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Intellectual though he was, writer H.L. Mencken positively came undone, his friend Anita Loos observed, under the beguiling spell of some … blonde. Continue reading
Ellie Greenwich is the boss. A master songwriter, Greenwich had a hand in composing buckets of Top 40 hits, such as “Chapel of Love,” “Hanky Panky,” “Da Doo Ron Ron” and other baby-boomer jams. Continue reading
Eugene Ballet Company hosts the Sept. 7 “Ballet, Beer & Barre-BQ Bash,” a benefit with barbecue, refreshments, outdoor games (including a pointe shoe toss), dance performances and new company members Brian Ruiz, Jun Tanabe and Kaori Fukui introducing the 2014-2015 season, which kicks off with Cinderella, joined by OrchestraNEXT, Oct 25-26 at the Hult. Contact Karen Warner, 485-3992, or karen@eugeneballet.org for tickets. Continue reading
John Carney’s Once (2007) was a lovely, intimate film, the story of two musicians whose romance played out artistically. Once is now a Broadway powerhouse, made a little tidier but no less affecting, and Carney is back with a movie that’s almost Once again: two drifting, lovelorn souls brought together through musical collaboration. Continue reading
There’s something about Warpaint’s double music video for “Disco//Very” and “Keep it Healthy” that rings of the 1996 alt-witch flick The Craft. Perhaps it’s four badasses walking towards the camera, or Theresa Wayman’s and Emily Kokal’s ode to ’90s fashion wearing a plaid mini skirt over jeans and a Chicago Bulls T-shirt respectively. Continue reading
Tuscon, Arizona, duo Sweet Ghosts took their name from a poem by Jack Gilbert: “Again and again we put our sweet ghosts on small paper boats and sailed them back into their death …” And listening to Sweet Ghosts’ latest release Certain Truths, it is easy to imagine “sweet ghosts on small paper boats.” The album is melancholy and acoustic with the pitch and drift of a boat on water. Continue reading
Alongside Neil Young and Bob Dylan, Tom Petty has one of the most distinctive voices in rock music. And when you have a distinctive voice, it gets spoofed a lot by comedians. So I ask Mike Campbell, longtime lead guitarist with Petty’s band The Heartbreakers, which comedian does the best Petty impersonation? After giving it some thought, Campbell laughs. “Ask Jimmy Fallon, he’ll give you a good answer,” Campbell says. Continue reading
A major attraction of the Oregon Festival of American Music’s two-year exploration of the so-called American songbook in Hollywood is rediscovering the original incarnations of stories most of us remember only from the later movies they inspired. The 1949 Jule Styne-Leo Robin musical, based on Anita Loos’ theatrical adaptation of her Jazz-Age comic novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (running Aug. 1-10), is perhaps best known from the 1953 film, which helped make stars out of pneumatic gal-pal leads Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. Continue reading
Miranda Lambert is one of country music’s top female artists, but she has a gutsy-ness and grittiness that many women in country lack. She’s got sass and strength as well as suffering and insecurities, and isn’t afraid to reveal any of it in her lyrics. Lambert, who is performing at Sweet Home’s Oregon Jamboree, just released her fifth album, Platinum. She also just turned 30, and along with that milestone came self-scrutiny and pangs of aging. Continue reading
A new fashion duo is taking the reins of the Whiteaker Block Party Fashion Show this year and they’ve got some tricks up their secondhand sleeves. Briah Izreal and Oblio Stroyman, new owners of the Whit boutique Redoux Parlour, will host a resale runway show with the help of St. Vinnie’s Creative Projects Manager Mitra Chester at 9 pm Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Cornerstone Glass Stage (1068 W. 2nd Ave.) preceded by a performance from the darkwave ensemble Black Magdalene. “We’re not working with designers this year,” Izreal says. Continue reading