Coastal Curmudgeon Unique advice columnist reads in Eugene. By Lois Wadsworth More Letters to Uncle Mike by Michael Burgess. Saddle Mountain Press, 2000. Paperback, $14. Michael Burgess, author of Letters to Uncle Mike, The Real Oregon Coast, and More Letters to Uncle Mike, reads at Tsunami October 28 at 5 pm. . Writer Michael Burgess lives on the Oregon coast near Lincoln City where he writes an advice column, "Ask Uncle Mike," for Billy Lloyd Hults' free monthly newspaper out of Cannon Beach, the Upper Left Edge. At 5 pm Saturday, Oct. 28, Burgess will read at Tsunami Books, his first Eugene reading. Because the paper can be found in local hip health food stores, bookstores and restaurants as well as at the UO and the Eugene Public Library, Burgess has fans here for his offbeat humor and gentle but crusty suggestions. Burgess wears many hats. At the Edge, he's copy editor, writes an astrology column, is the Edge's science editor ( a post he calls "honorific"), and represents what the paper calls "The Voice of Reason." In his nine-year persona as Uncle Mike, he answers questions readers pose and ruminates about life, love and the cosmos. He's also the author of Uncle Mike's Guide to The Real Oregon Coast, which is designed to scare away tourists who would come to stay, as well as the first Letters to Uncle Mike, both available through Saddle Mountain Press. Additionally, Burgess does a five-minute radio show. "It's a wonderful thing that bookstores invite writers to read," Burgess said. He looks forward to them because of the opportunity "for the people who read my work and me to look each other in the face. When musicians play, people get up and dance," he said. "Writers need to know if people laugh in the right places." Burgess said his books aren't meant to be read cover-to-cover in a sitting. Instead, he suggests, browse. Pick it up, read a bit and put it down. He said some readers open the book at random as a divination technique. They tell him sometimes what they read is directly relevant to what's going on in their life. Burgess avoids taking himself too seriously with an astute combination of a gentle, wise appraisal of human foibles and the ability to stand up for fairness and civility in human interactions without getting preachy. He may tell the questioner outright that she or he has control issues or is a fuzzy thinker. He tells it like he sees it and doesn't always soften his words with humor. Here's a partial answer to a 46-year old woman who's considering a fling with a younger man because the romance in her marriage had become a memory: "The least that will happen is that your life will become riddled with small dishonesties and complications you'll only be able to share with the person who's at the heart of them. The most that will happen is that your little out-of-town gambol will drive a wider wedge between you and your husband ... and that your marriage will fall apart like a cheap pair of shoes. Uncle Mike strongly suggests that you find a hobby that doesn't involve breaking promises, turning someone you love into a pitiful dupe, and blurring the distinction between romance and cheap melodrama." But when he's advising young men or women, he takes the long view and tempers his answers with a generous splash of nurturing. "They're aswarm with concerns both real and imagined," Burgess said. "I take my role as village elder seriously and do my best to help them sort life out." He clearly avoids being preachy. "I admire humility in other people," Burgess said, "and I cultivate it in myself. We're really only talking to ourselves when by giving advice," he said. "I'm reaffirming those things I know I should do to increase the sum of happiness in the world." Three Faces Swan Lake's multiple roles challenge its chief dancer. By Martha Ullman West More Letters to Uncle Mike by Michael Burgess. Saddle Mountain Press, 2000. Paperback, $14.   Jennifer Martin as Odette, with former EBC ballet master Eli Barragan as von Rothbart. .   Like Eve, the ballerina role in Swan Lake has three faces. First is Odette, the human princess who is turned into the Swan Queen by the evil sorcerer von Rothbart. Second is the role of Swan Queen herself. And third, is Odile, the Black Swan, von Rothbart's power-mad daughter. For one dancer to make constant switches of persona -- woman to swan, swan to woman, good girl to bad girl and back again -- as well as the extraordinary technical demands of the choreography arguably make this the most challenging of all the great ballerina roles. Jennifer Martin earned her ballerina chops dancing three sequential performances in The Sleeping Beauty two seasons ago. She will dance a similar marathon when the Eugene Ballet Company revives its full-length, four-act production of Swan Lake in the Hult Center Silva Hall at 8 pm Saturday, Oct. 28, and at 2:30 pm Sunday. "I've danced the Black Swan before," Martin said in an interview last month as rehearsals started. "But to do the whole thing is a big challenge. It takes a lot of stamina." And talent. Physical stamina and strong technique are essential for the many, varied arabesques; the slow phrasing and adagio dancing the second act demands; and the 32 fouettes (whip turns made with one leg while the supporting leg remains straight and on pointe) that are de rigeur for the third act Black Swan pas de deux. The roles demand the dancer focus on both the music and her movements. Tchaikowsky's score is filled with emotional shadings and character leitmotifs. And every gesture, step and expression of Martin's face and body count toward telling this elaborately layered story of princely duty versus romantic compulsion, deception, betrayal and good versus evil. The complex demands of the ballet are just what Martin loves about it. "It encompasses so many characters in one role," she said, "and there are so many themes in the work." Martin has done considerable research into the ballet, which is the tale of the prince who rejects the candidates for bride proposed by his mother and falls in love with an enchanted swan on a hunting trip. The 1877 version was choreographed by Julius Reisinger, but the Eugene Ballet's production, the first originating in Oregon, is based on the 1895 version choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. For Swan Lake, Martin has also studied a videotape of the English National Ballet with Evelyn Hart in the lead role. Eugene Ballet Company Artistic Director Toni Pimble was born in England and studied ballet there. Additionally, Martin studied with Hart at the Royal Winnipeg school. Martin's also been working with new company ballet master Mark Lanham, who will dance von Rothbart, and who brings a new point of view to rehearsing the company, she said. "He uses a lot of metaphors, and he emphasizes the physics of dancing, the feeling of the weight of the body in space." Guest artist Benjamin Huys will partner Martin as Prince Siegfried. Formerly with New York City Ballet, where he originated the role of Prince Desire in Peter Martins' production of The Sleeping Beauty, Huys has performed many principal roles in traditional ballets. Since 1998, he has been a guest artist with Asami Maki Ballet and Star Dancers Ballet in Tokyo. Ballet mistress Lisa Moon continues her commitment to the classics by honing and refining a corps de ballet that is now the pride of this company. Sets are by Peter Dean Beck, and costumes for the 1993 production were designed and constructed by Lynn Bowers and Amy Panganiban. Back to Top Table of Contents | News & Views | Arts & Entertainment Classifieds | Personals | EW Archive