Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 11.03.05

You read a few articles about Jason Mraz, or a few pages from his online journal, and he starts to seem like just another twentysomething guy — just one who happens to have a pair of records out, at least one a platinum-seller. Mraz's 2002 album Waiting for My Rocket to Come pictured him, on the cover, having a nice chat with a rooster. Endearing, sure, but it was "Remedy (I Won't Worry)," the absurdly catchy single, that got onto the airwaves and into the heads of listeners the country over. Mraz's second album, Mr. A-Z, is a little bit more of a collaboration, about which Mraz says in a press release, "The stories within these songs find your humble King of Denial having a go at my own placement in relationships lost and found again, in the ever-changing music business, as a geek and an artist and a smoker." (Isn't everybody a self-declared geek these days?) Mraz plays with Brit sensation (on the other side of the Atlantic, anyway) James Blunt and cute crooner Tristan Prettyman (see story, page 36). See Thursday, Nov. 10 Calendar.

We've come to expect the best from Teton Gravity Research, but their newest film, The Tangerine Dream, raises the bar with 65 minutes of luscious, breathless footage that makes you want to quit your day job and become a ski bum. The film stays refreshingly real throughout, from brothers Peter and Michael Olenick in Alaska saying they're "so stoked, so scared," to Victoria Jealouse talking about how she sometimes worries about her judgment of huge big mountain drops and lines when she's surrounded by guys who are pushing every limit. The Tangerine Dream starts with the gnar and never lets up: 14-year-old Kye Peterson spinning a 720 over the 90-foot Pyramid gap jump; Chris Collins throwing double back flips off 60-foot cliffs; Sage Cattabriga-Alosa spinning a 180 off a cornice then skiing half of a 70-degree slope backwards. But what we love the most about the film is the way it captures the feeling of being out on a big day with a bunch of friends. It tells the story of people who, as Sage puts it, "Figured out a way to make this whole experience a full time reality." And that's what sets it apart. See Friday Calendar.

November rolls in this weekend with the Lane Arts Council First Friday ArtWalk, hosted this time around by Lane County Commissioner Pete Sorensen. The tour begins at 5:30 pm at the Eugene Public Library, where the second annual "Art Totes" exhibit is on display. More than 50 local artists were given the same blank canvas bag and asked to personalize it, resulting in a showcase of talent in a variety of media — all to support the library. Stop #2 is the New Zone Gallery's "Showcase 2005" exhibit, in which New Zone members show the work they feel best represents their style and the collective's philosophy. At Goldworks, Stop #3, work by jewelry designer Gary Dawson and sculptor Mike Leckie is on display. Stop #4, White Lotus Gallery, feaures 19th century Japanese woodblock prints, and the last stop, Jacobs Gallery, hosts "This Everlasting Valley: Willamette Basin Farms from the Art About Agriculture Permanent Collection," including Connie Mueller's October Harvest, at left. Many other downtown galleries are open late, but not part of the walking tour. See www.lanearts.organd Friday Calendar.