Swan Song

Swan Sovereign

Featuring members of the popular, now-defunct Portland group Dirty Martini, Swan Sovereign plays taut, guitar-based indie pop, mixing ’60s girl-group harmonies with the sound of ’90s-era rock bands like Throwing Muses, Belly and The Breeders.  Continue reading 

Living for Art

McWhorter in I Live for Ar by Yachats-based filmmakers Renee Slade and Ri Stewart.

Brian McWhorter is by any measure one of Eugene’s most creative artists. Before returning to town to take a faculty position at the University of Oregon, where he earned his bachelor’s degree, the trumpeter/composer/improviser earned acclaim as a member of New York’s Meridian Arts Ensemble, making guest appearances with orchestras and ensembles around the country.  Continue reading 

Carrying On

It’s hard to believe that the band that helped to give voice to the fertile musical ground of Laurel Canyon, California, in the late ’60s is still going strong. There must have been something in the water back then.  Continue reading 

The Spin

While you’ve been getting ahead of that bumper crop of zucchinis, local dance-makers have been busy building new pieces to perform this month. Check out Dance in Dialogue (D.i.D.), a “salon-style community performance series” initiated by choreographers Margo Van Ummersen, Shannon Mockli and Carolina Cabellero that invites the audience to provide precious feedback to artists on new and emerging works. A thoughtful approach to two problems facing any performing artist — securing a venue and finding an audience — D.i.D. Continue reading 

Glasgow Girl

Let’s keep the movies about female musicians, shall we? Yes to 20 Feet from Stardom; yes to Begin Again; a hearty punk-rock yowl of approval to We Are the Best! And a quieter, more introspective yes to God Help the Girl, a whimsical, fey, intimate movie about music, friendship and moving forward.  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Postcard from Burning Man: In the Aug. 21 issue, EW covered the “Lost Nomads of Vulcania” — a steampunk steam walker created by Eugenean Joe Mross and his team of 20 for the Nevada art festival.  Despite rains on the Black Rock playa that shut down the fest the first day, the steam walker made it to Burning Man and back with much fanfare. “There was a lot of people who said it was one of their favorite pieces out there, so that was really cool,” Mross tells EW. “It was fairly challenging to put up. Continue reading 

That Mat Kearney Video

I admit it, I didn't watch the new Mat Kearney video until today. I got the press relases, I saw the R-G did a story, I saw friends posting it on Facebook. But the moment I see something is paired up with Duck football, I lose a little interested (that's blasphemy if you live in Eugene, isn't it?).  Continue reading 

EW guides First Friday ArtWalk tonight!

Tonight is the night we here at the EW offices have been waiting months for — the First Friday ArtWalk when we will introduce the winning box art for our ArtsHound on Broadway contest and the artists behind the winning designs (read more here). Eugene Weekly will be the tour guide for this event and we begin with the first box outside Tokyo Tonkatsu at Broadway and Charnelton downtown at 5:30 pm sharp, so don't be late. Continue reading