BEST OF EUGENE 2004
Why do you think that you deserve to win?
I moved from Portland to Eugene without
too much knowledge of Eugene, but I came
with new and fresh ideas. I am proud of our
longevity and don’t think that we could
have done this if we weren’t doing some-
thing right. Tell us something that only your
close friends know about you. My first busi-
ness was when I was 19 years old — I start-
ed the oldest skateboarding/snowboard
shop at the base of Mount Bachelor.
Lyn Bowers
BEST ARTIST
BEST ARTIST: LYN BOWERS
2nd: Dan Hitchcock
3rd: Jill Freeman
Do you think you deserve to win?
Definitely. I have been doing art for so
many years, in so many venues around
here, that it’s about time! (ha ha) If you were
an animal or a vegetable, what would you
be and why? At this time of year, I think I’d
like to be a squirrel. They are just so active
in the fall, what with storing all their nuts
and all.
TODD COOPER
BEST FEMALE MUSICIAN:
LAURA KEMP
PEOPLE
BEST CHEF: PORN WA DEE GAMER
AT RING OF FIRE
(See Best of the Best, p. 16)
2nd: Ibrahim Hamide at Soriah
3rd: Patrick McKee at Zalayla
BEST ACTIVIST: HOPE MARSTON
2nd: Jeffrey “Free” Luers
Why do you think you won? It’s funny
because a lot of the work I did that caused
people to think I deserved to win as an
activist was done a year or two ago. This
year
I’ve
been
working
with
Eugene/Springfield Solidarity Network, a
Jobs With Justice chapter. But I don’t know
that I’ve done anything really striking while
doing that job. Probably the more striking
work I’ve done has been independently, fol-
lowing my passion and trying to fight injus-
tice. What is your deepest fear? I don’t tend
to respond through fear. I went through a
period of introspection in 1995 through
1997 where that came up, acting out of faith
rather than fear. I think of a lot of people in
these post 9/11 days worry that the FBI will
bug their houses, that they’ll be put on
some kind of list. I’m not afraid of that, that
just makes me more determined to fight it.
Do you think you really deserve to win?
Boy, that’s a great question. You want the
truth? I think we’ve been loyal to the com-
munity, and we care about the community.
So if loyalty and caring counts, then sure.
What’s your worst on-air disaster? How
much time do you have? When I was 14, I
was working at a station in Portland. It was
my first night on the air, and time for me to
play a commercial. The commercial didn’t
start. The 14-year-old got flustered and I
used a four-letter word and the microphone
was still on. How many seconds did it take
for you to hear about that? The next call
was someone asking me if I knew I’d said
that, and I went ‘No, @#$%!’
BEST BARTENDER: DON MIKE AT
RING OF FIRE
(See Best of the Best p. 16)
2nd: Rah at The Wetlands
3rd: Ty at Sam Bond’s
BEST LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIAL:
KITTY PIERCY
(See Best of the Best p. 16)
2nd: Peter DeFazio
3rd: Jim Torrey
BEST PRINT JOURNAL-
IST: BOB WELCH
BEST RADIO PERSONALITY:
STORM AND DENNIS, 94.5 FM
Mild Bill
BEST TATTOO ARTIST
2nd: Alan Pittman
3rd: Sally Sheklow
This R-G columnist and for-
mer feature writer is a popu-
lar read, bringing a sense of
warmth and humor to his sto-
ries and perspective. Welch
stays close to home, writing
about efforts to open a new
library in Creswell, a hus-
band fulfilling his wife’s
dream to attend the Oprah
Winfrey show, a boy strug-
gling with leukemia granted
the opportunity to play the
sport he so desperately loves:
football.
2nd: Downtown Deb
3rd: Molly B
EW talked to Dennis Nakata:
Dennis & Storm
BEST RADIO
PERSONALITY
18 OCTOBER 21, 2004
JAMES BATEMAN
TODD COOPER
BEST LOCAL BUSINESS
PERSON: TROY
SLAVKOVSKY OF
DIABLO’S & LORI READER
OF PEGASUS PIZZA
(See Best of the Best p. 17)
EW
talked
to
Troy
Slavkovsky, general manager
of Diablo’s:
2nd: Shelly James
3rd: Deb Cleveland
Do you think you really deserve to win?
Fuck yeah. Sure, I guess. There’s a lot of
great musicians. There’s a lot of awesome
female musicians and sometimes I feel like
I’m hogging it. I think my name’s out there
and a lot of it’s name recognition. I play in
town and I just released a new CD that’s
gotten good publicity. It’s on KLCC and
KRVM. I’ve also lived in this town for 14
years and have been working pretty hard at
it. Where was your first kiss and with
whom? It was your typical 12-year-old spin
the bottle game when I was a kid living in
Verona, Wis. It was my neighbor Brad. I
think we had to go outside behind a car. He
was my age but yeah, he decided to take it
a little further than a peck and horrified, I
pulled away and said “Ew! Gross! Get your
tongue out of my mouth.” And nothin’s
changed since. Wait, don’t print that last
part or I’ll never get a date.