Tune in, Turn On, Drop Out
As a young man, Chris Robinson experienced overnight success with his band The Black Crowes. The Crowes had a major hit in the late ’80s … 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
Barno’s Backyard Ballroom Presents
Many of us played in bands as teenagers. Far fewer collaborated with The Dead Milkmen, got noticed by Dr. Demento or opened for Tommy Stinson … Continue reading
The Great Glaspy
Back in my CD-slinging days (remember CDs?) a new release would arrive pre-stickered “For fans of,” a bald-faced marketing ploy to hitch a new artist … Continue reading
Mean & Melodic
Music writers constantly pester bands with the very question many musicians struggle to answer: “Tell me, in words, what your band sounds like.” Nevertheless, King … Continue reading
(Laugh)TrackTown, USA
Eugene comics build local scene with open mics and showcases
As a kid, Eugene-based stand-up comedian Seth Milstein watched Saturday Night Live religiously. “I thought it was the greatest,” Milstein recalls of NBC’s long-running sketch … Continue reading
Bedroom Sounds to Nameless Ghouls
Marissa Nadler performs with Swedish glam-goth band Ghost BC
There’s a ghost-like quality to Marissa Nadler’s 2016 release Bury Your Name that’s perfect for fall and winter in Eugene. Throughout the record, the strings … Continue reading
The Irish Problem
Very Little Theatre comes up historically short with ambitious production of Juno and the Paycock
Although I’m aware that conflicts of one kind or another have rocked Ireland for centuries, my knowledge of early 20th-century Irish history is admittedly, and … Continue reading
Forging the Divide
Xylouris White is the sound of two people making music in a room. Person number one is Jim White of well-known Australian experimental rock trio Dirty Three. Person two is George Xylouris, one of Crete’s most beloved musicians, on vocals and lute. The result, evidenced on “Forging” from the duo’s 2016 release Black Peak, is something akin to punk, but also deeply rooted in the folk tradition of Xylouris’ native Crete. And like many folk traditions, there’s formalism but also creative naiveté — celebration, mourning and catharsis. Continue reading
Take it Easy
The Head and the Heart
There’s a song called “City of Angels” from The Head and The Heart’s third release, Signs of Light, and the album’s cover image shows the band lounging around a pool on a sunny afternoon. All this seems to signal a shift for the Seattle musicians away from the delicate, cloudy indie-folk sound they came up under — the same sound popularized by contemporaries like Blitzen Trapper, Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. Continue reading
Fortunate Souls
Popular Eugene band Fortune’s Folly recently won Hi-Fi Music Hall’s Sun-Sets Summer Concert Series. The prize: recording time at local studio Track Town Records. Fortune’s Folly front-person Calysta Rupert-Anderson credits her fans for the victory. “We weren’t expecting to win,” she says. “Before the show we started promoting it more, and we just had an overwhelming positive response from people.” Continue reading