Arts: Page 285

Springy Sounds

From the Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble to Nellie McKay, the city is full of voices this May

Music
Nellie McKay

Thanks to what’s called the Little Ice Age, Europe could be a chilly place during the 16th through 18th centuries, all the more reason to seek solace in warm music and celebrate spring’s advent. At 7:30 pm Saturday, May 9, at Central Lutheran Church (1857 Potter St.), the Eugene vocal ensemble Vox Resonat sings springy tunes about dancing and loving composed by Thomas Weelkes, Jacques Arcadelt, Nicolas Gombert and other Renaissance masters. Continue reading →

Reckoning with the Past

History professor Christian Appy looks at how the Vietnam War shaped us in 2015’s

Books
Christian Appy. Photo: Ian-Kaye

When we heard Christian Appy talk about his new book at a Morse Center event on the UO campus last month, we knew American Reckoning was a must read for more understanding of the “Vietnam War and Our National Identity,” as he subtitles it. Appy is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the author of two previous books on the Vietnam War. Continue reading →

Pacific Trimmings

Film

Festival season is upon us. No, nix that. In 2015, festival season is always upon us. Seemingly every cultural niche carves out at least four days to celebrate its existence with exorbitant ticket prices, overpriced beer, flower crowns and Honey Buckets. The ever-looping circuit has led to a new phenomenon: festival fatigue.  Sometimes, it’s just easier and cheaper to stay home.  Continue reading →

Four Dead in Ohio

Film

On May 4, 1970, the Ohio governor called a regiment of the National Guard onto the campus of Kent State University. The troops then opened fire on a crowd of unarmed civilians — mostly students protesters — killing four and injuring nine more, including one man who was paralyzed for life. It bears repeating: U.S. troops fired 67 rounds into a crowd of U.S. citizens exercising their right to peaceably assemble. Continue reading →

Acoustic Electronica

Dan Deacon

Music
Dan Deacon

Baltimore electronic composer Dan Deacon is shaping up to be far more than the avant-garde party-guy flavor of the week he seemed destined to be when he smashed onto college-radio charts with 2007’s Spiderman of the Rings. Fast-forward five years to the critically acclaimed and orchestrally driven America, and Deacon seemed poised to become some kind of indie-electronica Philip Glass. Enter 2015’s Gliss Riffer. Continue reading →

Punk’s Light and Dark

The Ghost Ease The

Music
The Ghost Ease The

Pacific Northwest post-punk trio The Ghost Ease rides a fine line between raw, quiet-loud-quiet indie rock and brooding darkwave.  “I find dark-edged music to be emotionally charged, alive and very real to the human experience,” says Jem Marie, vocalist, guitarist and bandleader.  Marie’s voice is gentle, and her sound hints of the Deal sisters’ crisp and brittle guitar work and percussion that is equal parts restrained and electric. Continue reading →

The Restless and the Young

Film

If 2013’s Frances Ha seemed a little nicer than writer-director Noah Baumbach’s usual fare — fewer pointed observations, more gentleness toward his characters, no matter how self-deluded — While We’re Young is a trip back to slightly rougher territory (though not quite as rough as Greenberg). Sly and self-aware, Baumbach is a deeply fair storyteller, giving his characters room to hang themselves and room to get their shit together all at once.  Continue reading →