Apocalyptic Nostalgia

Now that Armageddon is actually breathing down our necks, it’s sort of cute to look back at all our quaint, fancy ideas about how the end might pan out — especially in movies, where post-apocalyptic scenarios are less a warning than an enticement to some grand new adventure where hunky good guys in steampunk rags wage war against evil fuckers in spiked hockey masks for the last drop of water, gas, food, etc. Continue reading 

Swamp Thing

The Sawyer Family

The Sawyer Family

Eugene’s The Sawyer Family has been crafting blistering tales of death, murder and suffering since 2001. The psychobilly-cum-swampy-stoner-metal act has seen lineup changes, growing pains and years of touring since its early rockabilly days, elevating themselves into a genre-defying monster. As tends to happen at home, though, this act often goes unnoticed.  Continue reading 

Cool and Terrifying

Hey Marseilles

Hey Marseilles

Since Matt Bishop and a group of University of Washington friends started up Hey Marseilles back in 2006, the six-piece chamber-pop band has released two full-length records, secured accolades from NPR and Seattle Weekly and played hundreds of shows all over the country. All of which has given Bishop plenty of time to think about, well, being in a band.  Continue reading 

A Golden Year

Catching up with Eugene Symphony’s Scott Freck on the eve of the symphony’s 50th season

Scott Freck

The Eugene Symphony has long-enjoyed a reputation as Oregon’s most forward-looking orchestra. Particularly after visionary music director Marin Alsop ascended the podium in 1989, the Eugene Symphony Orchestra’s programming of contemporary and especially American music put it — and Alsop — on the national map. While the usual 19th-century classics have always dominated the repertoire, Alsop’s successors Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Giancarlo Guerrero continued to feature more 20th- and 21st-century music than typical American orchestras.  Continue reading 

Women’s Soccer Inspires Younger Generation

The goalkeeper didn’t even have time to lift her hands in the air. The shot by Oregon’s Marlo Sweatman from outside the 18-yard box was that fast. After the defensive midfielder’s first shot rebounded off a Louisiana State defender, all Sweatman had to do was put her foot through the ball and keep moving forward during the UO women’s soccer match against the LSU Tigers at Papé Field Aug. 21. Continue reading 

Futuristic Fairy Tale

Degenerate Art Ensemble gives voice to Predator Songstress via Oregon Performance Lab

The fires of oppression rage in Degenerate Art Ensemble’s Predator Songstress

A curious girl can raise only so much hell for a totalitarian regime: When Ximena makes too much noise, the state takes away her voice. Literally. Set in a faceless authoritarian state, Degenerate Arts Ensemble’s Predator Songstress — produced in conjunction with the new Oregon Performance Lab — sets out to examine repression, surveillance, interrogation and the power of noise. The play runs Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28 and 29, at Lane Community College’s Ragozzino Hall. Continue reading 

Arts Hound

Oh, to see what James Gillray might do with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would be delicious. Considering the British illustrator’s searing and scatological observations of blowhards, we’d expect some orange, bloated mass punctuated with what the internet has succinctly deemed “butthole lips.” But alas, Gillray, considered the father of the political cartoon, passed in 1815. Continue reading 

What, Already?

In flower gardens, there’s not a lot to do in August besides attempting to keep up with watering and deadheading, but the food gardener doesn’t get a break. Just when watering and harvesting chores are peaking, it’s time to think about a fall and winter veggie garden.  You are, in fact, a bit behind the eight ball if you like to grow everything from seed. July’s the time to get that going. Nurturing seedlings through July is never easy and this year must have been especially challenging.  Continue reading 

Heavy Lightness

He Whose Ox is Gored

He Whose Ox is Gored

When your band is named He Whose Ox is Gored, people are going to have preconceived notions about what you sound like. “We started having that post-hardcore influence, a little bit of doom,” guitarist Brian McLelland tells EW. The up-and-coming Seattle quartet is touring in support of its latest release The Camel, The Lion, The Child, out now on Bleeding Light Records. But McLelland says it would be wrong, despite HWOIG’s epically dark name, to pigeonhole them as a metal band.  Continue reading