Whats-Happening: Page 614

Arts Hound

Visual Arts

World-famous photographer Imogen Cunningham bought her first camera at the age of 18. This wouldn’t be especially special except that the year was 1901 and women in photography were a rarity. Renowned for her unique, black-and-white botanical compositions and portraits, the late Portland-born photographer’s work is now on display at Springfield’s Emerald Art Center through Dec. 28. EAC called the exhibit its “ultimate coup of the year,” but that’s only half true; it’s a cultural gift for the whole community.   Continue reading →

Winter Reading Top Ten

Books

UO Duck Store Literary Duck Top Ten Here are the books that are hot, many by local and faculty authors, at the UO’s Literary Duck bookstore. 1. ** Counterclockwise: My year of Hypnosis, Hormones, Dark Chocolate, And Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging By Lauren Kessler. Rodale Press, $24.99. UO faculty author Lauren Kessler sets off on a personal odyssey, exploring and discovering what it means to get old in our youth-obsessed society.   Continue reading →

Undead WYMPROV!

Comedy

“The four of us are kind of like sisters,” Vicki Silvers tells me over coffee pre-snowstorm at Noisette Pastry Kitchen, with her other “sister” Debbie Martin in tow. She’s speaking of the four women who make up WYMPROV!, a pioneering comedy improv group whose legacy in Eugene dates back more than two decades to its “Debut and Farewell” show at Agate Hall. Martin nods, adding that the foursome is supportive of each other on stage and off, getting together for frequent dinners and continuing “to get together and play.” Continue reading →

A Blank Screen

Film

Tom Blank is on a mission.   A Navy veteran and retired director who served his career in television, Blank and his wife moved in 2005 from Hollywood to Eugene, where he immediately took up the cause of advocating for movies as cultural and spiritual artifacts.   Continue reading →

Into the Blue

Film

For a film based on a graphic novel, it’s fitting that Blue Is the Warmest Color opens with the discussion of another novel, La Vie de Marianne by Pierre de Marivaux. The 18th-century author cleared a path for romanticists like Jane Austen to delve into an examined life that balances reason with emotion, a theme director Abdellatif Kechiche also examines in his fervid, coming-of-age love story. Continue reading →

United Nations of Frasco

Music

If not for Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, Andy Frasco might have never found his muse. As a kid in Southern California, Frasco dreamed of being a music business behind-the-scenes guy — managing bands or running a label. Dropping out of school at the tender age of 14, Frasco started a booking agency and lied about his age to work at Capitol Records. At 18, he saw Damien Rice perform live and it all changed. “I moved to New York, locked myself in a room for a year with albums like Dr. Continue reading →