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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2000)
By Rebecca Newell Oregon Daily Emerald Entertainment is arguably as large a part of our culture as educa tion or politics. The entertainment world is the billboard for our cul ture, displaying the best, worst and weirdest facets of humanity and its pursuits. The Emerald has gone in depth, capturing the thoughts and ideas from several facets of the Eu gene entertainment community to give their own verbal description of our community’s entertainment billboard. Mare Wakefield, Mare Wake field Band Since the age of 6, Mare (pro nounced Mary) Wakefield has been creating rhythms, from the start of her professional career in Bend with the band Sister South Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald John Sharpy is a University acting student and plays in the band Double-0-7. paw to her current trio that com poses the Mare Wakefield Band. For Wakefield, music is a full-time love in addition to her day job, and she fills every minute of her non working life performing at shows including the Oregon Folklife Fes tival, Oregon Country Fair and Sat urday Market. For Wakefield, entertainment is “any creative force that opens your eyes or makes you think in a differ ent way.” She chose Eugene as her entertainment playground because “it’s a very creatively nurturing community.” Wakefield is contin uing that creative nurturing by conducting songwriting work shops to encourage other music lovers. “There is a pretty strong artistic community and the population in general is supportive of the arts,” Wakefield said. But she noted that “it’s hard to make a living as an artist,” a fact reinforced by Wake field’s 8-to-5 jobs, similar to many other performers and artist in the community. For improvement, Wakefield said “it would be nice to see more funding set aside to help support the people in their artistic endeav ors.” Jon Sharpy, student actor and Double-0-7 band member Sharpy is a junior at the Univer sity and juggles his spare time be tween acting and his band. His summer calendar was jammed with practices and performances for Mad Duckling Theatre — where he starred in “My Emperor’s New Clothes” and “Schoolhouse Rock.” And in addition to amusing the kiddies with his talent at musi cal comedy, he caters to the grown up crowd with music from his band Double-0-7. And it’s not hard to catch that Sharpy loves to enter tain. “Entertainment is anything peo ple can do as a recreational activi ty,” Sharpy said. “Where people can interact or watch performanc es.” Double-0-7’s performance re sume has extended beyond the realms of friend’s parties to in clude such up-and-coming venues as the WOW Hall, the Wild Duck, and the Country Fair. Eugene is “a good place to start because there are so many outlets here, like community theatre,” Sharpy said. “Almost any activity is encouraged.” Sharpy expressed that one thing the community lacks is age-friend ly entertainment. “I’d make it so people of all ages could do things, like all-ages con certs, and not cater to just the over 21ers,” Sharpy said. Steve Perry, member of local band the Daddies Leading the band with his vo cals and talent on the guitar strings, Perry is the classic exam ple of “small town boy makes it big.” And the best part, is he’s still living here in Eugene. After the release of their third CD “Kid’s on the Street” the Dad dies were gaining attention open ing for the Mighty Mighty Bos stones. But second wasn’t good enough, and the release of their fourth CD in 1997, “Zoot Suit Riot,” catapulted the band into the ranks of fame that include a plat inum title and interviews on the Tonight Show and Late Night with David Letterman. For Perry, his idea of entertain ment and culture are as creative as the lyrics he belts out on stage. “Entertainment should be the sugary shiny layer on the pill that doesn’t stick to your throat,” Perry said, “while culture is the impor tant stuff inside.” Perry chose Eugene as his “en tertainment playground” after starting at the University. Despite not making it through to gradua tion, he stayed on in Eugene be cause it was inexpensive to live here. And “you’d see more shows in basements, a thriving cultural scene,” than what Perry feels ex ists today. And with that garage band/base ment aspect of our culture slipping away, Perry noted what he would change about the Eugene scene. “I would go backwards to the more funky kinds of business and such, be a little more bohemian,” ^ Entertainment should be the sugary shiny layer on the pill that doesn't stick to your throat, while culture is the important stuff inside. Steve Perry lead singer of . * Eugene band // The Daddies he said. Leigh Anne Jasheway, humor columnist, stand-up comic Jasheway is a woman with many talents. Before beginning her cur rent career as a humorist, stress management expert and motiva tional speaker, she worked as a health educator running the well ness program for the University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center. Jasheway feels that entertain ment is “Anything that inspires, changes opinion and makes your life more pleasurable.” With that definition, it’s obvious she’s given her life to the pursuit of entertain ment. Besides teaching comedy work shops, Jasheway’s columns regular appear in The Comic News and Family Circle. She’s also featured occasionally in publications in cluding Good Housekeeping and Readers Digest. The stand-up comic chose Eu gene as her home base because “the artistic community here is so strong you can feel it in the air. “It’s palpable even if you don’t know it,” Jasheway said. And she’s contributing to that sense of artistic community, teach ing comedy workshops and per forming with The Comedy Work out, a self-proclaimed ragtag team of stand-up comics. When asked what would be one thing that could enhance Eugene’s community, Jasheway replied “more diversity.” “We can benefit from more cul tural diversity such as African American or Hispanic activities,” Jasheway said. “We really need to have more of that. In comedy, you need to have more exposure to people’s identities.” Tony Pimble, artistic director of the Eugene Ballet Company For England native Toni Pimble, entertainment is “something that expresses the culture or times and has something to say about it.” And Pimble, artistic director of the Eugene Ballet Company since 1978, has been a vital part of Eu gene entertainment. After dancing for three German ballet companies during her pro fessional dance career, Pimble moved to Eugene to run the Eu gene School of Ballet. From there, she started what is now the Eugene Ballet Company, performing for lo cal high schools. Since its incep tion 22 years ago, the EBC is now one of the top touring companies on the West coast. “I would make the support for the arts greater,” Pimble said about the one thing she would change in the Eugene arts community. “For the size of the city we have pretty good support, but more would be better.” We can benefit from more cultural diversity such as African-American or Hispanic activities. We really need to have more of that Leigh Anne jasheway Humor columnist and stand-up comic Joe Klune, Fashion and Art Pho tographer Klune has lived in Oregon most of his life. His hobby was word working, until the day he decided to buy a camera instead of a new table saw. A decade later, he’s won numerous photography awards, had his work published by National Geographic and in various promotional publications for Oregon. For Klune, “entertainment cul ture is the result of current fads. It’s in pursuit of making money by amusing people’s thoughts and minds.” And for the fashion side of pho tography, Klune has to keep up on current fads. But it’s his love of art and scenic photography that keep him in Eugene, rather than living and working amidst the hustle and bustle of the photography business in LA or Seattle. “Eugene is centered in the mid dle of the versatility of the Oregon environment,” Klune said. “The options for photography Eugene offers in close proximity are the Cascade Range, the coast and all of the green in between.” With working in a smaller com munity, Klune does recognize the limitations that arise in any line of work that derives from creative en deavors. “I would like to see art more ex posed to people who don’t nor mally take it very seriously,” Klune said. “I would like to see other institutions and organiza tions such as businesses support artists by promoting more art shows.” Jason Kansier, School of Music Student Kansier is a sophomore at the University studying business and music. The multi-instrumental musician can play about anything with a string, keys, or mouthpiece, but excels particularly in trumpet, piano and guitar (electric and acoustic). Besides participating in the Ore gon Marching Band with his trum pet, Kansier executes the compli cated scales of Metallica and Dave Matthews in his spare time on electric guitar. For Kansier, Eugene was an easy pick for the University’s music program, though he felt most stu dents don’t realize what a chal lenge the program is, and how dedicated students must be to their music to make it through. Because Kansier finds most of his time devoted to school, march ing band and his fraternity Lamb da Chi, finding any extra time to pursue starting a band — like the one he was involved with in high school — is tough. However, the guitar comes out of the case occasionally for events such as Anchorsplash, where Kansier played last year, and at the request of women who’ve heard about his incredible rendi tion of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven.” Kansier plans on auditioning for the Green Garter Band, a select group of 12 musicians and full time University students who play for women’s basketball and volley ball games, as well as serving as the core unit for the Oregon Bas ketball Band. I Courtesty of Mare Wakefield Mare Wakefield has been playing her guitar in Eugene for many moons. *29" for 500 MINUTES All with Nationwide Long Distance. 250 Anytime Minutes 250 Night & Weekend Minutes 500 Total Minutes All including Nationwide Long Distance when you sign a one-year Sprint PCS Advantage Agreement. PLUS! 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