Mike Bookey, Author at The Source - Bend, Oregon

Celebrate 10 Years of 2nd Street and Get Distracted at CTC

Curtain Call peeks behind the curtain to see what’s coming up in Bend’s theater scene.

Mike BookeyApril 20, 2011April 12, 2025

“We're Still Here”
The 2nd Street Theater is letting the creative community in Central Oregon know that it's still very much around with its 10th anniversary party on Friday and Saturday nights, April 29 and 30, aptly dubbed “We're Still Here.” The theater has gone through some changes over the past couple of years, including the dissolution of its in-house production company, but that isn't to say the midtown-area playhouse has gone quiet. In fact, the 2nd Street continues to host innovative theatrical presentations, including the Halloween run of Evil Dead: The Musical and the plays of local writer Cricket Daniel.

Music

The Lonely Wild – Dead End

You Me & Iowa’s Andrew Carroll’s new project The Lonely Wild release adventurous debut with Dead End.

Mike BookeyApril 20, 2011January 4, 2023

Sometimes your favorite bands break up too early. And sometimes the members of those bands go on to other projects, other bands and make other albums. And you're likely disappointed. Then there's Andrew Carroll, whose delectably poppy indie-rock band, You Me & Iowa, parted ways two years ago, despite a pair of solid, sonically advanced LPs, leaving him out on his own for the first time in six years.

Special Issues & Guides

Don't Waste Beer: Make Soap Out of It

“This beer is so good, I wish I could bathe in it.”

Mike BookeyApril 15, 2011December 31, 2023

“This beer is so good, I wish I could bathe in it.”
You may have actually heard someone on the barstool next to you say this. I know I have. Now, with the help of retired schoolteacher Leslie Colvin, those people can make good on that claim with LeCol's Soap Bars.
Colvin, who has been making soaps since she retired four years ago, met with the folks at Boneyard Beer and realized that she could use their brews in her soaps. Now, she has made soaps from the brewery's Girl Beer, Femme Fatale and Black 13 brews, and has them available for sale at Boneyard's midtown tasting room.

Special Issues & Guides

Bar on Wheels: The Cycle Pub of Bend makes you work for your beer

To book a spot on the Cycle Pub of Bend, visit cyclepub.com or call 541-678-5051.

Mike BookeyApril 14, 2011July 22, 2024

Two weeks ago, at the April edition of the First Friday art walk, you could hear an approaching roar coming down the street. People on the sidewalk stopped as what appeared to be some sort of old-timey boat on wheels rolled down the crowded streets. At first, it looked like a bus. But as it approached, you could see the pumping thighs of passengers as they waved joyously to those not lucky enough to have secured a seat on what turned out to be the Cycle Pub of Bend. It looked like a hell of a lot of fun, not to mention an Earth-friendly way to tour Bend's breweries.

Outside

You Were Right: Congrats to the UConn basketball fan who called and threatened me with violence

Mike BookeyApril 6, 2011April 7, 2024

There are two things you can be sure of when you begin penning a sports column, even if most of what you write, like in this column, is intentionally childish, mostly ridiculous and deep-fried in sarcasm. The first thing is, a few people will really like what you write, and maybe a few of them will tell you so. Secondly, a few people will really not like what you're writing and all of them will tell you about it.
For example, here's what happened on Thursday:
First the phone rang in our office, as it does at least 10 times a day. Then, someone told me I had a call. I answered jovially, because that's how I greet the people kind enough to call me.

Culture

Of Ink and Paint: Mike Toth's downtown gallery brings fine art and tattoo together

The smell of fresh paint still leaks from the walls and possibly from some of the pieces that have recently taken a spot on the wall of the Toth Art Collective.

Mike BookeyApril 6, 2011June 24, 2024

The smell of fresh paint still leaks from the walls and possibly from some of the pieces that have recently taken a spot on the wall of the Toth Art Collective. The space is new – and it looks new. Everything is immaculately clean, the paintings perfectly spaced and illuminated, but what's really new about the place is the edgy and sometimes dark style of the pieces. Something you don't always see on your monthly First Friday art walk.
In a downtown Bend once dominated by art spaces specializing in scenic landscapes, the Toth Art Collective, featuring the paintings of its namesake, Mike Toth, and other regional and local artists, happens to be one of the largest and most elegant places to see art in the area. But here's the thing – the space is also an incredibly popular tattoo studio.

Special Issues & Guides

Style of the Stylish: Alicia Renner

Spring Arts and Style profile on Alicia Renner.

Mike BookeyMarch 31, 2011July 11, 2025

Packed into her tiny workspace in the rear of the PoetHouse Art space in downtown Bend, Alicia Renner has a rack full of clothing she's recently completed. To her, it's art, but art that you can wear.

“Some people can make things that look like you can buy them in any store, but I like to add some originality to what I do,” says the 21-year-old Renner, who grew up in the wilds of Canada, outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario. She still gets back to Canada frequently, having previously spent the summers planting trees in the forests and also lived in Toronto last fall.

Special Issues & Guides

New Mom, New Painter: Sarah Hubbard

Springs Arts & Style profile of artist Sarah Hubbard.

Mike BookeyMarch 31, 2011June 30, 2024

Looking at her work and knowing how quickly it's been selling off the walls of local stores and galleries, you'd likely never guess that Sarah Hubbard once almost failed a high school art class.
“Yeah, I know, how do you fail an art class? I guess I was always into artistic stuff, but not really into painting yet. But I think I talked my way into a passing grade,” says Hubbard, swaying back and forth in her kitchen with her five-month-old daughter, Elsie (pictured with Sarah), snuggling up to her chest, eyes still watery from her nap.

Outside

“Small” Basketball in the Big Time: Don't think Butler vs. VCU in the Final Four is the greatest thing in sports history? Well, you're kind of a jerk

Mike BookeyMarch 30, 2011March 22, 2023

For all of you who started paying attention to college basketball sometime at the end of February and are getting all pissy because there are two teams from outside the sacred circle of the BCS fraternity in the Final Four, you really need to shut up. Stop calling into sports talk radio shows (no one listens to that stuff anymore), don't bitch about your bracket in public (everyone is screwed, so don't act so special) and if it's that damn hard for you to believe that both Butler and Virginia Commonwealth universities are in the Final Four, you shouldn't be watching college basketball.

Culture

Art on the Hill: Bill Hoppe on a decade of art on the campus of COCC

Mike BookeyMarch 30, 2011January 26, 2025

It's the first day of the spring term and Bill Hoppe's office on the bottom floor of Central Oregon Community College's Pence Hall is nearly as messy as the construction that's snarling uphill traffic on the expansive campus. Files and papers cover most of his desktop and there's little floor space not occupied by boxes of artwork and stacks of other framed pieces of art. The office's disarray isn't off-putting, but rather inspirational – like it's overflowing with creativity.
Hoppe has been teaching at the college as an associate professor of art for more than 10 years now and recently staged a show at the school's library that featured pieces from his decade at COCC. He's a painter who, before coming to Bend, made his living as a studio artist and he continues to create his own pieces during the summer. But during the school year, Hoppe devotes much of his attention to his students and in the process has added another segment, albeit often ignored, to the Bend art scene with ongoing shows and exhibits up at the college's Pence Gallery in the Pickney Arts Center.

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