Whats-Happening: Page 447

Punching Through Genres

Catching up with mando player and new Oregon resident Chris Thile of The Punch Brothers on the eve of Oregon Bach Festival

Performing Arts
Chris Thile

Mandolinist whiz Chris Thile did not begin his career with an innate love of classical music. “Until I was 15 or 16, I couldn’t have cared less about classical music,” Thile tells EW. “I grew up playing fiddle tunes where the whole point is getting people’s bodies to move, and I thought classical music was completely divorced from the body.” Although he had family members who played classical music, Thile had already won the national mandolin championship at age 12. Continue reading →

If a Tree Falls

Local artist Josh Krute on creating a life-size print of the world’s largest felled tree - The Fieldbrook Giant

Visual Arts
Josh Krute

Josh Krute likes wood — I mean, he really, really likes it. We sat in a coffee shop (at a wooden table, of course) and he ran his hands over the tabletop’s grain, sputtering off details about it with a pretty serious expression on his face.  “In the last six or seven years, I’ve been printing sections of wood,” he explains. “I’ve been transferring their grain patterns onto paper — a process called relief.”  Continue reading →

GARNERDANCE at OCT, June 17, Eugene

Theater

GARNERDANCES premiered Strings! An Evening of Dance, at Oregon Contemporary Theatre, June 17.             The evening’s length work featured dancers Shannon Mockli, Laura Katzmann, Mariah Melson, Suzanne Haag, Antonio Anacan, and Cory Betts, with choreography, costumes and lighting design by Brad Garner. Continue reading →

Who Makes Your Food?

Eat local, buy local

Chow

Buy local: It’s a mantra repeated with such frequency in the bountiful Willamette Valley that it’s almost lost all meaning. Let’s take a step back and look at some numbers. According to the Willamette Farm and Food Coalition, a 2010 analysis estimated that Lane County consumers are spending less than 5 percent of their food money on locally produced food.  “OK, but locally produced food is hard to find,” you scoff. Continue reading →

Blissing Out

Coconut Bliss offers healthy, dairy-free ice cream alternatives

Chow

local ice cream maker Coconut Bliss has built a nationally recognized brand name without sacrificing its core values of independence and integrity. Coconut Bliss marketing communications manager Elizabeth Reilly says these Eugene-style priorities are partially what make her company so unique. “We are one of the best examples of a family-run company in the region,” Reilly tells EW. Continue reading →

Craft Chocolate

Eat chocolate; be happy

Chow

I’m here to report that the Euphoria Chocolate Company in west Eugene bears little resemblance to the delicious Byzantine splendor of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Sadly, no orangey Oompa Loompas mobbed me at the entrance when I visited, and Euphoria proprietor Van Glass is practically the antithesis of that passive-aggressive tyrant Willy Wonka, whose benevolent disregard sent poor Augustus Gloop up the tube. Continue reading →

Salsa & Spice

Salsa Garcia will spice things up

Chow

Stroll through the Lane County Farmers Market on a Saturday morning and you’re bound to see Patricia Garcia's cheerful face at her colorful salsa stand. That same cheerful face is on all of her products, inviting salsa lovers to give Salsa Garcia a try. “I believe that sauce really makes the meal, no matter what kind of food you’re having,” Garcia says. “If you have a good sauce, then your meal is right-on most of the time.” Continue reading →