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When Jeff Austin roams around the state of Oregon, he feels as if he were in a strange movie. But it’s not just the scenery that keeps Austin and the rest of Yonder Mountain String Band coming back to this fine state; it’s the people. “Eugene is very near and dear to our hearts; it’s always been good to us,” says Austin, who plays mandolin and provides silvery vocals for Yonder. “We’re like old cowboys. We don’t forget that stuff.” Continue reading
One year ago, Tony Rust conceived the idea of directing Pippin at Marist High School, and playing the Leading Player himself. If directing a high school play and being in it sounds crazy, remember that this is Tony Rust — the Marist drama teacher doesn’t sleep. He can be found doing everything from directing, running summer camps, crafting sets under the name FeO2, singing lead roles, teaching high school drama and often doing several of these things at the same time. Continue reading
There is this sublime passage near the end of Cottage Theatre’s current production of The Secret Garden when Kyra Siegel, in the lead role of Mary Lennox, bows low to the stage and then rises in hypnotic fits and starts, as her character commences a healing dance for her invalid cousin Colin (George Schroeder); seeming possessed, Siegel’s lanky body jumps and arcs and shivers through space, and the complicated grace of her movements defies the mundane laws of gravity. It’s beautiful to behold. So beautiful, in fact, that I found myself tearing up. Continue reading
• The Arts & Business Alliance of Eugene hosts Arts After Hours, a schmoozing event for the arts and business communities, 5 to 7 pm Thursday, April 18, at the Lord/Leebrick Playhouse, 174 W. Broadway; $8-$10 members; $15-$20 non-members. • Thanks to the McDonald Theatre and the UO Outdoor Program, it’s time for the Banff Mountain Film Festival at 7 pm Thursday, April 18, reminding you once again to get off your couch and into the outdoors, or at least into a plush theater seat; $11-$13. Continue reading
As my old Seattle friend Big Gay Bob once told me years ago over gin fizzes: “Honey, nobody has more fun than the gays.” It’s true: Not only do gay people tend to earn more, dress better and screw more often than straight folk, but they really do know how to cut a rug, if you know what I mean. I’d even take this one step further and argue that were it not for the gays, this would be one bleak, narrow existence. Continue reading
It’s finally getting a little easier to look at Gael García Bernal and not see the young man from Y Tu Mamá También. García Bernal has hardly seemed to age since that 2002 film, but as René Saavedra, in the Oscar-nominated Chilean film No, he has a scrappy beard dotted with just enough gray to make him believable as the father of a young son. Continue reading
Obvious jokes about a certain Simple Minds song aside, who could forget about Molly Ringwald? She’s the redheaded queen of teen flicks who headlined features like Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles in the 1980s, but these days she’s settled into a different artistic milieu: music. That’s right, the actress has traded in her angst for a set of jazz standards, and she’s actually quite the chanteuse. Continue reading
Today’s electronic generation is lowering the music production learning curve so rapidly that many producers can’t even legally get into venues where their music is played. Take Disclosure, the UK-born-and-bred house duo consisting of brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence, who are only 21 and 18 respectively. Continue reading
If you want to make Jeffry-Wynne Prince smile, call him Jeffry-Wynne. Not Jeff or Jeffry or Wynne or Prince, although that might make him smile for a different reason. The hyphenated first name (it’s Welsh) of The Kimberly Trip guitarist throws some people for a loop. Continue reading
No, we’re not talking about Ray Charles, the Allman Brothers, OutKast, R.E.M. or other musicians from the Southeastern US, but rather Zedashe, an ensemble from the former Soviet republic, which performs at the UO’s Beall Hall April 19. The group of singers and instrumentalists (using bagpipes, accordion, percussion and more) has spent years finding and reviving music that was suppressed or otherwise gone with the wind during the decades of Soviet domination. Continue reading