Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 03.23.06

The Eugene Waldorf School is a busy place this week! On Thursday, March 23, the 7th grade class welcomes astronomer and photographer John Flinn, who will give a slide presentation and commentary called "Nights of Wonder: Rhythms and Visions of a Living Cosmos." Flinn will show slides, display some of his equipment and tell the stories of how, when and why he took the pictures he's showing — some of which include images of the aurora borealis taken in Lane County. The show is a benefit for the 7th grade class trip, and is recommended for kids and adults 12 and older. Saturday night, the Vet's Club hosts the school's 12th Annual Auction, which has "The Roaring 20s" as its theme. With auctioneer Eric Sprado, a dance lesson, live music, no host bar and raffle drawing, the event will doubtless be a good time for a good reason. See Calendar.

The Perpetual Motion Roadshow returns to Eugene this week for a stop at Cozmic Pizza. The show, which promises "No Boring Readings or Your Money Back!" is inspired by punk rock tours and vaudevillian variety shows. For each tour, three performers travel to seven cities in eight days; West Coast runs happen between November and April (we guess they like the weather?). Not limited to just one kind of venue, the Roadshow stops in bars, cafés, bookstores, galleries and more. This version of the tour features "folk singer gone bad" Mark Silverman (right), writer/video producer/educator/zine-and-chapbook-publisher Laura Boo MacDonald and the enigmatically named performance artist Professor Prawns, whose brief bio claims, "He suffers from a condition known as shapeshifting-into-bunched-beets-and-leading-people-in-national-geographic-responsive-readings-and-freestyling-rhymes-while-chopping-wood-in-a-speedo-itis." We're guessing it has to be seen to be understood. See Friday Calendar.

Actors Cabaret of Eugene brings history to life with their presentation of the Broadway musical 1776, which follows Founding Fathers John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Richard Henry Lee and Thomas Jefferson as they attempt to convince the members of Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence. That may sound serious, but 1776 mixes historical storytelling with musical comedy — a combination that led to the 1969 Broadway production's three Tony awards. See Thursday, March 23 Calendar.