Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 03.16.06

The Downton Library's Windfall Reading Series features poets John Witte and Mary Szybist this month. Szybist, who teaches at Lewis & Clark College, was a finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award for her first book, Granted, a collection of poems exploring the difficulties of faith and love. John Witte, who teaches at the UO and edits the Northwest Review, has been published in The New Yorker, The Paris Review and several anthologies. His most recent book, The Hurtling, is comprised of poems in three-line stanzas; Ursula K. LeGuin called the book "fierce, controlled, inventive, forward-rushing." See Tuesday Calendar.

It's that time again: time to get out your green food coloring and squeeze it into your beer. Luckily for some, St. Patrick's Day falls on a Friday this year, making it that much easier to sleep off any consequences you might suffer after that one last pint. As you might imagine, most of the bars around town have a celebration of one kind or another, including The Koozies at McShane's, Larry "Saint" Pattis (har, har) at the Oregon Wine Warehouse and the nicely timed Genus Pro CD release party at the WOW Hall. Luckey's, as usual, takes things a step further than their usual with an outdoor beer garden, whiskey-flavored cigars, four kinds of Irish beer on tap and music from The Caledonians (just one of the band's several stops 'round town that night), Fintan and the Glenwood Rebel Rovers. For an all-ages celebration, check out The Conjugal Visitors at the World Café, Satin Love Orchestra (playing a Habitat for Humanity benefit) at the McDonald or Tony Wright, Ellen Chantrelle, Jim Carpenter, Ed Dorsch and more at Tsunami Books. See Friday Calendar and Nightlife section.

There must be something about Eugene — this is the second time in two months we've been graced with an appearance by an Air America host. This time, it's self-described "gun totin', meat eatin'" Ed Schultz, the author of Straight Talk from the Heartland: Tough Talk, Common Sense, and Hope from a Former Conservative. Schultz found his political views shifting after his future wife Wendy took him on a lunch date at a Salvation Army. Faced with the real people he often chastised as "bums" on-air, Schultz's perspective began to shift. Now, Air America's "The Ed Schultz Show" has more than two million listeners across the country. See Friday Calendar.

When he was in second grade, Tom Heinl transformed the living room of his parents' apartment into the Match Game stage and forced kids from the complex to serve as the '70s game show's panel of celebrities. Now, years later, the young Heinl's dream will come true when he hosts Match Game live on the Sam Bond's stage this weekend. Six local celebrities will answer a series of fill-in-the-blank questions. Two contestants — "lucky" contestants, claims the press release — then try to match celebrities with their answers. Local celebrities? Who might those be? So far, we know of three: co-organizer Peter Dean of The Fast Computers, Jen Drake of The Shudders and Jivan Valpey of Yeltsin, White Hot Odyssey and at least half a dozen other bands in town. So you get your rock and you get your game show. And who knows? Maybe you can be a competitor; how they're picking the two contestants is still a mystery. See Saturday Calendar.