Arts Hound

Head to downtown Springfield for the Second Friday Art Walk 5 to 8 pm, Feb. 13, and see the latest creations in silk, cotton and wool of fiber artist Tylar Merrill at the Thimbleberry Felt Designs pop-up shop at L’Etoffe Fabrics (329 Main St.). Continue strutting your stuff for the South Willamette Second Saturday Art Walk 3 to 7 pm, Feb. 14, with stops at Wild Birds Unlimited, 16 Tons Café, Tsunami Books and more.   Continue reading 

It’s About Time – February 2015

Looking up at a rare starry sky in January, even rarer because of a warm night, I was drawn to do a little star gazing. Orion is heading out west long before midnight. I’m going to miss him because there is no summer character in the sky that I know well enough to track the spring-summer-fall passage. Maybe a little gazing this July will find the constellation that attracts my focus. Continue reading 

Dance in 2015 is beginning to bloom!

Eugene Chinese School children’s dance troupe performing at the Asian Celebration.

Dance in 2015 is beginning to bloom! The Eugene Ballet Company offers Carmen, a sultry love story set to Bizet’s romantic score. Choreographed in 2007, the piece pulses with the passionate influence of Spanish flamenco and features Danielle Tolmie and her fiancée Mark Tucker in the lead roles. Check out the free “Ballet Insider” conversation with EBC Artistic Director Toni Pimble 45 minutes prior to each performance. Carmen runs Feb. 14-15 at the Hult Center; $28-53.  Continue reading 

Wines for Your Honey

In his peripatetic novel, The English Major, Jim Harrison nailed down what we need to know about love — this being Love’s month — and wine: “Desire,” he wrote, “is not subject to logic.” We love how — and whom — we love just because we do, damnitall. Continue reading 

Queer As Film

The enormous diversity gap the Oscars tends to leave in its wake can make you want to give up on film altogether. Luckily, here in Eugene, there’s a place less mainstream films can thrive.  Currently in its 23rd year, the Queer Film Festival, presented by the UO’s Cultural Forum, will screen 21 LGBTQ-focused films at the Bijou Metro Feb. 6-8. This year, filmmakers Christina Hurtado-Pierson (Transmilitary) and Liliya Anisimova (Love Is The Highest Law) will travel from New York to host discussions and Q&A sessions 7 pm Feb. 6 and 7. Continue reading 

Alternative Brazil

Self Decay

Self Decay Photo by Marcela X. Rafainer

Eugeneans — if you think driving 20 minutes to Cottage Grove to see a band play is too long, consider how long Self Decay traveled just to play there. “We are four-piece from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,” says Self Decay bassist Pedro Gibson. In 2012 the band lived in L.A. for six months before returning to Brazil, but didn’t have the chance to tour the states until now.  Continue reading