Thursday, August 7,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
PULSE
Aaron Shakra
Art falls apart
Virtues
of poetry
reflect all
existence
Our lives are poetry, just waiting to be
written. It's in the air, the rocks, trees and
cars, small and large — poetry is the great
potential permeating everything. Oh heck,
poetry IS everything, lurking within all
moments. Considering this, there is a great
lack of poetry in our lives, both literal and
metaphorical. It's like a missing sense to
which we must retune ourselves.
How did this sense go wayward and be
come so aloof when it has never been so
necessary in order to combat rampant judg
ment, selfishness and materialism of the
Western world? Perhaps the question an
swers itself. After all, poetry stands in oppo
sition to all that is being pushed forth as im
portant. It contradicts these values and
replaces them with a higher, simpler beauty
that, once found, could never be denied.
Find poetry, and watch your desire melt
away into something greater than yourself.
It's time to reclaim poetry as the most
universal of arts, not limited from cliques
and academics to folks with Ph D s who
use their degrees as a justification and re
placement for true insight, as well as those
who consider it a mere "plastic" art.
Rather, poetry is a most immediate way of
expression, with expression at the very
least being a necessity in this life; the
greatest, perhaps, being the very purpose
of this life. It is a call for aboriginal
thought, insight and imagination to excite
an increasingly homogenized life. Poetry
is an individual expression, but one that
reaches farther, calls forth a greater aware
ness in the subject and a connection be
tween the subject and object.
These ideas might strike a few of you as
old, old school. Ralph Waldo Emerson —
whose words as of late have made far too
many appearances on greeting cards — had
this stuff down, circa 1842. In an essay
called "Ihe Poet" DJ Emerson boldly pro
claims (in a manner typical for him getting
down with his badass transcendental self)
that: "Words and deeds are quite indifferent
modes of the divine energy. Words are also
actions, and actions are a kind of words....
The sign and credentials of the poet are, that
he announces that which no man foretold.
He is the true and only doctor."
The more aware poet welcomes a greater
insight The potential poet shouldn't lose the
sensibility of being a student for life Earlier
in his essay, Emerson says, "The poet is the
person in whom these powers are in balance
the man without impediment who sees and
handles that which others dream of, traverses
the whole scale of experience." This could
mean a variety of things, perhaps cultivating
patience and understanding, or perhaps re
alizing what you pay attention to determines
what you ignore Perhaps it means trying to
look outside of your eyes, then adapting to
your own everyday personal life Poetry, for
being everything, is still a personal thing,
which means expression doesn't limit itself
Turn to Shakra, page 6
FAIR DEAL
Fair-goers
enjoy
beautiful
Eugene
weather and
exhilarating
rides at the
2002 Lane
County Fair.
Emerald
The Lane county fair will feature
attractions old and new, including
rides, concerts, and talent shows
By Ryan Nyburg
Freelance Reporter
Ihe Lane County Fair will be setting
up shop in Eugene for six days of rides,
food, concerts, exhibits and other fam
ily-oriented activities starting Tuesday
and running through Aug. 17.
And this year, the fair will feature a
couple of new additions: First is the
new entertainment stage, dubbed the
Cumulus Caribbean Breeze Stage
and Cafe, located near the food court.
The stage will see a variety of musical
styles, including jazz, reggae, salsa,
rock, folk and world beat. The stage is
open to all ages, but the cafe, which
will serve tropical-style drinks, is 21
and older only.
The other new addition is the
Community Courtyard, a new venue
for special activities between the lane
County I listorical Museum and the
Fairgrounds Auditorium. Some of
the activities planned for the court
yard include the Wheelchair Sports
and Recreation Expo, the Peace
Health Senior Day and a special proj
ect by Habitat for 1 lumanity, whose
volunteers plan to build four storage
sheds in as many days.
Ihe fair's biggest draws include the
main stage concerts. Classic rockers
Heart will perform Tuesday, the
Beach Boys Wednesday and
Turn to Fair, page 6
Appleseed Cast pens sad, listenable tunes
By Ryan Nyburg
Freelance Reporter
Eve 6 was probably the best band at
their high school talent competition.
Unfortunately, they failed to advance
any further than that, as their new al
bum, "It's All in Your Head," demon
strates. After being written off as one
hit wonders way back in the late
1990s, the band returns with more of
the same pop- _
punk commer
cialism. For
anyone who rGVIGW
had the song --
"Inside Out" permanently creased
into their brain from its constant air
play back in 1998, all of this will
sound pathetically familiar.
The music is well done, but on the
whole it's all rather uninspiring. The
band hasn't grown since the last time
anyone heard of them, and the en
tire album has a "Why bother?" feel
ing about it. Not necessarily bad, but
not really all that great either.
The Appleseed Cast must lead very
sad lives to make music like that
found on their latest album, "Two
Conversations." Sadness fills every
second of this soft, interesting little
album. The music is gentle and
somber, while the melodies feel like
they were taken right out of every
pop rock ballad of the past ten years.
While there is nothing overtly
original in the music, it's done well
enough that you can enjoy it for
what it is: a good collection of sad,
moving songs done with style and
grace. The Appleseed Cast will play
the WOW Hall Aug. 22.
Grace is a good quality in songwrit
ing. So is tact. The Displaced have nei
ther, as their new six-song, self-titled
EP fully shows. They sound like a for
mer Pixies tribute band trying to write
their own songs. The problem is they
lack the chops, songcraft or energy to
match anything done by the Pixies, or
even Frank Black and the Catholics or
Breeder for that matter.
I know that comparing a humble
rock combo to such musical godheads
is unfair, but they draw the comparison
upon themselves by sounding enough
like the Pixies to risk plagiarism. The
guitar solos, the vocals and the subject
matter could all have come from
"Doolittle" or "Bossa Nova" B-sides.
They even have a song called "Stormy
Weather," for Christ's sake. Not worth
the trouble, at least until they learn to
distill their influences a bit.
At least the Crooked lades admit
where they get their songs. The acoustic
string band, which plays a mix of origi
nal material and traditional American
music, is about to release their new al
bum, 'The Unfortunate Rake Vol. 2:
Yellow Mercury." The album is a pitch
perfect mix of traditional folk, blues,
country, bluegrass, hillbilly and gospel
styles, all done with the care of a dedi
cated group of preservationists.
Of the album's 23 tracks, 13 list
the composer as "traditional." These
songs all come from a time in Ameri
can history just before radio started
to take its hold on culture and music
became just that much more ho
Courtesy
The Appleseed Cast will perform at the WOW Hall Aug. 22.
mogenized. Of the other ten songs,
nine are original compositions
(there is also is a nice little I lank
Williams cover) that show the influ
ence of the traditional tracks, but are
updated to a modem context.
All of this makes for great listening.
The music, performed entirely on an
eclectic mix of acoustic string instru
ments, is immaculate, joyful and
sometimes creepy, in die way old
scratchy records can sound creepy. Ihe
band's general philosophy toward its
music might be a little too purist for
some tastes, but the album is worth
owning, even as a reference guide to
old-time songs and songwriters.
The Crooked Jades will be making
their Eugene debut at Sam Bond's
Garage, where they will have their
CD release party Aug. 22.
Ryan Nyburg is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.