Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 08.25.05

Is it really the end of August? It must be. But we're having a hard time coming to terms with this particular fact all the same. Maybe the Last Friday ArtWalk will help. The self-guided tour of living rooms, studios, galleries and other artful spaces makes its way around town again this Friday, with an interactive stop at Club 1244 Lawrence for an open mic and a painting demonstration over at I Run With Scissors Salon. And there's a lot of dancing going on this month: The Fire House Studio follows its closing reception with fire dancing at dark, and the Wildfire Dancers perform at 462 Polk Gallery (which features work by Kiki Metzler, including Not Dia de los Muertos, Ode to Halloween, detail pictured). See Friday Calendar.

Glass flameworkers, glass exhibitors and community members gather at the Eugene Glass School this weekend for the 3rd Annual Flame-Off Competition. Spectators can watch the sparks fly in categories including Sculpture and Goblet, Lathe Work, Wearables and Marbles and Paperweights. In the event's previous years, more than 50 artists have come from across the country and the world to take part in the Flame-Off, which is a chance to show off skills and pick up techniques from fellow flameworkers. We bet they make some really cool looking stuff. See Friday Calendar.

Is this Eugene's summer of reggae, or is it always like this and we just didn't notice before? The trend continues with Israel Vibration playing The Jungle on the first of September. Cecil Spence and Lascelle Bulgin — or Skelly and Wiss, as they're known — have been releasing internationally acclaimed, heartfelt music for coming up on 30 years, from 1976's The Same Song to the more recent Fighting Soldiers and Live and Jammin'. This year, RAS Records released Israel Vibration's entry in the This is Crucial Reggae series, which features remasters of the band's best-known tracks from over the years, including songs with Albert "Apple" Craig (now known as Apple Gabriel), who left the band in 1988. Whether or not that means this is a sort of "best-of" tour, we couldn't tell you, but we're guessing it's a not-to-be-missed show for reggae fans regardless. See Thursday, Sept. 1 Calendar.

The local hip hop and urban music community comes together Saturday for Summer Jam 2005, a show involving more than 20 hip hop, R&B and dance performers from in and around Eugene. The lineup includes Genus Pro, Mackdub, The Option, Michael Kay, Cool Nutz, The Phormula and Balou the Sasquatch — among so many others. The show's promoters intended the event to capture the true diversity of the local scene, and they hope to prove that the community supports the talents of local artists. With a show this big that's open to all ages, we predict success. See Saturday Calendar.