Mark McCambridge Photographer
Les Claypool of Primus performs to a packed, hazy Hult Center on Saturday night.
Primus
sucks?
Primus wowed fans on
Saturday at a sold-out Hult
Center show, revitalizing old
favorites with their familiar
eclectic panache and style
Carl Sundberg
Pulse Columnist
I The bizarre freak show that is
Primus rolled through Eugene on Sat
urday night in support of its new al
bum, "Animals Should Not Try To Act
like People."
The three original members of the
band — Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde
and Tim Alexander — joined forces
once again for a reunion tour extrava
ganza, playing two sets clocking in
just under 180 minutes to a sold-out
crowd at the Hult Center for the Per
forming Arts.
CONCERT
REVIEW
The
crowd did
not explode
when the
band took
the stage just
after 8 p.m. Instead, they roared, then
fell silent as the band slid into the
Pink Floyd-ish "Southbound Pachy
derm," a trippy, lurching song about
flying elephants. They stretched the
song out for nearly 10 minutes, bend
ing it into new shapes that I'd never
heard before. However, the crowd was
Turn to PRIMUS, page 12
“Diary of a
Contraband:
The Civil War
Passage of a |
Black Sailor”
Wednesday, October 29
Knight Law Center
Room 175
7 p.m. FREE
Reading and discussion by
former Wayne Morse Professor,
William B. Gould IV.
Booksigning to follow. Visit
UOBookstore.com for details.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
BOOKSTORE
Filmmaker Moore
tells Portlanders
Bush is on way out
Michael Moore, speaking to
a crowd of 10,000 on
Thursday, said the majority
of Americans are liberal
By Julia Carr
Freelance Reporter
"(Portland) is the 25th city of my
tour and if you could see what I see
you would know Bush is doomed!"
best-selling author Michael Moore
said to a crowd of about 10,000 sup
porters in Portland on Thursday
night at the Memorial Coliseum.
Moore is on tour to promote his
new book, "Dude, Where's My
Country?"
Portland State University's con
tinuing education department
sponsored the event and local
movie maker Gus Van Sant gave an
introduction speech.
Moore opened with an explana
tion of his speech at the Oscars.
"It seemed like the right thing to
do," he said of the speech, adding
that his house was vandalized sever
al times afterward.
He discussed the growing
strength of the liberal movement,
calling them "the majority," and
said 60 percent of voters are either
female or people of color.
"The majority of Americans are
pro-choice, for affirmative action
and pro-gun control" and support
stronger environmental laws, he
said.
Moore mocked the Democratic
Party by calling them "The Pleather
Party," and he said that voters often
have difficulty choosing between
two parties that are so similar. He
added that he believes America lacks
a true representation of Congress.
"If 10 percent of the country is
Green, then 10 percent of Congress
should be Green," he said to audi
ence applause.
Not everything Moore said was
greeted with such support, however.
"It was the Jesus jokes," 29-year
old Portland resident and Moore
supporter Olin James Longworth III
said. "A lot of people don't respond
well to Christian jokes."
Moore said he's "a recovering
Catholic" and read a passage from
"Dude, Where's My Country" that
he claimed was written by God.
'The majority of
Americans are
pro-choice, for
affirmative action
and pro-gun control."
Michael Moore
Filmmaker
"Let's get this straight, God don't
bless America, God don't bless any
one, God's got a tee time on the
back nine and he doesn't have time
to be interrupted with all this patri
otic mumbo jumbo, 'Go bless your
selves, and quit using my name as
justification for feeling superior to
everyone else,' you aren't!" he read.
Moore said political commenta
tors are angry and called them "dy
ing dinosaurs." To illustrate his
point, he used his cell phone to
place a live call to local conservative
talk show host Lars Larson.
"Hey Lars! This is Michael Moore,
and I'm at the Memorial Coliseum
and we just wanted to hear what a
dying dinosaur sounded like, could
you tell us please?"
The call provoked an explosion of
laughter, applause and bantering
from the crowd.
The audience was composed of
all ages.
"I liked seeing old people there
tonight," Longworth said. "I liked
seeing them laugh."
Portland resident Christine D'Es
posito, 27, said "Michael Moore is a
good symbol to the younger gener
ation. He wears a baseball hat, a T
shirt ... he keeps himself looking
approachable."
Moore ended the evening by
telling people to get out and vote.
"We need to defeat PGE (Portland
General Electric) here in November
and we need a government watch
dog so that this never happens
again."
He encouraged voters not to
make a decision on presidential
elections yet and to "push the candi
dates to do a better job."
He told the audience to vote be
cause "they have got the money on
their side, and we've got the people."
Julia Carr is a freelance reporter for
the Emerald.
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