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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 23, 1998)
Rhvthm Reviews FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1998 Efflerald Year of the Tiger A performance of traditional Chinesefolk music will honor the Chinese Neu> Year PAGE 9 Music showcase Influential artists The Pastels release an illuminating' new album PAGE 10 Volume 99, Issue 81 » NoMeansNo, an aggressive, is sue-driven act, will return to WOW Hall with The Royal Grand PrixandThe Pass Out Kings this Saturday. The hardcore punk band is tour ing their 16th re lease, ‘Would We Be Alive.’ Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door, and doors open at 9 p.m. ® An ethnic dance perfor mance, featuring Ballet Folklorico de Humboldt, will take place in the Dougherty The ater in the Ger linger Annex tonight at 7:30. The performance will include dances from Turkey,the Ukraine, the Balkans and Africa. * Dress up or go casual for the Oregon Ballroom Dance tonight in Gerlinger Hall. The dance is from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m., and tickets are $2 for stu dents. * Eat, drink and support the Eu gene Opera Jan. 28 by attending a benefit perfor mance featuring principle artists from Mozart’s 'Don Giovanni.’ The performance is at the Soriah Cafe (384 W. 13th), which re quires reserva tions. Call 342 4410 for more information. mmmmmmm&smmmm By Shannon Sneed Entertainment Reporter In a combination of scenes, monologues and musical selections, the Eugene Symphony Orchestra and actors from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival will join forces Satur day to present three of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies in a special matinee performance at the Hult Center. “We've never done anything like this before,” said Pat Cusick, marketing director for the Eu gene Symphony Orchestra. “It’s really going to be a unique experience.” Deemed a concert/theater event, “Shakespeare: Love and Tragedy” seeks to blend music, text and movement to create a fresh approach to classic scenes with Shakespearean characters Ophelia, Romeo and Juliet and Othello. “It’s amazing to see that hundreds of years lat er, Shakespeare is still inspiring both actors and music,” Cusick said. Music director Miguel Harth-Bedoya hopes that through the musical selections he chose, the characters on stage will be more fully and cre atively expressed. Rather than choosing pieces from operas, bal lets and incidental music that were influenced by Shakespeare’s work, Harth-Bedoya focused on music that was inspired by the characters. “These pieces are pure music, character stud ies you might say, inspired by the thoughts and emotions of Shakespeare’s characters,” Harth Bedoya said in an interview. “And more interest ing from the creation point of view." Some characters will be represented solely by music. In one scene, for example, Juliet's nurse will be represented by the sound of a tuba. Turn to EVENT, Page 10 UUUHIhbY rHUIU The Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Vilma Silva acts in Turn of the Screw.'She unit perform, on Saturday. Graduate Lee Williams turns writing project into novel Eugene native and University | graduate Lee Williams began | writing ‘After Nirvana ’ as part of a year-long creative writing course By Shannon Sneed Entertainment Reporter On rainwashed Portland streets, four homeless teenagers drift aimlessly, their days blending together like a fitful dream. Theirs is a murky, isolated world of drugs and prostitution — one stripped bare of everything but the basic and intense need to belong. Such is the tale told in “After Nirvana,” a 1997 novel by Eugene native Lee Williams. "This is not some romantic thing with a field of flowers,” Williams said in a Novem ber article in The Oregonian. "It’s not that kind of book.” Williams attended North Eugene High School and graduated from the University in 1994 with an English degree. He’s now based in Portland, where he works as both a contributing movie reviewer for The Ore gonian and a U.S. Bank clerk, and he’s cur rently working on a second novel. Last week, Williams spent the day on campus, visiting creative writing classes and giving a reading and booksigning at the University Bookstore. At 7:30 tonight, Williams will visit the Lloyd Center Barnes & Noble in Portland for another reading and booksigning. Williams began writing "After Nirvana” in 1994 as part of a year-long course taught by Richard Lyons, a creative writing profes sor at the University. What began as a small assignment eventually became a novel, he said. The novel tells the story through the eyes of Davy, a Portland teenager who has a girl friend. thinks he may be in love with anoth er boy and prostitutes himself to men in or der to make ends meet. Turn to WILLIAMS, Page 8 COURTESY PHOTO Williams began writing bis book in 1994.
