Thursday
‘Welcome’ to disappointment
The latest CD from the surf rock trio Red Elvises
turns out to be a complete sham. PAGE 11
PULSE EDITOR: BEVIN CAFFERY bcaffery@gladstone.uoregon.edu
UNO, K, IKS, cium
The community will celebrate Cinco de Mayo with food,
music and dancing at the Fiesta Latina
By Bevin Caffery
Oregon Daily Emerald
Picture 150 brightly colored pa
per .pinatas fluttering in a soft
breeze, children lining up to
hear about bike safety and re
ceiving 200 free bike helmets, and
families scoping out the food booth
of their choice.
This will be the scene at this
weekend’s Fiesta Latina, a Cinco de
Mayo festival presented by Ade
lante Si. Events will kick off Friday
and continue through Sunday at
Washington Jefferson Park, trans
forming the area into a traditional
Latin American street festival.
Highlights will range from several
live Latin music performances,
complete with a salsa dance con
test, authentic Latin American food
and traditional arts and crafts on
display.
This year is the 10th anniversary
of the festival, and the Fiesta Latina
chairwoman, Rebeca Urhausen,
has been a'part of organizing the
celebration since its inception.
Along with Alfonso Cabrera, this
year’s operations manager,
Urhausen was part of a group that
wanted to throw a party for the
community on Cinco de Mayo.
“It started out as a street party on
Fifth [Avenue],” she reflected.
To emphasize how far the festi
val has come in a decade, this year
will be especially festive in decora
tion and spirit, utilizing balloons
and pinatas in the park and offering
a free traditional Sunday Mass at
noon.
Urhausen is especially thrilled
about the musical lineup for the
festival.
“We have a very strong lineup
from the moment we open,” she
said. Urhausen said that the festival
is bringing back the salsa contest,
which they haven’t held for a few
years because it takes so much or
ganization to put together.
Starting out the musical events at
6 p.m. Friday will be the Brazillian
style Sun Bossa, followed by The
Caribbean Ensemble of the Bailar
Dance Studio and the Latin
rhythms of Abakadubi. The semifi
nals of the Fiesta Latina Salsa
Dance Contest will occur, along
with the Latin funk of Rubberneck.
On Saturday, the musical stage
will include Toca of Rubberneck,
Los Mex-Pistols Del Norte, the fi
nals of the Salsa Dance Contest, the
Columbian craze known as Sonora
Dinamita and Latin Expression.
Wrapping up the festival on Sun
day will be a traditional Mariachi
Mass, Sonora Dinamita and Mari
achi Los Cabos.
Urhausen wants to make sure
that the family environment is
maintained and promoted this
weekend. The party will be com
pletely alcohol free and will offer
numerous children’s activities.
Kids not only will be able to learn
about bike safety but will also have
Turn to Fiesta, page 13
I
IRIACHI IDS ma
SONORA DINAMITA
Courtesy of Phil Bauer.
Gurantee of the Collective will perforin tonight at the Lyrical Fest.
A NEW WAVE Of LYRICAL FLOW
■ Northwest Lyrical Fest will
bring local hip-hop artists
together again at the WOW Hall
By Bevin Caffery
Oregon Daily Emerald
Iet’s be honest. Images of Eugene do
not typically involve visions of swift
lyricism and deft word play. But the
groups performing at tonight’s
Northwest Lyrical Fest will claim other
wise. Not only does our drowsy little col
lege town have a scene of local artists
who like to rap, they even kick up a
mean flow.
After a four-year break, Northwest
Lyrical Fest is back, thanks to the deter
mination and enthusiasm of one Uni
versity student, Phil Bauer. Bauer, as
the key organizer, heads up the 14
group showcase tonight at the WOW
Hall. In addition to organizing the
event, Bauer will be a performer in
Strange Folks, a local hip-hop group.
This is the third Northwest Lyrical
Fest to storm the WOW Hall, except
this concert is a bit late — the last Lyri
cal Fest was in 1997. Bauer said that
hip-hop generally develops in waves,
so the four-year wait was for the new
sounds and performers to step into the
spotlight.
Northwest Lyrical Fest is composed
of Eugene and Portland groups, and
Bauer hopes to give listeners a sense of
the city of Eugene and a taste of the
state of Oregon.
The gathering is “a huge compila
tion of Oregon groups on stage at the
same time,” Bauer said. “[This will]
give local artists a chance to be seen
and heard.”
The idea started as a desire to hold an
event for his own group, Strange Folks,
but Bauer decided to go all the way to in
clude other local groups. He planned to
Turn to Lyrical fest, page 13