Coldest White Rapper

G-Eazy talks to EW about being poor, being rich and being white in the rap game

G-Eazy

G-Eazy is such a big deal that iconic rapper Lil Wayne remixed a song from his new album last week and NBA superstar Kobe Bryant greeted him at a recent Lakers game. On Billboard’s website, Nielsen Music charts hip-hop and R&B songs using a metric that calculates radio airplay, streaming and music sales. Each week since Feb. 20, G-Eazy’s “Me, Myself & I” ranked higher than any other rap song save Drake’s “Summer 16” and Rihanna’s “Work” (which also features Drake). Continue reading 

Back Beat

On April 9, Old Nick’s celebrates its one-year anniversary. Over the past 12 months, the Whiteaker rock club across from Washington Jefferson Skatepark has upped Eugene’s punk, metal and hardcore game. “We would like to thank all of the local bands, DJs, comics and burlesque performers in the Eugene scene for supporting Old Nick’s with your amazing talent,” says Tim Kinney, Old Nick’s booker and co-owner. “We will continue to bring in great music and keep Eugene rocking.” Continue reading 

Arts Hound

The world lost a beautiful, warm, generous, mischievous, wickedly smart and delightfully cantankerous soul the night of Saturday, April 2, when Oregon artist Rick Bartow passed away after battling congenital heart failure. He was 69. At EW, our hearts are full of sorrow. Bartow will be remembered for his mastery of color and gesture, and his spirited and unflinching work — paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture, found in museums and collections around the globe. Continue reading 

Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre

Betroffenheit, the collaboration between Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre, presented by Whitebird Dance at the Newmark Theatre in Portland Saturday night, pushed at odd angles through territory that at times felt dank, or prickly, hot and then cold. The audience was at times arrested, cajoled, invigorated and perhaps browbeaten. This was not namby-pamby dance for its own sake, nor was it theater alone, but a hybridization that, though not consistently successful, whatever that means, was at least doing something new. Continue reading 

The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors

Cultural inspectors Floomf and Schmorple come to Eugene

When Floomf and Schmorple descended upon Earth, it was for one specific reason: To investigate a claim made by the city of Eugene in the early aughts. The two were inspectors for the highly regarded Associated Stars Systems for Cross-cultural Outerspace Propagation (ASSCOP) located in the Boopz Galaxy, and their satellite scanner had intercepted the message: Eugene is The World’s Greatest City for the Arts and Outdoors. Continue reading 

Back Beat

Farewell John Evans. The former Oregon Bach Festival director (2006-2014) and head of music for the BBC’s classical network passed away from a heart attack March 20, reports Slipped Disc, a classical music site, and Eugene Art Talk, a site by local arts writer Bob Keefer. Evans was 62. Originally from the UK, Evans was a preeminent scholar of British composer Benjamin Britten. He compiled the 2009 book Journeying Boy: The Diaries of the Young Benjamin Britten 1928-1938.  Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Come the evening of April 1, a Penske rental truck will be parked in Kesey Square as a makeshift gallery. “There’s not many places in Eugene to show the work we want to show,” says Andrew Oslovar, one of 13 members of the “nomadic art collective” Tropical Contemporary. “Our goal as an art group is getting people to unlock their doors for us so we can put work in their unleased businesses. We can make an art gallery out of anything; we don’t care if it’s nice.” Continue reading