BY VANESSA SALVIA
Patriot Act performs at
Cozmic Pizza Friday.
NEW STOCK ARRIVING
RUBY CHASM
152 W. 5TH • M-SA 10-6 SU 12-5 • 344-4074
Cozmic Pizza
Seasoned
Seasoned pie
pie purveyors
purveyors provide
provide politics,
politics, music.
music.
W
hat goes together like pizza and
beer? Well, pizza and politics.
Eugene’s organic pizza house,
Cozmic Pizza, is nestled in the Strand building
at 199 W. 8th Ave. along with Theo’s Coffee
House, Indra’s Internet Café, Windows
Booksellers (proprietors of philosophic and
theological texts) and WIPF Stock Publishers,
a publishing house.
Event Coordinator Jules Vaughn filled me
in on the history and hopes of this pizza joint
turned community meeting place. Cozmic
Pizza quickly outgrew its original spot on
Willamette Street, thanks to delicious organic
veggie fare and a delightful outdoor courtyard
filled with the sounds of acoustic music on
summer eves. “People just loved the venue,
because it was outside during the summer-
time under the stars, fairly casual,” explains
Vaughn.
As the owners looked for a new location
to expand their pizza business, Vaughn held
in her mind the vision of a space that could
be “a community events kind of venue,” she
says. When the Strand building became
available, she says, “I took one look at that
big curved ceiling and went, ‘This is it!’ ”
Cozmic’s mission is to support the com-
munity in inventive ways. One example is
giving musical performers 100 percent of the
door take, rather than trying to profit from a
struggling musician’s audience attendance.
“Offering a space for people to do their
music,” says Vaughn, “is a really big part of
[our mission], but ... in a sense it’s more like
facilitating events. We try to facilitate a lot of
different events … and the priority for us is to
get people to try organic food, because that’s
what we’ve been doing for six years. And
then we hope that people will come back.”
With the elections coming up, Cozmic Pizza
has naturally been hosting political events,
which are a huge draw. Vaughn says more than
200 people showed up to view presidential-
hopeful John Kerry’s nomination speech at the
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GINGER HUSTLERS
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could only be the Ginger Hustlers. “Gothic”, “moody”, and
“hypnotic” are all terms that have been used to describe
this band that has been around since the spring of 2002
when the lovely bassist, Gina started the Ginger Hustlers.
Make sure you see them live this Friday night as they cele-
brate the release of their new EP “Pulse”. Check out
Eugene Weekly’s clubs page and www.gingerhustlers.com
for details.
Democratic National Convention.
“When we announce that we’re going to
do a big-screen showing of something it
becomes kind of a social event and it really
is exciting to sit there with 200 people and
clap and cheer!” laughs Vaughn.
Patriot Act , performing political satire
and musical comedy, will come down from
Seattle on Oct. 8. Vaughn promises, “They’re
really funny and we’re looking forward to
having them!” This free event will be preced-
ed by either a showing of the anti-Bush com-
edy film, There’s Something About W, or a
big-screen airing of the presidential debates,
which are scheduled for television that night.
Salsa music with Azuquita will follow.
The Middle Eastern Dance Festival
takes place on Saturday starting at noon.
Dancers and musicians from around the state
will congregate at the venue for performanc-
es and lessons of all types, celebrating the
vibrancy of Middle Eastern Dance. On
Sunday, Oct. 10 Cozmic hosts an afternoon
benefit for Autism Rocks. After that, begin-
ning at 8 pm, a local resident will show their
videos from the Republican National
Convention protests in New York City.
On Oct. 12, Café Mam, local coffee
roasters, will give a talk on Fair Trade.
Gustavo from Chiapas, Mexico will present
information and will be followed by a free
big-screen showing of the film, The Future
of Food , an informative look at the history
and present situation of genetically-modified
foods and pesticide use.
Vaughn shared that MoveOn PAC has
converged fifty paid employees in Eugene
and will be using the Cozmic Pizza space to
hold training meetings over the next few
weeks. Pizza, beer, politics and music are
united at The Strand.
“It’s been really exciting for me to see the
space take shape based on all the different
events,” says Vaughn. “For me, this is really
ew
about getting people involved.”
crazy
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34 OCTOBER 7, 2004