Lone Elk Sighting

Paul Basile

Paul Basile, singer and primary songwriter of New York-based indie rockers Great Elk, is spending the winter playing solo shows. Great Elk’s 2012 release Autogeography is a sweeping, tuneful and epic work of American indie music. There’s a little Death Cab For Cutie-style romantic sadness in the soaring chorus of “The Weight Of The Sea,” and in the refrain from the song “Give Up,” Basile sings, “Let’s give up trying to be magnificent.”  Continue reading 

Grog and Toad

Toad in the Hole, photo by Slainte Photography

If you’re looking for the life of the party, look no further than Celtic folk-punk outfit Toad in the Hole. And since EW last caught up with them in January, they’ve brought some new partiers to the scene. New Toaders are Tiffany Holliday on fiddle and Chris Leland on guitar (both formerly of electric Irish punk-rock band ManOverBoard), as well as Graeme Pletscher on tin whistle (of Sol Seed sax fame). Meanwhile, veteran Toader and bodhran player Joel Kenney is on indefinite hiatus because of a study abroad stint in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

World-famous photographer Imogen Cunningham bought her first camera at the age of 18. This wouldn’t be especially special except that the year was 1901 and women in photography were a rarity. Renowned for her unique, black-and-white botanical compositions and portraits, the late Portland-born photographer’s work is now on display at Springfield’s Emerald Art Center through Dec. 28. EAC called the exhibit its “ultimate coup of the year,” but that’s only half true; it’s a cultural gift for the whole community.   Continue reading 

Winter Reading Top Ten

UO Duck Store Literary Duck Top Ten Here are the books that are hot, many by local and faculty authors, at the UO’s Literary Duck bookstore. 1. ** Counterclockwise: My year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, And Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging By Lauren Kessler. Rodale Press, $24.99. UO faculty author Lauren Kessler sets off on a personal odyssey, exploring and discovering what it means to get old in our youth-obsessed society.   Continue reading 

Undead WYMPROV!

“The four of us are kind of like sisters,” Vicki Silvers tells me over coffee pre-snowstorm at Noisette Pastry Kitchen, with her other “sister” Debbie Martin in tow. She’s speaking of the four women who make up WYMPROV!, a pioneering comedy improv group whose legacy in Eugene dates back more than two decades to its “Debut and Farewell” show at Agate Hall. Martin nods, adding that the foursome is supportive of each other on stage and off, getting together for frequent dinners and continuing “to get together and play.” Continue reading 

A Blank Screen

Tom Blank is on a mission.   A Navy veteran and retired director who served his career in television, Blank and his wife moved in 2005 from Hollywood to Eugene, where he immediately took up the cause of advocating for movies as cultural and spiritual artifacts.   Continue reading