Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 08.10.06

Eugene's so unique, we don't even have LGBTQ Pride at the same time as the rest of the country. Turns out better this way anyway — we can hit the big city parades like Seattle, San Fran or Portlandia in June, and then come on home for our own sweet lil' celebration in Alton Baker Park. This year the theme is "PRIDE, Not Prejudice," there's all kinds o' things to do, and it's on a Saturday (we think that's so the Christian LGBTQ population doesn't have to decide between church and Pride, but that's just a theory; another theory involves Club Snafu and Ring of Fire's beer/wine garden and not having to work the next day). For one thing, there's music headliner Ashleigh Flynn (pictured) and local faves Complicated and SheBang!; for another, Rainbow Summer Youth have water fights and volleyball all lined up. Then there are the booths. Last year, we got our picture taken in the Soromundi "Sail Away" booth. Ah, the sunburned, lei'ed, captain-hatted look! It's so … queer! We anticipate just as much bliss this year, plus some good bonding with our people and our allies. See Saturday Calendar.

We remember Los Lobos from slightly before 1987's La Bamba, or maybe that's wishful thinking on our part, us trying to be cooler than we were back in the day (um, or now). Anyway, we did rush out and buy How Will the Wolf Survive? and we've erratically followed Los Lobos since then. The band, to which press releases refer as "not just another band from East L.A." — a very slightly clever take on their 20th anniversary album — heats up the Cuthbert. Opening for the super-famous guys is the pretty famous The Minus 5, starring Scott McCaughey, who's also a dude in The Young Fresh Fellows, R.E.M. and Tuatara. Time to hit the Cuthbert and kick back to the music amidst the lingering warmth of summer! See Calendar for Thursday, Aug. 10.

Remember when Top Gun seemed cool? (Yes, we fell for it too, and — oh, the horror! — sported a poster of Maverick on our bedroom walls.) Anyway, on the soundtrack (which we owned and tried tolisten to during freshman English class one memorable day),there was the famous Loverboy hit, "Heaven in Your Eyes." Guess what? You can return to 1986 with this year's Lane County Fair music lineup, starting out with Loverboy and continuing with (newer! more exciting!) Terri Clark, Merle Haggard, Styx (yes, Styx), and Saturday night's free dance contest maestros, Satin Love Orchestra. Or you could just come to the daytime fair, the free-wheelin', elephant-ear-sellin', carnival-game-barkin', animal-costumin', dog-jumpin', goat-pettin', cannin' and puttin' up extravaganza itself. Like Fern in Charlotte's Web, everyone can eat too much crap, talk to the cute animals, wash our hands carefully, and then line up at the Ferris wheel, hoping to see Lane from mountains to sea. We got us a big ol' county here; time to celebrate it! See Calendar.