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The Outsiders Ball — a mash-up of art, fashion, music and philanthropy — is about to celebrate its third year. “I really wanted to start helping out abuse shelters,” says Tracy Sydor, host and local photographer (and occasional EW photo contributor), of the benefit’s origins. Sydor discovered Womenspace, a local nonprofit working to end domestic violence, and proceeds from the event have gone to the organization every year. Continue reading
Eugene tech torchbearer Cale Bruckner had Middle Earth in mind four years ago when he dreamed up the term “Silicon Shire,” because of course he did. And he was correct if he thought it would strike the precise subliminal chords to produce charming pastoral visions of prosperity, while shoving Silicon Valley pitfalls out of the mental picture. Continue reading
Paris, September 1793: The Bastille has fallen, feudalism’s dead and the Rights of Man have been declared. (That all sounds pretty good, right?) But wait, there’s more: Enter brilliant playwright Lauren Gunderson, who illuminates a murky, muddling moment in history with her bold new play, directed with strength and humor for Oregon Contemporary Theatre by Elizabeth Helman. Continue reading
It makes me all fizzy and giddy to see men dress up like women. There’s something so joyously liberating about it all. And I don’t think I’m the only one who finds female impersonators a total hoot and super sexy. Gay, straight, bi, femme, butch, blah blah blah: Just about everyone I know gets chirpy at the sight of an aging queen squeezed into a sleek satin dress and bellowing “I Will Survive” like a diva in heat. Continue reading
If you’re a sensitive artsy type who swoons over emotional prowess in music, then Laura Marling, a musical folk fairy, is right up your alley. Marling began her career at 16 after gaining a large following on MySpace (ah, the good ’ole days) and her popularity continued when she joined hipster heartthrob band Noah and the Whale in 2006. She took her music in a different direction after splitting with both Noah and the whale by 2008. Five albums later, Marling is kicking folk ass with her solo career. Continue reading
Hi-Fi is hosting a wide variety of musicians this month, especially with contrasting artists Emily Jane White and Dizzy Wright performing in the same week (watch out for whiplash). Continue reading
Mick Dagger, vocalist and guitarist with Eugene band Dick Dägger, says one of the best places in town to hear live music is in the john at a house across the street from Taco Bell. The house in question is the Ant House, a longstanding and popular location for basement shows in Eugene. “There’s a vent behind the toilet,” Dagger says. “If you stuck an audio recorder right there, you could start doing live podcasts.” Continue reading
Despite the name, classical music can be old and new, and there’s some of both coming to town this month. Continue reading
In an alternate universe, the album Painting With, which dropped in February, might have been Animal Collective’s pop breakthrough. But because the world is backwards and topsy-turvy, the album that broke through was 2009’s Merriweather Post Pavilion, a synth-slathered fantasia that sounds like harsh noise next to Painting With. Before it was released, nobody expected the Baltimore psych-pop band would ever play the actual Merriweather Post Pavilion, a Maryland mega-venue that typically hosts bands like Green Day and The Who. Continue reading
Of all the literary devices used to grant a physical wallop to a character’s metaphysical situation, I suppose making a pathological narcissist blind isn’t the worst. I mean, it ain’t Ahab’s missing leg or the impotence of Jake Barnes, but what the hell? It works, in a slight to middling way. Continue reading