Arts: Page 235

Getting Over It

Dysfunction is raised to the level of art in Jason Bateman’s The Family Fang

Film

Jason Bateman was that kid in high school everybody pretty much liked  — the vice president of the student body who ran track and dated not the prettiest but easily the coolest cheerleader, and who was on friendly terms with jocks and stoners alike (although secretly preferring stoners).  And yet, something about the guy strains against his better angels, as though being nice just isn’t cutting it. His mean streak is only a centimeter wide, but when he finds it, it’s like coming home. Continue reading →

The regional old-time scene is going to have one big hearth to gather round

Music
WOW Hall

The regional old-time scene is going to have one big hearth to gather round May 5-8: the inaugural Willamette Valley Old-Time Social put on by Eugene’s Mud City Old-Time Society. For the uninitiated, old-time music is an acoustic tradition of American music. Fiddle and banjo are the stars, making the sound a perfect catalyst for square dancing.  And old-time is not bluegrass; it gave birth to bluegrass. Old-time focuses on community and participation, regardless of skill level, more than performance. Continue reading →

So Long Portland, Hello Eugene

Music

Portland musician Pat Kearns is feeling reflective. “It’s just been where the songs have been taking me,” Kearns tells EW. “The stuff that I’ve been writing the last couple of years has just been a lot quieter. Maybe I’ll know all of this more when I reach the other side of it.” Continue reading →

The Search for Candy Continues

Aaron Carter just keeps coming back to Eugene

Music
Aaron Carter

It’s easy to get confused by the ups and downs of today’s music scene. We’ve lost foundational icons like Prince and Bowie. Zayn left One Direction (and was kind of a butthead about it) and no one knows what the hell Iggy Azalea is doing. Shit has gotten weird. Alas, there is a twinkle in the far-off distance — hope shining through the dark, cold night. Oh, wait: That’s Aaron Carter and his frosted tips. Yes, folks, Aaron Carter (younger brother of Nick Carter from Backstreet Boys) is coming back to Eugene May 8  at WOW Hall. Continue reading →

Bambi’s Secret

Tyrus, screening at the DisOrient Film Festival, looks at the revolutionary artist behind the iconic film who transcended Disney’s racism and disenfranchisement

Film
Artist Tyrus Wong at work

Still very much with us, the 105-year-old Chinese-born painter Tyrus Wong is quite possibly the most influential American artist you’ve never heard of — until now, that is. As the sole inspiration for the expressionistic animated style of Disney’s Bambi (more on that in a moment), Wong’s elegant and economical style, a melding of traditional Asiatic ink-and-brush painting and Western modernist influences, has literally suffused American culture, from dishware and Hollywood to Hallmark cards and museums everywhere. Continue reading →

Folk It Up

Eugene Concert Choir packs a full day of Latin American Folk into the Hult

Music
Gaspar Colón

After opening its season pulling from classic Christmas fare (A Christmas Story) and pop-oriented crowd pleasers (the Burt Bacharach songbook), the Eugene Concert Choir will step out of the box a bit with two performances this Saturday, April 30: Latin American Folk For Kids at 11 am and Cantata Criolla at 8 pm, both held in the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall.  Each show takes advantage of the considerable talents of visiting vocalists Idwer Alvarez and Gaspar Colón, renowned operatic singers in their native Venezuela and, increasingly, around the world.  Continue reading →