Whats-Happening: Page 599

Homegrown Gowns

Local designer Renne Phillips makes couture wedding dresses accessible

Culture

Renne Phillips sits perched on a stool in the Redoux Parlour’s workspace surrounded by scissors, paper patterns and sketches. Behind her, a dress form is mocked up with lace — the beginning of a gown she’ll complete for a summer wedding. She pulls out the garment’s sketch; sweeping lines resembling rose petals flow together creating a voluminous skirt, which is sprinkled with dots representing intricate beadwork. Continue reading →

For Every Couple, A Story

High-end production meets traditional storytelling at Moetic Wedding Films

Culture

“Everywhere we travel we tell people there’s no better place to get married than Oregon,” says Ryan Welch, co-founder of Moetic Wedding Films, a high-end wedding film production company with offices in Eugene and McMinnville, Ore. “The problem is,” Welch continues, to take advantage of Oregon’s natural beauty “you’ve only got three months. We’re not going to film a wedding here in the Northwest until June.” Continue reading →

A Hoot of a Ceremony

Local author Melissa Hart remembers her wedding at Cascades Raptor Center

Culture
Author Melissa Hart and husband Jonathan release a red-tailed hawk at their nuptials.

“Jonathan? Melissa? Meet us on the lawn and close your eyes.” Grinning staff members at the Cascades Raptor Center led us past our lopsided wedding cake to the grass outside the visitors’ center. “We have a gift for you … don’t peek.” For years, we’d volunteered to clean mews, feed orphaned owls and medicate injured hawks at the nature center and wildlife hospital in Eugene. After Jonathan proposed, we asked to marry at the center.  Continue reading →

Get Kutt

Kansas City rapper Kutt Calhoun

Music
Kutt Calhoun

K to the C: Kansas City rapper Kutt Calhoun is a big name in underground rap, and also a compatriot and collaborator of many popular acts on Eugene stages like Tech N9ne, Krizz Kalico and more.  In 2013, Calhoun released Black Gold, featuring appearances from aforementioned artists as well as Brotha Lynch Hung. Hip hop blog HipHopDx gives the album three and a half stars, and it debuted at number one on the Billboard’s Heatseekers Album chart. Continue reading →

Songbirds

There can be joy in collaborating with someone you trust

Music
Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin

Danny Schmidt and Carrie Elkin are both solo singer-songwriters. They also happen to be in a relationship, but don’t always have time together since they have separate projects. For now, however, the songbird couple has discovered a solution to this problem. “We were touring so much, individually, that we never got the chance to see one another,” says Schmidt. “So we decided to try touring together in a song-swap format, adding harmonies to each other’s songs, and good-natured ribbing in between songs.” Continue reading →

Vocal Showcases

From opera singer Mary Wilson to the UO Gospel Choir, January is filled with talented vocalists

Music
The UO Gospel Choir

The Jan. 16 Eugene Symphony concert at the Hult Center opens with some of the 20th century’s most powerfully dramatic music: the “Four Sea Interludes” from Benjamin Britten’s mighty opera Peter Grimes. This performance of one of the greatest English composers’ most popular concert works misses by just a few days cashing in on Britten’s centenary celebrations, but we don’t need no stinkin’ birthday excuse to enjoy his music. Continue reading →