Party at the best
NIGHTCLUB
in Eugene*
. C..II ™
• Full menu served
till 2 am
• One of the best
happy hours in town
• Swing dance lessons
• Wireless Internet
• Live music 4 nights
a week
• Diablo's Nightclub
• House/Hip-hop on j
weekends jj
• Resident DJs ^ fm
Ranked as the best nightclub in Eugene I W
for the past 3 years by the readers of / f • y '
the "Eugene Weekly” § ff * W '
Live Music #
Night Club
959 Pearl Street • Eugene
343-2346 • 21 & over
www.diablosdowntown.com
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UO School of Music fr Department of Dance
MAY CONCERTS
For more information on School of Music events, call 346-5678.
Sun. MULTI-PIANO JAZZ
5/9 Faculty & Guest Artists 4 pm, Beall Hall
$9 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
May FACULTY DANCE CONCERT
13-15 UO Dance Department 8 p.m., Dougherty Theatre
$10 General Admission, $5 students & senior citizens
Fri. OREGON JAZZ ENSEMBLE + LAB BANDS
5/14 UO Jazz Ensembles 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Mon. OREGON PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE
5/17 UO Ensemble 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Wed. POETRY IN SONG
5/19 Voice students sing German lieder. 7:30 p.m., Beall Hall
FREE Admission
Fri. OREGON WIND ENSEMBLE
5/21 OREGON SYMPHONIC BAND
UO Ensembles 8 p.m., Beall Hall
Featuring guest artists Steven Mead & Patrick Sheridan.
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Sat. STEVEN MEAD, Euphonium
5/22 PATRICK SHERIDAN, Tuba
Guest Artists 7:30 p.m., Beall Hall
$12 at the door, $10 in advance; call 346-5646
Sun. UNIVERSITY SYMPHONY
5/23 UO Ensemble 3 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Mon. CHAMBERFEST
5/24 UO Chamber Ensembles 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Tue. 100th MONKEY ENSEMBLE
5/25 UO Contemporary Music Ensemble 8 p.m., Beall Hall
FREE Admission
Thu. UNIVERSITY SINGERS, CONCERT CHOIR
5/27 UO Choral Ensembles 8 p.m., Beall Hall
$5 General Admission, $3 students & senior citizens
Fri. THE JAZZ CAFE
5/28 UO Jazz Combos 8 p.m., Room 178 Music
$5 General Admission,
$3 students & senior citizens
For our complete calendar, check: music.uoregon.edu
Reed's double live release
exemplifies musicianship
The Velvet Underground’s
former frontman proves
he belongs among the best
with ‘Animal Serenade’
By Ryan Nyburg
Senior Pulse Reporter
It's amazing that Lou Reed is not
considered one of the great songwriters
to come out of the 1960s and 1970s.
He writes killer lyrics within a strong
personal aesthetic and puts them into
songs with strong, moving melodies.
Yet despite his power and proficiency,
he's often overlooked in favor of more
obvious choices, such as Bob Dylan,
Neil Young or even David Bowie.
that Reed hasn't done himself.
His new double live album, "Ani
mal Serenade," is the great expression
of his songwriting power. Though it
pales in comparison to some of his
better studio work, the performance
shows an artist in constant forward
motion, always reworking old ideas
while trying out new ones. Though he
can be accused of many things, com
placency isn't one of them.
The album opens with the instantly
recognizable opening chords of "Sweet
Jane" which suddenly comes to a stop
when the audience begins to applaud.
It turns out to be a joke on Reed's part,
and he tells the audience that he
"would explain to you how you make
a career out of three chords."
REVIEW
But other
than popu
larity, there
is nothing
they have ac
complished
The album really begins a couple of
songs later with "Men of Good For
tune," a song from Reed's criminally
underrated "Berlin" album. It's a mov
ing meditation on class distinctions
that is able to avoid the pitfalls of elit
ism and hypocrisy. The song sets the
tone for the rest of the album: cool,
mellow, almost funereal in tone, like a
eulogy that describes the good times a
person had while reflecting on the loss.
Courtesy
Lou Reed's new double live album, "Animal
Serenade," isn’t his best release but is still
a good listen with mellow material.
The next great track on the album is
"Ecstasy," one of Reed's best songs
and one that typifies most of his
work. It's incredibly cool, juxtaposing
the melodic and the noisy but prefer
ring the former. You can tell that this
is a song written by the man who
made wearing sunglasses in the mid
dle of the night seem acceptable.
"Street Hassle" typifies another
kind of Reed's songs, the sort that de
pend heavily on monotonous
arrangement. Playing around with
monotony is a dangerous thing for
any composer to do, because there is
the risk of boring the audience. But
here is where Reed's lyrical powers
come into play. His grimy narratives
of New York City street life draw peo
ple in, while the grinding guitars and
cellos sound like the noise of the city.
The first disc ends with the first
Velvet Underground song of the per
formance, "Venus in Furs." Though
it's missing John Cale's electric viola,
which gave the original its punch,
this version works on its own as a
more atmospheric piece. The second
disc contains four more songs from
Reed's work with the VU, ranging
from the pastoral "Sunday Morning"
to the pulsating "Heroin," which is
probably the best expression of
junkie nihilism. How can you beat
lines like "I'm as good as dead /
Thank God I'm not aware / Thank
God I just don't care"?
For all its better qualities, the al
bum is not without faults, particularly
in Reed's over-dependence on ballads.
While there is nothing inherently
wrong with ballads, and Reed writes
some of the best, they don't hold
much interest for the six to eight min
utes Reed and his band stretches them
out to. Also, since many of these
songs have been recorded before, and
in better versions, the album doesn't
feel terribly essential.
But then again, bad Lou Reed is twice
as good as most of the acts performing
today. And for anyone who is a fan of
his work, or who is looking for an in
troduction to it, "Animal Serenade" is
definitely a worthwhile performance.
Contact the senior Pulse reporter
at ryannyhurg@dailyemerald.com.
Mirah's third album offers
miraculous, unified sound
‘C’mon Miracle’ exhibits
powerful instrumentation
and divine, intimate lyrics
By Aaron Shakra
Pulse Editor
Mirah's latest album, "C'mon Mira
cle, " is her most satisfying work to
date. This record is not a statement of
quality, but rather consistency. Her
music has been beautiful from the
start, but on this release, her sound
has been refined to the point where it
can rightfully be called divine.
2000's "You Think It's Like This But
Really It's Like This" and 2002's "Ad
visory Committee." Listeners might
be tempted to call her a singer-song
writer, but her albums represent
more than typical folky pop songs, in
large part due to Mirah's strong mu
sical relationship with collaborator
Phil Elvrum.
Yet whereas Mirah and Elvrum's
techniques brought together numer
ous, often disparate styles on her first
two releases, the 11 tracks of "C'mon
Miracle" are more cohesive, and don't
sacrifice any of the musical diversity
and unique production values.
REVIEW
For the
uninitiated,
this release
is the musi
cian's third
album, fol
lowing
The first track, "Nobody Has to
Stay," serves up a melancholic string
section to the haunting delivery of
the lyrics, "Rest up in the gentle sway
/ Sister make a flower place / The
mother father brother greys / Of river
stones to keep her safe." The result is
lithe and dreamy.
Courtesy
Mirah will play with Liarbird and Tara Jane
Oneill at WOW Hall next Wednesday.
The instrumentation gives the al
bum its atmosphere, as with the auto
harp on "We're Both So Sorry." The
indie rock sound from previous al
bums is still intact, especially in
"Jerusalem" and "The Light."
Still, Mirah's guitar shines through
when it must; the power of her play
ing lies not in technical prowess, but
in the connection to her lyrics. The
music is unquestionably inseparable
from the lyrics. In "Don't Die In Me,"
the singer tackles both personal and
physical geographies, waxing, "The
mighty continents divide / for a sec
ond time in all history / they found
themselves just floating free / from
all responsibility / without the
weight of being whole / some fruits
evolved all on their own." The lyrics
alternate and fall into groovy, mini
mal percussive solos.
"The Dogs of B.A." is a sunnier
tune, almost samba-like, decked out
with accordion and repetitive, alter
nating guitar lines, while remaining
minimal. Lyrics are appropriately
breezy: "The dogs of Buenos Aries /
they will take you from your sleep /
between the firecrackers cackling and
the taxies in the street / and if you
wake up lonely better throw some
shoes on those feet / to keep the
heartbreak from taking your life."
Let it be known there are few con
temporary performers as special as
this one. Her words are intimate,
beautiful and honest. These are unde
niably qualities.
Mirah plays WOW Hall on Wednes
day, May 12, with Liarbird (Themba
Lewis of the group contributed to
"C'mon Miracle") and Tara Jane
Oneill. Tickets are $8; doors open at 8
p.m.; showtime is 8:30. WOW Hall is
located at 291W. 8th Ave.
Contact the Pulse editor
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
Qoil at iti luneAt.
College students *22 for 18 holes *12 for 9 holes