Arts: Page 225

The Good, the Bad and the Noodly

Two music writers sound off on the legacy of James Taylor

Music
James Taylor

Sweet Baby James If storied careers are your bag, you’re already a James Taylor fan. When the single “Fire and Rain” dropped in 1970, it is possible that nobody understood what the Boston-born singer-songwriter and multi-platinum artist was alluding to. After all, a human who writes his first song at 14 is a natural chaser of stories, and Taylor’s tale — through depression, self-help, institutions and modesty — is one for the ages. Continue reading →

Summer Sizzle

Here’s some musical hair of the dog for that Bach Festival hangover

Music
Lakou Mizik

Let’s assume you love classical music and you’re having a hangover now that the Bach Festival is over and the symphony and other classical seasons don’t get going for some weeks. Let us further assume that you are not among the fortunate many who found out about the Eugene Symphony’s eighth annual Symphony in the Park concert at Cuthbert Amphitheater on Saturday, July 16, before all the free tickets were snapped up by the savvy. Continue reading →

Back Beat

Music

Local blues veteran Eagle Park Slim (né Autry McNeace), who has a history of heart failure, is recovering from the implantation of a new wireless heart-monitoring system. A press release states: “He gets short of breath sometimes, but he is still playing guitar and writing music every day. When asked how he feels, he responds with a smile, ‘Well, you know some days are diamond and some days are gold.’” Slim, 74, will play with his All Star Blues Band 3:30 pm July 23 at the Saturday Market.   Continue reading →

ArtsHound

Visual Arts

How is the American identity defined today? When a certain Fanta-faced presidential nominee is targeting American minorities with threats of deportation or supporting heightened “security” of browner neighborhoods, the question takes on a new urgency. Two artists, Victoria Suescum and Lee Michael Peterson, tackle the question by exploring their identities as Latin@s (the gender neutral term for people of Latin American roots) within American culture in the new ¿Identity? exhibit up through Sept. Continue reading →

Consider a trip to Portland this year to see Whitebird Dance

Dance
Israel’s Inbal Pinto comes to Portland’s Whitebird Dance this season

First, an appeal: If you love dance like I do and long to see performances with national and international reach, please use this lull in local performance to consider a trip to Portland this year to see Whitebird Dance.  I’ve recently made the easy commute to see the pioneering Twyla Tharp (review at the EW blog: goo.gl/NqYsd7), Kidd Pivot, Cirque Alfonse (which blew my mind) and La Compagnie Hervé Koubi, whose seminal work, What the Day Owes the Night, left me speechless (read more on Koubi here: goo.gl/v2Wzpf) Continue reading →

It’s Not Funny Anymore

In Tickled, journalist David Farrier exposes the wealth, power and abuse behind a bizarre Internet fetish

Film

“I started this journey curious about a bizarre sport called competitive endurance tickling,” says New Zealand journalist David Farrier near the conclusion of his strange and upsetting documentary Tickled. “But I now think this was never even about tickling. This is about power, control and harassment. It’s about one person’s twistedness and how far that can go.” Continue reading →

Fairly Local

2016 Fair live tunes lineup reflects Eugene scene

Music
Marv Ellis & We Tribe

Survey Oregon Country Fair 2016’s music schedule and find African blues rock 'n' roll with Portland’s Dusu Mali Band (featuring Ibrahim Kelly, nephew of legendary Mali blues guitarist Ali Farka Toure) as well as homegrown indie rock from Eugene’s Ferns (featuring world-class guitar work from Jake Pavlak, like a red-bearded mix of Johnny Marr of The Smiths and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. Unconfirmed rumor has it Ferns are on hiatus after this show, so don’t miss 'em!)  Continue reading →

Bossypants

A side project of Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Boss Hog

Music
Boss Hog

After 16 years, Boss Hog, a side project of Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, has returned with the Brood Star EP, a self-described amuse-bouche to the band’s forthcoming full-length album Brood X.  Boss Hog frontwoman, and longtime partner to Spencer, Cristina Martinez tells EW that after so many years, the time had come to release new material. “We have never stopped playing together,” Martinez says. “Eventually, we had accumulated so much stuff it seemed stupid to not put them on a record.” Continue reading →

Cassette Season

Eugene garage-rock trio VCR

Music
VCR

Kneeling at the altar of The Kinks, The Pixies and Nirvana, Season One!, the debut album from popular Eugene garage-rock trio VCR, has finally arrived. And rest assured, it’s fantastic.  The self-produced album, recorded in Portland on analog tape, features Chase Clarke on guitar and vocals, Emily Hurt on bass and Tyler P. Howard on drums.   “Outta My Head” is a three-chord blast of pummeling proto-punk ecstasy — a lesson that rock ‘n’ roll is best served recklessly noisy and defiantly tuneful (while staying in-tune remains optional).   Continue reading →