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Snow Tha Product is a pint-sized rapper who brings high-voltage ferocity to the hip-hop scene, drawing on her Mexican heritage with a twist of Cali-Texan influence. The self-made femme-c seamlessly creates rhymes that are on par with — if not better than — most mainstream artists of the same genre. Snow started sewing together rhythm and words at freestyle battles down in Texas, where she found her niche. Continue reading
For touring bands, finding a reliable person to run the merch table, selling assorted paraphernalia, can be a challenge. But on one of Jaill’s passes through Eugene, the band found a creative solution. “We were bringing an elderly man-puppet on tour to help sell merch,” recalls Jaill bandleader Vincent Kircher. “We were putting taquitos in its mouth, glasses on his face and people posed with the doll. That sounds dumb and unfun, but it wasn’t.” Continue reading
Don’t get me wrong — I’m absolutely thrilled that Autzen Stadium will host a July 24 soccer match between two very high-level European clubs with some of the world’s most talented players at the 2016 International Champions Cup. I definitely will be going to the match. Continue reading
Oil paintings of Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Frida Kahlo and Abraham Lincoln, among others, lined the walls of downtown Eugene’s Townshend’s Teahouse amidst the chatter of conversation and the clinking of ceramic mugs against tabletops. These portraits are the work of Simon Graves, a Eugene artist whose current oeuvre is focused on the importance of the constructs of good and evil — and specifically the characters we tend to conceive as being good on an iconic, archetypal level. Continue reading
Purple pages: Storm Entertainment, a Portland-based comic and graphic novel company, has just released the comic book biography Tribute: Prince in honor of the late artist and his June 7 birthday. Michael Frizell wrote the 24-page comic and Ernesto Lovera and Vincenzo Sansone created the art. “His sound and lyrics defined the era for me in ways that Michael Jackson didn’t and, quite frankly, couldn’t,” Frizell says via press release. Continue reading
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson inspires millions, not with hype and bravado, but with intergalactic levels of cool. Through Tyson’s work as an astrophysicist, author, museum director, television and radio host, even the most novice among us can imagine the birth of stars; we can envision dwarf planets and ponder the very structures that define our home, the Milky Way. Simply put, he makes science accessible and fun. Continue reading
Summer solstice is arguably the most significant of all solar events. That the sun shone straight down a well in Syrene, Egypt, every summer solstice day gave Eratosthenes the insight for determining the Earth’s circumference 2,200 years ago. Stone monuments worldwide are aligned to commemorate this longest day of the year. The bronze sighting monument on the summit of Mount Pisgah has slots that line up with sunrise and sunset on the solstice. Continue reading
Many head for the hills, beaches, mountains and rivers to bask in what is the Great Oregon Summer. Others run for their paints, chalks, clays, sewing machines and cameras to capture the spirit of summer. Or dive into exhibits in museums and galleries (mmm, air conditioning). Summer in Oregon is prime time to explore the arts, from Springfield to Coos Bay to Portland. Here are EW’s top summer picks for the arts: The BIG INK Express Continue reading
The tastes of summer beckon — this year, two brand-new foodie shindigs splash onto the scene. Look forward to a season’s worth of eating, drinking and living it up. And the best part is, you don’t even have to trek to Portland. First comes the Eugene Food Truck Fest, a delicious gathering invented by the Eugene Mission to raise awareness of homelessness during the summer months, when thoughts of shelter and housing tend to fade as the warm weather rolls in. Continue reading