Nappy Roots came into hip-hop at the perfect time. It was the late ’90s and if you were in a Southern hip-hop crew, it was almost impossible to get radio play outside of the South, with mixtapes being the primary outlet most groups had to get their sound out. Then, in the early 2000s, artists […]
Jared Rasic
Film critic and author of food, arts and culture stories for the Source Weekly since 2010.
Posted inCulture
Film Events 10/7-10/14
BendFilm Festival With one of the finest programs in its history, BendFilm is coming out swinging, not content to be just the premiere festival of Central Oregon, but of the entire Northwest. Some highlights this year include Breaking A Monster (a doc that will have the entire theater cheering), Astraea (a science fiction film that […]
Posted inCulture
Space Damon
Or how I stopped worrying and learned to grow poo-tatoes
The Martian will be compared a lot to 2013’s Gravity. Mostly because both films focus on a single person fighting back against overwhelming odds in an environment that wants to destroy them (the vacuum of space in Gravity and the surface of Mars in The Martian), but the films have one major difference: The Martian […]
Posted inCulture
Sophomore Swagger
BendFilm 2015 takes it to the next level
Just as a band’s sophomore album tends to be among its best, so too is the second year of the BendFilm Festival under Director Todd Looby gearing up to be one of the fest’s best. From the quality and quantity of the films—we’re talking about hundreds more submissions than last year, and of exponentially greater […]
Posted inCulture
Street Pop Maestro
An artist profile of Matthew Nicolau
Matthew Nicolau has a brilliance only an unpredictable life can produce. His work in multimedia confounds the armchair art critic because there is so much to gain from it. There are so many layers to each piece that they become impossible to unpack on the first few viewings. “For me, making art is not an […]
Posted inCulture
Riding On Mustangs with Boys
Unbranded documents an incredible journey
Unbranded is a documentary with a lot on its mind. On the surface level, it is an adventure about a group of young cowboys who train some mustangs and then ride them from the Mexican to the Canadian border. While their journey is an intense and fascinating one, the film also wants to shed light […]
Posted inCulture
Life of Crime
Black Mass almost makes it
Black Mass tells the true-life story of James “Whitey” Bulger as he transforms from a small-time crook to the crime kingpin of South Boston. It also tells the story of one of Bulger’s friends growing up, John Connolly, and his return to South Boston as a mid-level FBI agent. Their relationship makes up the bulk […]
Posted inCulture
Film Events 9/30-9/7
Wild and Scenic Film Festival The Oregon Natural Desert Association’s eighth annual Wild and Scenic Film Festival has arrived. The festival presents an evening of short films showcasing the natural wonders we can take for granted in our busy lives. While also having films highlighting athleticism, bravery, courage, and activism, the festival truly has something […]
Posted inMusic
Surrealistic Fellows
Hot Tuna sings the blues
Hot Tuna could easily be described as legendary, but the often-overused word hardly contains what Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady have meant to music over the last half-century. As members of Jefferson Airplane, with Kaukonen on lead guitar and Casady on bass, they helped define psychedelic rock—a definition that hasn’t changed much since its inception. […]
Posted inNews
Indulgences on a Budget
Treat yourself…realistically.
To indulge oneself doesn’t always have to break the bank. Some of the greatest pleasures in life are reasonably priced or even cheaper than that. Here are ten things that cost between absolutely nothing and $165.00 that can either be purchased locally or from Etsy that I (somewhat) guarantee will make your life better (for […]