The folkies are coming,
the folkies are coming!
The University hosts the Willamette Valley Folk Festival, which this year offers a children’s stage
Rory Carroll
Oregon Daily Emerald
This weekend, three music
stages, a live broadcast on KLCC
and the Eugene folk community
will all merge on the East Lawn
of the EMU for three days of a
gala. Celebrating its 30th year, the
Willamette Valley Folk Festival
returns with a strong musical
line-up and some new additions.
All this adds up to be quite a
juggling act for Launa DeGiusti,
heritage music coordinator for
the cultural forum. DeGiusti said
that she is trying to improve on
the already popular festival.
MacKenzie Banta and Britt
Tvenge, students in the art and
administration minor at the Uni
versity, are in charge of providing
entertainment for the youngest
population at the festival. For the
first year, a children's stage will
be operating. The children’s stage
is DeGiusti's attempt to make the
festival an event providing some
thing for everyone.
“I wanted to see the festival as
something for all ages,” DeGiusti
said, who has been involved with
the festival for three years. “I’ve
seen children on the side of the
hill, playing in whatever mud
they can find. 1 saw the need to
have a place where there was
children’s activity.”
Banta and Tvenge have em
braced the chance to gain experi
ence in festival coordination
while undergraduates.
“It has been very intensive,”
Tvenge said. “It has been a crash
course in learning about festival
management.”
DeGiusti said that the learning
experience has been amplified by
the fact that Banta and Tvenge are
creating something that has nev
er been there before.
“The Folk Festival has been
around for 30 years, so people are
familiar with it and they want to
play it,” DeGiusti said. “With
these guys, they’ve had to create
something that is new. It’s more
of a challenge.”
The children’s stage, which
Banta said aims to entertain par
ents and children alike, will have
performers from 11:00 p.m. till
5:00 p.m. on Saturday and 11:00
p.m. till 4:00 p.m. on Sunday.
“There will be art booths for
the kids to have a good time in,”
Banta said.
Music, juggling and magicians
will all be performing on the kids
stage.
Besides children’s activities,
the Folk Festival boasts an im
pressive and eclectic line-up. Na
tionally and internationally
known latin, reggae, gospel and
bluegrass groups will meet local
favorites like Justin King and
Sugar Beets. This variety is
arranged into a different theme
each day. Friday’s theme is inter
national music. Headliner Omar
Torrez will bring his unique
blend of Latin, flamenco and
funk to the stage. Saturday will
be more traditional folk, with the
critically acclaimed California
Guitar Trio headlining. Sunday’s
theme is gospel and blues. Al
though DeGiusti admits that Pink
Martini is neither gospel nor
blues, she said that she expects
them to be a favorite among stu
dents. Pink Martini headline
Sunday night.
Norma Fraser, a reggae legend
who will be performing at 4:00
p.m. on Saturday, said that she
really likes playing music, and
living, in Eugene. Growing up in
Jamaica, her parents hoped that
she would choose to become a
doctor or a lawyer, but she had
other ideas. Her driving, supple
voice caught the eye of Studio 1
producers. Shortly thereafter, she
was touring with the likes of Bob
Marley and The Skatalites.
She moved to Eugene almost a
year ago and said she loves it
here.
“I had never heard of it before.
I’ve been all over the world and I
love it here,” Fraser said. She
added that there are "good music
lovers" here in Eugene.
“It’s a small town with big
minded, big hearted people.”
Fraser regularly performs two
Marley classics, “No Woman No
Cry” and “Stir It Up,” and will
likely play one or both of these on
Friday.
She said that she remembers
Bob Marley as a selfless humani
tarian.
‘His word was his honor," she
said. “If he was alive, he would
say, that he wanted nothing for
himself, just to give.”
Complementing the festival,
The Buzz Coffeeshop in the EMU
will offer entertainment on Satur
day and Sunday organized by the
Folk Alliance and Folklore Soci
ety.
'Monroe and
008411
keep
in touch
www.dailyemerald.com
Norma Fraser
want to play it With these guys they've had
to create something that is new. It's more a
of a challenge.
Launa DeGiusti
heritage music coordinator for the cultural forum
11
B f. M. A U R A t
Pearl Jam: Nine
years after ‘lee’
■ Pearl Jam’s latest CD
sounds good — even
though they continue to
I party like it’s 1992
| By Joe Walsh
, Oregon Daily Emerald
I Grunge is dead, but apparently
nobody bothered to tell Pearl
Jam.
Seattle’s post-punk, alternative
rock scene has come and gone,
leaving nary a memento other
than its invariable fingerprints set
! deep into today’s musical land
scape.
But while the likes of Nirvana,
Alice in Chains and Soundgar
den have all faded away, Pearl
Jam remains.
Why?
With its sixth studio album,
“Binaural,” Pearl Jam sticks with
its recipe that has worked for
nearly a decade: take a few Led
Zeppelin-inspired guitar riffs,
add some metal noise and some
thoughtful, soul-baring lyrics
with a touch of rage and self-pity.
Mix in a penchant for experimen
tation that, while alienating
many listeners, keeps the sound
fresh and original, and you get
Pearl Jam.
For better or worse, “Binaural”
offers no surprises. It’s vintage
Pearl Jam.
It starts out fast and heavy with
the first three tracks then quickly
slows down, as the band shifts
into a mellow and self-reflective
mood. It’s a logical follow-up to
the last studio album, the gener
ally restrained “Yield” (1998),
but is even more subdued. There
are no tracks like “Evolution” to
kick if in the ass halfway through;
once it slows down it never picks
up.
And that’s OK.
With tracks like “Nothing As It
Seems,” “Light Years” and “Of
The Girl,” the album sails
through the sea of tranquility that
often brings out the best of Pearl
Jam (see also “Black,” “Yellow
Ledbetter,” “Elderly Woman Be
hind the Counter in a Small
Town,” etc.). Sober lyrics of lost
loves and past mistakes compli
ment the pace as well, a refresh
ing change from previous albums
where an attitude of angst domi
nated.
Perhaps the only complaint
worth mention is that a calm,
nearly emotionless Eddie Vedder
is not always the best Eddie Ved
der. There are none of his quin
tessential screaming-with-the
crazy-eyes-and-a-crease-across-hi
s-brow moments. He almost
sounds normal, and rock stars
aren’t supposed to be normal.
But Pearl Jam does retain a
trace of its craziness, although it
never comes close to anything
like that in “Vitalogy.” There’s
one track, “Soon Forget,” that
oddly features only Vedder and a
ukulele. There’s also a track that
leads with 25 seconds of nothing
but noises from a snarling dog.
Strange stuff, but it’s nothing that
would totally alienate a signifi
cant portion of the fan base like
tracks in the past.
And in the end, nothing will
change.
The real Pearl Jam fans will
buy “Binaural” and the people
who only liked “Ten” won’t, just
as with all the other albums.
THEATRE
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