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Let’s be real: At least 80 percent of the time, taking on a production of Les Misérables is a bad idea. “Ambitious” doesn’t begin to describe this excruciatingly melodramatic 1,500-page historical novel-turned-stage musical. Continue reading
Sight Unseen is an Obie award-winning play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies. The play, which opens this week at The Very Little Theatre, takes as its subject a renowned artist and strips him naked of all the trappings of success, leaving almost nothing where a man once was. Continue reading
Charles Tatum with his sculptures Continue reading
The date 4/20 might mean weed day across the world, but as of July 1, every day will be weed day in Oregon. Given the long history of the association with 420 and weed, it’s doubtful that 7/1 will take over as a code for “Let’s go light up.” But thanks to Measure 91, if you are over 21 and you partake (privately) on 4/20 next year, you will be doing so legally. For this year, if you don’t have a medical marijuana card, there are other activities you can legally engage in. Continue reading
Spring? This was no stinkin’ Oregon spring. We were dry, warm; no endless days of sog and rain. Even the worst climate-change-deniers had to notice, even if no idiot thought to bring a snowball (or a bucket of water) into the Legislature. Last year, around this time, we sat in a UO lecture hall, listening to paleobotanists tell us that, due to climate change (i.e., warming), Oregon grape growers should re-plant their acres in warm-country grapes, like those of the southern Rhone Valley of France. Continue reading
In his groundbreaking 1978 book Orientalism, the late critic Edward Said went after the West’s misconceptions about the exotic and inscrutable otherness of Asian cultures, often so lavishly and fantastically portrayed in colonial writing. “From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient,” Said wrote, “the one thing the Orient could not do was represent itself.” Continue reading
Carol Deppe knows we want tomatoes. “And you want them earlier,” she says, “and you want the most delicious varieties, and you want different kinds and colors.” Deppe, who lives in Corvallis, is a plant breeder, farmer and author. Her book The Resilient Gardener, published in 2010, catapulted her to prominence as an events speaker. Her talks at the Good Earth Home Show in Eugene are always among the best attended. Continue reading
“Still a real world here,” sings Joanne Rand on the track “Real World” from her 2014 album Still a Real World. The song is a manifesto of sorts, cajoling us to disconnect from our networked lives and refocus on the material world. But in 2015, the life of a musician — independent or otherwise — is increasingly dependent on digital space. How does the Arcata musician find balance? Continue reading
“Hey Ho! Let’s Go!” The classic battle cry will inevitably reach the rafters this Sunday as Richie Ramone, one of the last remaining member of classic punk-rock act The Ramones, brings his leather-clad gospel anew to Eugene. Since parting ways with the godfathers of the New York punk scene in 1987, Ramone has done time in The Rock n’ Roll Rats as well as The Gobshites. He’s even tried his hand at classical composition. But shaking the Ramones’ moniker can be tough. Continue reading
With his always-vacant bug eyes, gap-toothed perma-grin and just-rolled-out-of-bed demeanor, Canadian musician Mac DeMarco is indie rock’s greatest goofus. But underneath it all, there’s a sly knowingness. You’re not sure how it happened, but while you weren’t looking this simpleton pulled a prank on you — tweaked your nose, tussled your hair and left you standing mystified but thoroughly amused. Continue reading