Whats-Happening: Page 501

Indie planet

Eugene’s rising indie-pop darlings get serious

Music
Elliott Fromm, Cameron Lister and Dylan Campbell of Pluto the Planet

After establishing a local following at University of Oregon house shows and small venues, Eugene indie-pop trio Pluto the Planet decided to take the summer off to regroup and plan their next steps.  “We wanted to scale back on shows,” guitarist Cameron Lister tells EW. “We’ve played so many shows in the past few months, we didn’t want to saturate the community.”  On Aug. 14, Pluto the Planet returns playing the In the Valley Below (see “New Rock Series” this issue) after-show in Hi-Fi Music Hall’s Encore Lounge.  Continue reading →

The Eyes of a Poet

Shane Koyczan

Music
Shane Koyczan

At 24, Shane Koyczan quit his job to become a spoken-word artist full time. He had discovered his voice. And not just any voice, but a voice people stop and listen to. Koyczan moves through line by line, transitioning like the ocean, with soft articulation and a powerful yet affable tone, speaking about the world and its shortcomings.  Continue reading →

Indie Gloom

Gloomsday

Music
Gloomsday

The Bangles called Monday “Manic” and Morrissey called Sunday “silent and grey.” Which day of the week do San Diego’s power-punk duo Gloomsday find the gloomiest? “Every day so far is Gloomsday,” Lori Sokolowski, Gloomsday drummer and back-up vocalist, tells EW. She concedes that her gloomiest day is “Sunday night when the fun’s over and you have to go back to real life.” The San Diego duo returns to Eugene, playing its brand of hard-hitting, punk-inspired indie rock.  Continue reading →

Vaudeville at the Shedd

Revival of musical Whoopee! is zany good fun

Theater
Stephanie Hawkins (left), Jim Ballard, Kaitlyn Sage and Trevor Eichhorn in Whoopee! at the Shedd

Set in 1928 Arizona, The Shedd’s revival of Whoopee! is populated by rootin’ tootin’ cowboys, rich tourists and the occasional hypochondriac. Based on the 1923 play The Nervous Wreck, this goofball musical comedy by Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson was made famous by both the Ziegfield Broadway production of 1928 and the 1930 Eddie Cantor film.  In the vaudeville era, shows like Whoopee! cobbled together already popular tunes with a loose plot, peppering zany narratives with plenty of jazz standards and daffy jokes. And it’s still a winning combination.  Continue reading →

How to Get Ahead in Monarchy

VLT casts Anne of the Thousand Days as a post-apocalyptic feminist tale of Tudor intrigue

Theater
Melanie Moser and Shawn Bookey in VLT’s Anne of the Thousand Days

VLT casts Anne of the Thousand Days as a post-apocalyptic feminist tale of Tudor intrigue William Faulkner once suggested in an interview that the essential ingredients of any good drama are family, money and murder. This might help explain our ongoing obsession with the House of Tudor, those ingrown English monarchs whose rule included ample instances of greed, intrigue, betrayal and bloody battles for the rights of primogeniture. Continue reading →

Sacred Images

Religion and art come together in beautification of Whiteaker church

Culture
Daniel Balter

Standing beneath the oculus of the church dome with lazy afternoon sunlight filtering through its circular opening, artist Daniel Balter points to a 6-foot-tall figure he sketched in charcoal on the walls the night before. It’s archangel Michael, complete with flowing robes, wings and halo.  Balter motions to the room and the iconostasis — a red-and-gold wall adorned with saints that traditionally separates a church’s nave from its sanctuary. It was in this room, he tells me, that he used to see punk bands play. Continue reading →

Get Whit It

Bands galore at the Block Party

Culture
Dick Dägger and the C Monsters

The real G-spot of the block party isn’t just at the G-Spot stage, but rather among all those dwellings lining the Whiteaker streets that host shows featuring everything from screamo country to good ol’ garage rock. Folks attending these renegade shows can be a bit rough around the edges, including the man with a tattooed head who told me last year that I have “crazy eyes.” But, in between the aerial ballet and the art auction, stop by one of the block party’s nine stages for tunes ranging from a marimba orchestra to EDM.    Continue reading →

The Bums Will Always Lose

The Whiteaker’s historic Shamrock House tells the story of the taming of Eugene’s wildest neighborhood

Culture

At one end, the blue-and-white Tacovore calavera grins down upon tattooed neo-yuppies lined up to swill cocktails and scarf quasi-Mexican style grub. Follow the acrid scent of fermenting mash north to where the brilliant Ninkasi marquee lights up the sidewalk. Late-model cars stamped with Lexus and Mercedes logos pepper the side streets along the way. On a Saturday evening, Eugeneans from all corners of the city crisscross the northern stretch of Blair Boulevard, comparing lengthy waiting lists at boutique restaurants. Continue reading →