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Four years ago, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot pulled off a slick little trick. A shiny, whizbang movie with an excellent ensemble cast, the 2009 Trek restarted the series timeline, giving Abrams and company endless freedom to boldly go to entirely new places, unencumbered by the history writ in the TV shows and earlier films. Continue reading
With music institutions — especially those in less commercial genres — struggling musicians and fans have had to get social and entrepreneurial, increasingly relying on grassroots funding (through Indiegogo, Kickstarter and similar crowdsourcing sites) and informal venues. The Shedd is our biggest local example of music lovers creating their own outlets for the music they cherish, and fans run many venues like The Jazz Station. Continue reading
Love or hate Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby, one of the most hypnotic scenes of the film is the first. There’s no Leonardo DiCaprio or Carey Mulligan, simply the camera zooming in on the metallic, Art Nouveau Gatsby crest as The xx’s “Together” pings with melancholy coolness. Continue reading
It takes a special character to receive surprise fellatio onstage mid-performance (we’re not making this up) and then keep performing. But I guess that’s what happens when the majority of your lyrics focus on drugs, sex and the rockstar life (listen to the track “Die Like a Rockstar”). It’s the nature of the provocative rap beast. Continue reading
Laura Cortese jumps genres like freight trains. The young fiddler has appeared alongside rockers like Band of Horses, Patterson Hood and Michael Franti, while her solo work is drenched in Americana and classical sensibilities. “I think I knew pop music first,” Cortese says, explaining that her mom’s vinyl record collection influenced her at a young age with the likes of Otis Redding, Motown, CSNY and Elvis. Continue reading
The somewhat elusive Springfield Ditch Projects gallery opened its latest exhibit May 18, and it runs through June 15. Ron Graff and Donald Morgan: New Work features the abstract expressionist paintings of Graff, a UO associate professor of painting, and 2-D and 3-D works of Morgan, a UO assistant art professor. Morgan’s graphic sculptures have had a playful (and sometimes dark) bent in the past, including a topographic wall hanging of Crater Lake’s Wizard Island, a pair of mirrored spider webs and a noose rack. For more information visit ditchprojects.com. Continue reading
After a week of trying to set up an interview with Les Claypool, the time and day was upon me. I was slightly nervous, but getting more so as each minute went by and the phone didn’t ring. Les Claypool stood me up. But, I consoled myself, perhaps it’s a good thing … you know, preserve the mystery in art, the “not knowingness” that’s magical when you buy a ticket and show up with no expectations. Then he called. Continue reading
Director Baz Luhrmann’s risky, gamboling Romeo + Juliet (1996) proved, once again, that Shakespeare’s best stuff can withstand any infringement of time and run with it — including gang warfare, palm trees and the wowzers of an acid trip. Recall, if you dare, the raw but playful sexuality of this scene: Claire Danes as Juliet, spying through a massive fish tank and catching her first aquamarine glimpse of Romeo, as the gaunt, slightly extra-terrestrial face of a young Leonardo DiCaprio seems to swim through the coral. It’s an exquisite moment. Continue reading
Listening to the music of Trevor Powers, more widely known as Youth Lagoon, is not so much a psychedelic experience as it is an exploration of Powers’ psyche. His sophomore release, 2013’s Wondrous Bughouse, is a mind-bending collection of rock and pop that blends a host of dissonant sounds together into a beautiful cacophony of noise that mirrors the storm going on inside Powers’ head. It is quite the trip. Continue reading
Once upon a time bands could wait a few albums before having a hit — U2, REM and Nirvana among others. This allowed artists to grow, change and most importantly experiment. These days, with the great contraction of the music business, bands-without-hits are signed and dropped faster than ever; many are never signed at all. Continue reading