Things appeared momentarily bleak for Redmond’s Friends Bookshop. The city’s planned library remodel could have spelled the end for the cherished 1,000-square-foot used bookstore, located inside. First, construction meant the store would have had to temporarily shut down. Next, a drastically smaller space awaited upon the library’s eventual reopening. That meant the Friends of Redmond […]
Howard Leff
Posted inCulture
Pulp Friction
Hollywood-tinged dark comedy makes world premiere
Two sisters. One boyfriend. And a harrowing family dysfunction on full boil—one that’s growing ever hotter with each passing moment. Throw in a loaded .357 magnum and you have more than enough ingredients for a darkly comedic trip through Los Angeles’ already pressurized Hollywood Hills – where dreams go to die on all those narrow […]
Posted inCulture
Artwatch: Sarah More & Eva Ferrell
The Space Whisperer
Colors, patterns and Sarah More have a history together. Judging by her work, it’s probably not hard to guess that this week’s cover artist has a longtime interest in both. “As a kid,” she says, “I used to make these crazy abstract coloring pages for myself, which is not so different from what I do […]
Posted inCulture
Mind Your Music
Drumming class beats an unlikely path to inner peace
We’re three music students, in the middle of Bend, in the middle of Oregon, but our rhythm’s planted firmly in West Africa. To be more precise, we’re inside instructor David Visiko’s home studio, part of which is filled with exotic-looking drums. The three students, Linda Balsiger, Judy McAlpin and I, sit in a neat row […]
Posted inNews
April Anxiety
Oregon Ducks head to their first Final Four since ’39
Ten years after the Great Depression, deep into FDR’s second term, the University of Oregon Men’s Basketball team, which ran the somewhat novel (for the times) fast-break offense, wound up in the first-ever Final Four. They would go on to win the national championship – beating Ohio State, 46-33, on March 27, 1939. This was […]
Posted inCulture
Canada to Cascadia
Fashion designer taps into roots for inspiration
Alicia Renner started bonding with her natural surroundings almost immediately, by planting trees as a teenager in northern Alberta and British Columbia—generally known to the rest of us as the Canadian wilderness. As the trees grew, so did her dedication to creating fashion in the form of handmade clothes and accessories. Renner moved to Bend […]
Posted inSpecial Issues & Guides
Arts & Crafts
Brewing Up Beer Labels Takes Some Hard Work Too
Take a good look at your beer bottle. I mean, really get up in there. Now then, what do you see? Yes, we all know about the refreshing goodness inside. So positively rewarding, in fact, that beer has become virtual religion in these parts. We love our ales, pales, wheats, lagers, stouts, bitters, darks, lights, […]
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Guitar Gods
Two Old Hippies Add One Fantastic Showroom
Like most Americans, I flirted with playing guitar. I took a lot of lessons. Practiced my scales. Pretended I was Tom Petty at 2 a.m. in my living room. Standing there in socks, playing “Free Fallin,” following right along with Tom on my iPod. Transported to a dream state: on stage, 20,000 in attendance, supermodels […]
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Bed, Bath and Way Beyond
THE Hostel in Bend delivers lodging… and a social life
Monday Morning (12:30am: Karaoke) We’re singing—no, screaming—the iconic Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody” into a pair of microphones inside a crowded Bend bar featuring cheap beer, pool and, well, karaoke. There are four of us now, down from a high of seven earlier in the evening. Outsiders might think they’re looking at a bunch of longtime […]
Posted inCulture
Escape Artist
Tattoo removal expert can erase your troubled past
Katie Hester fixes mistakes—the ones that could derail your whole life. It’s one thing to make bad choices. But it’s a whole other matter to wind up in a tattoo parlor etching them permanently onto your skin. Hester, a Bend native who doubles as a licensed massage therapist at Earth Body Massage, works as a […]