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Performance
Lions, Actors & Wrestlers: Turn off the tube and go out.
Jazz Joints:
Painful memories become art in Side Man.
Outdoors
Proxy Falls Trail:
Waterfalls and spectacular autumn color in the Cascades lava fields.
Morsels
Just for the Halibut:
Mini-reviews of area dining spots..
Books
Taking the Outside In:
Molly Gloss' historical novel satisfies. PLUS: Booknotes.
Lions, Actors &
Wrestlers
Turn off the tube and
go out.
By Aria
Seligmann
Lots of goings on in theater this weekend, so here's right to it,
plus a special musical treat:
-- Opening Very Little Theatre's 73rd season is The Foreigner
by Larry Shue. The comedy is already causing a stir in town for its powerhouse cast
and crew with director Reva Kaufman and actors Achilles Massahos, Bill Furtick, Dan
Pegoda, Earl Ruttencutter, Mary Tarter, Marina Marrow and Johnny Ormsbee.
Here's the plot: A British demolitions expert, Froggy LeSueur,
brings his pathologically shy friend, Charlie, to a hunting lodge in rural Georgia
for some rest and relaxation. To cover his friend's shyness, Froggy tells everyone
that Charlie is from a foreign land and speaks no English. Because no one in the
area has seen a foreigner before, everyone treats him differently -- and, because
they believe he understands no English, Charlie starts to hear more than he should
about plots and other incriminating details surrounding the local bad guys. The award-winning
play opens Oct. 19 and runs through Nov.10 at VLT.
-- Rose Children's Theatre opens its 23rd season with Joseph Robinette's
dramatization based on C.S. Lewis's classic story The Lion, The Witch,
and The Wardrobe. The story is about four children who, while spending the summer
in the country, step through a wardrobe into the magical world of Narnia. There Lucy,
Edmund, Susan and Peter encounter enchanted forest critters who are prepared to protect
them from the White Witch, the evil Queen and ruler of Narnia and her army of wolves,
dwarves and other ghoulish creatures. Performances are at 2:30 pm Sunday Oct. 21,
28 and Nov. 4 at the Hult.
-- Actors Cabaret continues its 23rd season with P.S. Your Cat
Is Dead! Part of ACE's "Year of the Comedy," James Kirkwood's play
concerns a 28-year-old actor who's having a run of bad luck. He's fired from a play,
his cat is on the critical list, his girlfriend is leaving and he discovers a burglar
hiding in his loft. To avenge the perverse breaks in life, he ties the burglar to
the kitchen sink and keeps him prisoner on New Year's Eve. The cast includes Eric
Murray, Dennis Murray, Maggie Tryk and D. Randy Stokes. The show opens Oct. 19 and
continues through Nov. 17 at ACE.
-- The Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides and the
Rachel Carson Center of Churchill High School host A Sense of Wonder, written
and performed by Kaiulani Lee. The story chronicles the life of writer, scientist
and environmentalist Rachel Carson. Lee has appeared in numerous television and film
roles, and won an OBIE award for outstanding achievement off Broadway. Performances
are at 8 pm Oct. 19 and 20 at Churchill High School Auditorium. Tix available at
EMU ticket office. $8, $5 stu. Sponsored by NCAP, Eugene Weekly, Down to Earth,
Central Print and Café Mam.
-- Thurston High School presents an encore performance of William
Mastrosimone's Take Down, Break Down. The play premiered in VLT's Stage Left
this summer, and stars Thurston High School students. Mastrosimone worked with the
kids for weeks in developing the script, which explores the feelings and attitudes
of students when a girl is the best wrestler in her school and wants -- and needs,
in order to improve -- to wrestle guys.
I caught the show the last weekend of its run and am glad it's
back so I can encourage you to go. Mike Fisher directs. There's only one performance,
7:30 pm, Oct. 24 at Thurston. Tix are $5. Reserve early at 988-5350.
-- Folk afficionados take note: Bill Staines is coming to town.
Coming of age in the Boston-Cambridge folk scene of the early 1960s, Staines quickly
became notorious for his music and lyrics and his influence on other rising stars.
By 1971, a reviewer for The Phoenix labeled Staines "simply Boston's
best performer." From bluegrass to folk, Staines's music has influenced a generation
of stars, including Nanci Griffith and Michelle Shocked. He has achieved international
fame and to this day performs approximately 200 concerts per year. Original tunes
mixed with traditional ballads, contemporary and country melodies all find their
way into his repertoire. This is one folk show not to miss. It's at 7:30 pm Thursday
the 18th at St. Mary's Episcopal Church.
Jazz
Joints
Painful memories become
art in Side Man.
By Aria
Seligmann
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Gene (Mike Hawkins)
and his wife, Terry (Kathy LaMontagne).
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It's been a tougher than usual retrograde Mercury. The can opener,
vacuum cleaner and VCR broke within days of each other. A friend who was coming from
Finland for a years overdue visit can't get a flight out of his country. We're supposed
to make sense out of bombs dropping and food packets making up for it. At last Friday's
opening of Side Man, the usual chatty opening-night gatherers were subdued,
and when a friend I'd been looking forward to talking to mentioned Sept. 11, I couldn't
think of a single thing to say.
Warren Leight, Side Man's Tony-award-winning author, couldn't
think up the words to tell his story for 20 years. So much pain and emotion overlaid
them that the notes just wouldn't flow, 'til one day it all clicked into some sort
of rhythm and out spewed his autobiography: his parents' dysfunctional marriage and
equally screwed up divorce, his jazz musician father's dispassionate existence, save
for when he was onstage with lips pressed against trumpet; his mother's disheartening
insanity.
Twenty-nine-year-old Clifford Glimmer (Jesse Lally) is the narrator,
on his way to the West Coast to pursue his painting career. Before he goes, he bids
farewell to the father he hasn't seen since he kicked him out of his mother's house
five years before. Thus ensues the memory play, Clifford's wandering in and out of
scenes evoking his father's life as a side man, a for-hire jazz musician during the
1950s; a time when jazz went from popular to passé.
By entering that life and trying to understand it, Clifford undergoes
the necessary catharsis to leave behind his painful childhood and begin his own artistic
life. There is no question the story is Leight's own healing journey.
Side Man explores relationships: husband/wife; father/son;
bandmates/friends. While Clifford's parents, Gene (Mike Hawkins) and Terry (Kathy
LaMontagne), are angry, bitter and ultimately, apart, they still love each other,
even though neither was ever cut out to be a decent spouse.
The bandmates, Al (Richard Leebrick), Ziggy (Greg Foote) and Jonesy
(John Muellner), are as tight as bandmates can get; they do everything together:
collect unemployment, smoke dope, drink, dine and even share the same woman.
The ensemble work by these actors is quite good; each character
is actually a caricature: the womanizer, the lovable goofball, the junkie. The woman
they share is Patsy (Marla Norton), the local diner's waitress. Norton turns in a
believable, sincere performance as the woman who leads Clifford in and out of each
scene, offering compassion and understanding, as surely she does to each of the musicians
no one else puts up with at least as long as she can stand them.
Kathy LaMontagne is good as Terry, bringing her to the point of
insanity. It's a very difficult role and she almost seemed to break character at
a moment of sheer hysteria but recovered to portray a woman beaten down, boozing,
bloodied by her husband's emotional abandonment.
While the script calls for some distance between Gene and Clifford,
director Mike Fisher chooses to expand that relationship and show a stronger father/son
connection throughout. To make it work, however, Jesse Lally and Mike Hawkins need
to pick up the energy and keep the momentum going, even though it's clear Clifford
and Gene are both low-key characters.
Gene is obviously a mellow guy, detached from the rest of the world
save for his music and his buddies. But Hawkins doesn't manage to show Gene's passion
for music; his performance is too low energy and so low volume that many of his lines
were lost, making the action very difficult to follow for those not familiar with
the script.
For those who can hang in there and follow the plot, the exploration
of relationships is quite profound, as is the mystery of how the love of any two
people: father/son, husband/wife, bandmates/friends, can remain, even though everything
around them changes.
Leight teaches a grand lesson for now; he reaches back into a 20-year
struggle with his own dark past to find words that shed light, managing to turn a
time of deep pain into a piece of lasting art.
Side Man continues at Lord Leebrick Theatre through Oct.
27.
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Proxy Falls Trail
Waterfalls and spectacular
autumn color in the Cascades lava fields.
By James
Johnston
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Lower Proxy Falls.
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If you think New England's got Oregon beat when it comes to fall colors,
wait until you see the vine maple display along the Proxy Falls Trail. In October
the maple growing in a lava field turns a thousand different shocking colors lime
green, lemon yellow and fire engine red. These autumn colors are positively fluorescent
and must be seen to be believed.
Directions: Take Highway 126 east from Eugene/Springfield for approximately
46 miles. About 2 miles past the McKenzie Ranger Station take a right onto old McKenzie
Pass Highway (Hwy. 242). Take the winding 242 for about 9 miles to the well-signed
Proxy Falls trailhead. The Proxy Falls trail is a fairly flat one-mile loop trail.
Begin your hike at the western (downhill) trailhead.
This easy hike provides vivid examples of the influence of fire
and ice on the Cascades. The first part of the trail takes you through a relatively
young lava field choked with the colorful vine maple. There are a number of large
gnarled old Douglas fir that survive the harsh growing conditions of the lava by
adopting a stubby shape that is a far cry from their majestic, arrow-straight cousins
of an old-growth forest.
After a third of a mile you leave the lava behind and enter a pleasant
forest. Take a right at the first intersection. This short trail takes you to 100-foot-tall
Lower Proxy Falls, the tallest and most photogenic of the two. An excellent viewing
point overlooks the lower falls, and the more adventurous can take a steep trail
and scramble all the way to the falls themselves. Lower Proxy Falls was created 6,000
years ago when a giant glacier carved a deep trough through the area, leaving steep
canyon walls after the ice receded.
After returning to the loop trail, it's another quarter of a mile to a second junction.
The path to the right takes you to Upper Proxy Falls. The upper falls are fascinating
in that they have no outlet. The huge volume of water collects in a clear pool and
percolates through the volcanic soil and rock of the area. We can assume that this
water resurfaces down the canyon to form the headwaters of Lost Creek and White Branch
Creek.
Old McKenzie Pass Highway is closed during the winter, and the
Proxy Falls trailhead is crowded most days. If you're not a people person, plan on
coming early in the morning, or on weekdays. Remember to snap some pictures of the
vine maple to show your friends from the hardwood forests of the East Coast.
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Just for the Halibut
Mini-reviews of area
dining spots.
Full Boat
830 W. 7th Ave. 484-CRAB
Dinner specials Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays till 9 pm, other days till 7
pm. $
This joint has the feng shue of, well, a fish market: metal tables, paper plates
and napkins, plastic glasses and flatware. Sometimes it's cold as a half-ton of ice
can make it; wear a coat. Service is your order number yelled across the room. Its
only virtue is that it offers the freshest possible seafood in tasty preparations
4 no pretensions, just flavor, great prices. Fish and chips are good, but try Cioppino,
heaped with mussels, clams, scallops, rock shrimp, peppers simmered in red wine sauce,
just $7/quart. Most dinner specials run $9.95 and feature lip-smackin' pasta/seafood
combinations and some of the tastiest rice and spicy sauced fish dishes. Crab or
lobster dinners on Friday/Saturday nights are a little more costly. Good micros on
tap, small wine selection at store retail prices and they'll even pull the cork.
--LS
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Ambrosia serves
up pizza from a wood-fired oven.
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Ambrosia
174 E. Broadway, 342-4141
11:30 am-9:30 pm M-Th., 11:30 am-10:30 pm F-Sat., 4:30-9:30 pm Sun. $$-$$$
Some of the region's best Italian food for more than 10 years, pizzas from a wood-fired
oven, superb wine list, all at fair prices. The place is warmed by antique wood tables,
soft lighting, huge antique bar. Chefs Dave Proctor (dinners) and Amedee Smith (lunches)
have, for a decade, consistently delivered food with flavor and the freshest available
ingredients. Both chefs have a real touch with seafood, especially halibut. Jan Wooley's
desserts are superb. Full bar and top-notch selection of wines by the glass, fast
and efficient service. --LS
Ivy's Cookin'
Vegetarian Delivery, 485-4200
Voice mail anytime, fax 683-3123, e-mail ivy@efn.org $$- BF
Hungry? Healthy? Busy? Once a week Ivy Cotler delivers low-fat vegetarian cuisine.
The menu's available months in advance, so your mouth can water in anticipation as
you call by Monday night for a Thursday delivery or Wednesday pick-up. The Garden
Patch Rigatoni features crisp broccoli, corn, cauliflower and carrots that taste
as if they'd been picked the same day. Entrées include Butternut Squash Enchiladas,
Indian Shepherd's Pie and in November, Black Bean Chilaquiles. Your pan is delivered
cooked, or ready for the oven. Part with a $20 bill to feed two to four, or $30 for
a family-size order.
Casablanca
Basement, Fifth Street Public Market, 342-3885
Daily, 10 am-6 pm. No cards. $
It's common knowledge that Ibrahim Hamide's Cafe Soriah is among the area's best
restaurants, but few people know that Casablanca also bears his stamp and serves
superb Middle Eastern menu for lunch. Take the Chicken Gaza, sautéed in pomegranate
sauce, with two sides, $6.50: Try the hummus, best ever tasted, and tabouli or falafel.
Add a dash of hot sauce, dip warm pita bread in all, slurp on an icy minted Mediterranean
drink. Your mouth may burn like hell, but this is close to heaven. --LS
Taste of India
2495 Hilyard, 485-9560
tasteofindia.uswestdex.com
11 am to 3 pm and 5 pm to 10 pm, M-Sun. $-$$
The lunch buffet, $6.95, is a good deal for platefuls of tasty, authentic Indian
grub. The fried veggie hush puppies and flat bread make for good dipping in an assortment
of chutneys (mint was delicious). Splash three different curries over your basmati
rice and pile on Indian-style barbecue chicken and lamb meatballs. The buffet comes
with a drink and don't forget a bowl of sweet rice pudding for dessert.
The feast occurs under the canopy of the fake forest décor
of the previous restaurant, Ceres Hearth, and the place was near packed by 12:30
pm on a recent weekday. At one table a large group of Indians speaking their native
tongue pulled tables together to enjoy lunch -- that's how to share good food. --AP
Coming Up
Word on the street is that Mike West of West Bros. Barbecue, Bakery & Brewery
is buying the Coffee Corner in Southtowne Shops near 28th and Oak and plans to remodel
and reopen in December as a café, bar and eatery.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Morsels is a new feature that tries to capture
the atmosphere as well as the cuisine at our favorite places to eat in and around
Eugene, all in 100 or so words. Suggestions? Call Ben or Marina at 484-0519.
Back to Top
Taking the Outside
In
Molly Gloss' historical
novel satisfies.
By Cecelia Hagen
WILD LIFE by Molly Gloss. Houghton
Mifflin, 2001. Paperback, $13.
Molly Gloss's new book, Wild Life, is a genre-buster. A
mixture of adventure-fantasy novel, historical fiction, make-believe ironic memoir
and tall tale, this generous, lyrical book is about the surprises that the human
spirit harbors and reveals at the breaking points in our lives.
A fourth-generation Oregonian, Gloss makes a habit of delving into
unexpected territory in her work. Previous books include Jump-Off Creek about
a woman going it alone on a homestead in Eastern Oregon and The Dazzle of Day,
which describes a band of Quakers who colonize a new planet. Wild Life digs
deep into each area it touches, giving the reader a satisfying and educational journey
into a world that, in the end, looks very much like our own.
Set in southwest Washington at the turn of the 20th century, Wild
Life describes the daily life of its unconventional protagonist, Charlotte Drummond.
Charlotte supports her five sons by writing pot-boilers that are "more profitable
and less arduous to write" than the fine literature she admires. She also keeps
a journal, and her story is presented to us mainly through this very personal record
of her thoughts and adventures.
Interspersed with the journal entries are newspaper clippings and
bits of Charlotte's published and unpublished writings that give us a glimpse of
the world of 1905 Washington and show us how Charlotte's work was influenced by her
observations and experiences. Charlotte describes herself as "a woman of queer
and scandalous habits." She enjoys eliciting derisive hoots from the local farmers
when she dresses like a man and pedals her trusty bicycle into town. But her writing
reveals a thoughtful woman who resents being hemmed in by boundaries that she can
only partly transcend.
When her housekeeper's granddaughter goes missing in the deep woods,
rumor has it that the girl was snatched by a giant wild ape. Charlotte refuses to
accept the woman's lot of "Waiting for Word." Instead, she journeys upriver
to join one of the rough-and-tumble search crews. When severe storms separate her
from the others, her real adventure begins. In spite of her stamina and courage,
Charlotte weakens and begins to imagine -- or does she really see? -- a family of
the fabled mountain creatures. Even in this state, she keeps her diary: "I shall
be glad if no one reads this, for I must write what cannot be written. [M]y only
help is in these pages, where I take myself to heal grievous wounds."
The wounds she refers to are more psychic than physical. In the
end, the wisecracking and sometimes not compassionate Charlotte is transformed by
her adventures into a woman with a much greater understanding of life, her own wildness
and the "unthinkable voids" in the human heart. Her writing improves. As
the granddaughter who writes (to her sister) at the beginning of the book says, Charlotte's
writing and her reputation "turned a corner" after she returned from the
woods.
The book's rich textures exist because Gloss performed copious
research, which she referred to in a recent phone interview as "endless, endless
book learnin'." Wild Life shows you exactly what a Northwest logging
camp looked like nearly 100 years ago, how it operated, what the social expectations
were. But even more enjoyable than its authenticity and her craft is the stunning
imagination at work in this book and the eloquent, lyrical voice in which the story
is told.
Gloss will read from Wild Life at 7:30 pm Oct. 11, upstairs
at the UO Bookstore, which will be open until 9 pm every Thursday. Gloss will read
a new short story, "Lambing Season," at 7 pm Nov. 20, upstairs at the Eugene
Public Library, along with poet Maxine Scates, who will read from recent work.
Book Notes:
Poet Susan Wood, whose latest collection, Asunder, was selected
last year for the National Poetry Series, reads at 8 pm on Oct. 18 in the Knight
Library Browsing Room, UO. ...Chen Mei reads from her work, Come Watch
the Sun Go Home, at noon on Oct. 22, Knight Library Browsing Room. ...Alison
Clement will read from her novel, Pretty Is As Pretty Does, at 7:30 pm
Oct. 23 in Knight Library Browsing Room. ...Martin Prechtel, author of The
Disobedience of the Daughter of the Sun: Ecstasy and Time, reads at 7 pm Oct.
25 in Tsunami Books. ...Oregon Book Award finalists read at 7:30 pm Oct. 26
in Tsunami Books (see box.) ...A Halloween book signing of Dead on Demand: The
Best of Ghost Story Weekend features many local writers at 7 pm on Oct. 27 at
Barnes & Noble. ... Weekly open poetry readings at 5 pm Oct. 13 and Oct. 27 at
Tsunami Books. ...Paula Prober (Ten Tips for Women Who Want to Change the
World Without Losing Their Friends, Shirts or Minds) reads at 7:30 pm Nov. 1,
UO Bookstore. Tango dancing will follow. ...CALYX celebrates its 25th Anniversary
Gala beginning at 6:30 pm Nov. 1 in Corvallis. Tickets are $25. (541) 753-9384. ...Featured
reader Robert Benefiel reads poetry at 5 pm Nov. 3 at Tsunami Books. ...Patricia
Hampl reads at 8 pm on Nov. 8 in Gerlinger Alumni Lounge, UO. ...James Welch
reads Nov. 8, time and place TBA ...2001 Oregon Book Awards presented at 7:30
pm Nov. 8 at the Scottish Rite Center in Portland. Tickets are $15. Former award
winner Peter Ho Davies will preside. Call (503) 227-2538.
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