The scariest thing about Chuck Palahniuk’s Adjustment Day is that it’s not as scary as real life. Don’t get me wrong: It’s terrifying. It’s blood-curdling, bone-shakingly, soul-shatteringly horrifying on every…
Choose your own book
Reading for pleasure Ok, first of all, I want to be as clear as possible that I’m not here to steal more of your attention. You’re starting your summer jobs…
Michael Moore’s ‘Where to Invade Next’ is Pro-America as Fuck
This article contains spoilers for the film Where to Invade Next. You’ve probably already made up your mind about Michael Moore. You’ve seen him on the news with a megaphone…
Piano area
At noon on Thursday, May 10, Lincoln Recital Hall once again hosted the Music Department’s Noon Concert, this time featuring all pianists. The concert opened with two movements from J.S….
PSU’s baroque pearl
Contemporary classical guitar music mainly exists at the intersection of three musical traditions: Baroque lute music, Spanish guitar music, and the contemporary tradition which fuses modernist classical trends with diverse…
Sing to the moon and the stars will sing
The April 26 noon concert in Lincoln Recital Hall was ostensibly a Jazz Area concert, but since jazz is as broad a term as classical, we were treated to a…
PSU’s Percussion Ensemble doesn’t miss a beat
At the crack of noon on Thursday, April 5, Portland State’s Lincoln Recital Hall hosted an uncommonly sparse audience. The music department’s weekly free concerts are usually packed—not least because…
PSU’s gorgeous strings
The trouble with unfretted stringed instruments—specifically the classical violin family—is they inherently sound bad. It takes years of practice to develop the skills necessary to produce a single pleasing tone…
Woodwinds transform differences into beauty
It’s a little weird to group everyone in the Woodwind Area together for one recital, but that’s what the Portland State School of Music & Theater did at their noon…
Power Without Pain: interview with Hamilton Cheifetz
After spending the last 40 years at PSU teaching cello, Professor Hamilton Cheifetz said, “I’m still smiling!” Cheifetz has one of those famous smiles, the kind with layers: an earnest,…
How to resolve
The real problem with New Year’s Resolutions is their singularity: We make them on New Year’s Eve, we break them on New Year’s Day, we forget about them for another…