Saffron seems to be continuing the north west grunge tradition. They rock very hard. Alex, graham and Matt.
Era Coda lost a member but delivered new songs with vocals and an enigmatic quirky style.
Violet Underground is from Astoria. They play driving instrumental rock that reminded me of Transam, but occasionally had some country and surf sounds.
Portland Cello Project brought a six member touring troupe to Eugene and pleased the crowd with virtuoso playing and a touch of humor. Hearing two Elliot Smith instrumental covers and two Dave Brubeck songs was an unexpected delight. I was most familiar with their collaboration with Thao Nyugen but they have five albums of material and did not disappoint in a live setting.
Included below are my black and white inks in case you are interested.
I teach art at Mecca some Saturdays. Here are some photos of my lesson’s results. 
This is a nudibranch I guided an 8 year old boy to draw. I broke it down to basic shapes and encouraged him as he went.
This young girl is drawing a whale. 
This child appeared to put on too much water. Cool skull though.
A sunken ship! I didn’t prompt them to draw that. Notice the crystalline trees to the right. Or are they houses?
You can see the bright oil pastels show through the blue water based paint. Sometimes the students use colored pencil or crayons. 
Coral and layered paint.
This was an example I made to show them how.
After drawing fish, eels, sea anemones, sea turtles, jellys, coral and sea weed, the children paint blue over with sponges.
Some students abandon their drawings, so I recycle their pages to guide other students. I like to not finish my projects so that students don’t imitate me fully. I like this lesson because it doesn’t have to be changed for older kids, just expect more detail out of them. In most projects, for some reason, I get push back from kids when I ask them to put in more when I think they aren’t done. This project usually has less of that, perhaps because there is always more to put in the ocean. I’m going to mail these to my niece in Amsterdam to put up on the wall around her cradle. I hope they aren’t nightmare inducing.
I even got my mom to try this lesson.
Didn’t she make a nice scene with layers of paint? Her fish have some personality. You can try it at home or share with children.
Rockstar Malcolm Kuntz played a set at the hifi music hall lounge. With originals about death, vampires and crime he will make you laugh and think. When he plays Iggy Izaleas and Justin Timberlake covers, all the ladies strip their clothes and gyrate suggestively.
Eleinvaders played Hi-Fi Lounge jan 8.they bring some swing and ska grooves into the jam band sound. There were some real cool ‘call and response’ riffs between the clarinet and the guitar. When they said, “this songs about paradise, that turns out to not be so great.” “I said, hey I saw that Star Trek…and that Twilight Zone!”
Harm is an alternative to your standard band. Much like a chamber pop collective, they include instruments it is unusual to see in a rock club: a clarinet, a harmonium and a cello. Their music is grande and strange, influenced by Coco Rosie, Portishead and maybe My Brightest Diamond. It’s Hip hop with beats provided by a beat boxer who also writes much of the lyrics. This is certainly an ensemble and the mood they create is special. Rebecca is a graduate of such influential bands as Feeding Frenzy and Haifa. This was my first chance to see them with a cellist. Layla O’Sullivan is also a songwriter and her deep voice compliments Rebecca’s.
A their opener was Small Souls, who seemed to me much influenced by Death Cab for Cutie. Bryan Daste plays pedal steel with Alaskan songwriter Emma Hill.
Some groovy jazz at the Sam bonds brewery.
A rockabilly psychobilly band from Eugene.
Eugene’s finest alt country tango hybrid: Mood Area 52.
Isaac and the Awkward Situations 