Mike Bookey

mike@tsweekly.com
Posted inCulture

Talent In Bloom: 2nd Street's bubbling cast brings life to Steel Magnolias

Full disclosure, this review is based on my experience sitting through a rehearsal performance of 2nd Street Theatre's Steel Magnolias, when there was still a
Mike Bookey

Full disclosure, this review is based on my experience sitting through a rehearsal performance of 2nd Street Theatre's Steel Magnolias, when there was still a whole week to go before the play was set to open, where a photographer buzzed around on stage for the first half an hour of the show, chasing the actors like persistent flies at a BBQ, and there was still ongoing discussion about how to hang the set curtains. Yet based on said performance I believe the audience at the play's opening night, and every night thereafter, are in for a treat to rival any of the desserts at Truvy's beauty parlor.

Posted inCulture

Went Phishin': My surprisingly normal weekend with America's most dedicated music fans

After some 36 hours encamped on a stretch of dusty Central Washington farmland dotted by Honey Buckets, make-shift Bloody Mary bars, rented RVs and taking
Mike Bookey

After some 36 hours encamped on a stretch of dusty Central Washington farmland dotted by Honey Buckets, make-shift Bloody Mary bars, rented RVs and taking in about 40 songs from one of rock music's most storied live bands, here is how I'll remember the Phish shows at the Gorge Amphitheater last weekend…
Winding through the gleeful horde at the allegedly sold-out second show on Saturday night is a man seemingly in his 40s with an at-least-12-foot fishing pole protruding from a complex and clearly self-made, harness-like apparatus around his chest. Dangling from about six feet of fishing line at the end of the pole is a Homer Simpson doll adorned somehow with flashing lights and as he walks, fans both viciously and joyfully bat the doll around. Now, the doll itself isn't that strange. What's intriguing is the fact that someone would A) go through the effort of creating this thing B) somehow get it though the ostensibly rigid security at the gate and C) willfully wear this intentionally annoying and spatially impractical apparatus around for four hours.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week 8/14-8/20

Helado Negro's debut album (or Roberto Carlos Lange latest project), Awe Owe, is a mix of traditionally structured songs sung and strummed by Lange,
Mike Bookey

Nershi-Law Duo
friday 14
Bill Nershi and Scott Law must love Bend, but really, who doesn't? Friday marks each of their second passes through Bend this year and we're not complaining. Nershi, of String Cheese Incident fame, teams up with Law for an intimate yet totally rocking night of flat-picking at Silver Moon. 9pm, Silver Moon Brewing Co., 24 NW Greenwood Ave., $10.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week 7/30-8/6

Hackensaw Boys thursday 30 The last time these pickin’ and grinnin’ fools (and we mean “fools” in the kindest way possible) came through town, it
Mike Bookey

Hackensaw
Boys
thursday 30
The last time these
pickin' and grinnin' fools (and we mean "fools" in the kindest way possible)
came through town, it was a bluegrass-fueled night of fun. This time, the
Charlottesville, Virginia-based band is paying us a visit on their way over to
Pickathon in Portland. 9pm. $8. Silver Moon Brewing Co. 24 NW Greenwood Ave.

72-Hour
Shoot Out

thursday 30
Hmm, what can you do
with three days? If you said, "Make a movie" you're probably already a
contestant in BendFilm's 72-Hour Shoot Out. This contest gives contestants only
72 hours to write, film and edit their films while competing against fellow
local moviemakers. Check out this event where you can see the final products in
McMenamins always-cozy theater. 6pm Thursday, Jul 30. McMenamins Old St.
Francis Theater, 700 NW Bond St. $3.

Empty Space
Orchestra
friday 31
You may have seen Empty
Space a few times in the past month, but now is your chance to see some ESO in
the "friscalating dusklight" at the Show Us Your Spokes concert series. 6:30pm.
Parrilla Grill, 635 NW 14th St. $3.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week 7/23-7/30

Mike Bookey

Too Short
thursday 23
No matter how you feel about this particular genre, we must reiterate the fact that a rap music legend is coming to Bend. His name, you ask? Too Short, the dude who pretty much invented the pimp image that so many other hip-hop artists have emulated over the years, including Snoop Dogg. This ain't his first rodeo in these parts either, he played here in 2004 and 2007. Also on the bill are Mistah Fab, Tha Jacka, Kenny Mack, Top Shelf, Mikey Vegaz, Double 00 & Koshir. Hosted By DJ Fatboy. All ages. 8pm. $24/adv, $29/door. Midtown Ballroom, 51 NW Greenwood Ave.
Bend Roots Fundraiser
thursday 23
Help raise money for this year's Bend Roots Revival. See the Liner Notes column for more info. 7:30pm. Tulen Center, 20 NW Greenwood Ave. $10 donation.

Posted inNews

If Not Here, Where?: Appeals continue, but talks are planned over the Shepherd’s House expansion

A sign still sits in the window, stating the shelter’s intention to add beds – which wouldn’t require any construction or expansion of the building.At
Mike Bookey

A sign still sits in the window, stating the shelter's intention to add beds – which wouldn't require any construction or expansion of the building.At a July 1 meeting of the Bend City Council, councilors, once again, were faced with the issue of expanding the number of beds at the Shepherd's House, a shelter and resource center for homeless men. They were asked if they'd like to hear an appeal on the subject that was filed by a collection of neighbors, business owners and spearheaded by a former Bend mayor, and quite predictably, the council, on advice of city staff, voted not to hear the appeal.

But this isn't the end - just this week, the city's decision was appealed to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA) for the third time, and the fight over adding 28 beds to the shelter (without any construction on the building) will continue, just as it's been doing for two and a half years. On one side is a shelter looking to give more men a roof over their heads and a chance to participate in an intensely organized program. The opposition is an array of individuals and organizations with varying opinions of the Shepherd's House united by a belief that more beds at the shelter will hurt the makeup of their community. At times, the dispute has gotten nasty and seemingly personal, creating a climate where productive dialogue seems impossible. But now, even with the decision still up in the air and another appeal to LUBA already filed, there might be a chance for progress in a dispute that for a while looked like it had no end in sight.

Posted inOutside

Weak Wood Derby

We almost didn’t tune into the Home Run Derby on Monday night because, well, ever since those stupid Congressmen almost made Mark McGwire cry on
Mike Bookey

We almost didn't tune into the Home Run Derby on Monday night because, well, ever since those stupid Congressmen almost made Mark McGwire cry on national TV, thus convincing everyone that steroids were somehow bad for baseball, what's the point?
But we did, however, watch the Derby - mainly because we wanted background for our pursuance of the argument that Ichiro would have beaten all of these jokers had he accepted the novelty-based invitation to compete. This was clearly a post-steroid Derby, as evidenced by the fact that Detroit's Brandon Inge didn't hit a single dinger and hometown favorite Albert Pujols (who looks pretty 'roidy, if you ask us) barely made it into the second round. The power outage was so blatantly boring at times that ESPN producers opted to show Prince Fielder's first-round, 11-homer performance on split screen while Chris Berman fumblruskied his way through a rambling interview with Pujols.

Posted inMusic

Keeping it Real: Reverend Peyton on wood, steel, CCR, country blues and his Big Damn Band

Mike Bookey

The pig plays bass….sometimes.The Reverend Peyton likes to keep it real, and not in the vague hip-hop sort of way.

As the namesake and leader of The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, a family collective that includes brother Jayme on drums and wife Breezy on washboard while he plays fingerstyle guitar, Peyton wears suspenders, a massive beard, claims that Credence Clearwater Revival is the greatest rock band of all time and shies away from much of the cutting-edge technology that surrounds today's music business. But his band's upbeat country blues has won over crowds at both punk clubs and hippie festivals over the past couple of years, and through endless months on the road, the rural Indiana pickers have kept it real.
"There's so much in this world that's fake and plastic, from margarine to social networking sites, it's all just really impersonal. I just like things that are made out of wood and steel, sweat and blood - that's what I'm all about," says Peyton in his baritone drawl, trucking through East Colorado as part of a tour that keeps them on the road through mid-September.
Still in their 20s but with a sound reminiscent of jam sessions on back porches built long before they were born, all the Peytons still live in Brown County, Indiana, a rural area that's home to 15,000 some residents, which includes several pickers. Of the area, Peyton jokes, "On the street we live on now, I think you have to have a five-string banjo to live there. It's a rule."

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week 7/16-7/23

Mike Bookey

Taarka

thursday 16

The folk-powered world music machine known as Taarka is back in town once again, this time rocking the upper confines of the Summit Saloon and Stage before crossing the mountains for the Northwest String Summit. Yes, it's that time of year again when all the NWSS bands stop off here in Bend to warm up (or warm down) for one of the West Coast's biggest acoustic music festivals. 8pm. The Summit Saloon & Stage, 125 NW Oregon Ave.
Anderson

friday 17
Read more about this electro, indie-pop band from the Netherlands in the On Stage column. Then you'll almost certainly want to hit up Backporch (which is suddenly a music venue on occasion) for this Postal Service-like duo. 7pm. Backporch Coffee Roasters, 1075 NW Newport Ave.

Posted inCulture

Freaks and Geeks (and Short Stories)

Mike Bookey

Misfits and Other Heroes
By Suzanne Burns
Dzanc Books
First off, we'll make no effort to hide the fact that local author Suzanne Burns is a contributor to this publication. You might remember her pieces on playing Bunco, traveling to Mitchell and you'll soon read about her experiences with psychics in an upcoming issue. But there's a good chance that your first exposure to Burns' writing came in the form of an excerpt of her quirky short story, "Tiny Ron," which took the top prize in the 2008 Source fiction contest.
Now, that short story - a woman's narrative of life married to the world's smallest man - appears in the aptly titled Misfits and Other Heroes, a collection of 14 short stories, all of which share the same whimsical quirkiness of "Tiny Ron." Throughout these stories, Burns weaves a collection of often-outlandish characters into fluid narratives that allow us to believe the tiny worlds she so meticulously creates. Each story is focused on wildly interesting characters, as evidenced by the soap opera star turned kidnapper in "Bittersweet" and the baking-obsessed copy editor in "Domestic Arts."

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