Whats-Happening: Page 521

Are You LEXperienced?

LEX

Music
LEX

Pop quiz: What do Joseph Campbell, Blade Runner and Trent Reznor have in common?  Answer: The L.A. synth-pop quartet LEX.  “A lot of our inspiration comes from movies such as Blade Runner, The Neverending Story and Labyrinth,” bandmember Leah Chrisholm tells EW via email. Chrisholm grew up in Eugene. LEX is touring in support of their debut self-titled release produced by Peter Franco, who also worked on the last two Daft Punk records. The band describes its sound as “fantasy synth.” Continue reading →

Near Greatness

Geographer

Music
Geographer

Geographer exists somewhere between the emotive synth pop arias of Depeche Mode and the earnest coffeehouse-meets-arena-rock of fellow Bay Area acts Train and Counting Crows.  With echoes of The Killers, Geographer’s latest release, Ghost Modern (out now on Roll Call Records) tries to sound big — U2 big, the kind of watershed record that burns up the charts while soundtracking a generation. Continue reading →

Country Roots

Singer-songwriter Iris DeMent brings her brand of roots-folk to Cozmic

Music
Iris DeMent

No one has a voice quite like Iris DeMent — an aching, soulful twang reminiscent of a bygone era. “She’s the best singer I’ve ever heard,” Merle Haggard has said of the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter. DeMent has done timeless duets with John Prine and Emmylou Harris, and her songs have graced both the silver and small screens (2010’s True Grit and Northern Exposure). Via email, EW caught up with DeMent, who plays March 29 at Cozmic, to chat about music collaborations,  her music roots and her latest project. Continue reading →

Delgani Debut

Discover Eugene’s new string quartet, the sounds of South India and music for Holy Week

Music
Delgani String Quartet

String quartets might be the most common classical music chamber ensemble, but it’s hard to find a quartet that performs regularly hereabouts and thereby develops the kind of chemistry that can really make the music sing. That hole in Eugene’s musical tapestry will be repaired at 7:30 pm Tuesday, April 7, at United Lutheran Church (2230 Washington), when the new Eugene-based Delgani String Quartet takes it opening bow. Continue reading →

Prepare to be Mesmerized

Harmonic Laboratory and Quixotic Fusion team up for an explosive arts festival at the Hult

Visual Arts
Quixotic Fusion’s ‘Gravity of Center’

Sitting on the carpet of the Hult Center lobby on a misty February evening, a group of artists strain to look up at the towering ceiling with its jumble of M.C. Escher-like angles, balconies and staircases. They toss around terms like scrim and pulley and trapeze.  The group decides they want to fasten a net to the wood beams where aerial dancers can twist and twirl. One artist, Mica Thomas, describes the scene as “that big moment that kind of shocks you a bit before the ending.” Continue reading →

This Mural’s Got Potential

The Cannery teams up with local artist Erik Roggeveen to create an innovative mounted mural

Visual Arts
Erik Roggeveen's new mural ‘Potential’

Local artist Erik Roggeveen picked up a paintbrush for the first time only two-and-a-half years ago.  Today, you can see his 112-square-foot hand-painted mural — his first ever — on the east-facing wall of The Cannery at 11th and Mill Alley. The Cannery pub unveiled the mural March 6 and it’s hard to miss: The vividly colored, forced-perspective painting evinces a comic book-style and depicts a woman holding a jar of alien-looking pickled foods, like garlic, carrots and purple broccoli. Continue reading →

Alice in Chains

Film

Still Alice wastes absolutely no time. Based on the novel by Lisa Genova, the movie gives you its purpose in the title; it’s an empathetic, compassionate movie about a woman desperate to remain herself, to be the person she’s created, in the face of early onset Alzheimer’s.  Continue reading →