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Jah Sun is well aware of the deep history of reggae music and how much it has influenced other styles of music. His latest release, Rise As One, acknowledges this trailblazing art form, particularly on the track “Mad Up Di Place.” Continue reading
Ruby Pins (a side project of Lillian Maring from San Francisco-based Grass Widow) plays with Portland’s Break-Up Flowers, Statue and Cowboy at 8 pm on Thursday, June 20, at Wandering Goat; $5 sug. don. Continue reading
Amy LaVere has the kind of voice that you can’t help but notice and pay attention to. It’s not that it’s a perfectly polished gem of a voice, but rather that its flaws and nuances make you wonder just what it is that she’s really thinking. Her last album, Stranger Me, was released in July 2011 and follows four others. In 2012, LaVere and singer-songwriter Shannon McNally recorded Chasing the Ghost together — a partnership that was brought about through their mutual mentor, Memphis producer Jim Dickinson. Continue reading
Craig Hella Johnson Continue reading
Here’s a quick overview of major Oregon Bach Festival concerts this summer at UO’s Beall Concert Hall, the Central Lutheran Church and the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall and Soreng Theater. The festival boasts many other performances, films, talks, master classes and other events; check oregonbachfestival.com for complete event listings. Continue reading
Fresh off a Bandest of the Bands win at WOW Hall earlier this year, local folk-rock outfit Small Joys is starting to pick up steam. What began as a conservative duet, composed of songwriter Olivia Awbrey and lead guitarist Dan Klee, has now blossomed into a harmonious four-to-six-piece romp. The music is crisp and rootsy, with all the crunch of dead leaves in the fall, and the delicacy of dewdrops on a petal unfurled. Heading up lead vocals, Awbrey fuses Mazzy Star’s jangle to Alela Diane’s haunting soul and comes out none the worse. Continue reading
Track and Ducks football make a lot of noise, but they aren’t the only sports getting national recognition these days. Lesser-known, but ever-growing in popularity, Ultimate Frisbee has carved out a niche. Fugue, the UO women’s Ultimate Frisbee team, won nationals at the USA Ultimate College Championships in May, while the men’s team, Ego, entered nationals the top-ranked team but was eliminated in the semifinals. Continue reading
Steeped in nostalgia and soaked in the nicest kind of naughty, the hit musical Grease has become a cultural artifact of the first order. The songs are a peach. The dialogue is funny, sexy and harmlessly rebellious (the original 1971 version, which was reputedly vulgar and pretty gnarly, has been watered down), and the book — the simplest of boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl stories, set in 1959 — gives it a lean, sleek structure. Continue reading