It’s a point of fact that a lot of the new Miles Davis movie is fiction.

Miles Ahead isn’t a biopic. Most of its action centers around two days Davis (Don Cheadle) spends with made-up journalist David Braden (Ewan McGregor), who’s looking to write the famed artist’s “comeback story.” From what we’re to believe, any hijinks the two get up to in this 100-minute buddy flick (see: shootouts, snorting coke and stealing back a session tape) didn’t really happen.

But who cares? Miles Ahead is the smart, irreverent tribute Davis deserves.

“It’s less a Miles biopic,” as McGregor told Rolling Stone in March, “than an attempt to cast Miles in a caper flick that he might like to have been part of.”

That’s not to say you won’t learn a thing about Davis here. Memoir is interspersed throughout. He falls in love with the very real dancer Frances Taylor, and then they fall apart. We get a look at his recording session with arranger Gil Evans for “Gone” – a punchy track with one of the best trumpet solos to date. There’s moments for the jazz geeks, too: I couldn’t but laugh out loud when Davis gets on a hotshot trumpeter about playing B flat over a D minor 9 chord.

This is a piece of cinema that stands on the shoulders of music movies like that one about singer Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea. (Kevin Spacey, for his part, sang through a pile of Darin repertoire to play the iconic crooner. Just take a minute to imagine Frank Underwood singing those sweet lyrics: Somewhere, beyond the sea, somewhere, waiting for me…)

Both films rely on artsy, sometimes jarring transitions to move between memory and the present moment. It’s hard to coax a sense of coherence from the first, say, 10 minutes of Miles Ahead – but after that, the film takes off, screaming down city streets in Davis’ luxury Jaguar.

Actor-director Don Cheadle seems to get at the heart of who Davis was, painting the raw musician with effort and intention. (Fun fact: Cheadle reportedly learned to play the trumpet to prep for the film and to “try to understand” Davis, as he told ABC News.) While the two-day timeline is compact, nothing feels glossed over. We see Davis, a virtuoso musician who even draws inspiration from composers like Frederic Chopin. We glimpse a demanding – and ultimately violent – lover. And we find him to be a forgiving soul.

A few years ago, at a time when I was gigging around town as a jazz pianist with some buddies, I went to a show called The Miles Davis Experience. It was an impressionistic spectacle that chronicled a certain period of Davis’ life with solid music and collages of color.

Miles Ahead is just another impressionistic tribute.

It doesn’t follow rules, makes you bust up laughing and leaves you feeling as if any kind of straight-laced biopic would have been, to the complex artist, reprehensible.

This story was written by Jonathan Bach.

During a break from its grooving surf rock set, VCR singer Chase Clark yelled, “Fuck the Oscars!”

That was all that was said — and needed to be said — about the 88th Academy Awards during the group’s opening set for Chastity Belt on Feb. 28 at the Boreal. Also featuring local acts The Shifts and Critical Shakes, the show was a low-fi, but high-energy jam session.

Seattle-based Chastity Belt has gained respectable commercial and critical success since the release of last year’s Time to Go Home. While studying at Whitman College, the group went to frat parties, tipped over tables and yelled “chastity belt.” Now over five years later, the group has solidified its sound and is currently on a West Coast tour.

All three opening acts, while diverse musically, represented an earlier stage in Chastity Belt’s career when the group was just four college students experimenting as a band. The Shifts, whose Facebook description includes “sardonic indie garage rock,” brought a full sound as a three-man outfit.

Duo the Critical Shakes opened with a rocking cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” sung by drummer Jordan Blaisdell. Other highlights included a song about Blaisdell’s dog, who poops on his bed, and a hard-rock version of the Cure’s “Lovesong” sung by guitarist Davey Beebe.

VCR brought a poppy, ‘60s-inspired sound to a garage rock-heavy lineup. From “Best Summer Ever!” to “Summer BuzZz,” it’s clear which season the band preferred, mostly for the parties. But it was softer tracks like “Sound Pretty,” a duet between Clark and bassist Emma Hurt, that stood out.

By the time Chastity Belt came on, the small, tucked-away venue was packed. But lit by twinkle lights, it felt like a college house show. The group complemented the chill vibe: only guitarist Lydia Lund wore shoes. They moved from tracks like the low-key feminist anthem “Cool Slut” to thoughtful breakup song “Lydia” with an awkward nonchalance.

Lead singer Julia Shapiro rarely talked to the audience or her bandmates. Bassist Annie Truscott only talked briefly, asking about Tinder in Eugene. But the group’s connection came through in its cohesive sound. Shapiro’s guttural vocals smoothly mixed with Lund’s understated guitar melodies. Drummer Gretchen Grimm’s rhythms keep the music from being too stagnant.

In many ways, Time To Go Home is a depressing party album, making it a little awkward to perform live. On the title track, Shapiro describes the inevitable disappointment of a night out. But the whole audience was dancing as she sang about not being able to see straight while the room spun around her.

That doesn’t mean the group’s set was alienating. While Chastity Belt has left college behind, its music is still relatable to a group of young people trying to navigate adulthood.

It was no surprise that the audience wanted an encore, and Chastity Belt came back with the mellow “Seattle Party.” The group welcomed fans into its world, singing, “We are having a party tonight/We are inviting our best friends so they can have a good time.” By that point, most of the audience probably fit that label.

This story was written by guest contributor Hannah Steinkopf-Frank.

Listen to “Seattle Party” from Chastity Belt below.

Period films dealing with social justice cut both ways: on the one hand, 12 Years a Slave reminds us of the cruelties of antebellum America and why people should never regress to living in such a way. On the other, it allows us the breath with which to sigh, “Whew, glad those days are gone.” The problem with this second part is: We might be too inclined to pat ourselves on the back in congratulations – and not get those hands to work fixing today’s lasting issues around race and, say, gender discrimination.

So it is with Suffragette, the new period-drama about how women got the vote in England – sort of. But more on that later.

In the slums of early 20^th century London, we meet Maud Watts (played by Carey Mulligan), a timid laundry cleaner who gets in with the radical feminist crowd and finds the strength inside herself to push for suffrage (the right to vote).

Sadly but necessarily, she loses her family in a fight that goes from the London streets to a women’s prison to Parliament: Ben Whishaw plays Maud’s put-upon husband who, in a manner that doubtlessly conforms to the reality of some men then, conserves the idea that a women’s place in society is passive, and throws Maud out of their dingy, cramped home for upturning that idea. Their young son also gets frightfully caught up in the war of ideals between Mom and Dad, showing the lengths to which Maud will go for much deserved liberty.

So, I’m taking a class on women and politics, and you should, too. The thing with English feminists is that they were known for their militant methods. Here in Suffragette, bricks smash storefront windows. Explosions rip estate walls. It’s all a bit James Bond, but cooler. And a tad less sexist.

To wit: French composer Alexandre Desplat’s score cries “Onward!” and propels the plot just as deftly as the movie’s actors and the Englishwomen on whom this story is based. Listening here, I can’t help but remember Desplat’s score from Benjamin Button (2008) – a welcome pulse that set the pace for an almost three-hour epic.

And then there are the comparisons you can draw between Suffragette and Iron Jawed Angels (2004), a film on women’s suffrage across the Atlantic in the United States set around the same time. There’s even a line in Angels about why American feminists shouldn’t look to their English counterparts for inspiration, because their ways were seen as too extreme.

Yet this recent adaptation does stray from Angels in a sickening regard – that is, there are no feminists of color in the entire film. In the 2004 movie, we got to see famous African-American journalist Ida B. Wells march for women’s rights. Columnist Rebecca Carroll has already ripped into the contemporary British film for this, and rightly so.

Now, the reason I said “sort of” at the top is because at the close of Suffragette, a graphic on countries where women have the vote plays across screen and includes a fairly new member, Saudi Arabia. Although this brought current day to the film, it still wasn’t enough.

Here’s what I propose: By all means, keep rolling out the period movies. But let’s ask that the film industry give us more high-production movies about issues that continue on today. Take the still discriminatory gender wage gap. Or the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

We should see dramatic portrayals of these stories played out as they continue to unfold, and dig deeper into them right now.

—

Jonathan Bach is the Editor-in-Chief of Ethos Magazine.

Want to write a guest submission for the Emerald’s arts and culture section? Send it to emalone@dailyemerald.com.

So, the latest James Bond is all supercars and gushy feelings. References to Daniel Craig’s last three films as the suave MI6 agent abound, and there’s a new-but-old villain played by the ever-chilling Christoph Waltz.

This go-around, it’s all about bringing Craig’s story arc full circle.

In Spectre, Bond is on a mission to uncover the secret crime syndicate that has killed his lovers and terrorized the world at large for the last three movies. The film opens to find our hero in Mexico City during the Día de los Muertos festivities. Bond assassinates one of the group’s key men and obtains a mysterious ring from him in so doing. But he causes an international incident in the process and is grounded back in London by his higher-up, M, played by Ralph Fiennes.

Does that stop Bond running off to finish the job set before him – that is, uncovering the mystery of the ring? Lucky for us, no. The movie’s locales stretch from Austria to Morocco as 007 pieces together clues leading to yet another person from his life before British intelligence.

You must be wondering: “If I don’t know a Vesper Lynd from a Skyfall, is there a Trump’s chance in office of my enjoying this installment to the same degree as that fan who rips through Ian Fleming’s famous spy novels like the Harry Potters?”

Happy to report: Yes, there is.

My partner and I caught a recent midnight showing. She has only seen Craig’s third Bond Skyfall, and thought it over-complicated. But with film No. four, director Sam Mendez has successfully created an accessible but elegant spy action thriller that leaves in enough allusions for the die-hards.

For example, we finally get to see Spectre – the international crime syndicate from the books – fully actualized and headed up with terrifying composure by Christoph Waltz, whom Quentin Tarantino oft-commissions for his flicks.

Now, I’m told critics are up in arms about Spectre being too formulaic. But all the commonplace features are listed right there in the PG-13 rating: Intense sequences of Daniel Craig brooding. Violence. Some disturbing images. Sensuality. Swearing. An Aston Martin or two. Ralph Fiennes gets a nose, the likes of which we haven’t seen since The English Patient.

I, for one, like that equation.

If you want painfully sequential espionage flicks, go watch the Mission: Impossible series. See Tom Cruise break into the impenetrable place to retrieve the irretrievable thing. Meh. There’s Cruise on a motorcycle. Next.

What kept me happily off-balance in Spectre was how traditionally the plot played out. Thanks go to the character played by Léa Seydoux, an actress you’ll remember from that off-kilter The Grand Budapest Hotel. Or the enchanting coming-out and coming-of-age film about two French lesbians, Blue Is the Warmest Color. Or even Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – which we won’t hold against her.

Seydoux is Madeleine Swann, not only a high-brow counselor with a secret but also the woman for whom Bond finds himself gun over wingtip.

In the midst of the sleuthing, this love story gives Spectre its punch-in-the-gut ending. And paired with more glimpses at 007’s past, Craig’s fourth (and reportedly final) go at Bond is well worth the ticket.

Watch the trailer for Spectre below.

—

Jonathan Bach is the Editor-in-Chief of Ethos Magazine.

During the last part of my Safe Ride work shift, we had just finished dropping off our riders when two people came running frantically to our van asking if we could give them a ride back to the residence halls. With just enough time to complete the route before closing, we saw that we would be able to give them a ride. In the van, we asked the usual “So, how’s your night going?” and one of them responded with, “It’s OK; it was scary in that party and we have boyfriends, so we decided to leave.” After this brief exchange of words, I had to ask myself why our college campus had created a space where people have to leave parties because they’re scared and feel unsafe. The last time I checked, I thought parties were supposed to be anything but scary.

I’m sure that some students who grew up in the United States can remember Halloween being one of the most exciting times of their childhoods. I know I did, and counting up all the candy at the end of the night was probably the only kind of math I enjoyed doing. Fast forward to my life in college, I now know Halloween is no longer about counting all the pieces of candy and comparing the amount with friends. Now, we’re counting how many orange Jell-O shots we can take before we realize it’s one too many. But there’s a darker side to Halloween in college that makes me uncomfortable and, at times, unsafe to even go out at night and enjoy the festivities. When I see someone wear a sombrero, poncho and a mustache and claim that they’re dressed as a Mexican, it only makes me sick to my stomach. How can students have a safe and exciting Halloween when their culture and identity is being used as a costume? I live with my identity on a daily basis and do not wear a sombrero, nor do I wear a poncho. Hell, I can’t even grow a mustache.

In light of the upcoming festivities, I wanted to take time to provide some measures that you as a University of Oregon student can take to ensure that Halloween weekend is safe, inclusive and, of course, fun for everyone.

1. Don’t be racist, transphobic or anything that uses another person’s identity. Be mindful of your costume choice. Dressing up like a “Mexican” or “Caitlyn Jenner” are not costumes. Those are both identities of people that they live with every day.

2. Consent for sexual activity is mandatory and no means no. Make sure to always get someone’s consent before doing something stupid and illegal.

3. Call Safe Ride at 541-346-7433 ext. 2 or Designated Driver Shuttle (DDS) at 541-346-7433 ext. 2. Both services will be available on Friday and Saturday. Safe Ride is open from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., but only takes reservations. DDS is open from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. and operates on a first-come, first-served rolling basis.

Have a fun and safe Halloween and go Ducks!

Francisco Morales-O’Connor

ASUO External Vice-President

Safe Ride Education Coordinator

This article was written by University of Oregon master’s degree alumna Debra M. Josephson, who is not affiliated with the Emerald. It was submitted to the Emerald for publication. We have done fact checking and editing on the piece. Debra’s website can be found here.

Nightingale Health Sanctuary (NHS) is a legal, village-style rest stop for unhomed residents. The sanctuary is moving to land near NW Expressway and River Road on August 20. Since January 2015, NHS occupants have lived on land off of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, behind Lane County Behavioral Health (LCBH.) This prime real estate is owned by the University of Oregon to host Duck tailgates. September kicks off the season and NHS has to leave so the land is prepared for the upcoming festivities.

Eugene has an estimated 3,000 residents unhoused. The trial-run rest stop program has shown promise in decreasing the unsheltered residents of this community.

30 NHS occupants (split into a double rest stop) lived behind LCBH on around one acre of land. The city deemed this program successful on their evaluations over the past several months.

“NHS has done a good job that I have oversaw. They have the track record to do it responsibly. They followed the rules that are in place and managed. Issues that had come up have been handled accordingly … [there have been] no issues with law enforcement, “ said Mike Kinnison, manager of human rights and neighborhood involvement for two and a half years.

NHS was created by the city ordinance in response to a deficit of shelter options in the community, says Kinnison.

He passed out flyers to the new neighbors on August 13 about the NHS community and the move.

Kinnison has been a positive support and liaison for NHS. He helped to secure the new land, which was previously part of a double rest stop area for veterans. Since this land was already approved by the city, there were no legalities to be handled for moving NHS.

Outreach was necessary to residences near the new rest stop because its location is on an open and exposed piece of land, visible to nearby residents. Kinnison says some residents nearby are supportive and happy to do their part while others are worried about the consequences that can occur with rest stops.

“We make clear to folks that this is a managed program. Rules are in place to control [the rest stop] by having a limited capacity, fencing and onsite management with trash removal and bathroom maintenance. The program in place has been successful,” Kinnison said. There will be a five-block radius from the gated rest stop where NHS occupants will not be allowed to sit or solicit for money.

Nathan “Red” Showers, a NHS advocate and resident, said that there are about sixteen NHS residents who have found permanent housing since NHS’s beginning earlier this year — thanks to having a safe place as a foundation providing sleep, meals and community support.

“Although some may feel this [program] is codependent, it provides an opportunity and a niche within social services for unhoused residents to reacquaint themselves with normal relationships and be encouraged to get help and get a job,“ said Tracy Joscelyn, an original NHS resident and civic leader.

Joscelyn said a book with a detailed map will be made for all those within the camp community to understand the neighborhood boundaries and guidelines. New residents have to prove their understanding and responsibilities to NHS, including the no drugs/alcohol rule, keeping dogs on a six-foot leash and helping with chores.

NHS has been an example of how to mantain a self-governing rest stop for others in the area and around the state, said Joscelyn.

The program was originally approved by Eugene City Council (ECC) last December in response to the Whoville movement of 2014. The movement was “an unsanctioned tent sanctuary made up of mostly homeless and some housed people who are protesting for the right to sleep,” said Nightingale Public Advocacy Collective’s (NPAC) website.

“This will be a well-managed and safe place to help [NHS members] get to better places in their lives, ” said Sabra Marcroft, an NHS Steering Committee member.

NHS will now be on 0.5 acres, permitting a single occupancy of twenty individuals. Joscelyn said their community is responsible for moving their own belongings, with the support of volunteers.

However, the new lot is temporary. NHS can only legally remain on the lot for up to six months, said Marcroft.

NHS and city staff are still looking for more permanent housing for the group, utilizing the generous anonymous donation given for that purpose last year. This has been challenging with how many regulations are in place. These regulations include stricts codes about location in reference to schools and residential locations as well as the operations of utilities within the house, said Joscelyn.

“If anyone knows of any place, you’re greatly encouraged to contact us through Community Alliance of Lane County (CALC),” said Marcroft.

For more details, contact Mike Kinnison:
Michael.j.kinnison@ci.eugene.or.us
541-543-3884

Click here to support the NHS program

NHS on Facebook

Next year, tuition and fees at the University of Oregon will climb another 3.7 percent for in-state students and 3.8 percent for nonresidents. For many, this  means taking loans, asking parents for more money or working another job.

Not all students struggle. But for those who do, the work load can be enormous.

Here are stories of three undergraduates living every day with the realities of paying for their own educations – and what that cost has come to mean for them.

For all you upcoming graduates who aren’t prepared for the amount of times your mom’s friends from high school and annoying uncles are going to ask you what your post-grad plans are–the Emerald staff has put together a list of possible answers that are sure to prevent you from ever being bothered again.

• “Puttin’ in four more years.”
• “Probz hittin’ up Taylor’s for dollar beers.”
• “The best plan is no plan.”
• “I’m a free spirit, Imma do what I want!”
• “I’m freelancing for any paper.”
• “Travel the world for six months.”
• “What are yours?” and imply that they haven’t done anything with their lives.
• “I don’t know, when are you going to fix your roots?”
• “Well, I was really hoping to become a washed up soccer mom…So we’ll see how that goes.”
• “Rehab.” Then walk away.
• “Well, I sent some audition tapes to the Bachelor.”
• “I don’t have any.”
• “Your guess is as good as mine.”
• “My audition tape for Survivor is coming along. Who needs a job when you can get that cash?”
• “Going to backpack through Europe once I reach my goal on GoFundMe.”
• “Just waiting for my rap demo to blow up.”
• “Recreating every Game of Thrones episode with legos.”

They say yoga pants are sin. That if you don’t repent and accept Christ you’re going to hell. They demean women, gay and lesbian people, “fornucators,” and liberals. They’re not pleasant. “You’re not welcomed here!” one woman shouted at them on Wednesday. But, and though I vehemently disagree with their message, I’m here to tell you the bible thumpers, most notably “Brother Jed” and his crew, who visit our campus regularly to preach fire and brimstone are definitely welcome here.

“How can we tolerate this hate speech on our campus?” one seethingly irate woman yelled to a crowd which gathered at the EMU Amphitheater on Wednesday to watch Brother Jed and his antics. Well, the answer is twofold.

On one hand we tolerate it because hate speech in the United States is legal. Brother Jed and his buddies have every right to say what they want — regardless of its hateful content — on our campus or on any other public property.

On the other hand, we’re better than that. As members of the University of Oregon, we should know how to keep walking. Engaging Jed and other protesters, regardless of their message, is what they want. They want a scene and they want you to crack. Don’t let them eat at you. Agree to disagree and just keep walking. If you must stop and talk, do just that. Don’t stoop to their level of ad hominem attack. Don’t get emotional. Be civil. Be an adult. Demonstrate self control.

Truth is, the bible thumpers are exercising their right of freedom of speech. Sadly, in policy and in practice the University of Oregon has a history of failing to protect that right on our campus. In fact, our university has the lowest possible rating for protecting freedom of speech according to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

The way many students react to rhetoric they don’t like is appalling, childish, and mean, resembling the tactics of the bible thumpers themselves. If the university is to be the place it ought to be, a place where the open exchange of ideas, however controversial, remains sacred, then incoming president Michael Schill, ASUO president Helena Schlegel, and cultural groups on campus must affirm that all are welcome here and free speech will be upheld.

Gordon Friedman
Editor in Chief, Ethos Magazine

Far from home, Endalk Chala looks the part of a normal graduate student. A book bag, filled with papers to grade and assignments of his own hangs over his left shoulder and he wears a friendly and enthusiastic smile. But beyond his daily life at the University of Oregon, Chala is also an activist for his colleagues who sit in jail in Ethiopia. He’s a man seeking asylum, stuck in America. Check out his story here.