Whats-Happening: Page 584

Preserving the Underground

Eugene Underground Music Archive collects the past and builds for the future

Visual Arts

“I was born in 1984,” says Nicole Anne Colbath. “For me that Clash show wasn’t gonna happen.” Colbath is referring to the legendary British punk band’s early ’80s concert at the UO’s McArthur Court. A flyer for that show is now safely housed by the Eugene Underground Music Archive, a nonprofit organization “dedicated to the collection of flyers and ephemera,” filed with 3,000 other Eugene-area concert flyers mostly from the late ’70s through the ’90s. “It is sort of nostalgia,” Colbath adds. “I get bummed about shows I missed.” Continue reading →

Runway Reflections

Fashion

What can I say about the fashion scene in Eugene? It's slowly but surely growing up. Last Sunday night, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art hosted St. Vinnie's Metamorphose Upcycling Design challenge: 10 local designers on a $40 material budget to be spent at St Vincent de Paul were tasked to create three runway-ready looks in the categories of Ready-to-Wear, Evening Wear and Designer’s Choice. Continue reading →

Weather & Wine

Drink

Thanks to its cool, moist climate, the Willamette Valley is renowned for its wines. But climate isn’t the only atmospheric condition that affects grapes grown for wine — weather, or atmospheric conditions in the shorter term, also changes grapes. For example, rain can dilute the sugar levels and flavors that accumulate during ripening. Weather also encourages or tamps down prospects for various pests and diseases. Continue reading →

Brandborg Blooms

Building an out-of-the-way winery in Oregon’s newest American Viticultural Area

Drink
Photo by Trask Bedortha

The tiny town of Elkton, Ore., boasts just 200 people but six wineries. Its cooler climate, atypical of the Umpqua Valley, means that wine grapes that won’t grow in most Southern Oregon vineyards flourish in Elkton. Grape-growing regions are known as American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs. Based on climate and geography, AVAs tell winemakers and connoisseurs a little bit about what to expect from the wine. As of 2013, Elkton is Oregon’s 17th AVA, just an hour southwest of Eugene. Continue reading →

Esther the Lionhearted and Twinkle-Toed

Ballet Fantastique’s rock gospel ballet goes biblical

Dance
Ballet Fantastique company dancer Leanne Mizzoni as Esther

A local mother-daughter team is pushing the limits of ballet by finding inspiration in the most unlikely of places. For The Book of Esther, Ballet Fantastique’s Donna Bontrager and her daughter Hannah Bontrager go way, way back — to approximately 486 BC — for the finale of their 2013-2014 season. What better way to end the company’s “New Legends” series than with a story from one of the oldest existing works of literature: The Old Testament? Continue reading →