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I reach Ryan Kattner, better known as Man Man’s lead howler Honus Honus, at his home in L.A. Kattner is working out some new songs for the experimental rock band’s upcoming tour, a process he’s none too thrilled about. Continue reading
Mad Decent Block Party, the traveling circus of dirty bass selling out shows nationwide and making Rolling Stone’s list (again) of “Summer’s 50 Must-See Music Festivals,” returns to Cuthbert Sept. 12 to ensure you end your summer with a bass drop. (And if last year is any indication, expect neon rave-wear, DayGlo furries, high-waisted shorts and the resulting sea of butt cheeks. Oh yeah, and maybe six attendees over the age of 22.) Continue reading
Once upon a time, they made movies out of musicals. From the 1940s through the ’70s, once a show had proved its worth on Broadway, Hollywood came calling. In the past generation or so, however, as the big-budget blockbuster mentality infested theater, the process reversed. Continue reading
More than four decades into her career, Marcia Ball is a living blues legend as well as a popular fixture on blues-hungry Eugene stages. But last year, Ball missed her chance to promote her latest release, The Tattooed Lady and The Alligator Man, in our valley. “We were scheduled last fall,” Ball tells EW, “and then I had a fall. I had to miss the gig — a rare occurrence,” adding in a thick Southern accent: “I didn’t get to play my songs for you so I’m coming back to do it!” Continue reading
Award-winning playwright Aaron Posner grew up in Eugene. And since Oregon Contemporary Theatre’s season opens with Posner’s Stupid F@#*ing Bird, it seemed a great excuse to ask this renowned artist about his old paper route. Chekhov’s The Seagull inspires Stupid F@#*ing Bird. How did you plumb Chekhov’s “Theatre of Mood” for the funny? Continue reading
Decked in sequins, wearing deep shades of purple and draped in iridescent green fabric, Mark Roberts is so radiant he might be faintly visible from Earth’s moon. Peering out from under the wide brim of his battered leopard-print fedora through a pair of wide, silvery lenses, he says: “I’ve always been kind of a shy person.” Roberts’ life took a peculiar turn Friday, Aug. 14, when members of the Society for the Legitimization of the Ubiquitous Gastropod (SLUG) crowned him Eugene’s 33rd SLUG queen. Continue reading
The fall dance season kicks off during First Friday ArtWalk with Lane Arts Council’s Fiesta Cultural salsa dance party 5:30 to 8 pm Friday, Sept. 4, at Kesey Square; free. Also during First Friday: “Come to the last #instaballet of the season!” co-founder Suzanne Haag suggests. “This is your last chance until 2016 to help Eugene Ballet Company dancers make a ballet with audience input.” Catch #instaballet 5:30 to 8 pm in The Studio at the Hult Center; free. Continue reading
As Minnie, the boldly curious and sexually precocious 15-year-old girl who inaugurates an affair with her mother’s roustabout boyfriend in Diary of a Teenage Girl, Bel Powley is a revelation. With her saucer eyes popping beneath dowdy bangs, Powley perfectly registers the outsized emotions of a teen exploring the sticky chaos of adulthood; Minnie is all snap judgments, lightning revelations, puppy love, daily heartbreak. It’s the performance of the year so far. Continue reading
Listing your favorite music genres to include “everything but country” has been in vogue since country went from Hank Williams to Kenny Chesney. But honky-tonk duo The Earnest Lovers are making country cool again with their ’50s and ’60s-style serenades. Continue reading
Bay Area act Ensemble Mik Nawooj fuses classical, jazz and hip-hop lyricism to create a sound with the explosive intensity of orchestral post-rock. Composer and pianist Joowan Kim takes his love for Western European classical composition and — with the help of a six-piece chamber orchestra, funk-rock percussion, a lyric soprano and rappers Do D.A.T. and Sandman — he crafts modern classical the likes of which have never been heard. Continue reading