (which also has some great neon signage), The New Zone Gallery, The Wayward Lamb and Nephos Vape Werks. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Local actor Kasey Brown plays a skinhead drummer for a band called Cowcatcher in the upcoming grisly feature film Green Room, which pits a punk rock band against white supremacists in the wake of a murder. The horror flick was filmed in Portland in 2014 with actors Patrick Stewart, Alia Shawkat (best known as Maeby Fünke in Arrested Development) and Anton Yelchin (who starred in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek). Continue reading 

Scott Landfield

The anti-establishment candidate

Scott Landfield speaks out to save Kesey Square at a Jan. 25 City Council public forum

If Scott Landfield, owner of Tsunami Books, is elected mayor of Eugene come November, what will be the top item on his agenda? “The first thing I’ll do is demand a recount,” Landfield tells EW. He’s only half-joking.  In an election year when it’s become trendy, nationwide, for candidates to puff out their chests and claim to be the anti-establishment choice, this designation seems to actually ring true for Landfield. Continue reading 

Back Beat

The crunchy, poppy garage rock of The Googins — which combines the power-chord bash of The Who with the sing-a-long stomp of the Ramones and the Sex Pistols — might be one of the best-kept secrets of Eugene’s music scene, but nobody likes secrets, so you can catch The Googins at Old Nick’s 9 pm Friday, March 18, when they play with Fools Rush, Cuntagious and Rum Rebellion; $5-$10 sliding scale.  Continue reading 

How Accessible is Kesey Square?

The fate of Kesey Square still hangs in the balance. Will Eugene City Council members vote to develop it or won’t they? Will they improve it for the public to use or leave it without management? Meanwhile, community members have expressed interest in hosting events at the city square also known as Broadway Plaza, which was deeded to the public “forever” by the Eugene Urban Renewal Agency in 1971.  Continue reading 

Back Beat

Now that Eugene has recovered from our “was-he-or-wasn’t-he-really-here” Justin Bieber fever (Bieber-fieber, if you will), it’s time look ahead at the upcoming week in live music. But first some show announcements: Continue reading 

Back Beat

While the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival is only in its third year in Eugene, it’s part of a 34-year-old tradition that “began in 1982 as a tribute to one of Hawaii’s iconic and most celebrated slack key musicians, Gabby ‘Pops’ Pahinui, considered the ‘Modern Day Godfather’ of Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar.” The one-day fest kicks off 7:30 pm Friday, March 4, in the Hult Center’s Soreng Theater. For newbies, slack-key guitar is a fingerstyle type of guitar music that became popular in Hawaii in the 1960s. Continue reading