Arts: Page 397
Best Eugene Fashion Week Instagrams – Part 1
Lost Company
It feels oddly rude to complain about a movie like The Company You Keep, with its sprawling cast of oft-underused actors from across generations and its well-intentioned plot, which sweeps Vietnam-era radicals up and drops them into the present. But Robert Redford’s latest film is an unsettled mixed bag, despite valiant efforts from Chris Cooper, Anna Kendrick, Richard Jenkins and Nick Nolte (to name just a few). Continue reading
City in the Country
Spirit Family Reunion is part of a long line of musicians based in New York City while playing the music of rural America. Like Dave Van Ronk, Bob Dylan and The Holy Modal Rounders before them, Spirit Family Reunion brings youthful energy and enthusiasm to antiquated sounds; screeching fiddle, unschooled harmonies, quavering mandolin and chugga-luggin’ freight train rhythms blend with the production value of a band busking on a Brooklyn sidewalk. Continue reading
Bleeping Indie
Tom Van Buskirk and George Langford do whatever the hell they want. With Javelin, the pair of musicians explores a variety of sounds, channeling influences from across the spectrum of musical genres. “We were never interested in making a tight, recognizable sound,” Buskirk says. Continue reading
Swallowed by a Circus Heart
Rebecca Loeb is a fresh-faced and breezy songwriter with the voice of a pop star. Her sound ranges from indie Americana to confessional ballads to cabaret-style waltzes — encompassing the quirky whimsy of Regina Spektor, the rootsiness of Patti Griffin and the dry wit of Randy Newman, who is an all-time favorite of the young musician. “I love the way he puts himself into his characters,” Loeb says, “and writes so authentically from so many different voices.” Continue reading
Back Beat
It’s been six months since Seattle hip-hop outfit Macklemore and Ryan Lewis played their sold-out show at the McDonald (pictured above) and they’re already back, headlining at Matthew Knight Arena on May 4. Is the thrifty (“Thrift Shop”) duo aware of the campus controversy this booking ignited after the ASUO originally allocated over 100G to Mallard Madness (a student-run concert series) to nab the show? Continue reading
That 1 Guy
There are many instruments out there, each with its own timbre, tuning and technique of play. You’ve probably seen or heard some of the weirder ones — dulcimer, tanpura, whamola, etc. — but the Frankenstein creation That 1 Guy brings to the stage will knock your socks off. It’s affectionately known as the “magic pipe,” and it ain’t hard to see why. Bashing at the thing with drumsticks makes a percussive drone, which Mike Silverman, the “1 Guy” in this project, uses to great effect in his fuller, more bass-heavy, freak-metal sound. Continue reading
Plucky, Perverse Puppeteering
OCT Takes a Stroll Back Down Avenue Q
The bawdy, angst-filled puppets have returned. In the style of Sesame Street, but with a whole lot more sex, you can cringe in commiseration as Princeton, a recent college grad, searches for his Purpose. Like most 24-year-olds with delusions of significance he manages to lose a job, bungle relationships and spend his rent money on beer, but with a sincere and open heart. Continue reading
It’s a Wilde World
UO makes frivolous fun with The Importance of Being Earnest
Pithy, witty and wise, Oscar Wilde remains the toast of the sniff set. Though dead all these long and tedious post-industrial years, Wilde, the foremost icon of soft-soap Victorian sabotage, is always good for a sharp, stinging rebuke to the narcissistic pretensions of the bourgeoisie or some feisty fillip about sexual hypocrisy of the straight crowd. His aphorisms, with their subtle swish and sting, trip oh-so trippingly off the tongues of would-be wags everywhere. Morrissey, Truman Capote and Paul Lynde, Wilde’s closest modern kin, ain’t got nothing on the master. Continue reading