Eugene Weekly : Calendar : 11.02.06

It's tragic yet heartwarming to hear of a benefit concert in the name of deceased locals — even more so when there are two such benefits on the same night. Starting at the WOW Hall, ManiFest III is the third annual rock concert celebrating the life of Mani Shimada, a Wellsprings Friends School student who died from bacterial meningitis in 2003. Featuring Necryptic, Tormentium, In the Name of God and Exhausted Prayer (left), proceeds from the concert go to causes supporting teenagers in our community. Later in the night, head over to John Henry's for the Rock Concert Benefit for Ryan Sumner. Sumner was a staple in the Eugene and Portland music scene, playing with Cocaine Unicorn and The Messengers. Promoters will be using funds from the concert to build a bench in Washburne Park in Sumner's name. If ever there was a reason not to haggle with the bouncer over a paltry $3-$5 cover charge, this is it. See Saturday Calendar.

Good books need strong endings. More importantly, however, books need ends; otherwise, they'd fall victim to gravity's pull. Thanks to the annual Bookend Project — where local artists design bookends that reflect a particular literary theme — books not only stay upright, they stay fashionable. Just another day at the Downtown Library, the first stop of Lane Arts Council's First Friday ARTWalk. Dena Brown, director of the Gallery at the Airport, will lead the walking tour through the library, then jettison downtown to the much-debated "gallery district." First stop: La Follette Gallery, where Jerry Ross has paintings of his Italian friends (including Carlo Bianchi, above). Second stop: Fenario Gallery's new location at 881 Willamette, featuring new paintings by Tsuguya Agata (see page 28 for more info). The final stop — or bookend — is the White Lotus Gallery, where Nancy Pobanz shows sculptures, wall pieces and artist books made from local environments. Stop reading and get down there! See Friday Calendar.

Calling all folk dancers: Troika me back to Mother Russia with The Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival! If the autumn chill in the air sends your mind wandering to snowy days gone by on the steppes, you needn't limit your sentimental journey to watching Doctor Zhivago on DVD: The Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival, starring "World Celebrated Singer" Nikolai Massenkoff (below) and featuring the Balalaika Ensemble and Russian Folk Ballet Dancers, will perform traditional songs and dances of Russia. You may scoff at folk dance, but it's the cradle of all high art. It goosed along the development of ballet and some of our most respected modern choreographers, like Mark Morris, credit early folkdance training for their intricate and masterful sense of musicality and thematic structure. We know, blah blah blah, but most of all, folkdance is just plain fun, with feats of strength, courtship and celebrations. And to set your own toes a-tappin', there will be a free Russian folk dance class taught by Massenkoff's dancers. See Calendar for Thursday, Nov. 9.