Arts: Page 286

Igor Stravinsky’s famous dance score

Dance
Tomoki Sage and Kiyota Sage of nanda perform in the glow variety show.

This week, visiting London professor Stephanie Jordan’s lecture “Rites of Spring: A Century of Tradition,” looks at Igor Stravinsky’s famous dance score, from its riotous premiere to its many creative permutations, at 1 pm Thursday, March 5, on the UO campus. And next week, Pablo Luis Rivera presents an interactive evening of music and dance, featuring Puerto Rican Bomba, a traditional musical style combining Spanish, African and Taino cultures, 7:30 pm March 12; $8-$12. Continue reading →

Kinky, Sexy, Safety

Film

Many of my colleagues wish 50 Shades of Grey had never been written. I wish it had been written thirty years ago. I’ve been doing BDSM since we called it S/M. (In the early ’90s, someone mashed together B&D for bondage and discipline, D/s for dominance and submission and S/M for sadomasochism to coin the acronym BDSM. I liked it better when it had fewer initials.)  Continue reading →

Punks from the North

Single Mothers

Music
Single Mothers

“You’re all a bunch of phonies” has long been one of punk rock’s favorite accusations. Providing a fresh and funny take on that old gripe are the firebrands from London, Ontario — Single Mothers.  While first-gen punkers railed against flower power, Single Mothers take aim at the hipster, DIY and Etsy-crafter crowd, as well as any scene’s inevitable decline into self-parody.  Continue reading →

Just A Eugene Kid

Mat Kearney

Music
Mat Kearney

“I want to say that no artist has mentioned Eugene, Oregon, more in songs,” Eugene-born folk-rock artist Mat Kearney tells EW.  For example, the lyrics to “One Black Sheep,” from his latest release, begin with a reference that only Eugene fans could appreciate: “I was born a love child of the seventies/ Touched down at Sacred Heart … In the city of hippies and angel dust.”  Continue reading →

Rising Again

The Dreaming

Music
The Dreaming

What does one do after breaking up a successful and influential band? If you’re Christopher Hall of The Dreaming, you start again, but this time as a supergroup. In the late ’90s, Hall’s previous project, Stabbing Westward, took modern-rock radio by storm with singles “Shame” and “Save Yourself” before calling it quits in 2002. Unwilling to remain idle, Hall and drummer Johnny Haro formed The Dreaming later that year.  Continue reading →

Swift Sounds

Marco Benevento

Music
Marco Benevento

New York musician Marco Benevento recorded his 2014 release Swift about as far away from the big city as possible: Cottage Grove.  Renowned producer and musician Richard Swift (The Shins, Foxygen) lives in Cottage Grove. Swift consistently supported Benevento’s shows at local venue the Axe & Fiddle. When Benevento heard Swift’s production work on Foxygen’s We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic (also recorded in Cottage Grove), he knew he wanted to work with him. Continue reading →

Opera Outreach

From Nixon in China to Sweeney Todd, Eugene Opera’s low-cost ticket program connects new audiences to performances

Theater
Beadle Bamford (David Gustafson, right) advises Judge Turpin (Jake Gardner) to get a shave during rehearsals for Eugene Opera’s upcoming production of Sweeney Todd. Photo by Ashley Hastings.

When it comes to accessing the arts, sometimes money isn’t the only obstacle. Institutions like museums, theaters and concert halls may inadvertently express an air of exclusivity, creating an invisible barricade to community members who don’t fit the profile of “arts patron.”  Locally, the Eugene Opera is addressing this issue through its innovative Community Tix program, which provides free and reduced tickets to its performance season, along with something less tangible: a sense of belonging.  Continue reading →

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

Creative disruption: As PIELC (the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference) wraps Eugene in a big green hug March 5-8, one of the conference panelists, writer Mary DeMocker, is “condemning” her neighborhood with an interactive public art installation. DeMocker has run a 300-foot faux liquified natural gas pipeline through the yards along the 21st avenue block between Agate and Emerald, which will be up through Sunday, March 8. “I started out just thinking it would be on my front lawn,” DeMocker says, but then neighbors warmed to the idea. Continue reading →