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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 31, 2003)
JAMES von BOECKMANN BY VANESSA SALVIA Attorney at Law G E N E RA L P RAC T I C E , I N C LU D I N G : Family • Business • Criminal Law Civil Rights • Immigration * COST-FREE INITIAL CONSULTATIONS * HOME VISITS AT YOUR CONVENIENCE F O R A N A P P O I N T M E N T, P L E A S E P H O N E : 968-0781 O R E M A I L : J LVO N B O @ M S N . C O M N E W & I N T O X I C A T I N G Breathtaking Bold T H U R S D AY, J A N U A R Y 1 5 , 8 P M Giancarlo Guerrero, Conductor Jennifer Higdon, Special Guest Jennifer Higdon’s new Concerto for Orchestra is a knockout. Written just last year for the Philadelphia Orchestra, All Expectations this virtuosic tour-de-force delivers “ecstatic climaxes, scintillating orchestration, and wave after heartstopping wave of intoxicating color.” BEYOND Tickets 682.5000 www.eugenesymphony.org Concert Sponsor Eugene Symphony Guild W h at w il l yo u bu i l d y ou r l if e up o n i n 2 0 04 ? I n wh a t w i ll y ou ta ke re f u ge ? Y ou g et t o ch o o se ! We have created six Sunday services to serve you in preparing or building upon an existing foundation for your life in 2004: JAN. 4-THE BURNING BOWL SERVICE Releasing the past and affirming how you would have your life be. JAN. 11-THE JOURNEY OF FAITH Sharon Salzberg writes, “I want to invite a new use of the word faith, one that is not associated with a dogmatic religious interpretation or divisiveness. I want to encourage delight in the the word, to help reclaim faith as fresh, vibrant, intel- ligent, and liberating.” JAN.18-TAKING REFUGE IN YOUR OWN DEEPEST EXPERIENCE “Touching the potential for the awakened mind. Each one of us has the capacity to fully understand our lives and be free.” –Sharon Salzberg JAN. 25-TAKING REFUGE IN THE TEACHINGS As poet Rainer Maria Rilke observed, “Don’t be confused by surfaces; in the depths everything becomes law.” FEB. 1-TAKING REFUGE IN THE SANGHA The community of those who, throughout history, have sought freedom from suffering and have come to a real and personal aware- ness of that freedom. FEB. 8-FAITH IN ACTION “When someone’s suffering seems to have no end, when it is too much to bear, we can lose faith in our ability to make any difference at all. But it is exactly at these times when faith is most needed. How do we cultivate a faith that enables us to take positive action in the world against even over- whelming odds?” – Sharon Salzberg UNITY OF THE VALLEY 39th & Hilyard • (541) 345-9913 www.unityofthevalley.org 18 DECEMBER 31, 2003 Putumayo Notes World Music label celebrates 10 years. V isit Greater Goods, Sattva Gallery or CD World in Eugene and you will see a display of world music CDs for sale. Images of brightly colored, almost childlike drawings grace the CDs: lemony suns, emerald jungles, azure skies, a rainbow of skin tones. The inviting dis- plays tempt you with contemporary and tra- ditional music from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Africa, the American South, Arabia. Christmas music with an African groove. Children’s music featuring Zydeco tunes. It’s all there in the display, courtesy of the Putumayo World Music record label, which is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. The label has made exponential leaps in name recognition in recent years, and even made a pop culture impact when, in May 1997, “Sienfeld’s” Elaine shopped in a Putumayo store. Founded by Dan Storper in 1993, the Putumayo name has graced a line of natural fiber clothing in addition to the record label. A syndicated radio show co-hosted by Storper himself, “The Putumayo World Music Hour,” began in 1999. Just how did a Colombian river valley became synonymous with the world music aesthetic? In 1975 after graduating from college, Storper traveled extensively to sup- port his foundling handicraft and import clothing business. “One of the places I went to, because I was interested in the crafts of South America, was a little town called Sibundoy in Colombia,” he says. “It was a very pow- erful moment that I had when I first went there. I happened to show up on Carnival. I was sitting by a stream, looking out at the Andean mountains in the background, the birds were chirping, flying around in cir- cles, and the native Indians, the indigenous people from that area, were coming back from the countryside and putting on their colorful costumes. There was something very special, unique and magical about that moment, so when I decided I was going to start a business importing handicrafts, I decided to call it ‘Putumayo.’” In the beginning, Storper stocked his stores with music from South America to play during open hours. However, in San Francisco, he entered one of his stores and found the staff playing — horrors! — heavy metal music. He then commissioned special mix tapes to play in his stores, which were instantly popular. This led inexorably to the creation of packaged music CDs on the Putumayo label featuring melodic, upbeat and, Storper hopes, universally appealing music from around the globe. Storper kept the clothing line going until 1997, then shuttered it to focus on the label. Over the years Putumayo has released more than 100 CDs, mostly compilations but also individual artists such as Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi, Chilean Mariana Montalvo and Laura Love, who grew up in Nebraska. Though Putumayo has covered many parts of the globe, Storper says there’s much left to explore. “We’re about to start working on a tango album that is mostly Argentinian, even though it’s Latin American.” he says. “We’ve done very lit- tle with Argentinian music. We’ve really never done an Eastern European compila- tion or an Australian compilation. There are plenty areas of the world and quite a few themes we’ve never done.” Given Putumayo’s self-imposed sched- ule of one adult CD released per month (with the exception of December when there are no releases) and two children’s CDs per year, there’s plenty of room to grow. Storper says Putumayo is planning on entering the visual world in the near future, including a DVD series next year in May with music video and concert footage. Before that, March will see the creation of a series of culturally themed notecards, journals and calendars. In Eugene, Putumayo’s world music is aired on KRVM 91.9 FM every Saturday at 10 am. ew
