Jonny Fritz & Joshua Hedley – Chevy Beretta
Video Session live in the EW office
Jonny Fritz & Joshua Hedley – Chevy Beretta | Seen and Heard from traskblueribbon on Vimeo. Continue reading
Arts: Page 360
Photos: Michael Franti live at McDonald Theatre [10.8.13]
The Gravity of the Situation
Every once in a while, we are allowed the laughter of the gods. It is a pure laughter, sprung from joy rather than bitterness or irony. It is not schadenfreude. It has no victim. Rather, such laughter revels in creation the way a child revels in play — with pure mind and a freedom beyond the shackles of doubt. It is a thankful laughter, a barometer registering sheer gratitude. Continue reading
Back Beat
Eugene experienced a devastating loss in the music community this month: Bill Finneran, beloved founder of the Eugene Record Convention (the largest in the PNW), passed away from cancer Oct. 1 at the age of 62. EW last caught up with Finneran in February before the convention’s 25th anniversary when he expressed his eternal love of vinyl. Friend Marc Time, who calls Finneran “a shining light,” says the future of the convention is unsure at this time. Continue reading
Caving In
Consider for a moment the acoustics of a cave: vast and echoing but also claustrophobic and airless — a small drip of water reverberating to the ceiling and from the walls. Now, consider the acoustics of the band Cave and you have the latter. The Chicago-based, frequently instrumental group is celebrating the release of Threace, out Oct. 15 on uber-hip record label Drag City. Continue reading
Radiant Riff Raff
In between the breakout 2012 album Look Out Mama and an upcoming release, the New Orleans-based Hurray for the Riff Raff took a nice, long pit stop in covers country. My Dearest Darkest Neighbor (2013), a beautiful and mellow collection, hosts songs by a motley crew of musicians: Lead Belly, Joni Mitchell, Billie Holiday and George Harrison to name a few. Continue reading
Langhorne’s Law
Veteran songwriter Sean Scolnick, aka Langhorne Slim, says people are looking to get messy. “People want to dance,” he says. “People want to be freaks.” The Nashville-based musician feels this goes a long way to explain the recent chart-topping revival of “roots” music like The Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. “People want to strip things back,” Slim concludes. Continue reading
Classical is Back
Composer Steven Mackey was honored by the commission to write a new work for his longtime collaborators, the celebrated Brentano Quartet, but daunted by the subject matter: a quartet that commemorated one of the most tragic days in American history, the assassination of President John Kennedy half a century ago. How could he write music that was true to what happened that terrible day, without reproducing its ugliness and thereby distressing listeners? What could instrumental music add to our understanding of, or feeling about, that dark day in Dallas? Continue reading
Cottage Theatre’s Flying Circus
Tony Rust taps into Monty Python’s absurdist, ramshackle spirit
The Knights Who Say “Ni.” The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog and the Gorge of Eternal Peril. A three-headed giant, a sorcerer named Tim and that petulant French sentry who threatens to “fart in your general direction” before vowing to “taunt you a second time.” Continue reading
Arts Hound
OSU’s 5th annual International Film Festival runs Oct. 14-20 at the Darkside Cinema in Corvallis. There’s pretty much something for everyone, from Student, a Crime and Punishment adaptation from Kazakhstan, to Parada, a Serbian comedy about a “crime boss who recruits his war buddies to provide protection for a gay pride march.” For show times, see http://wkly.ws/1ky. Continue reading