Whats-Happening: Page 613

Thrift a la Mode

St. Vincent de Paul and local designer join forces to keep fashion out of the waste stream

Culture
Mitra Chester

Each month, St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County receives about a half million pounds of clothing. To put that in perspective, Boeing’s 747-8, one of the largest aircraft ever made in the U.S., weighs one million pounds. That is a lot of old clothing to sift through, but to some, that’s half a million opportunities to find a hidden treasure or a raw material. Continue reading →

Give Guide

Culture

As Mother Teresa once said, “Give until it hurts.” Lane County has an abundance of nonprofits deserving of your donations — both tax deductible donations of cash before the end of the year and also donations of your time, your blankets, socks, warm clothing, food and other items in short supply. You might get some ideas from our cover image. EW donated all those items to people in need via First Christian Church. Continue reading →

The Mother, the Son and the Drolly Scribe

Film

Stephen Frears’ Philomena hardly marks the first time Steve Coogan has played an ordinary fellow, but it feels like a definitive forward step in a peculiar and interesting career. To some, he’ll never stop being the British TV character Alan Partridge; to me, he’s always the guy from the under-seen Tristram Shandy, who pops up in brilliant cameos in all sorts of places (including Hot Fuzz).  Continue reading →

Back Beat

Music news & notes from down in the Willamette valley.

Music
Wetsock

Eugene-Springfield experienced a brutal domestic abuse tragedy last month with the loss of 26-year old Casey Lynn Wright, a devoted equestrian, at the hands of her ex-boyfriend Robert Cromwell. Domestic abuse remains a grave but silent problem; Womenspace reports that one in four women in the U.S. will be a victim of intimate partner violence. In honor of Wright, Womenspace is hosting a benefit, “Sing Through The Blues,” featuring Savanna Coen, Bajuana Blues, Deb Cleveland as well as a silent auction 6 to 9 pm Thursday, Dec. Continue reading →

Lone Elk Sighting

Music
Paul Basile

Paul Basile, singer and primary songwriter of New York-based indie rockers Great Elk, is spending the winter playing solo shows. Great Elk’s 2012 release Autogeography is a sweeping, tuneful and epic work of American indie music. There’s a little Death Cab For Cutie-style romantic sadness in the soaring chorus of “The Weight Of The Sea,” and in the refrain from the song “Give Up,” Basile sings, “Let’s give up trying to be magnificent.”  Continue reading →

Grog and Toad

Music
Toad in the Hole, photo by Slainte Photography

If you’re looking for the life of the party, look no further than Celtic folk-punk outfit Toad in the Hole. And since EW last caught up with them in January, they’ve brought some new partiers to the scene. New Toaders are Tiffany Holliday on fiddle and Chris Leland on guitar (both formerly of electric Irish punk-rock band ManOverBoard), as well as Graeme Pletscher on tin whistle (of Sol Seed sax fame). Meanwhile, veteran Toader and bodhran player Joel Kenney is on indefinite hiatus because of a study abroad stint in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Continue reading →