WHAT’S
happening
Lane Arts Council’s December First Friday
ArtWalk, led by Miriam Jordan of the Jordan
Schnitzer Museum of Art, starts Friday
evening at DIVA, where work by Harold
Hoy, Jim Denney, Mike Walsh, Roger
Weise and Renee Nelson is on display.
Stop #2, Circle of Hands, shows
“Sacred Nudes Celebrates the
Divine Feminine,” photography by
Jason Couch. Stop #3, La Follette
Gallery, presents the sixth
Annual Benchmark Printmaker’s
Show. Stop #4, the Gallery at
Opus6ix, closes out the walk
with a show of art all under 12
inches in any direction (above).
This month’s walk also features
the Downtown Holiday Party, for
which many downtown merchants
will be open late with music, art and
food. See Friday Calendar.
A line-up of award-winning authors
will be on hand to autograph books
when the downtown Eugene Public
Library opens its doors Saturday night
for the sixth annual Authors & Artists
Fair. Earlier this month Linda Crew of
Corvallis won the Oregon Book Award for
her historical novel, A Heart for Any Fate:
Westward to Oregon 1845. Crew will be
joined at the Fair by her brother, Eugene
author Bob Welch. Other Oregon Book Award
honorees at the library fair include Lauren
Kessler, Dorianne Laux, Maxine Scates and
Alan Siporin. Two authors appearing Saturday,
Shannon Applegate (Skookum, Living
Among Headstones) and William Sullivan
(Listening for Coyote), have written works
selected for Literary Oregon: 100 Books
1800-2000, a list honoring books judged
by the Oregon Cultural Heritage
Commission to be among the most signifi-
cant in the state’s history. And on the topic
of lists, all of Portland author Phillip
Margolin’s 11 legal thrillers have spent time
on The New York Times bestseller list,
including his most recent, Oregon Book
Award finalist Lost Lake. Altogether, more
than 40 authors and 25 artists will auto-
graph and sell their works at the library. A
portion of proceeds from the sales bene-
fits the nonprofit Eugene Public Library
Foundation. See Saturday Calendar.
The first time I heard Iris DeMent on the radio I had
to pull my car over to the side of the road. Twenty
seconds into the song — just two lovely lyrical lines
of poetry gone by — and I knew it would be impos-
sible to drive and listen at the same time. Five
minutes later, I couldn’t believe I had never
heard of her before. It was 1998, and according
to the radio announcer, her first album had
come out in 1992. The song that had
punched me out of traffic — “Walking Home”
from The Way I Should — was nearly two
years old. How could it be that she wasn’t
world famous? Now, in 2005, it might be
fair to say that DeMent still resides
mostly in the “best kept secrets” file,
but it doesn’t help that it took her
eight years to release a follow-up
album to The Way I Should. That
album, Lifeline, is comprised of old
gospel songs, deeply spiritual and
more interested in how people
find strength to abide than in
promoting dogma. DeMent,
who conveys more with a few
words and a tiny hitch in her
voice than many singers can
with all the technique in
their repertoire, plays the
Jacqua Concert Hall this
week. See Friday
Calendar.
— John Ginn
DECEMBER 1, 2005 13