Arts Hound

All aboard the EmX art line! LTD, while currently in the budget process, is looking at proposals for art to be installed along the new EmX line to West Eugene. “The delightful news is that these are all artists local to the Eugene-Springfield area,” says Lisa VanWinkle, communication coordinator for West Eugene EmX. “The art will be functional to the station platforms.” Each station on the new EmX strip will have at least one art feature. Continue reading 

In case you missed The Band of Heathens last night

Oh, wait, I KNOW you missed The Band of Heathens last night because it was pretty much just me and 20 other people at the WOW Hall on a Tuesday night. You missed a great show and the Heathen's new Tom Petty-esqu song "Carry Your Love," which debuted on Texas Monthly yesterday a couple hours before the Eugene performance. Click the image to listen: Continue reading 

Mare Wakefield in Eugene Saturday

Former Eugenean Mare Wakefield and her husband, Nomad, are back in town this weekend and will be performing at 7 pm Saturday, Sept. 15, Out On a Limb Gallery, 191 E. Broadway. Mare and Nomad have a new video out, recorded in their studio in Nashville. Find more videos, including some from their earlier tours through Eugene, on YouTube. Continue reading 

Swan Song

Swan Sovereign

Featuring members of the popular, now-defunct Portland group Dirty Martini, Swan Sovereign plays taut, guitar-based indie pop, mixing ’60s girl-group harmonies with the sound of ’90s-era rock bands like Throwing Muses, Belly and The Breeders.  Continue reading 

Living for Art

McWhorter in I Live for Ar by Yachats-based filmmakers Renee Slade and Ri Stewart.

Brian McWhorter is by any measure one of Eugene’s most creative artists. Before returning to town to take a faculty position at the University of Oregon, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, the trumpeter/composer/improviser earned acclaim as a member of New York’s Meridian Arts Ensemble, making guest appearances with orchestras and ensembles around the country.  Continue reading 

Carrying On

It’s hard to believe that the band that helped to give voice to the fertile musical ground of Laurel Canyon, California, in the late ’60s is still going strong. There must have been something in the water back then.  Continue reading 

The Spin

While you’ve been getting ahead of that bumper crop of zucchinis, local dance-makers have been busy building new pieces to perform this month. Check out Dance in Dialogue (D.i.D.), a “salon-style community performance series” initiated by choreographers Margo Van Ummersen, Shannon Mockli and Carolina Cabellero that invites the audience to provide precious feedback to artists on new and emerging works. A thoughtful approach to two problems facing any performing artist — securing a venue and finding an audience — D.i.D. Continue reading 

Glasgow Girl

Let’s keep the movies about female musicians, shall we? Yes to 20 Feet from Stardom; yes to Begin Again; a hearty punk-rock yowl of approval to We Are the Best! And a quieter, more introspective yes to God Help the Girl, a whimsical, fey, intimate movie about music, friendship and moving forward.  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Postcard from Burning Man: In the Aug. 21 issue, EW covered the “Lost Nomads of Vulcania” — a steampunk steam walker created by Eugenean Joe Mross and his team of 20 for the Nevada art festival.  Despite rains on the Black Rock playa that shut down the fest the first day, the steam walker made it to Burning Man and back with much fanfare. “There was a lot of people who said it was one of their favorite pieces out there, so that was really cool,” Mross tells EW. “It was fairly challenging to put up. Continue reading