I don't remember what my first show at Eugene's WOW Hall was, but I remember plenty of the later ones. It was notable during my college years for having more shows than just about any venue in town. In a town with no large concert spaces, and few medium-sized venues, the WOW Hall was a small bastion for indie music loves. I saw countless local rock shows there, getting deeply in touch with the music scene in town (or as deeply as I could without actually hanging out with the bands).
In the intervening years, it seems the WOW Hall has changed in some ways. Well, one way in particular: No more rock acts. This might be a tad bit of an exaggeration, but I was surprised to find that their once punk-heavy schedule is now dominated by world music, techno/electronica, hip-hop and the occasional touring indie rock band. While this rise in the diversity of music offered could be seen as a good thing, for me it means that a place I used to go to once or twice a month now has half-year long stretches of absolutely nothing I'm interested in.
Fortunately, the schedule at the WOW Hall now seems to be going through a good stretch, for my tastes in any case. While there are no upcoming hard rock acts of any kind (punk has been almost exiled from Eugene, while metal still remains ghettoized to a single downtown bar that caters to that demographic), there are a few solid acts coming through. Federico Aubele, an Argentinian dub/bolero/spanish guitar/techno fusion act is coming through in late September, with alt-country poets the Silver Jews following shortly after (The McDonald Theatre also has a whole slew of shows coming up next month as well, including Built to Spill, Okkervil River, and Iron & Wine, so the next couple of months are going to be good for me).
Last night brought me a solid slab of entertainment to tide me over until the next month. The Monsters of Accordion tour came through town, brining a batch of crazies with their neglected instruments to the stage. Five acts total, with one local band (the mostly-girl old-time group The Bad Mitten Orchestra) followed by four solo performers. The music ranged from modern rock and punk covers to bubble gum jingles, but mostly stuck within the range of "old-time music," that odd mish-mash of European folk, classic American country, blues, barroom ballads and Appalachian mountain jams that has been rising in popularity recently among a particular alternative mind-set.
The solo performers averaged out to a pretty good group, but the night was owned by the closing act, Jason Webley. His skinny frame dominated the stage while snarled and growled like a soulful junkyard dog. He made his accordion, an instrument that has been widely demonized in America, seem like it was the only thing holding him back from attacking the microphone and the audience beyond it. His apocalyptic songs were edged with a goofy humor (the above mentioned medley of bubble gum jingles? That was him). His closing song, where he screams out that he "wants music that tears itself apart" had the audience stomping and wailing along with him. It was a remarkable performance.
If the point of this tour was to show that the accordion is a legitimate instrument to be playing in this day and age, it certainly accomplished its task. The performers didn't take themselves all too seriously, but they didn't descend into camp either. It was a wonderful, and unique, musical experience.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
The Classical and the Trivial
Been a little busy this week and haven't been updating a few of the events I attended. I've been pumping up my social life a tad this summer and as such will probably be doing more updates.
Sunday I attended the final performance of this year's Bach Festival, which is Eugene's little classical music shindig. Been going on for nearly four decades now, bringing high culture to the burg every summer. The performance I attended was "The Passion of St. Matthew," a three hour depiction of the last days of Jesus sung in German. I know, thrilling, but I actually am a total sucker for anything by Bach and had a great time. The concert was in the Hult Center, the large performing arts center in Eugene. The seats are built with pygmies in mind as the expected audience, but otherwise its a great place to catch a play or symphony performance.
The median age of the audience was old enough to collect social security, so I felt a tad out of place, but at least I didn't fall asleep during the performance as I noticed a couple of the old timers do.
While not done by a world-class symphony or choir, the performance was still more than worthwhile. I look forward to next year, so I can feel all posh and sophisticated for another couple of hours before going home to my one-bedroom apartment to eat Rice-A-Roni.
The second event I attended this week was a little less high class and a little more interactive. Max's Tavern is one of the better bars in town, a classic college town bar that doesn't make you feel like a total tool for hanging out there. Every Tuesday night is Trivia Night, a common enough bar activity that Max's lays its own laid-back attitude over.
Teams sign up for the event and compete in two rounds of three innings of six questions a piece, with one three-question lightning round at the end. Contestants fill in cards with their answers and the scores are tabulated at the end of the inning, with raffles held between innings for cheap prizes. The winners get a slightly higher class of cheap prize at the end.
I didn't have a team and didn't know anyone at the bar, so I competed alone, the only guy flying solo in the competition. I came in fifth out of 15 teams, meaning that I beat a combined total of 30 drunkards in a trivia contest. I won a Frisbee in a raffle and some guy offered to buy me a beer in exchange for it (I got a Guinness). I also got a honorable mention prize at the end, which meant I got to pick something from the pile of cheap crap they had in the back. I picked up a box of cupcake mix (I was on my third beer by that point) and called it a night.
Overall, a fun social event and as good a way as any to spend a Tuesday evening. I'll have to make some friends so I can have a team next time.
Sunday I attended the final performance of this year's Bach Festival, which is Eugene's little classical music shindig. Been going on for nearly four decades now, bringing high culture to the burg every summer. The performance I attended was "The Passion of St. Matthew," a three hour depiction of the last days of Jesus sung in German. I know, thrilling, but I actually am a total sucker for anything by Bach and had a great time. The concert was in the Hult Center, the large performing arts center in Eugene. The seats are built with pygmies in mind as the expected audience, but otherwise its a great place to catch a play or symphony performance.
The median age of the audience was old enough to collect social security, so I felt a tad out of place, but at least I didn't fall asleep during the performance as I noticed a couple of the old timers do.
While not done by a world-class symphony or choir, the performance was still more than worthwhile. I look forward to next year, so I can feel all posh and sophisticated for another couple of hours before going home to my one-bedroom apartment to eat Rice-A-Roni.
The second event I attended this week was a little less high class and a little more interactive. Max's Tavern is one of the better bars in town, a classic college town bar that doesn't make you feel like a total tool for hanging out there. Every Tuesday night is Trivia Night, a common enough bar activity that Max's lays its own laid-back attitude over.
Teams sign up for the event and compete in two rounds of three innings of six questions a piece, with one three-question lightning round at the end. Contestants fill in cards with their answers and the scores are tabulated at the end of the inning, with raffles held between innings for cheap prizes. The winners get a slightly higher class of cheap prize at the end.
I didn't have a team and didn't know anyone at the bar, so I competed alone, the only guy flying solo in the competition. I came in fifth out of 15 teams, meaning that I beat a combined total of 30 drunkards in a trivia contest. I won a Frisbee in a raffle and some guy offered to buy me a beer in exchange for it (I got a Guinness). I also got a honorable mention prize at the end, which meant I got to pick something from the pile of cheap crap they had in the back. I picked up a box of cupcake mix (I was on my third beer by that point) and called it a night.
Overall, a fun social event and as good a way as any to spend a Tuesday evening. I'll have to make some friends so I can have a team next time.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Wine 'n' Dine
Just for something to write about, here are my thoughts on some of the restaurants here in town. I'm only listing places I've been to in the last few months and only ones I feel like writing about.
Broken down by cuisine. Enjoy:
Pizza:
Pegasus Pizza: Decent college pizza and good beer. I've had great pizza there and I've had bad pizza there, but most of it lands in the "pretty good" zone.
Sy's Pizza: The closest thing I've ever found to New York-style pizza on the West coast. A good, cheap meal.
Burgers/sandwiches:
Rennie's Landing: Basically, pub food. Solid burgers and beer, though it's really more of a hang-out that a dine-out kind of place. I used to go there for lunch until I got bored with it.
Cornucopia: Best burgers in town, in my opinion. The Blond Bomb is a big, cheesy chunk of delicious. Great beer selection and good specials. The meatball and provolone sandwich is another favorite. Doesn't seem like you get enough for the price, but I'm never unsatisfied when I finish it.
McMenamins (any of them, there are three in town and they're all the same): Good burgers, good fries and the Terminator Stout is a pure delight. Can't go wrong with a place that names a burger after a Led Zeppelin song. This Northwest-based company is trying to own every bar & grill in Oregon, I'm pretty sure.
The 'Witch House: Fairly new gourmet sandwich place on Willamette. I've never had anything there that I haven't thought was at least decent. They do a solid braised pork sandwich that's one of my favorite meals in town. Every time I want to go there, I'm worried it will be closed. I never see anyone there (must do solid lunchtime business).
Thai:
Sweet Basil/Sweet Basil Express: Solid pad thai and some pretty good curries. Makes a good lunchtime stop, but I think it's overrated.
Ta Ra Rin: Excellent and highly recommend. The yellow curry is the stuff of dreams.
Indian:
Bombay Palace: Good lunch buffet and a cheap, but no great shakes. Has all the atmosphere of a truck stop, though they play soccer matches on the big screen every now and then.
Evergreen: Very good lunch buffet, with a rotating selection of curries that I always enjoy (I had goat curry there once, and was not disappointed). The rice pudding is always a good way to end a meal.
Mediterranean:
Caspian: Nice little place on the 13th Ave. stretch heading into the UO campus. Serves some good kebabs and gyros (lamb kebab with rice is a favorite) as well as traditional American breakfast items.
Coffee:
Mid-Town: I've never eaten at the restaurant in the same building, but the coffee shop is one of the best in town. Real pros making the drinks, and some innovative specials (the honey cardamom latte is the best thing I've had on the menu).
Full City: Eugene's classic. Sort of MOR for a high end coffee shop, but the do good, consistent work.
The Beanery: Allan Bros.' own coffee stand in town. Great espresso made with handle-pulled machines (if you know what that means you already drink there) and a fine tea selection. The place is a barn though and it roasts in there all summer. Not a pleasant place to be when the heat gets up into the 80s or 90s.
Espresso Roma: Best coffee shop in town for atmosphere. Nice place to hang out and read/study/chat/lose game after game of Go to my friends. The coffee is motor oil, but strong and effective. Good pastries and some nice smoothies for the hot months.
Misc.:
Cafe Yumm!: Local chain, good for lunch or a light dinner. Most of the menu is variations on the basic Yumm Bowl, which is rice, salsa, veggies, cheddar and "Yumm Sauce," which is what ties the whole thing together into something worthwhile.
Provisions: Small gourmet marketplace in the bottom of the 5th Street Public Market. Good cheese and coffee selection. Also will fulfill anyone's need for gourmet-pizza-with-ingredients-you-wouldn't-think-to-add-to-pizza-but
-which-taste-good-anyway.
Broken down by cuisine. Enjoy:
Pizza:
Pegasus Pizza: Decent college pizza and good beer. I've had great pizza there and I've had bad pizza there, but most of it lands in the "pretty good" zone.
Sy's Pizza: The closest thing I've ever found to New York-style pizza on the West coast. A good, cheap meal.
Burgers/sandwiches:
Rennie's Landing: Basically, pub food. Solid burgers and beer, though it's really more of a hang-out that a dine-out kind of place. I used to go there for lunch until I got bored with it.
Cornucopia: Best burgers in town, in my opinion. The Blond Bomb is a big, cheesy chunk of delicious. Great beer selection and good specials. The meatball and provolone sandwich is another favorite. Doesn't seem like you get enough for the price, but I'm never unsatisfied when I finish it.
McMenamins (any of them, there are three in town and they're all the same): Good burgers, good fries and the Terminator Stout is a pure delight. Can't go wrong with a place that names a burger after a Led Zeppelin song. This Northwest-based company is trying to own every bar & grill in Oregon, I'm pretty sure.
The 'Witch House: Fairly new gourmet sandwich place on Willamette. I've never had anything there that I haven't thought was at least decent. They do a solid braised pork sandwich that's one of my favorite meals in town. Every time I want to go there, I'm worried it will be closed. I never see anyone there (must do solid lunchtime business).
Thai:
Sweet Basil/Sweet Basil Express: Solid pad thai and some pretty good curries. Makes a good lunchtime stop, but I think it's overrated.
Ta Ra Rin: Excellent and highly recommend. The yellow curry is the stuff of dreams.
Indian:
Bombay Palace: Good lunch buffet and a cheap, but no great shakes. Has all the atmosphere of a truck stop, though they play soccer matches on the big screen every now and then.
Evergreen: Very good lunch buffet, with a rotating selection of curries that I always enjoy (I had goat curry there once, and was not disappointed). The rice pudding is always a good way to end a meal.
Mediterranean:
Caspian: Nice little place on the 13th Ave. stretch heading into the UO campus. Serves some good kebabs and gyros (lamb kebab with rice is a favorite) as well as traditional American breakfast items.
Coffee:
Mid-Town: I've never eaten at the restaurant in the same building, but the coffee shop is one of the best in town. Real pros making the drinks, and some innovative specials (the honey cardamom latte is the best thing I've had on the menu).
Full City: Eugene's classic. Sort of MOR for a high end coffee shop, but the do good, consistent work.
The Beanery: Allan Bros.' own coffee stand in town. Great espresso made with handle-pulled machines (if you know what that means you already drink there) and a fine tea selection. The place is a barn though and it roasts in there all summer. Not a pleasant place to be when the heat gets up into the 80s or 90s.
Espresso Roma: Best coffee shop in town for atmosphere. Nice place to hang out and read/study/chat/lose game after game of Go to my friends. The coffee is motor oil, but strong and effective. Good pastries and some nice smoothies for the hot months.
Misc.:
Cafe Yumm!: Local chain, good for lunch or a light dinner. Most of the menu is variations on the basic Yumm Bowl, which is rice, salsa, veggies, cheddar and "Yumm Sauce," which is what ties the whole thing together into something worthwhile.
Provisions: Small gourmet marketplace in the bottom of the 5th Street Public Market. Good cheese and coffee selection. Also will fulfill anyone's need for gourmet-pizza-with-ingredients-you-wouldn't-think-to-add-to-pizza-but
-which-taste-good-anyway.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Sasquatch Brew Fest
I haven't been a beer drinker for very long, but as with all of my obsessions I went from novice to well-informed snob in only a matter of weeks. Oregon is a good place to feel elitist about your taste in beer. There are seemingly countless microbreweries in the Pacific Northwest and some of the best beer in the world is made here.
The Brew Fest is a small, unimposing event that takes place every year in downtown Eugene. It's not by any means the best celebration of beer in the area (Portland has a major brew fest every summer that probably holds that title). However, it makes up for its small size with its variety. The bulk of the better brewers in the area had at least one beer a piece representing for them and a few even brewed special batches just for the event. All of this took place on Broadway Plaza, which meant that the city of Eugene was just fine with cordoning off a city block right in the middle of downtown so that people could drink. That everything was set up around the commemorative Ken Kesey statue in the Plaza added that extra hometown touch.
I had friends working the taps at the festival, so I ended up with a number of solid recommendations. I started with a Red Hook Golden Ale that went down really smooth and then moved on to Willamette Brewery's IPA, which had a wonderful floral flavor. After that things started to get blurry, though I do remember having a really nice tri-tip sandwich from a booth being run by the Bates Steakhouse (I've got to try that place sometime). I remember having a solid imperial stout and a couple other good IPA's. The names all get a little fuzzy. Ninkasi's Tricerihops stands out though, and they have quickly become one of my favorite breweries. That they are local just makes them easier to like.
After I had drank about as much as I could handle (not much, as I'll cop to being a lightweight) I moseyed over to CD/Game Exchange and did some humorous CD shopping ("Def Leppard? Those guys are hilarious!") that I will probably come to regret later. Overall, a well-spent day.
The Brew Fest is a small, unimposing event that takes place every year in downtown Eugene. It's not by any means the best celebration of beer in the area (Portland has a major brew fest every summer that probably holds that title). However, it makes up for its small size with its variety. The bulk of the better brewers in the area had at least one beer a piece representing for them and a few even brewed special batches just for the event. All of this took place on Broadway Plaza, which meant that the city of Eugene was just fine with cordoning off a city block right in the middle of downtown so that people could drink. That everything was set up around the commemorative Ken Kesey statue in the Plaza added that extra hometown touch.
I had friends working the taps at the festival, so I ended up with a number of solid recommendations. I started with a Red Hook Golden Ale that went down really smooth and then moved on to Willamette Brewery's IPA, which had a wonderful floral flavor. After that things started to get blurry, though I do remember having a really nice tri-tip sandwich from a booth being run by the Bates Steakhouse (I've got to try that place sometime). I remember having a solid imperial stout and a couple other good IPA's. The names all get a little fuzzy. Ninkasi's Tricerihops stands out though, and they have quickly become one of my favorite breweries. That they are local just makes them easier to like.
After I had drank about as much as I could handle (not much, as I'll cop to being a lightweight) I moseyed over to CD/Game Exchange and did some humorous CD shopping ("Def Leppard? Those guys are hilarious!") that I will probably come to regret later. Overall, a well-spent day.
Friday, May 30, 2008
John Henry's 80's Night
John Henry's is a Eugene institution, though not in the way that anyone intended. Located right on Broadway, it's by my estimate one of the more successful businesses in a downtown noted for being pathetically inactive. It has the looks of a seedy dive bar, yet like so many things having to do with the place this is merely appearance. Its biggest customer base is currently twenty-something college students who wear trucker hats and drink Pabst Blue Ribbon ironically (have you noticed that no one drinks PBR because they like it? You either drink because you are too poor to afford anything better or because it's currently trendy to drink shitty beer).
I used to stop by every now and then for shows back during my college newspaper days, but as I didn't drink at the time I had no reason to frequent the place. Since I have now discovered the joys and wonders of beer, and as I was looking to fill a Thursday night with some diverting entertainment, I decided to head down for 80's Night, the highly popular dance party that has been going at least as far back as when I was in school.
80's Night is not an original activity. Plenty of college towns have similar events in which people dress up in goofy exaggerations of an ill-remembered past and dance spasticly to music they despised only a few years before. I grabbed a table and watched, drink in hand, while sweaty men with closed eyes and goofy haircuts thrust their crotches around in what had to be the most high-intense workout of their otherwise pasty, Arby's-fueled lives. Somehow or other, this made me very depressed.
It seems that these days I have a low tolerance for kitsch. 80's Night is swathed in irony, layers upon layers of it, coating every feathered haircut and every red leather jacket in a thick sheen of twice-removed satire. Much of the music is terrible, but people dance to it anyway, reveling in its terribleness (how this makes them any different than people who sincerely enjoy listening to cuts from Eddie Murphy's dance album is beyond me). People dress up in clothing styles they hate to go to a bar that caters to their need for fake-squalor so that they can listen to music they don't really like from an era they can't remember. All of this to strike one pose in one place on the one particular evening when it will make any sense. Campy nostalgia-fueled theme nights are not supposed to be this existential.
I could just throw this whole experience into the same shit-pile as all the other cultural experiences that thrive on the goofiness of 1980s pop culture (elevating said culture up to some heightened level of appreciation it never really deserved even while pointing out its awfulness, never realizing that this doesn't make up for the celebration of mediocrity). I could dismiss it as such, except for this one guy. He was dancing all night, to every song. He wore tight, sparkly pants and a pair of white leather cowboy boots. His t-shirt was a screen print of a Stratocaster with the neck pointing up, ending at the neck of his shirt. He danced when their was no one to dance with, he danced when the floor was packed. He twirled and did the robot and every time something new would come on his energy would spike. He didn't notice the other people there, didn't seem to care how ridiculous he looked. He was probably old enough to have been in high school during the 80s. He was sincerely having the time of his life.
You can't argue with that.
I used to stop by every now and then for shows back during my college newspaper days, but as I didn't drink at the time I had no reason to frequent the place. Since I have now discovered the joys and wonders of beer, and as I was looking to fill a Thursday night with some diverting entertainment, I decided to head down for 80's Night, the highly popular dance party that has been going at least as far back as when I was in school.
80's Night is not an original activity. Plenty of college towns have similar events in which people dress up in goofy exaggerations of an ill-remembered past and dance spasticly to music they despised only a few years before. I grabbed a table and watched, drink in hand, while sweaty men with closed eyes and goofy haircuts thrust their crotches around in what had to be the most high-intense workout of their otherwise pasty, Arby's-fueled lives. Somehow or other, this made me very depressed.
It seems that these days I have a low tolerance for kitsch. 80's Night is swathed in irony, layers upon layers of it, coating every feathered haircut and every red leather jacket in a thick sheen of twice-removed satire. Much of the music is terrible, but people dance to it anyway, reveling in its terribleness (how this makes them any different than people who sincerely enjoy listening to cuts from Eddie Murphy's dance album is beyond me). People dress up in clothing styles they hate to go to a bar that caters to their need for fake-squalor so that they can listen to music they don't really like from an era they can't remember. All of this to strike one pose in one place on the one particular evening when it will make any sense. Campy nostalgia-fueled theme nights are not supposed to be this existential.
I could just throw this whole experience into the same shit-pile as all the other cultural experiences that thrive on the goofiness of 1980s pop culture (elevating said culture up to some heightened level of appreciation it never really deserved even while pointing out its awfulness, never realizing that this doesn't make up for the celebration of mediocrity). I could dismiss it as such, except for this one guy. He was dancing all night, to every song. He wore tight, sparkly pants and a pair of white leather cowboy boots. His t-shirt was a screen print of a Stratocaster with the neck pointing up, ending at the neck of his shirt. He danced when their was no one to dance with, he danced when the floor was packed. He twirled and did the robot and every time something new would come on his energy would spike. He didn't notice the other people there, didn't seem to care how ridiculous he looked. He was probably old enough to have been in high school during the 80s. He was sincerely having the time of his life.
You can't argue with that.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Ubiquitous Eugene
One of the things that I missed most when I moved away from Oregon a few years back was the Friends of the Eugene Library annual book sale. This is a big event in Eugene. 70-80 thousand books, thousands of people trying to buy them. I went to the sale for the first time while I was a freshman in college and subsequently went for the next three years. I always spent twenty dollars, no more. Doesn't sound like much, but considering the pricing structure (buck a book) it got me a nice set of of literature.
Since I've been away, the event has only become bigger. I had planned to show up at 1:30 in the morning to get a pass to enter early, but after some friends of mine ditched me, I decided to just to show up at 9 with everyone else. Turns out this was not that bad of an idea. I got in line at about 8:45 and still managed to make it inside with the first group they let in. I broke my $20 rule, but not by any significant amount ($26, the extra amount going to some more expensive cookbooks and large coffee table volumes). Some of my best finds included a 1960s edition of "The Circus of Dr. Lao," a copy of Mao Tse-tung's guide to guerrilla warfare and a copy of "The Portable Carl Jung."
Overall, a well spent morning.
After taking my purchases home and cataloging them (yes, I catalog my book collection. No, I do not have a girlfriend. Yes, I do think these to things are interrelated) I decided for a little excursion to CD/Game Exchange, one of my favorite music shops in town (near the corner of 11th and Willamette, in between a hobby shop and a RPG haven, in case you haven't indulged). While I prefer House of Records for general purchasing, CD/Game Exchange is great for just filling the holes in my ever growing (and paycheck-depleting) music catalog. All of their used music is between $5 and $2.50, and they offer a decent price for trade in. I finally managed to pick up the last Mission of Burma album I needed to complete my collection of their early works ("Peking Spring" in case you're interested, which I could not imagine that anyone other than myself and at most three other people would be). While it might be possible for me to download all the music I want for free, as so many of my friends remind me whenever they see my 1,000+ music collection, I still enjoy the tactile pleasures of actually owning a physical copy of my music. And when you get down to it, I seem to listen to more music and know more about music than any of my download happy friends. I can't really explain that (other than the possibility that I'm an obsessive geek and they are normal human beings with functional social lives) but it does seem to be the case.
Next, I took a short walk through downtown and found myself surprised to find hundreds of people wandering around. Naturally, the first thought that occurred to me was that I had actually wandered into an alternate dimension where downtown Eugene isn't a comically unprosperous dead zone full of failing businesses, the kind of place where bad urban planning ideas go to die. The second thought, brought on by reek of body oder mixed with patchouli, was that the Saturday Market must have started operating again after its winter off-season. This turned out to be the correct notion.
The Saturday Market is the defining Eugene experience for me. A tightly packed clusterfuck of tie-dye and homemade crafts, populated by a oddly assorted mixture of second-generation hippies and middle-class gawkers, the Market is the only ongoing business venture in Eugene that is able to get people to come downtown on anything resembling a consistent basis. You can buy anything from homemade soap to skirts made out of neckties and get a pretty decent lunch as well (grilled portobello mushroom burger, anyone?). Just across the street is the Farmer's Market, which runs concurrent to the Saturday Market (as well as Tuesdays during approximately the same spring-early fall schedule). There is also a pretty lively protest in front of the courthouse that shares the unfortunate corner space to all of these events. Current Protest Effectiveness Level: None. Current Protest Subject Matter: Take your pick.
After the Market, I spent a little time at a Perugino, a mock-pretentious European style coffee shop on Willamette between 7th and 8th. Not my favorite kind of place, but convenient for the purposes of meeting a friend of mine for a couple of games of Go (yes, I play Go. This also might be related to my current relationship status. I prefer not to think about it too much). The reason I tend not to prefer Perugino to other spots in town is that, and I'll admit I feel bad saying this, their coffee isn't all that good. Sure, they pull a decent shot of espresso and can make great lattes, but the house coffee (which is still how I judge a coffee shop in the end) is generally a pretty bland Sumatra or an uninspired house blend. And at $2 for an 8 oz cup, it can't help but feeling like a rip. I don't pretend to be an expert on coffee by any means. However, I've had great coffee and I've had bad coffee, and in my experience Perugino falls somewhere in between. The atmosphere also doesn't jive too well with me, though this is even more of a personal call. A mock-European cafe in the middle of Eugene feels phony to me. Espresso Roma, which serves some of the strongest, most bitter and foul tasting coffee in town, is still in my opinion a better coffee shop simply for being such an organic part of its environment. Right next to the University of Oregon campus and sucking in the ideal crowd for this kind of business, it practically bleeds coffeehouse atmosphere. Local roaster Full City, with its two locations in town, serves better coffee than Perugino at a lower price and without the pretentiousness. Still, good pastries and solid lattes, so I can't complain too much.
My day ended with a film premier at the DIVA (the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts, an art gallery/community art education center on the corner of Broadway and Olive). The film in question was "Depraved," a gruesome little 30 minute revenge thriller that I can't really judge with any kind of objective criticism, considering that I wrote it and the director is one of my best friends. Writing excessively violent horror film scripts that somehow actually get zero-budget productions made out of them is my own personal contribution to the Eugene entertainment scene. I won't say too much about the film (I'm too self-conscious to be a good self-promoter) other than to say that the 70+ capacity room was packed for a small half-hour indie film, and that if you want to learn more about the project you can look it up at the production company's website: http://531productions.com/
Since I've been away, the event has only become bigger. I had planned to show up at 1:30 in the morning to get a pass to enter early, but after some friends of mine ditched me, I decided to just to show up at 9 with everyone else. Turns out this was not that bad of an idea. I got in line at about 8:45 and still managed to make it inside with the first group they let in. I broke my $20 rule, but not by any significant amount ($26, the extra amount going to some more expensive cookbooks and large coffee table volumes). Some of my best finds included a 1960s edition of "The Circus of Dr. Lao," a copy of Mao Tse-tung's guide to guerrilla warfare and a copy of "The Portable Carl Jung."
Overall, a well spent morning.
After taking my purchases home and cataloging them (yes, I catalog my book collection. No, I do not have a girlfriend. Yes, I do think these to things are interrelated) I decided for a little excursion to CD/Game Exchange, one of my favorite music shops in town (near the corner of 11th and Willamette, in between a hobby shop and a RPG haven, in case you haven't indulged). While I prefer House of Records for general purchasing, CD/Game Exchange is great for just filling the holes in my ever growing (and paycheck-depleting) music catalog. All of their used music is between $5 and $2.50, and they offer a decent price for trade in. I finally managed to pick up the last Mission of Burma album I needed to complete my collection of their early works ("Peking Spring" in case you're interested, which I could not imagine that anyone other than myself and at most three other people would be). While it might be possible for me to download all the music I want for free, as so many of my friends remind me whenever they see my 1,000+ music collection, I still enjoy the tactile pleasures of actually owning a physical copy of my music. And when you get down to it, I seem to listen to more music and know more about music than any of my download happy friends. I can't really explain that (other than the possibility that I'm an obsessive geek and they are normal human beings with functional social lives) but it does seem to be the case.
Next, I took a short walk through downtown and found myself surprised to find hundreds of people wandering around. Naturally, the first thought that occurred to me was that I had actually wandered into an alternate dimension where downtown Eugene isn't a comically unprosperous dead zone full of failing businesses, the kind of place where bad urban planning ideas go to die. The second thought, brought on by reek of body oder mixed with patchouli, was that the Saturday Market must have started operating again after its winter off-season. This turned out to be the correct notion.
The Saturday Market is the defining Eugene experience for me. A tightly packed clusterfuck of tie-dye and homemade crafts, populated by a oddly assorted mixture of second-generation hippies and middle-class gawkers, the Market is the only ongoing business venture in Eugene that is able to get people to come downtown on anything resembling a consistent basis. You can buy anything from homemade soap to skirts made out of neckties and get a pretty decent lunch as well (grilled portobello mushroom burger, anyone?). Just across the street is the Farmer's Market, which runs concurrent to the Saturday Market (as well as Tuesdays during approximately the same spring-early fall schedule). There is also a pretty lively protest in front of the courthouse that shares the unfortunate corner space to all of these events. Current Protest Effectiveness Level: None. Current Protest Subject Matter: Take your pick.
After the Market, I spent a little time at a Perugino, a mock-pretentious European style coffee shop on Willamette between 7th and 8th. Not my favorite kind of place, but convenient for the purposes of meeting a friend of mine for a couple of games of Go (yes, I play Go. This also might be related to my current relationship status. I prefer not to think about it too much). The reason I tend not to prefer Perugino to other spots in town is that, and I'll admit I feel bad saying this, their coffee isn't all that good. Sure, they pull a decent shot of espresso and can make great lattes, but the house coffee (which is still how I judge a coffee shop in the end) is generally a pretty bland Sumatra or an uninspired house blend. And at $2 for an 8 oz cup, it can't help but feeling like a rip. I don't pretend to be an expert on coffee by any means. However, I've had great coffee and I've had bad coffee, and in my experience Perugino falls somewhere in between. The atmosphere also doesn't jive too well with me, though this is even more of a personal call. A mock-European cafe in the middle of Eugene feels phony to me. Espresso Roma, which serves some of the strongest, most bitter and foul tasting coffee in town, is still in my opinion a better coffee shop simply for being such an organic part of its environment. Right next to the University of Oregon campus and sucking in the ideal crowd for this kind of business, it practically bleeds coffeehouse atmosphere. Local roaster Full City, with its two locations in town, serves better coffee than Perugino at a lower price and without the pretentiousness. Still, good pastries and solid lattes, so I can't complain too much.
My day ended with a film premier at the DIVA (the Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts, an art gallery/community art education center on the corner of Broadway and Olive). The film in question was "Depraved," a gruesome little 30 minute revenge thriller that I can't really judge with any kind of objective criticism, considering that I wrote it and the director is one of my best friends. Writing excessively violent horror film scripts that somehow actually get zero-budget productions made out of them is my own personal contribution to the Eugene entertainment scene. I won't say too much about the film (I'm too self-conscious to be a good self-promoter) other than to say that the 70+ capacity room was packed for a small half-hour indie film, and that if you want to learn more about the project you can look it up at the production company's website: http://531productions.com/
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Mood Area 52 and Golem at the Indigo District
When I heard that Mood Area 52 would be playing at the Indigo District, my feelings were mixed. They were one of my favorite local bands when I was in college and I had been looking forward to seeing them play again. However, I was never able to stand the Indigo District. When I last lived in Eugene, it had a painful and justified reputation as a hipster joint, the sort of pretentious hangout that usually doesn't survive in this town. I'd been given no indication that it had changed in the preceding years, so I bought a ticket to the concert with some reservations.
Things started badly. The Indigo District is a bar, but the show was all-ages. This involved a tad bit of finagling to make sure the bar and concert crowds were separate, and the subsequent set-up basically meant you could not have drinks in the concert area. You could either drink and try and hear the music, or not drink and watch the band, or go back and forth. Basically a pain in the ass, especially considering that, by my estimate, 95% of the audience was over 21. The show should have either been made 21-and-over or been moved to the WOW Hall, which is better suited for all ages shows.
But once Mood Area 52 hit the stage, things picked up. This was for two reasons: The first is that they are a hell of a band. The second is that a crazy-eyed, long-legged young woman in nylons and a short skirt danced smoothly and sensually through most of the band's set.
Mood Area 52 are that rarest of musical outfits: a tango band. As tango has nearly zero presence in American popular music, the pure novelty of the group is enough to make them interesting. That they are also a tight and highly skilled group of musicians insures that the novelty never wears thin. The last time I saw the group, they were strictly instrumental. They have since added a female vocalist and perform a fair number of Tom Waits-ish jazz and tango numbers. While I wasn't too sure about hearing the band do anything other than instrumentals at first, I now fully support the decision. The vocals take what had been an interesting intellectual abstraction and give it a new intensity. The group will have a new album coming out in a month or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
Golem took the stage next. A NYC group that specializes in another style of music with little popular presence in the US, in this case Eastern European folk, the band is a raucous and energetic mix of musicians. Containing drums, electric bass, accordion, violin, trombone and a tambourine-shaking vocalist, the group plays a highly propulsive style of music that is tailor-made for pumping your fist in the air shouting "Oy Oy Oy" and then smashing a glass on the floor.
The set was marked by a drinking song, a song about cats, a song about the rent being due, a song about Poland and a song about loving someone who broke your heart (the latter sung in Yiddish).
When all was said and done, the concert could be considered no less than a success. I just wish it had been held somewhere else.
Things started badly. The Indigo District is a bar, but the show was all-ages. This involved a tad bit of finagling to make sure the bar and concert crowds were separate, and the subsequent set-up basically meant you could not have drinks in the concert area. You could either drink and try and hear the music, or not drink and watch the band, or go back and forth. Basically a pain in the ass, especially considering that, by my estimate, 95% of the audience was over 21. The show should have either been made 21-and-over or been moved to the WOW Hall, which is better suited for all ages shows.
But once Mood Area 52 hit the stage, things picked up. This was for two reasons: The first is that they are a hell of a band. The second is that a crazy-eyed, long-legged young woman in nylons and a short skirt danced smoothly and sensually through most of the band's set.
Mood Area 52 are that rarest of musical outfits: a tango band. As tango has nearly zero presence in American popular music, the pure novelty of the group is enough to make them interesting. That they are also a tight and highly skilled group of musicians insures that the novelty never wears thin. The last time I saw the group, they were strictly instrumental. They have since added a female vocalist and perform a fair number of Tom Waits-ish jazz and tango numbers. While I wasn't too sure about hearing the band do anything other than instrumentals at first, I now fully support the decision. The vocals take what had been an interesting intellectual abstraction and give it a new intensity. The group will have a new album coming out in a month or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out.
Golem took the stage next. A NYC group that specializes in another style of music with little popular presence in the US, in this case Eastern European folk, the band is a raucous and energetic mix of musicians. Containing drums, electric bass, accordion, violin, trombone and a tambourine-shaking vocalist, the group plays a highly propulsive style of music that is tailor-made for pumping your fist in the air shouting "Oy Oy Oy" and then smashing a glass on the floor.
The set was marked by a drinking song, a song about cats, a song about the rent being due, a song about Poland and a song about loving someone who broke your heart (the latter sung in Yiddish).
When all was said and done, the concert could be considered no less than a success. I just wish it had been held somewhere else.
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