Whats-Happening: Page 572

The Absurdist

Winner of the Andy Kauffman Award, comedian Brent Weinbach returns

Comedy
Brent Weinbach

Brent Weinbach is goofy, strange and smart — the perfect combo for a comedian coming to Eugene. He’s your Renaissance everyman: A former professional jazz pianist, Weinbach writes and co-directs the web series Pound House, hosts a podcast on video game music that predates the millennium, and has appeared on reigning comedy platforms like Conan, Comedy Central, HBO and IFC as well as touring with the Comedians of Comedy. Continue reading →

Brew It Yourself

Cost and tailored taste draw thousands to eugene’s hopping home brew scene

Drink
Members of the cascade brewers society and others sample the entries in the sasquatch homebrew competition. winner to be revealed june 7. Below: Brandt Weaver.

Of the hundreds of varieties of craft beers available at microbreweries throughout Oregon, bacon, oyster, horseradish, fig, beet and pork chop are not mouth-watering flavors that often come to mind when craving a cold pint. But according to members of the Cascade Brewers Society (CBS), home-brewed creations like Curry Stout, Licorice Logger or Beet Weiser are mighty tasty.  Continue reading →

Cask Masters

Local brewers bring old-fashioned cask ale back to life

Drink
Plank Town Brewing’s John Crane pulls an ale while steve van rossem looks on. Right: A couple dines at Brewers Union Local 180.

The traditional cask-conditioned style of beer is very much alive, and you can see its influence growing in Oregon’s craft beer industry, where local brewers like Plank Town in Springfield and Oakridge’s Brewers Union Local 180 are making concentrated efforts to keep it a living force in the beer world — a time and place far from the English and European pubs where they were once the norm. Continue reading →

For Whom the Belle Tolls

Film

The illegitimate, biracial daughter of a British navy admiral, Dido Elizabeth Belle, was born into complicated circumstances. In Belle, director Amma Asante and screenwriter Misan Sagay take some liberties with what’s known about the real Belle, but strict accuracy isn’t the point of Asante’s lush, Jane Austenesque film, which belongs fully to Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).  Continue reading →

Camas Time

Gardening

A recent trip to a hiking destination near Oakridge reminded me that early May is peak bloom time for camas lilies. Camas can bloom quite a bit earlier in some locations (on the west-facing grassy slope at the Masonic Cemetery, for instance, and the well-drained, sunny top of the Oak Knoll in Hendricks Park).  Continue reading →

Turn On the Waterworks

Music

Portland’s Water Tower has come a long way since stomping the Americana revival boards late last decade. With an all new lineup — excepting frontman Kenny Feinstein, who’s been along from the start and recently signed with Fluff & Gravy Records — the band leaves the old-time ever so slightly to bring a fresher rock ‘n’ roll sound.  Continue reading →

Gritty Grass

Music

Three years have passed since Eugene’s perennial favorite rock-grass outfit, Alder Street (formerly Alder Street All-Stars), released its last album. With the debut this month of Americannibal, rest assured, it was worth the wait. “In three years you have time to get your shit together and write songs that are solid,” says Ian Royer, guitarist and a songwriter for the band. “We’re happy with every single song.” Continue reading →