Closure means unhappy new year for Wild Duck
Owner Bob Jensen says
the costs were too high
to keep the restaurant,
brewery and stage open
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
The Wild Duck Brewery, Restaurant
and Music Hall closed its doors on
Jan. 1 after it was unable to keep up
with costs in the poor economy.
The popular venue located at 169 W.
Sixth Ave, was one of Eugene's outlets
for funk, reggae jazz and soul music.
"We couldn't take the beating any
longer," the Wild Duck's booking
agent Brendan Relaford said. "It was
really a cascade of things. Ihe contin
uing elevation of minimum wage
mixed with the size of the building.
An audience that would pack most
the places in Eugene would hardly fill
us. We were too big."
"The minimum wage increase was
the cornerstone of it," Wild Duck
owner Bob Jensen said. "Our insur
ance has also doubled in the past
few years, partly because some insur
ance companies are getting rid of
high risk forms of insurance like
liquor liability, which we need to
have. We used to have 26 possible
carriers; in the end we were down to
about two."
Along with the rising costs of
operating, the Wild Duck also faced
the problem of an anemic downtown
culture that had never become as
thriving as local businesses had
hoped. Even opening the three blocks
of Broadway between Oak and Char
nelton Streets in September 2002,
changing them from a pedestrian
walkway into an open street, did not
do much to help business.
"The original idea was that the
Wild Duck would contribute to and
feed off of the business from down
town," Flying Ink Media publicist
Douglas Fuchs said. "But many of
the larger businesses, like Symantec
and The Register-Guard, left down
town. The opening of Broadway did
n't seem to help."
Even without any steady crowds
from Eugene's downtown, the Wild
Duck was still a popular night spot,
especially during its first few years.
"When we first opened in 1996 it
was like a machine," Relaford said.
"We were packed a lot."
The Wild Duck hosted a number
of acts that went on to become Eu
gene favorites. Bands such as Left
over Salmon, Spearhead, Los Lobos,
Dark Star Orchestra, the String
Cheese Incident, the Wailers, Ziggy
Marley and the Melody Makers, the
Grey Boy Allstars and David Crosby
all performed on the Duck's stage
while traveling up and down the In
terstate-5 corridor. Eugene locals,
Danielle Hickey Senior Photographer
Economic troubles forced the Wild Duck Brewery, Restaurant and Music Hall to close its doors Jan. 1.
such as The Cherry Poppin' Daddies
and Shelley James Musicbox, also
performed at the venue. James and
her band, who played on New Year's
Eve, were the last performers on the
Wild Duck's stage.
"The diversity of the performances
really fit with the Eugene communi
ty," Jensen said.
Despite the closing of the Wild Duck
itself, its production organization, Big
Green Events, will remain intart. The
company has managed events as var
ied as Art & die Vineyard to the Spring
field Filbert Festival. Wild Duck Cater
ing and the Mallard Banquet Hall will
also remain in business. Jensen says the
company doesn't have plans to open
another club anytime soon.
"I wouldn't say a comeback is im
possible, but I wouldn't say it's likely
either," Jensen said.
As for the Wild Duck building it
self, the company has received of
fers for renting it as retail or office
space, but as of this writing, no
plans are certain.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com.
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Visit to Israel reveals opposing images
A recent trip to Israel
uncovers a sense of danger
that is real but distant
By Steven Neuman
Freelance Reporter
If you could travel halfway around
the globe, beyond comfortable West
ern Europe — beyond Eastern Europe,
beyond the Mediterranean — to spend
ten days in one of the most politically
volatile regions in the world, a place
most Americans only see on CNN,
what would you walk away with? For
me, it was a totally new perspective.
PART 1 OF 2
Today: The perceived danger
of traveling to Israel and its cultural
impact on an American traveler
Next week: A look at the Israeli
perspective of America
I flew to New York, boarded a 747
packed with other college students
and braved a 10.5-hour direct flight to
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
A week and a half later, I handed my
passport back to U.S. customs, along
with seven rolls of undeveloped film
and a notebook crammed with notes
packed away in my suitcase.
When I mention where I went in
passing conversations, the first question
I'm usually asked is: "Isn't it dangerous
there?" This
is something
that I cannot
completely
explain, be
cause before
I had actual
ly been there, I also found it nearly im
possible to grasp how people could
bring up children, go to work, and lead
everyday lives in the face of such persist
ent threats.
Israel is a country at perpetual war.
So obviously it can be very dangerous
there. Our group had two armed
guards with us at all times. But from
my perspective, it is not a country that
actually feels particularly dangerous.
What I found amazing is that the
people of Israel have not hardened
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Steve Neuman Freelance Photographer
Road signs are written in three languages: Hebrew (the national language), Arabic and English.
themselves to death, warfare and de
struction, as one would expea. The
attitude is similar to the approach of a
quintessential Manhattanite who does
n't necessarily debate that New York City
is dangerous (you might get mugged,
shot, etc.), but chooses not to think
about the danger — the possibility of a
bomb exploding anywhere, or the
country coming under attack, for exam
ple — occurring on a day-to-day basis.
In both cases, the danger is very real,
but simultaneously distant. For the first
five days, we saw little evidence of ter
Turn to ISRAEL, page 8
VERY UTTLE THEATRE
VLT
CABARET
The award-winning musical
by John Kander and Fred Ebb
Directed by Michael Watkins
Saturday, Jan. 10 • Noon
Sunday, Jan. 11 • 6 p.m.
2350 Hilyard St, Eugene
Roles for men and women of all ages (18+);
ALL ROLES AVAILABLE! Prepare a short song,
and be prepared to dance at the audition.
The Very Little Theatre is in its 75th
SEASON of producing live theatre.