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If there’s one key flaw in David Fincher’s precise, elegant, wicked Gone Girl, it’s that it is just so precise and elegant that sometimes the wickedness struggles to come through. Likewise, Rosamund Pike’s Amy Dunne, the perfect, rich, beautiful wife, is so icy-gorgeous, so regal and poised, her voiceovers spoken in such flat affect, that it’s hard to imagine her ever having any fun. Continue reading
Big houses on small lots. Teeny town houses and condos with no garden. Infill. High-rise balconies. There seems to be an ever-growing inventory of places where there”s hardly room for shrubs at all. Luckily there is also a growing inventory of slim-line shrubs. Virtually all shrubs and trees, including skinny ones, get broader as they age. Pruning to control height is relatively easy, but pruning to limit girth can be trickier, especially with conifers. Continue reading
After bursting onto the music scene in 2013 with a stellar self-titled debut, New York-based The Lone Bellow are now preparing for the follow-up. And while the dreaded “sophomore slump” torpedoes the careers of many bands, guitarist and lead vocalist Zach Williams isn’t worried about the new album. “I really believe in the record,” he says. “I almost see it as a play with four acts, with three or four songs per act. I went through a really heavy situation while writing these songs, and I think it’s going to be a cathartic thing.” Continue reading
Oregon’s greatest composer, the late Lou Harrison, often explained the difference between the music written on the American East and West coasts. “Out there” — meaning the East Coast — “you think of Paris and Berlin as cultural centers. Here we think of Tokyo and Djakarta,” he said. “We have a very strong connection with Asia. This is Pacifica, that’s Atlantica. They’re different orientations. I don’t think that there is a composer in the West who is not aware of that.” Continue reading
The Fab Four, Four Seasons, Four Tops, Gang of Four, Emerson Quartet, Takacs Quartet: Why do foursomes get all the musical attention? Everyone composes for string quartets and bands made up of two guitars, bass and drum. But in classical music as well as jazz and rock, trios offer more transparency and a lighter, often tighter sound. A trio of trios heading our way this fall reveals the power of three. Chamber Music Amici Oct. 27, Wildish Theater Continue reading
Tossing aside its usual family fare, the Cottage Theatre reaches for something darker in its current production of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. “Angry men don’t write the rules,” sings the infamous John Wilkes Booth, ably played by Kory Weimer, “and guns don’t right the wrongs.” Booth is just one of nine assassins who have their day in this 1990 musical, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and songbook by John Weidman. Continue reading
After enlisting in the Navy at 19, actor Ben Buchanan, now 26, first trained in the stifling summer heat outside of Chicago. Later, crossing the equator, he experienced the traditional “shellback” ceremony, a 400-year-old naval ritual in which mere “pollywogs” are transformed into sturdy shellbacks. For Buchanan, this rite of passage included being shot at with fire hoses and crawling through garbage. “It was pretty fun,” he says. Continue reading
The Very Little Theatre is among the oldest community theaters in the country. Quietly successful, the unassuming venue boasts some of the most reliable ticket sales in town. From them we’ve come to expect the earnest Arthur Miller drama, British farce and classic musical comedy — comfortable chestnuts staged by a representative slice of the Eugene community. But a new spirit is moving within the aging, wood-paneled walls. Recently elected VLT president Jay Hash is a mere 31 years old, and he presides over a fresh theater board looking to shake things up. Continue reading
Once upon a time, families across this nation gathered around the radio at the appointed hour, eagerly awaiting the next installment of such classic shows as Gunsmoke, Superman, Burns and Allen or Arch Obler’s creepy Lights Out. This was the “Golden Age of Radio,” an era stretching roughly from the 1930s through the end of the Second World War, and it was no less vital for being cast now in an aura of quaint nostalgia. Continue reading
This is your last chance to score tickets to Ballet Fantastique’s 5X5 celebration Friday, Oct.10, at the Hult Center, featuring dinner, performances, an auction and after party (Good thing dancers have a lot of stamina). Proceeds from the 5X5 shindig benefit Ballet Fantastique’s educational outreach programs. Tickets are $55-$155 at balletfantastique.org. Continue reading