WHAT’S
happening
We’re going to have to toot our own horn a little, this week, but it won’t happen again! (At
least, not ’til next year.) This Saturday, the McDonald Theatre hosts the Eugene Weekly
Best of Eugene Awards Show, a gala event with music, performance, award presenta-
tions and more, MC’d by Denny Guehler. Performers include Norma Fraser, On the First
Day … They Were Kittens, Los Mex Pistols del Norte, Laura Kemp and more; award pre-
senters include Mason Williams (right), John Fischer, Jim & Ginevra Ralph, Shelley Kurtz,
the Eugene Symphony’s Giancarlo Guerrero and more — including some EW staff mem-
bers. The whole extravaganza is a benefit for FOOD for Lane County; a wee donation of
$3-$10 gets you in the door. And after the awards have been handed out, you can head to
John Henry’s for the after-party, with music from The Visible Men and the Audio
Schizophrenic. You know you want to know who the Best of Eugene winners are before
they appear in the paper next week! See Saturday Calendar.
Soul singer Bettye LaVette has been recording since 1962, when her first single “My Man —
He’s a Loving Man” was a top 10 R&B hit. Over the years, a string of singles followed, mostly
covers, which LaVette prefers to sing. But only six of her singles made it onto the R&B charts,
and none into the pop charts, and it wasn’t until 1982 that a Bettye LaVette full-length album
saw the light of day. And it’s just now — more than 20 years later — that LaVette’s starting to
get mainstream attention. Her 2003 album, A Woman Like Me, won a W.C. Handy Award for
Comeback Blues Album of the Year, and her new release, I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise, has
been getting rave reviews. LaVette’s interpretations of a collection of songs by women song-
writers from across genres (including Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Sinead O’Connor and
Aimee Mann) show the mature point of view of an expert soul singer making lyrics and
melodies her own. The New York Times called the record “an album of harrowing beauty.”
LaVette graces the stage at Cozmic Pizza this week. See Wednesday Calendar.
With the finalists for this year’s
awards just recently announced,
it’s time for the Oregon Book
Awards Author Tour, stopping in
Eugene at Tsunami Books. Four
finalists will read from their short-
listed books: Carmen Bernier-
Grand from César (children’s litera-
ture); Laton Carter from Leaving
(poetry); Maxine Scates from Black
Loam (poetry); and Bob Welch
from American Nightingale (gener-
al nonfiction). The Oregon Book
Award winners will be announced
Nov. 11, but that ceremony’s way up
north in Portland — why miss this
chance to see some of the finalists
here in town? See Thursday, Oct.
22 Calendar.
OCTOBER 13, 2005 15