Video and Pictures from Friday’s Cross Nat’s Blow Out Bash at Midtown
I’d been looking forward to seeing The Sprockettes, the all-girl mini bike dance troupe from Portland, since I found out they were booked for this show back in October. Sadly they bailed, afraid that freezing rain on the overpass would keep them stuck in Bend.
Cross Nats-Bend at its best
If there was ever any doubt that Bend can host and be party to a great sports event, it was laid to rest on Sunday at the U.S.
Quakes Rattle Newberry Geothermal Hopes
Could earthquakes in Switzerland throw a geothermal energy project in Central Oregon’s Newberry Crater area off the rails? About a month ago AltaRock Energy got a $25 million grant (on top of an earlier $36 million) from the US Department of Energy toward development of a plant that will produce power by tapping natural heat deep…
Merkley Might Be a Health Care Holdout
Senate Democrats are hopeful they have a filibuster-proof majority in favor of a health care reform package that would offer Medicare to people as young as 55 – but Jeff Merkley could throw a monkey wrench into the works. Oregon's junior senator told Huffington Post blogger Sam Stein that the bill in its present form…
Video From Today’s Cyclocross Nationals Action
We just got back from the Old Mill District, which has been taken over by the USA Cyclocross National Championships. The course is still largely covered with snow, but it’s warming up just enough to get a bit muddy — which is actually good for a cross race.
The Dirty Words Want You in Their Music Video
Music videos aren’t dead, even if the cable channel that essentially created the format no longer airs them (or at least not when anyone is awake or home). Case in point: Bend’s own Dirty Words are in the midst of creating their first music video for their song, “Damn Jacket.
Get on the Duck Bus: Ride along with Duck fans to one of the biggest Civil War games ever
It's 9:38pm on Thursday, December 3 and I see fireworks, literally. I am sitting on a bus packed full of Ducks and a handful of Beavers destined for Bend. The woman in the seat ahead of me is drinking from a mini-bottle of champagne. Autzen Stadium is alive with celebration as the University of Oregon…
Book Review: Chronic City By Jonathan Lethem
West Coasters might not be drawn to a novel that takes place exclusively on Manhattan, well actually a specific part of the island, but what if this Manhattan isn't the real Manhattan? That's essentially what Jonathan Lethem has done with Chronic City. The book is strangely fantastical, taking place in Lethem's custom-crafted Manhattan – a…
X-miss : Or what I miss about solstice
In the US recycling is a cool thing & communities brag about 40-50 % involvement. Here nothing makes it to the dump (if there is one) exceptstuff that can be composted. Forget things like metal, glass or wood, even plastic is picked up before the city trash collectors get to it. The city trash collectors…
Please Pity Peter Rabbit: Understanding the cottontail rabbit
If there is one poor little guy that's on the short end of just about everyone's shopping list who eats meat, it's the cottontail rabbit, or as children's book author and illustrator Beatrix Potter called it, “Peter Rabbit.” Perhaps the animal that depends on poor little Peter for food in our parts is the great…
Baring Bad News: The Messenger explores the tragedies of war from the home front
Here is a good idea for a movie: After serving his stint on the Iraq frontline, an American soldier is assigned to work in casualty notification and alongside a struggling alcoholic partner he appears on the doorstep of the mothers, fathers and spouses of the dead to offer the apologies of the Secretary of the…
The Evil That Security Guards Do: Explosive tough-guy movie fizzles into bland familiar territory in Armored
Judging from the previews, Armored looked destined to deliver high-octane thrills. Instead, we're handed a weakly written and simple-minded heist movie that wants us to believe it's a character study. The intro begins with sad tremolo guitar that attempts to induce despair and sincerity, trying to resemble “indie cool” and something heavier than it is.…
Ashland's Silly Tree Kerfuffle
The Wandering Eye is as liberal as the next guy – probably more so – but when liberals get on their self-righteous political correctness kick, they frankly give me a pain in the ass. Down in Ashland, also known as the Berkeley of Southern Oregon, a fracas erupted this holiday season over whether an evergreen…
The Joy of Cooking: A taste of Tuscany with Sbandati spirit
Everything about chef Juri Sbandati makes an impression, from his flaming red chef coat and playful demeanor to his enormous talent in the kitchen. After years working as a private chef and caterer in and around Central Oregon, it's no wonder that his new restaurant, Trattoria Sbandati, opened with a built-in following. Not only is…
The Joy of Cooking: A taste of Tuscany with Sbandati spirit
Everything about chef Juri Sbandati makes an impression, from his flaming red chef coat and playful demeanor to his enormous talent in the kitchen. After years working as a private chef and caterer in and around Central Oregon, it's no wonder that his new restaurant, Trattoria Sbandati, opened with a built-in following. Not only is…
The Identity Crisis: Your stereotypical drinker
I am often asked if you can tell a person by what they drink, and of course I can.
Rum and Coke? You're laid back and uncreative. You aren't worried about drinking caffeine and sugar until 2 a.m. and you don't care much for ambiance. You usually hang out with one other friend and you'd…
No Jingle Bells: But Aaron Meyer plays plenty of other snowy material at his big holiday show
There is a radio station in town – I won't hint as to where it resides on the FM dial – that has devoted itself to playing Christmas music around the clock. And “around the clock” is not being used figuratively here. If you wake up at 3:18am to take a leak, you can flip…
A Subtle Step Forward: Erin Cole-Baker
Erin Cole-Baker Talon and Spur
Erin Cole-Baker has earned her stripes in Bend's local music scene. As one half of The Erins, Cole-Baker displayed strong songwriting capabilities and an ability to fit in well with different folk styles. Now, with her solo release Talon and Spur, we hear what seems like a matured songwriter whose…
Our Picks for 12/9 – 12/17: Aaron Meyer, Cross Nats Blow-Out Bash and more
Aaron Meyer Holiday Concert friday 11 How often do you get to see holiday concerts by a “rock violinist?” This is actually the first time the esteemed Aaron Meyer, one of the Northwest's most well-known players, has performed his holiday show in Bend. Turn to page 23 for more. $25. Tickets at www.bendticket.com. 7pm. Old…
Who's Afraid Of The Family Farmer?: The Oregon Farm Bureau decides to shoot first at a sustainable farming group in Deschutes County
Kendra Kimbirauskas spent a good chunk of her childhood on a working farm in her home state of Michigan. The farming bug stuck with her. She now has roughly 100 chickens and goats that she and her husband raise for meat and dairy at her rural home in the small town of Colton about 60…
A Touching Fairy Tale About Taxes
Like all good politicians, the late Ronald Reagan understood that the best way to drive a message home to people was not with dry statistics but with stories – anecdotes about ordinary folks like themselves. (Some of Reagan's stories were true and others were not, but that wasn't the point; the point was they were…
Bowl Me Over: Copenhagen climate change, Tiger's troubles and the BS in the BCS
The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, convincing attendees that everything's fine, no need to worry, and that President Obama isn't really president, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
No wonder our credit…
Winter Weather Banter
Unless you're stranded in a woodstove-heated cabin outside Sisters you've probably had the chance to gather that the only acceptable topic of conversation over the past few days in Bend is the weather, or specifically the temperature. (It got really cold, dontcha know?) This is more evidence that, despite our traction tires and abundant mountain…
Embrace The (Cyclo) Cross
As many of you are already aware, the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships will take place in Bend's Old Mill District and on the grounds of Deschutes Brewery from December 10-13. In addition to the races themselves, a weeklong celebration of cycling has been planned, featuring art exhibits, parties, film premiers and more taking place…
Let's Eat Local
Why is it that in a state like Oregon that has its own personal fertile crescent of agriculture in the Willamette Valley that we in Bend are stuck shelling out money in our local and chain markets to buy produce from all over the country, and yes, all over the world. I walked into Safeway…
Obama The Stonewaller
We were informed some time ago that President Obama, or should I say “Stonewall” Obama, said in 1996 that: “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.” But, during his 2004 U.S. Senate bid, he cited his Christian faiths as grounds for his belief that marriage is between a man…
