Mike Bookey

mike@tsweekly.com
Posted inNews

The Big Lebowski Screening at the Tower Theatre is Sold Out

The first-ever Lebowski screening at the Tower Theatre in Bend is sold out.
Mike Bookey

This week’s issue of the Source features plenty of material on The Big Lebowski, including this essay in which I brazenly denounce anyone who doesn’t enjoy that film.
There’s been plenty of buzz about tomorrow (Saturday) night’s screening of the classic film, which is probably why it was recently announced that the screening is totally sold out.

Posted inOutside

A Celebration of Sub-Mediocrity: The Seahawks are proudly the worst team ever to make the NFL playoffs

The Seahawks are in the NFL playoffs, even though they’re pretty awful.
Mike Bookey

If you're a football fan from Seattle, Tacoma, Spokane, Sedro Wooley or, actually, anywhere in the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho or Alaska that constitute the Seahawk Nation*, you stood in front of your television on Sunday night and realized that the miserable season you'd endured with your Seattle Seahawks wasn't over. In fact, you celebrated the team's NFC West championship. Which means they're in the playoffs. And get to play a home game. With a 7-9 record.

Posted inMusic

Hip-Hop for Everyone: Champagne Champagne on why there's no such thing as “hipster hop”

Champagne Champagne is one of several Northwest acts redefining hip-hop.
Mike Bookey

Pearl Dragon has some time to talk, but not a ton of time. He's taking a lunch break from his job at a pawnshop in south Seattle, so he calls in and I answer. But I have no idea who he is at first, mostly because his tone is that of an old friend calling to see if I can meet up for a beer or watch his dog or something.

Posted inCulture

Why We Abide: Thoughts on The Big Lebowski before we watch it on the big screen

Somehow, The Big Lebowski has become one of the most important films of the past 20 years.
Mike Bookey

Without the Big Lebowski, I would have no knowledge of a White Russian, nor would I know how to make the drink, subsequently enjoy it and mix it every time I found myself in the rare presence of a self-serve bar equipped with vodka, Kahlua and cream. Without The Big Lebowski, I wouldn't remember anything about 1991 or the old-school Iraq War. Without The Big Lebowski, “The Man in Me” would not be one of my all-time favorite Bob Dylan songs. And without The Big Lebowski, the dances I perform in crowded bowling alleys after scoring a strike would be more moronic than ironic.

Posted inOutside

Holiday Bowling: If you don't watch college football games this Christmas, Santa is gonna be pissed

Mike Bookey

Guess what, kids? If you don't watch all the college football bowl games during the Christmas week/weekend, Santa knows, because he has an exclusive deal with ESPN that allows him to look back at you through your television set. And if Santa finds out you skipped, say, the Little Caesars Bowl because you thought it was something your cousin dreamed up when he was super high, he'll make sure you get nothing for Christmas. You'll also be forced to watch nothing but NASCAR until next year. Sorry. Them's the rules.
In the hopes of keeping you from enduring a Santa-enforced year of motor sports, (The guy can be a dick sometimes. Especially when he's been drinking, which is pretty much every night since the elves unionized over the summer.) here are some pointers to bring you up to speed on all the bowl games you better be watching this weekend.

Posted inMusic

I Get It Now: How the Reverend Horton Heat kept a sense of humor

Mike Bookey

The Reverend Horton Heat should, and probably is, best known for essentially creating a genre of their own by taking rockabilly sounds and layering them on top of an aggressive punk rock foundation. Some have called this “psychobilly,” which is about as ridiculous (albeit hilariously so) a genre classification as there is in popular music, but whatever you want to call it, it's hard to look past this band when inspecting the best live acts of the past three decades. These guys didn't invent the rockabilly sound, but they sure as hell made it more interesting.

Posted inOutside

Coaches Should Be Allowed to Tackle: What the Jets' coaching staff taught us this weekend

The Jets’ Sal Alosi may be suspended, but he’s probably the hero of NFL coaches everywhere.
Mike Bookey

If you've been as bored by this NFL season as I have, this past Sunday just may have been more entertaining than the first 14 weeks of the season combined. First, the collective disappointment in the Vikings' season and/or the functionality of Brett Farve's key body parts became so massive on Sunday morning that their home stadium was all like, “fuck this, I give up,” and collapsed.

Posted inMusic

Hop Aboard with the King of the Surf Guitar: Dick Dale comes to town, and you should buy his boat

Mike Bookey

The first thing I learned about Dick Dale came to me around the age of 12 on a school bus by way of a pair of headphones, the cord of which led to a since-forgotten contraption known as a Discman, which my friend kept on his person at all times. The sound coming through the wire was something like a laser beam shooting through the side of the Beach Boys station wagon. It was surf music, but there was no corniness or goofy hooks – it was all about pure, direct and astounding musicianship that sometimes didn't even sound like a guitar. By the time the bus got to school, I'd discovered a new guitar idol – one not named Hendrix.

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