Features Editor:
John Liebhardt
johnliebhardt@dailyemeralcl.com
Thursday, April 4,2002
'Panic Room'
Jared Leto’s comic turn as a thug invading
Jodie Foster’s house lightens the thriller.
Pap 6
UO Cultural Forum’s latest venture is a series of all-ages rock shows that cost only $1
By Jen West
Oregon Daily Emerald
The Eugene music scene has often been
criticized for offering only a few venues for
those under age 21 to experience the talents
of local bands. In an effort to provide these
youngsters with greater access to local enter
tainment, the UO Cultural Forum will host
an all ages "Local Music Showcase” that will
feature local bands performing on the first
Saturday of every month.
This month’s musical line-up consists of
rock bands alterEGO, 2Bucks Short and The
Courtesy Clerks. They will perform at 8 p.m.
Saturday in the EMU Fir Room. The cost of
entry is $1 at the door.
Vocalist/guitarist Taylor Morden, guitarist
Mat Foster, bassist Gary Roberts and drummer
Cliff Roberts make up alterEGO, and they will
be promoting their self-titled CD released last
summer. Every song on the CD is available on
www.mp3.com.
2Bucks Short features vocalist/guitarist
Matt Heath, bassist Kevin Cameron, drummer
Scott Sutton and guitarist Dylan Vessey. The
band has a five-song demo that will be avail
able for sale at the show.
The Courtesy Clerks include vocalist/gui
tarist Mark Rogers , bassist Mike B. and drum
mer Ron Topofyou.
This concert marks the first time the three
bands have performed together, according to
Foster, although members from all three have
formed friendships during the past two years.
Foster birthed the idea for a monthly mu
sical showcase.
“I’ve been wanting to get cheap shows on
campus for kids in the dorms and other peo
ple around this area to get out and check out
local music,” he said.
Foster said he enjoys being able to play with
his favorite bands and has “been a 2Bucks
Short fan for a long time.”
Cultural Forum Regional Music Coordina
tor Nathan Hazard said Foster approached
him with idea of doing a local musical show
case. He said he approved of the idea and
even tentatively slated the showcase to con
tinue into next year.
‘‘I’ve been wanting to get cheap shows
on campus for kids in the dorms and
other people around this area to get
out and check out local music. ”
Mat Foster
bassist, alterEGO
“Most music in town being in bars, I agreed
with (Foster’s) feelings,” Hazard said. He also
said the Cultural Forum stands to benefit from
having shows set on a consistent schedule.
“It’s really tough to get an all-ages show in
this town,” Heath said. He said the high cost
of renting out a venue such as the Wild Duck
Music Hall or WOW Hall makes it “tough to
break even” and difficult for any band to hold
a concert, regardless of its talent.
But “it’s the kids that suffer,” he said, not
the venues or even the bands.
Despite the struggle to find a venue that
falls within their budget, these bands’ mem
bers said they have experienced some mod
est success.
Heath said the bands have been working to
gether on promotional projects, most of which
have been on the Internet.
The Internet “is a great promotional tool,”
he said. “That’s how most people find music
these days, especially with the shut-down of
Napster.”
Cameron said he thought 2Bucks Short’s
growing popularity has probably resulted
from performing at all-ages shows.
“Once we got those (shows), e-mail would
just skyrocket,” he said.
Although both Foster and Heath were reluc
tant to claim a large fan base, Foster said, “The
fans that we do have are super loyal, and
they’re awesome.”
Heath said that their concerts are always
dominated by the energy of their fans.
“Our goal when we go out there is to try
and top what the crowd is doing,” he said, “if
we can match their energy level or exceed it,
then it was a good showcase.”
Cameron said he hopes the showcase will
be “butt-packed” with people, but whether
“there is going to be three people or 300, it is
going to be a good show.”
For more info on the bands, check out
www.alteregomusic.com,
www.2bucksshort.com and www.thecour
tesyclerks.com. The Courtesy Clerks’ Web site
is down for repairs but promises it will be
back up soon.
E- mail reporter Jen West at jenwest@dailyemerald.com.
Pulitzer Prize winner tells of infant trauma, Panama invasion
■ Edward Humes delivers the 2002
Johnston Lecture today, discussing
his work on ‘immersion journalism’
By Alix Kerl
Oregon Daily Emerald
Robert Allman’s son was born too
soon. The child, bruised from head to
toe from the trauma of delivery, lay mo
tionless in a heated acrylic case in a
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Edward Humes
was there, watching it all. He was there
as dozens of tiny infants struggled for
life, and he records it all in his newest
book, “Baby E.R.”
Humes will be on campus today for a
lecture, “The Art of Being There: Im
mersing Yourself in the Story,” as part
of the 2002 Johnston Lecture Series. It
begins at 4 p.m. in the Alumni Lounge
in Gerlinger Hall.
Humes started as a newspaper jour
nalist and prided himself on asking
the unanswered questions to find fas
cinating stories.
“Ed is a combination of a meticulous
reporter and a masterful storyteller,”
said Lauren Kessler, director of the
graduate program in literary nonfiction
in the journalism school. “He writes
about important issues with clarity
and insight. His work has emotion but
little sentimentality.”
Humes won the Pulitzer Prize for
journalism in 1989 for specialized re
porting for his newspaper writing on
the military.
The award recognized his dispatch
es from Panama during the U.S. inva
sion, articles on the unjust execution
of an army private during World War
II, and his year-long investigation of fa
tal helicopter crashes linked to flawed
night-vision devices.
Later, Humes longed to have
months instead of hours to craft sto
ries, so he left daily journalism to be
gan writing books. Through the cre
ation of his six non-fiction books,
Humes has been honored for his in
tense and thoughtful portrayals.
“Baby E.R.,” published in Novem
ber 2000, is a real-life medical thriller
that immerses the reader in the inner
workings of a neonatal intensive unit.
Humes’ previous book, “Mean Jus
tice: A Town’s Terror, a Prosecutor’s
Power, a Betrayal of Innocence,” pub
lished in 1999, was named a best
book by the Los Angeles Times. “No
Matter How Loud I Shout; A Year in
the Life of Juvenile Court,” published
first in 1996, was named the best
book of the year by the Investigative
Reporters and Editors of America. It
also received the 1997 PEN Center
USA award for research nonfiction,
and the book is being developed as a
television series.
Humes’ other books include “Buried
Secrets,” “Murder With a Badge” and
the bestseller “Mississippi Mud,”
which chronicles the assassination of a
Mississippi judge and his mayoral can
didate wife by a shadowy group known
as the Dixie Mafia.
Prosecutors later used evidence
Humes developed in researching the
book to win a conviction and 18-year
prison sentence against the former may
or of Biloxi, Miss.
Turn to Humes, page 8
Courtesy Photo