Hot Swing Hotties
Whiteaker Hot Club bridges 1920s jazz to the 2020s
Of all the different styles of jazz, the most inviting are hot swing and gypsy jazz, says Dan Mahoney, guitarist with Eugene-based early jazz dance … Continue reading
William Kennedy
Will Kennedy is a freelance writer and a senior music writer with Eugene Weekly. He lives in Eugene with his wife, daughter and two cats. All of whom politely accommodate his obsessions with Doctor Who and The Smiths.
Author: William Kennedy
A Family Tradition
Country music gives local unhoused man a second chance
I was walking south on Willamette Street a few weeks before Christmas when a man’s singing voice caught my attention near Kesey Plaza. The line “It’s … Continue reading
Kamikaze Kid
Meow Meow brings post-post-modern cabaret to the Hult Center
I arrange a lot of phone calls with musicians. Sometimes it’s easier than others — I need to reschedule, they need to reschedule, or someone oversleeps … Continue reading
Pop Music Dreams
To this year in local music, EW music writer Will Kennedy says, ‘Ok, boomer’
2019 saw Garth Brooks sell out Autzen Stadium and the Oregon Country Fair celebrate its 50th birthday with a music lineup appropriate for the occasion, including … Continue reading
The Allman Sisters
Ashleigh Flynn’s new project breaks musical glass ceiling
Longtime Portland singer-songwriter Ashleigh Flynn says there’s a glass ceiling for women in music. She wants her new band, The Riveters, to break it. “I … Continue reading
Sunnyside Up
Long-running L.A. rock band Silversun Pickups return to Eugene
Silversun Pickups go all out for the holidays. “We’re traditionalists,” drummer Christopher Guanlao tells me over the phone from Richmond, Virginia. SSPU is wrapping up … Continue reading
Worldwide Blues
Kiran Ahluwalia blends desert blues with the traditional music of India at Tsunami Books
The earliest musical memories of Indian-born, New York-based musician Kiran Ahluwalia involve Mother Goose, Sikh spirituals and sheep’s blood. As a girl, Ahluwalia lived for … Continue reading
First of His Name
CharlestheFirst brings a sound that’s digital in nature to the WOW Hall
Lake Tahoe-based musician Charles Elias Ingalls, performing as CharlestheFirst, draws inspiration from what might seem like a contradictory place for an electronic musician: the natural … Continue reading
Big Papa
Hip-hop legend — and father of Oregon Ducks running back — performs in Eugene
Many University of Oregon students head home for the Thanksgiving holiday. Some, though, stick around town, waiting for their families to come to them. One … Continue reading
‘Hi, How Are You?’
Eugene musicians pay tribute to the music of Daniel Johnston
Like a lot of people, Eugene musician Sarah Boehm discovered Daniel Johnston via the The Devil and Daniel Johnston, a 2005 documentary about the Austin … Continue reading