E & A: Improvisation central to performance
Continued from page 6
person’s comments and translating
them into battle-style rap.
Larsen’s longtime friend and col
laborator, Abilities, forms the DJ half
of Eyedea & Abilities. Improvisation
is a fundamental element of their
performances, and Abilities’ frantic
beats meld seamlessly with Eye
dea’s syllabic rampages, chasing
each other around the stage and
playing off of each other in a
flawless call-and-response style that
makes every show worth seeing.
According to Abe Nielson, pro
gram director for the WOW Hall,
during the duo’s last Eugene concert
the hall was only about 80 people
short of maximum capacity. Nielson
said that it wouldn’t surprise him if
their upcoming show sold out.
“I love Eugene,” said Larsen, who
is excited to return. “Kids there are re
ally into what we are trying to do.”
Eyedea & Abilities’ last full-length
album, “E&A,” is currently available
through Epitaph Records, a smaller
label that is currently the home of
artists such as Converge, Sage Fran
cis, Nick Cave and Tom Waits.
Eyedea & Abilities will be per
forming tonight at the WOW Hall
with lllogic & DJ Przm, Los Nativos
and The Ramsey Bros, featuring Ms.
Su’ad. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the
show starts at 8:30 p.m.
Tyanmurphey@dailyemerald.com
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When asked
what his plans
would be if
President Bush
were to win the
election,
Director
Michael Moore
reacts during a
pre-event press
conference
Monday
afternoon at
the Lane
County
Fairgrounds.
Erik R. Bishoff
Photographer
Moore: Cheap shots override
good points, critics say
Continued from page 5
listen to Moore field questions from
the cream of the Eugene press
corps. Most of them were simple
prompts for pre-scripted answers
(“What are your plans for election
day?”) with a few attempts to get
Moore to say something outrageous.
Moore looked pretty much like he
does on movies and television: ruf
fled, poorly shaven and with a look
on his face that says, “I just woke
up, give me an update on reality.”
After the conference, we all
rushed into the main hall for the big
event. Like most political rallies
these days, the atmosphere was
somewhat rock-concert. Moore
came onto the stage to heavy ap
plause (according to a head count,
there were no Republicans inside
the event center, unless you count
Billionaires for Bush). His voice
sounded hoarse from the tour; I
must admit a little respect for the
guy considering he’s not getting
paid for this.
Right off the bat, Moore started hit
ting Bush Jr., mocking his debate per
formance, his foreign policy and the
way he talks. Moore depends too
much on cheap shots for his “shtick”
to work, picks easy targets and
mocks more than he dissects. In the
current election lingo, he was “ener
gizing the base,” or in other words,
“preaching to the choir. ”
It is easy to see Moore’s appeal.
He’s charismatic, self-depreciating
and doesn’t take himself too serious
ly. Or at least he didn’t used to take
himself so seriously. These days he’s
full of righteous indignation over the
war in Iraq and the Bush presidency.
He looks over things, makes slip-ups
for the sake of an argument, paints
black and white pictures of the
world and engages in general
raDDie-rousing. in ms vision, tne Re
publicans are the rich and powerful
minority that are ruling over the
good and generous poor majority.
But if you took a poll of the working
class in this country, what would the
demographic look like? Not as liber
al as Moore seems to believe.
For all of this, he does make good
points.
“The only time I’ve seen this guy
(John Ashcroft) stand up for the Con
stitution is when he ordered the FBI to
stop searching gun files. And to this
day the FBI has not been allowed to
find out if any of the 19 hijackers had
purchased any weapons,” he said.
This balance between the good
points and the distortions has been
what Moore’s more sympathetic
critics have been harping on. Every
other mild-mannered centrist seems
to say, “Having so many factual er
rors in his movies only makes it
harder to believe him when he’s
right.” His less sympathetic critics
tend to focus on other aspects of
Moore’s personality. Some critics
have taken a more sophisticated ap
proach, calling his films propaganda
and saying that nearly everything he
says is an outright lie.
Of course his films are propagan
da, but by definition, so is any form
of media that expresses a viewpoint
and attempts to influence public
opinion. But Moore didn’t talk
about his critics much, other than a
few jabs at Bill O’Reilly (an excel
lent propagandist in his own right).
He mostly spoke about the impor
tance of voting and even had a few
good, “We will fight them on the
beaches” moments. But for the
most part, it was all just preaching
to the choir.
ryannyburg@dailyemerald.com
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