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.
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