Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
■ In my opinion
RYAN NYBURG
BUDGET RACK
Admit it: '
Some new
directors do
good work
In my last column I lamented the fact that so
much good modem music gets underrated be
cause no one wants to admit that anything
made now could be as good or better than any
thing made in the past. That someone might
enjoying listening to Modest Mouse’s “The
Moon & Antarctica” more than Jimi Hendrix’s
“Electric Ladyland” is considered some kind of
heresy, and anyone who admits to such a pref
erence is looked at like a pop culture troglodyte.
A similar affliction is evident in the world
of film. You’ll often find critics, especially old
er critics, bashing on films for no legitimate
reason other than that they disagree with their
aesthetic. Wes Anderson is a frequent punch
ing bag for this sort of criticism, his films are
frequently called emotionally hollow and his
style called artificial by critics who then turn
around and lavish praise on derivative Holly
wood faire or self-indulgent foreign works.
Roger Ebert is frequently guilty of this sort of
critical double standard, as is A.O. Scott, David
Edelstein and a few other big guns in the world
of film criticism. What is it that intelligent
younger people get that these (relatively) old
er critics do not? Anderson’s films (excluding
“Bottle Rocket,” his first film, in which he had
n’t completely developed as a director) are styl
ish without being flashy and intelligent with
out being condescending. “Rushmore,” “The
Royal Tenenbaums” and even “The Life Aquat
ic with Steve Zissou” all display a unique vision
from highly skilled talent. Yet critics often mis
take his subtlety for a lack of ideas and believe
his aesthetic style is too artificial (the same was
said of Hitchcock in his time, as if there were
ever a premium put on films being realistic).
Anderson isn t the only one who gets put
through the critical meat grinder despite his
obvious talents. David O. Russell, Richard Lin
klater, Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Jim Jar
musch and even the Coen brothers have all
had to endure critical lashings despite making
some of the most interesting films of the past
decade. Russell’s “I Heart Huckabees” was
one of the cleverest comedies of the year and
met with critical and popular indifference.
Gondry’s “Human Nature,” a wickedly cyni
cal and intelligent comedy, was either ignored
or panned, only occasionally praised.
Sometimes it’s easier for younger, less expe
rienced viewers to see what the important films
of the day are. The aging critical crowd of to
day was the youth that praised Sam Peckinpah,
“Bonnie and Clyde,” Jean-Luc Godard, Martin
Scorsese and other films and directors now
rightly considered the most important of their
time. And despite often receiving acclaim from
the larger critical community, many modem di
rectors are not seen for what they are: the nex:
crop of important filmmakers in American his
tory. These are the visionaries that will shape
what film looks like for the next few years and
they are doing it right now. Yet so many critics
are either blind to it or too complacent to both
er pointing it out, instead lamenting about how
much better things used to be. And once again
we end up ignoring the present in favor of nos
talgia for an imaginary past. Shame.
ryannyburg@ daily emerald, com
DJ Audio Schizophrenic spins records Saturday night at John Henry’s on Broadway.
A place for EVERYONE
The many different types of events at John Henry's
make it a popular place for all types ofEugeneans
BY KRISTEN GERHARD
FREELANCE REF’ORTER
Ah, the sweet memories of under
graduate school. No matter how far re
moved we are from our early college
days, most of us remember our dorm
experiences well. After living with the
folks for 18 years, we were all revved
up and ready to be set free in the frater
nity houses, bars and crowded base
ments our dormitory neighbors con
stantly plugged as sites of the next
party-of-the-year. Back then, social life
hit you like a free-beer-soaked slap in
the face.
Flash forward to graduate school and
the cozy “comfort” of a dorm has be
come the responsibility — complete
with utility bills — of an apartment or
home. The social pool composed of
men and women of similar age has be
come a mixed group of individuals
ranging from those with established
families to those with still-wet ink on
their bachelor’s degrees. Money is
sparse and ways to meet new people
seem even sparser.
So, when asked to review a cool
graduate student hang-out, I immedi
ately felt nips of reservation munching
away at my stomach lining. “Cool
hang-out?!” I thought. “After only a
month in town, the coolest place I’ve
been to is Starbucks.” However, once
I’d gotten over my bout of self pity, I did
what any good journalist would do:
asked the experts.
Among the seasoned graduate stu
dents, the most-talked-about venue
was John Henry’s — a mix of dimly lit
concert hall and warehouse-style bar,
located about two miles from campus
at 77 W. Broadway in downtown Eu
gene. This locale is still fairly new for
the almost 13-year-old business, which
moved there from its original location
on West 11th Avenue two and a half
years ago.
The brightly colored red and blue ex
terior of John Henry’s is impossible to
miss. When customers approach, the
aesthetic aspect that most notice first is
the mass of event fliers that enshroud
the bar’s street-facing window, a testa
ment to the most appealing feature this
venue has to offer: variety.
Keith Martin, who co-owns the bar
with his brother Mark, said the sort of
space they have tried to create at John
Henry’s is simply one that is accessible
to all people. The bar not only offers
dance nights with DJs, but a variety of
live concerts as well. According to Mar
tin, they try to feature entertainment for
just about everyone.
“If you don’t like to dance, we have
four shows a week,” Martin said. “And
that’s the thing really; it changes every
week. We’ve got people who will come
down four to five times a week just be
cause they’re live music fans.”
In booking the talent for John Hen
ry’s eclectic concert line-up, Martin said
they try to get at least one to two na
tional touring acts each month. Howev
er, the bar also does well at giving local
and lesser-known artists a chance to
showcase their work.
“We’re not trying to be different, but
we take a lot of chances on stuff,” Mar
tin said, mentioning that they recently
featured a Hasidic Jewish reggae/hip
hop artist named Modest Yahoo. While
the combination of genres seemed a bit
strange at first, Martin said a great
crowd turned out and the performer
put on an excellent show.
Most fans of John Henry’s bar, how
ever, say you haven’t experienced Eu
gene until you’ve been to one of the
venue’s theme nights. The bar offers a
“Reggae vs. Hip Hop” night on
Wednesdays, “Freaks in the House,” a
dance/techno night, on Saturdays and
a Burlesque variety show on Sundays.
According to Martin, the Burlesque
night —complete with scantily clad fe
male dancers and featuring a range of
performers from jugglers to stand-up
comedians to musicians — is always
entertaining. And over the past spring
and summer months, Martin said
Wednesday’s musical mix of urban and
island flavors has been bringing in a
constantly growing crowd.
However, the most popular theme
nights is, by and large, the one that
flashes bar-goers back to the ‘80s.
If you’re interested in viewing a
good cross-section of Eugene folk —
local residents and college students
alike — visit ‘80s night at John Hen
ry’s, Martin said.
“John Henry’s on ‘80s night is filled
with energy,” doctoral student Hillary
Lake said. “There is dancing to great
music and a ton of people of all ages
and backgrounds show up. ”
The bar is always packed on this
most popular of theme nights and
many patrons come decked out in Izod
polo shirts or other classic attire from
the era of Journey, die Bangles and Cut
ting Crew.
Graduate student Emma Zaradan
said the bar’s tiered seating makes for
prime people-watching on ‘80s night.
“It’s cool because you can look out
and watch people dancing,” she said.
“And I don’t really dance to that type of
music, but you can definitely sing along
to it.”
Zaradan said her favorite thing about
John Henry’s is the bartenders.
“They’re just really colorful charac
ters,” she said. “Like, there’s this one
chick who calls ya honey.”
As far as the tastiest beverages go,
Martin said your best bet is to ask for
individual specialties; each bartender
has about five. He also said John Hen
ry’s price range is one of the more rea
sonable in town, a definite plus for
the cobwebbed wallets of most grad
uate students. Martin said the bar also
tries to have a few free shows each
month, and the modest cover charged
for other shows essentially goes di
rectly to the artists.
Remember, you’re in graduate school
now and there’s no easily accessible
dorm-mate to accompany you lovingly
and drunkenly into your new social life.
“If you want to break into the ‘scene,’
go to as many functions as you can, ei
ther through your own department or
sponsored by the Graduate Teaching
Fellows Federation,” Lake advised. “It’s
fun to hang out and let some of the
stress of grad school go, even if it is for
only a short time.”
John Henry’s hours of operation are
9 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., Monday through
Sunday, but Martin said the bar has be
gun offering some early shows, for
which the doors open around 7 p.m.
For a complete listing of upcoming
events, including opening times and cov
er charges, check out the John Henry’s
Web site at www.johnlienrysclub.com.
Thursday
'80s Night
John Henry's
10p.m.,$3
Dancing to '80s music
Friday
Mr. Bill's Traveling
Trivia Show
Eugene City Brewery
8 p.m., Free
Interactive trivia game
Saturday
DJ Kal-EI
The Blue Luna Club
10p.m.,$3
Reggae
Sunday
Irish Jam
Sam Bond's Garage
4-7 p.m., Free
Impromptu Irish music
TOP 5 MOVIES
1: "Four Brothers"
2: "The Skeleton Key"
3: "The Dukes of
Hazzard"
4: "Wedding Crashers"
5: "Deuce Bigalow:
European Gigolo"
NEWYORKTIMES
BEST-SELLERS
1: James Patterson,
Andrew Gross,
"Lifeguard"
2:Elizabeth Kostova,
"The Historian"
3: Dan Brown,
"The Da Vinci Code"
4:Terry McMillian,
"The interruption of
Everything"
5: John Irving,
"Until I Find You"
BILLBOARDTOP 5
1: Faith Hill, "Fireflies"
2: Various Artists,
"Now 19"
3: Mariah Carey, "The
Emancipation of Mimi"
4: Young Jeezy,
"Let's Get It: Thug
Motivation 101"
5:Teairra Mari,
"Roc-A-Fella Presents
Teairra Mari"