Week of 11/01/2008 - 16:00 to 11/08/2008 - 15:59

A record crowd of more than 1,000 people packed the Lane County Fairgrounds pavilion to watch the elections and Barack Obama victory speech on projection TVs.

Here's a short look:

Not sure what to make of this disgruntled insider video of KEZI news from a year ago. Have things changed?

No, it hasn't been that long since I last saw Frightened Rabbit at Holocene and blogged a little about it; yes, it's still worth seeing the Rabbit every single time you possibly can. I mean that. Even though it's taken me a week to say so.

Last week's show was my present to myself: Best of Eugene is done! Over! Finished for another year! Time to celebrate with one of Holocene's delicious old-fashioneds — best made by the guy with the mustache — and my current favorite Scottish band (yeah, I used to have a thing for Idlewild. So? Maybe I still do). And so I drove up Thursday, ate at Patanegra (good, though not astonishing; perhaps we ordered the wrong things) with my pops and headed eastwards to what's rapidly creeping up the list to hang out with the Wonder Ballroom as one of my favorite Portland venues.

With all due respect to Blue Skies for Black Hearts, I wished a little that we got a repeat of the last show's opening band. But I was there for the Rabbit, and they delivered. I was wary of the night; I was alone, and there were two girls next to me in giant giraffe costumes which, while cute and clever, were doubtless blocking the view of those folks not quite eager enough to stand in the very front, staring up at Scott Hutchison and company. But the fact is that it doesn't have to matter. It doesn't matter who you're with or how self-conscious you are about the fact that your current OMGILOVETHIS band is playing that song, the one you can't stand still for or get goosebumps for every time. It just mattes that you're there, and they're playing all your favorites — nearly everything from The Midnight Organ Fight, I think — and that it's fucking perfect, or as close to as can be expected.

There's no single thing about Frightened Rabbit that makes them stand out, no musical genius or extreme prolificness or astonishing past. If anything, what they have going for them is human-sized and modest: the relationship between singer/guitarist Scott Hutchison and the drummer, his brother Grant; a contained anthemic power that turns ditties like "Old Old Fashioned" into miniature manifestos and songs like "Head Rolls Off" into something inexplicably compelling and inspiring; and the sheer nakedness of the lyrics. People always say that about really good, really lovelorn lyrics, but that doesn't make it any less true, or any less meaningful. A friend told me recently that when he was on the phone in a van, breaking up with his girlfriend, his bandmates put on Frightened Rabbit, and I immediately understood how totally wrong that was. You don't lock this band in to a precise feeling, a specific moment, like that. You let them describe all the possibilities that heartache and rawness can bring.

And when they do it best, it's simple, easy, wrenching and true. At the very end of the set, everyone left the stage but Scott. He walked to the edge of the stage (I admit to momentarily wishing I had my camera), closed his eyes, began to play his guitar and, without a microphone, broke into "Poke." This is what it looked like in Los Angeles a few days later:

After crashing and burning, the McCain-Palin campaign, along with the Republican party, continues to implode.

Here's the Republicans at Fox news on just how clueless Palin is:

Meanwhile, Palin is catching widespread media ridicule for getting fooled by a Montreal phone prankster pretending he was the president of France:

Remember the $150,000 in campaign funds Palin blew on a designer clothing shopping spree? Newsweek reports it's even worse than it appeared:

An angry [Republican] aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, Lane County Commission candidate Rob Handy and U.S. Senate candidate Jeff Merkley have all won their tough and pivotal election fights.

In unofficial final results, Piercy beat Jim Torrey by 2 percentage points. Handy beat Bobby Green by just one percentage point.

Merkley leads by three percent with 79 percent of the statewide vote counted. Smith reportedly plans to concede shortly.

• Read our blurb on Crystal Stilts (pictured above) at our calendar page and see them play tonight at Samurai Duck. 21+. $3-$5.

Listen/download ”Shattered Sunshine”, off their new LP, Alight of Night. See them perform live in the clip below.

Also, check out Crystal Stilts’ tour mates Cause Co-Motion and their track, ”Which Way is Up”. Definitely more punk-pop than the Stilts.

• Singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne plays the McDonald Theatre.

• A huge three-day musicfest goes down at Diablo’s Downtown Lounge Friday through Sunday. Get the full lineup of bands at Live From Your Town’s website.

• Read our review of Tyler Fortier’s new album, and see him play Sam Bond’s Friday.

• Pop-folk master Mason Jennings plays WOW Hall Saturday. Here is a link to his video for “Be Here Now”. Sorry, Jennings has disabled the embed option.

• Ludo plays WOW Hall Sunday.

• Old Crow Medicine Show plays McDonald Theatre Tuesday.

• Read our review of Chop Chop and then check out the free downloads at their website.

Anais Mitchell opens for Chop Chop. Check out her video below.

• Augustana plays WOW Hall Wednesday.

• Read our blurb on the delightful pairing of Vic Chesnutt with Elf Power and see them perform at Sam Bond’s Thursday, Nov. 13.

I apologize if this list is incomplete, obviously there are a ton of other shows going on this week. These are just the ones I thought were noteworthy.

We sent our intrepid high school intern, Mariam, to review South Eugene's RENT: School Edition, and she came back with a glowing report. RENT continues today through Sunday.

RENT: School Edition
Is it Christmas yet?
By Mariam Wahed

HIV, AIDS, drugs, drags, gays and lesbians, all wrapped up in Christmas: RENT is a delightful gift that arrived to South Eugene High School's stage a little early this year. Risqué as the musical is for a school production, South’s theater program has taken up the task of transforming RENT into a school edition. Surprisingly (and thankfully, for all those hardcore RENT fans out there like myself) the school version varies little from the script, and retains essentially all of the catchy songs and provocative, unconventional content that makes the original so great.

The opening of the show reveals Mark (Zach Sera), an aspiring young filmmaker, and his friend and roommate Roger (Braden Smith), a failing musician, on Christmas Eve in their shabby loft in the Lower East Side of New York. The residents' predicaments unravel, as we watch Mark and Roger light a rusty barrel full of old newspapers and playbills on fire for heat when their power is shut off. Broke and unable to afford the monthly rent, Mark and Roger find it hard to make ends meet, and the rest of the story revolves around them and their friends finding happiness through poverty in New York's bohemian hell.

This musical has a slew of main characters, a large group of friends who struggle with love, identity, addiction, disease and the concept of maintaining friendship and unity in a transient life. The group can be subdivided into three couples, plus Mark, an arrangement which makes for great duets and allows Mark several solo opportunities to document on the lives and relationships of the rest. (Technically, Mark was booted out of one those couples – his girlfriend Maureen leaves him for Joanne – but as a lonely filmmaker and narrator, the single status suits him well.)

Roger Davis (Smith) and Mimi Marquez (Taylor Brown), him HIV+ and her with AIDS, are former/ongoing junkies attempting to reconcile their drug addictions with their attraction to one another. Smith and Brown are both newcomers to the stage, but for a first show they vibe well together. Maureen Johnson (Ashley Apelzin) and Joanne Jefferson (Leah Reis-Dennis) are a stunning lesbian couple who bicker over devotion and attention, a continual argument that results in the best duet of the night: “Take Me or Leave Me.” The award for cutest couple in the show, hands down, goes to Tom Collins (Aaron Blanton) and Angel Dumott Shunard (Dylan Stasack), a touching, HIV+ gay couple that could give heterosexuals a tip or two about what it means to have a successful relationship.

Angel is a show-stealing persona, an endearing percussionist and transvestite played brilliantly by Dylan Stasack. Stasack wears the heeled boots and lipstick incredibly well, and he never misses a beat (even when his drumstick unexpectedly breaks halfway through “TODAY 4 U”). Angel has always been a personal favorite, and it is nearly impossible not to smile when Stasack bounces around the stage in his fuzzy, short Santa dress and zebra leggings, his speech punctuated by the occasional “Honey!”.

Two actresses to look out for, both in RENT and in future productions, are Emma Sohlberg and Ashley Apelzin. The second half of the show opens up with the well-known number “Seasons of Love,” and Sohlberg stands out for beautifully hitting her high notes. Unfortunately, she was not cast as a main character, but her voice rises above the rest whenever she performs. She is one talented sophomore. Give this girl a leading role, please!

Apelzin has a tendency to snag roles as the innocent, bright-eyed girl with big hopes (e.g. Thoroughly Modern Millie), but the racy role of Maureen has divulged a completely different side of her acting abilities. “Over the Moon,” (the only song that I can truly say I hated the first time I experienced RENT) was perhaps the most memorable moment of the night: Apelzin was fully in character, protesting with the cow in Cyberland at the top of her lungs while standing on a table, squatting down at one point to wildly throw her head back and forth for emphasis. The audience up until this point had remained relatively silent – not even a chuckle at the funny parts! – but Apelzin really got them mooing. “Moo with me!” she cried out to the audience, “I want to hear you moo!” – it was impossible not to join in. The $8 was worth it just to witness and take part in this one scene.

With a very minimal set, the success of the show relies heavily on the acting alone. Layers of knitted, baggy sweaters, scarves, beanies, and worn jackets, a metallic flight of stairs, a few scattered tables, an old telephone booth, and some dirty barrels serve as the only props – and the cast does a great job with what they have. Complete with heavy petting, same and opposite gender kissing, plenty of singing and dancing, and yes, mooing, RENT: School Edition showcases all of South's rising talents in the edgiest light possible.

Rent runs 7:30 pm Thursday, Nov. 6 and Friday, Nov. 7; and 2 pm Sunday, Nov. 9 at South Eugene High School. 687-3583. $12, $8 stu.

More photos by Samuel Morrison:

Jeff Merkley appears likely to defeat Gordon Smith in Oregon’s tight U.S. Senate race.

With an estimated three quarters of the vote counted at 8:18 pm, Merkley had come from behind for a 0.5 percentage point lead of 8,270 votes.

With late counted returns in Lane and Multnomah counties heavily favoring Merkley, it appears mathematically unlikely that Smith could make up the deficit.

At 7:33 pm, the Oregonian projected a Merkley victory. Smith has not conceded.

State law triggers an automatic recount if the margin is less that 0.2 percent.

The pivotal Rob Handy v. Bobby Green race for Lane County Commissioner has tightened and remains too close to call.

At 7 pm with about three-fourths of the vote counted, Handy holds on to a lead of just 113 votes, 0.44 percent. Earlier returns had showed Handy with a lead of up to 2 percent.

State law triggers an automatic recount if the margin is less that 0.2 percent.

Lane County Elections will release it’s next results, what appears likely to be a near complete vote count, at 10 am Thursday.

Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy appears likely to win a narrow re-election victory.

With about three-fourths of the vote counted at 7 pm, Piercy’s lead over Jim Torrey had widened from less than one percent to two percent, a few hundred votes to 1,363.

With the dwindling number of late counted ballots apparently favoring Piercy, it appears mathematically unlikely that Torrey will be able to make up the deficit.

Lane County Elections will release it’s next results, what appears likely to be a near complete vote count, by 10 am Thursday.

Depending on whose numbers you’re looking at, either Smith or Merkley are leading as U.S. Senate election results trickle in Wednesday afternoon. Just after 4:15 pm, The Oregonian’s www.oregonlive.com has Merkley ahead of Smith by 3,446 votes. But the unofficial tally at 4:30 pm on the Oregon Secretary of State website http://egov.sos.state.or.us has Smith ahead by 5,760 votes.

We won’t know the results until Wednesday night or even Thursday, but it’s interesting to see that The Oregonian and the state apparently are getting their numbers independently. The likely cause of Merkley rise is late returns from left-leaning Multnomah County.

Obama's acceptance speech was as eloquent as ever, though as many has pointed out, he didn't rise to his usual crescendo, going for a more quietly presidential tone. (His stump speech at UO's Mac Court back in the spring felt at times like a rock concert because he's so capable of firing up a crowd.) But I did think his use in last night's acceptance speech of the traditional African American crowd-stirring call-and-response sermonic technique was fabulous. YES WE CAN!

And of course animal lover that I am, one of my favorite parts was when he told his daughters,Malia, 10, and Sasha, seven: "I love you both more than you can imagine, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House."

His puppy-promise made headlines earlier in the election season, (he promised the girls a dog at the end of the campaign) and Michelle Obama indicated in a television interview at one point they would like to adopt a rescue dog.

As a Senator, Obama voted in favor of ending horse slaughter—a rather important vote since he came from the state that had one of the last operating horse slaughter plants in the country—and strengthening anti-dog fighting laws.

President-elect Barack Obama has begun to put together his transition team.

The American Folklore Society announced this morning that one of its members, former head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, William "Bill" Ivey was named to the transition team by Obama.

According to AFS, Ivey will have responsibility for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services during the transition.

When Ivey was appointed by Bill Clinton to lead the NEA in 1997, the New York Times asked Ivey "whether the President was installing a kind of Southern folklore mafia inside America's cultural institutions."

Ivey laughed.

At the time Clinton had recently appointed another folklorist, William "Bill" Ferris to head the NEH.

Ivey is often credited with "restoring Congressional confidence in the NEA" and getting back some of the arts funding that had been lost in the Reagan years.

(Full disclosure: For those of you who don't know, in addition to being a reporter, I'm also a folklorist.)

At 11:39 am, Gordon Smith lead Democrat Jeff Merkley 47.5 percent to 46.7 percent in the squeaker U.S. Senate race.

But late voting in Lane and Multnomah counties could mathematically push Merkley to a narrow victory, assuming current voting trends in the two counties and the rest of the state continue.

An EW analysis calculates that Merkley could end up with an estimated 48.4 percent of the total vote when all ballots are counted. Assuming percentages for a third party candidate and write-ins remain the same, that could mean a narrow Merkley victory over Smith.

Almost half the votes in Lane and Multnomah counties remain to be counted. The two urban counties hold a big chunk of the state’s Democrats, and vote counting there has lagged behind the rest of the state.

A big uncertainty is whether Constitution Party Candidate Dave Brownlow will continue to pull votes from Smith at the same statewide rate in the two counties.

With about a third of the vote still out at 10 am, Kitty Piercy and Rob Handy held on to 1 percent leads in the pivotal Eugene mayor and county commissioner races.

With 23,769 votes Mayor Piercy held a 528 vote lead over Torrey. Looking at turnout in the 2004 election and inflating for an increase in registrations this year, Piercy may need at least about 35,000 votes to win.

Handy won 9,523 votes, 204 more than County Commissioner Bobby Green. Looking at turnout in the 2004 election and inflating for an increase in registrations this year, Handy may need at least about 16,000 votes to win.

Judging from the May primary, late-counted votes may favor progressives Piercy and Handy. In the last 40 percent of votes counted in May, both Piercy and Handy gained about 2 percentage points.

George W. Bush stole the presidency around the time I graduated high school. Sept. 11, 2001 was around the time I started college. I was supposed to graduate in 2005 but then, while I was sitting alone in my house on Election Night 2004 watching the unthinkable happen, I decided it’d be a good idea to stick in school longer and get a 2nd degree (one that ultimately led to my current staff position at EW). Needless to say, W.’s re-election did not cause anarchy (as Anarchists for Bush were all so happy to encourage). But it did cause a whole lot of jadedness, cynicism, depression, recession and attitudes along the lines of “I could give a shit.”

That attitude was best represented by one-man-band Mount Eerie (pictured) last night at the Wandering Goat. The energy at the Goat was mostly polite throughout the night. As people began receiving text messages on Obama’s victory, some ran outside the Goat to scream into their phones. But the attendees were patient as openers Anna Cordis and Testface each played an hour-long set in a packed and hot Wandering Goat.

When Mount Eerie took the stage, he ran through two or three meandering noise rock songs with his gentle, droning vocals before acknowledging “Thanks for coming out. Is everyone excited for the election tomorrow?” People laughed. Then the dude unenthusiastically acknowledged Obama’s victory and said, “The world is going to end a little bit slower now.”

He was promptly scolded by a few fans up front, who were not having any of it. The rest of the crowd was in shocked silence. What. The. Fuck. Dude!!! Most of the crowd has spent their entire adult lives living under the Dubya Era, we’ve finally fucking broken free of the mediocrity, the incompetence, the hubris, the hate, the jingoistic tendencies, the rape & pillage of our national forests. True, some of this stuff will inevitably still happen under an Obama presidency, but shit, we’ve finally got someone in the White House who feels like he’s on our side. On the side of justice, peace, diplomacy, a thriving homeland. To be cynical after last night is to be a backwards-looking prick.

At one point in his show, Mount Eerie seemed to be lecturing us like we were little kids. “It’s best you learn this now,” he said, after mentioning that the world will keep on fucking itself over. I spent last night with the most cynical friend I know. Someone who refused to watch TV last night. Someone who wanted to go see a show because every inch of her body refused to believe that Obama could be elected. Someone who takes great pains to point out the most depressing details (but all in a snide, sarcastic manner). And you know what, Mr. Mount Eerie Fuckwad, she was absolutely ecstatic, overjoyed, woozy with goodness. Her cynicism melted away in one fell swoop. We both wanted to call our moms. (I called mine.) This was not the time to be a cynical asshole.

Give Obama at least a year to reverse the Bush Doctrine and we’ll see whether cynicism will be back in style. Until then, Jaded Rich White Boy: Fuck off!

***

UPDATE: Fifty comments and a few days later, and I have a new outlook.

I caught enough of TV news last night to hear a news analyst on NBC say that, so long as Obama won Oregon, Washington and California, he would be the next president. That's all I needed to know. Then I went to a show. But I sort of regret not watching McCain's concession speech and Obama's victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park. So if you fit this bill, here are the speeches for your enjoy.

My favorite part of the victory speech is Obama's first sentence: "Hello Chicago!" (Disclosure: Chicago is like a 2nd home for me.)

The Lane County fairgrounds pavilion was packed with more than a 1,000 whooping, clapping people during Barack Obama's victory speech.

The Eugene police auditor and pothole measures and the 4J schools and LCC money measures appear likely to pass.

All held substantial leads by 10 pm with about a quarter of the votes counted.

Here’s the yes vote on the measures:

Police Auditor- 65%
Potholes- 58%
4J Levy- 65%
LCC- 56%

Also: That concession speech? Well played, Sen. McCain. Well played.

At 10 pm with about a quarter of the votes counted, Kitty Piercy’s lead had widened slightly to 52 percent in the Eugene mayor's race.

Rob Handy’s lead in the county commissioner race held at about 52 percent.

Both races remained too early and close to call.

With about 20 percent of the ballots counted at 9 pm, the pivotal Eugene mayor and north Eugene county commissioner races were too close to call.

Mayor Kitty Piercy lead Jim Torrey 51 to 48 percent. Rob Handy lead Commissioner Bobby Green 52 to 48 percent.

“It’s too early to count any chickens,” Piercy said.

Piercy figures she may need about 38,000 votes to be assured of victory. At 9 pm she had just 8,752.

The Handy campaign said they might need about 17,776 votes to be assured of victory. At 9 pm Handy had just 3,503 votes.

Compared to 8 pm, both Piercy and Handy’s leads remained roughly stable.

Lane County Elections will start reporting results after about 8:30 pm on their website.

The pivotal close races to watch are the Democrat Kitty Piercy v. Jim Torrey mayor showdown and the close race for the north Eugene Lane County commissioner seat between conservative Bobby Green and progressive Rob Handy.

The magic number for Piercy/Torrey may be 34,060. That’s 50 percent of those who voted in a city election in November 2004.

The magic number for Handy/Green may be 15,663. That’s 50 percent of those who voted in a contested county commissioner race in November 2004.

But the number of voters this year appears likely to be higher. Students say they have registered thousands of new voters at the UO. A high student turnout could help progressive Piercy.

Lane County reports a 2.5 percent increase in voter registrations compared to 2004. If turnout equals the 91 percent for the county in 2004, the Piercy/Torrey magic number could inflate to 34,898. The Handy/Green magic number could inflate to 16,048.

In May 2008, the county had counted about 60 percent of the votes in Eugene by 9 pm. Judging from May, late votes may favor progressives Piercy and Handy.

Piercy and Torrey were nearly even at 9 pm in May, but in the unofficial final results available the next day, Piercy was ahead by almost 800 votes or about 2 percent.

In May Handy lead Green by about 2 percent at 9 pm. In the unofficial final results the next day, Handy had a lead of about 4 percent.

Both races went to a runoff because no one had more than 50 percent.

Torrey and Handy may have a slight edge based on the May results.

If the 4 percent of voters who voted for two other conservative candidates in May had instead voted for conservative Torrey, he would have won with 51 percent.

If the 6 percent of voters who voted for two other candidates critical of Green in May had instead voted for Handy, Handy would have won with 55 percent.

Another factor for Piercy may be The Register-Guard. The paper inexplicably reversed its May endorsement of her to Torrey and has largely buried or not reported in depth news of Torrey’s huge contributions from gravel pit and development interests.

Well, we didn't receive the required bare minimum of three entries in our contest to write the shittiest album review ever. (We got two, both of which are from friends of mine who are also blog-reading desk-slaves.) One of them will get the prize of a digital download of Skeletal Lamping, the new album from Of Montreal, and I will talk to them personally to see who wants it most. But here are their crappy reviews for your reading pleasure:

From Bryan:

Karl Blau's new album "Nature's Got Away" has 12 tracks made out of silkworm dogma. When I listen to it I think of lighting plastic on fire and then dripping fire plastic onto things. At some points in the album I think things like "that sounds like crickets" and then I start thinking about dripping flaming plastic on crickets, amen.

From Maranda:

Antony & the Johnsons made a new EP. It's more songs about how Antony wishes he was a girl, etc. Real pretty. Except there's one that gets annoying. I wish musicians would stop with their damn experimenting and just a lot of things that sound pretty.

Should we hold more contests like this? Let us know in the comments section!

It's funny, but funny in that umm ok, wait, but that part's kinda real sort of way.

Funny in the way that The Onion's story with the headline Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over' was funny til it all came true.

Some prescient quotes from The Onion's 2001 spoof:

On war:

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

On the economy:

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.

and finally:

"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

C'mon vote people!!! This story was funny back in 2001 before it all came true!!

(Thanks to Doug Heiken, who posted the video on his Facebook page...)

I've said it before and I'll no doubt say it again, but this is exactly what YouTube is for: an a cappella tribute to the composer of some of the catchiest themes in film.

I am not ashamed to admit that I shed tears of laughter.

Wow, um, this was really fairly funny. And not just Tina Fey.

To paraphrase The Atlantic's James Fallows, there's just no way McCain would have done this if he thought he had any chance of winning.*

Here's the "this" (and don't miss the pork knives! Niiice.):

*What I wouldn't give to see Jim Torrey on the Eugene equivalent of SNL.