Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2001)
Relationship struggles brought to center stage ■The University’s Pocket Playhouse presents a show highlighting intense one-on-one relationships By Mason West Oregon Daily Emerald The difficulties of the human condition and human relationships are the themes of this week’s Pocket Playhouse production, “The Wool gatherer.” The play written by William Mastrosimone contains only two characters, both of whom are alone and looking for someone to open up to. But at the same time, neither seems prepared to do it alone. The question becomes whether these two people can get past their own problems and help each other. In the play, Cliff, played by Cur tis Williams, is a trucker whose truck has broken down in Philadel phia. Knowing that he will be in town only a few days, he tries his luck with Rose (Windy Borman), the clerk at the local five-and-dime store. Rose also sees something in Cliff, but wants something much more romantic than what Cliff has in mind. Director Alexander Pawlowski plays with this contrast and its consequences to create con flict and drama in the play. “Rose is a hopeless romantic and a dreamer,” Pawlowski said, “and Cliff is this callous guy who Rose is trying to find the sweetness in.” That sweetness is hidden deep beneath a facade of male ego and crass humor. “Cliff has spent a lot of time on the road and alone, so he has learned to entertain himself,” Williams said. “He thinks he’s quite funny.” That makes one of them. Rose is more sensitive and rarely in a jok ing mood. “She has a lot of emotional bag gage that ties her down,” Borman said. Making a drama with only two actors is a difficult process for the performers. The success or failure of the show lies in the characters’ interactions. It is fair to worry, when dealing with a drama such as this, that the characters might be too extreme for the audience to re late to. But for his part, Williams is certain that Cliff is more than two dimensional. “I think that I’ve met Cliff; a lot of people have,” he said. “But the peo ple that know Cliff probably only know his joking side.” Borman carries the heavier re sponsibility by playing a character with serious emotional problems. She said that while such a charac ter is easier to see as a caricature, all of the small elements that compose Mason West Emerald -v Rose (Windy Borman) and Cliff (Curtis Williams) explore the paradoxes of love and personality in ‘The Woolgatherer’ at the Pocket. her persona could be found spread out amongst many people. Pawlowski hopes that the com mon experience everyone shares with one-on-one relationships will be enough to carry the show. “Think of all the time you have spent in your life being with just one other person and think of how important every word and action was,” he said. “The ability of hu mans to relate on a one-to-one basis creates amazing situations.” In the end, each character is look ing for some small, honest connec tion with another person. Their re lationship does seem to be something special, but its destina tion remains uncertain. Pawlowski doesn’t attempt to answer any questions with this play — he wants the audience members to leave questioning themselves. “This play will make audiences think about opportunities that may have been missed, and it also might make them look at the next guy/girl who offers to buy them a drink a lit tle different,” he said. “The Woolgatherer” runs today, Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Pocket Playhouse in Villard Hall. A $1 donation is suggested. WOW hall rocks Eugene with exotic sounds this week ■Three hands have traveled to the Eugene ar£a to give enthusiastic performances and play outrageous tunes By Rebecca Wilson Oregon Daily Emerald This is a special announcement go ing out to guitar nerds, star-gazers, rock aficionados and music lovers of all ages! This week, several critically acclaimed musicians will bring their distinctive brands of rock to WOW Hall. Tonight, jazz, classic rock and world beats will come together with the efforts of Alien Love Child and The Derek Trucks Band. Then on Sunday, The Trey Gunn Band will display some of the most bizarre in struments to grace the rock genre. The Derek Trucks Band Derek Trucks loves playing guitar. It’s a good thing — he has been on tour almost continually since the age ofll. Trucks views touring as a way to spread a message. “I want to turn peo ple on to the great music,” Trucks said in a phone interview from Ven tura, Calif. “A whole lot of bands aren’t playing for the right reasons anymore.” Trucks is quick to point out the im portance of his musical influences— the great musicians who came before him. “If I had to pick out my biggest influences, I would say Duane All man, John Coltrane, Miles Davis,” he said, adding, “and Eastern Indian classical.” In addition, Trucks’ uncle Butch is the longtime drummer for the Allman Brothers Band. According to a January 2000 arti cle in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Trucks has been listening to the mas ters since he was a baby. “He went to sleep at night listening to Duane Allman’s blistering work on ‘Live at the Fillmore East,”’ said re porter Scott Mends, “and at the age of nine, his dad bought him a $5 acoustic guitar at a garage sale.” Since his debut, the native of Jack sonville, Fla., has performed with leg ends such as Bob Dylan, Buddy Guy, Willie Nelson, Widespread Panic, John Lee Hooker, Phish and Blues Traveler. In 1999, Trucks joined clas sic rock legend the Allman Brothers Band as lead and slide guitarist to re place the late Duane Allman. These days, Trucks, now 21, leads The Derek Trucks Band in his time off from the Allman Brothers Band. “ It took a long time to get the chem istry of the band just right,” he said. “We just recently got it.” The other members of Trucks’ band are Yonrico Scott on drums, Todd Smallie on bass, Javier Colon on lead vocals and percussion, and Kofi Burbridge on flute and keyboards. Trucks plays the lead and slide gui tar's. “We have a strange mix of musi cians,” Trucks said. “It catches peo ple offguard. Like Kofi will just start playing ‘A Love Supreme’ on his flute in the middle of the set,” he said, referring to the John Coltrane master piece. “It’s worth hearing.” The Derek Trucks Band is touring with GRAMMY Award winning Eric Johnson and his band, Alien Love Child. Tickets are $22.50 in advance and $25 at the door. They may be pur chased at WOW Hall and FASTIXX outlets. Doors open tonight at 7 p.m. and showtime is at 8 p.m. For more information, call 687-2746. TheTreyGunn Band Trey Gunn has come a long way from his student days in the Universi ty’s School of Music. Now, Gunn trav els around the world, delivering mu sic that “grooves.” His masterful guitar skills even landed him a well paying job with progressive rock masterminds King Crimson. When Gunn isn’t playing with the other five members of Crimson, he tours with his own band. “Playing with this band is more fun than Crimson, which is still pret ty fun,” said Gunn in a phone inter view from his Seattle home. “It’s real ly exciting. We’re doing a lot of improvisation. We’re walking a tightrope.” Gunn works with Tony Geballe, who plays electric guitar and adds a world flavor to the music. “He studied Turkish music in America and then moved to Turkey to study with a master,” Gunn said. The third member of the band, Bob tMulleivlends a laT?hfSS?‘array dfufe pronounceable percussives to the mix. Among the exotic drums are tabla, darbouka, gamelan drum, rik and metals. However, Gunn himself plays the band’s signature instrument: the “touch” guitar. Developed by Gunn and Mark Warr of Warr Guitars, the touch guitar is played with both hands on the neck of the guitar, Gunn said. “The touch guitar has six octaves and nearly the range of a piano. You can play bass notes or higher solo notes — or both at once.” For this tour, touch guitarist Randy Strom will join The Trey Gunn Band for added complexity. “We can switch playing bass or solo parts just like that! ” Gunn said. The band’s performances tend to be eclectic and spur-of-the-moment. “I would say a third to a half of our performances are improvised,” Gunn said. “But you would never know... It’s exciting to me.” The Trey Gunn Band is playing at WOW Hall on Sunday night. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Showtime is 8 p.m. For more information, call 687-2746. Ingrid Pape-Sheldon Discipline Global Mobile The Trey Gunn Band will groove audiences with their world-infused brand of rock at WOW Hall 8 p.m. Sunday. Here, Gunn poses with his famous ‘touch’ guitar. Bead It! O © Beginning & Advanced Beading Classes ♦C Stop by & check out our doss //st or visit our website: hariequinbeads.com arlequin Beads & Jewelry 1016 Willamette ♦ 683-5903 lohn Henry's Dance Nights 136 E.11th, Eugene
