Mike Bookey

mike@tsweekly.com
Posted inFood & Drink

Hotter Than Pancakes: Start planning now for local produce this summer

Mid-January probably seems like a strange time to bring up what you’re going to eat this summer. But if you were a farmer, growing your
Mike Bookey

Mid-January probably seems like a strange time to bring up what you’re going to eat this summer. But if you were a farmer, growing your own food, you bet you’d be thinking about it now. And if you want to buy into a local vegetable crop, now is the time to do your research and join a CSA.

CSAs (an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture) are a way for the food buying public to create a relationship with a local farm and to receive a weekly bag of produce, flowers, fruits, eggs, milk, meats, or combinations of different farm products during the growing season – typically late spring through early fall. By making a financial commitment to a farm, people loosely become “shareholders” – thus the term CSA share.

Posted inNews

Mr. Westlund Goes Back to Salem: Catching up with Oregon’s new state treasurer

Just days after Ben Westlund was sworn into office as state treasurer, we spent some time on the phone with the Tumalo resident and former
Mike Bookey

Just days after Ben Westlund was sworn into office as state treasurer, we spent some time on the phone with the Tumalo resident and former state legislator to see how he was settling in and what he had up his sleeve for the days and years to come as one of the state's three constitutional officers. Westlund, the first Central Oregonian to hold the office of treasurer, had already hit the ground running by the time we talked to him and here's what he had to say about his staff, healthcare and his decision to transform himself from a Republican to an Independent to now a Democrat.

Posted inOpinion

An Arrogant Mayoral Selection

Being mayor of Bend is no big deal. Rather than being elected by popular vote, the mayor is chosen by a vote of his or
Mike Bookey

Being mayor of Bend is no big deal. Rather than being elected by popular vote, the mayor is chosen by a vote of his or her fellow city councilors. And the position is largely honorific; the mayor chairs city council meetings, but aside from that has no powers beyond those of any other councilor.

So the City of Bend most likely will survive the selection of Kathie Eckman as its new mayor. Just the same, the choice is disturbing both because of the way it was made and because of what it says about the temperament of the new council majority.
Eckman was elected last November, along with Jeff Eager and Tom Greene, as part of a slate of candidates heavily bankrolled by the real estate and development lobby. She was picked as mayor on the strength of those three votes plus that of Chris Telfer, who immediately waved good-bye to the council to take up her new job as a state senator.

Posted inOpinion

The City Shuffle Parsing the council appointment, our snow blog, and the virgin auction

As noted in this week’s Boot former councilor and now state Sen. Chris Telfer (R) stuck around city hall just long enough to orchestrate the
Mike Bookey

As noted in this week's Boot former councilor and now state Sen. Chris Telfer (R) stuck around city hall just long enough to orchestrate the installation of her hand picked mayor, Kathie Eckman. After Eckman won on a "party line" vote over Mark Capell, Telfer packed her bags for Salem leaving the council to fill the two years remaining on her term.

And if the mayoral contest was any kind of litmus test, expect a divided council to narrowly appoint another person with strong ties to, or at least support from, the Bend Good Ol' Boys Club (i.e. the builders, realtors and Chamber lobby).
Upfront's money is on Don Leonard, a former planning commissioner who ran unsuccessfully in November against Jim Clinton. Leonard subsequently filed for the position opened by the sudden death of councilor and former mayor Bill Friedman. The council ultimately filled that seat with Jodie Barram, another planning commission vet, who lost a close contest to Jeff Eager in November.

Posted inCulture

Get Off My Lawn: Eastwood’s performance drives Gran Torino

Mike Bookey

I finish things. In Hollywood, there's following convention, defying convention, and
then there's Clint Eastwood, who created his own set of conventions,
and is now shredding them to pieces in the last decade of a career
spanning more than 50 years.

I'm required to say this whenever I
review an Eastwood film. That said, Gran Torino probably ranks in the
bottom half of Eastwood's past six or seven films, which is sort of
like saying Oprah isn't quite the richest woman in the world. And while
I've been tempted to conclude that his directorial outings fare better
without him in front of the camera, this film is Exhibit A in the case
to prove me wrong.

Posted inMusic

One for the Vault

Mike Bookey

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

Cardinology
Lost Highway Records
At 34 years old, Ryan Adams has achieved a good deal as a musician. From punk roots in a hot North Carolina music scene in the early '90's, he grew into an alt-country songwriter as a founding member of the renowned underground country band Whiskeytown.

Posted inCulture

Me and My Yoga: How an anti-exercise, reformed wreck of a man bends his body

Get down and give me a downward dog. If anyone had told me 10 or 20 years ago that I’d be doing yoga at
Mike Bookey

Get down and give me a downward dog. If anyone had told me 10 or 20 years ago that I'd be doing yoga at this
point in my life, I would've told them to f**k off. After a lifetime of
self-inflicted physical and mental abuse with my old friends, drugs and
alcohol, I had always subscribed to the belief that I needed a quick
fix, no therapy, and definitely not any form of exercise whatsoever.

But
then after being clean and sober for almost 10 years, I decided to give
it a try. The fact that my girlfriend is a yoga instructor at Namaspa
in the Tulen Center didn't hurt either. I finally gave into the dreaded
pretzel twisting regime to stop hearing her ask (every five minutes),
"When are you going to try my class?" Seriously, what did I have to
lose except maybe a few bad thoughts and a coupla unwanted and
unsightly pounds? I began by participating in an introductory workshop.
When I strutted in wearing my yoga shorts, carrying my new mat and
sporting my sweatband/headdress/bandana, I was approached by my
classmates as somewhat of a swami. The first question, "how long have
you been practicing?" and my response, "umm about two days" put an end
to any looks of admiration.

Posted inCulture

Back to the Drawing Board: The Spirit falters in Sin City’s limelight

Mike Bookey

So why do they call you the gay blade?There's something extremely vapid about The Spirit and I don't mean the
character-the movie. Sure there are big guns, pummeling, wisecracking
and tons o' cleavage but the acting is wooden and stiff. The characters
all seem soulless, leaving the audience no reason to care about any of
them.

This work pays homage to the work and genius of comic book
writer Will Eisner. Director Frank Miller gives Spirit his Sin City
treatment-color highlighting the black and white tone, a constant weird
sepia look, manic silhouettes, and white blood. You'll leave the
theater with memories of these images, but the slick stylizing of Sin
City just doesn't gel. There are some really funny lines, some
over-the-top scenes, but overall it's too arty for its own good. All
flash and no heat.

Posted inCulture

A Religious Experience: Streep and Hoffman put on acting clinic in Doubt

Mike Bookey

A bee in her bonnet. There is a line in Good Will Hunting that could be paraphrased thusly:
"Only a handful of people can tell the difference between how good we
are." And when it comes to acting, there are probably only a handful of
people who can tell the difference between the best performance ever,
and the performances by Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt.

I could go on and on about the plot of Doubt,
the meditation on religion in general and the Catholic Church in
particular, as well as its relevance to the clergy molestation scandals
today. I could talk about the script, the play from which it's based
(written by John Patrick Shanley, who also directed this film), and the
superb set design that gives the movie its frigid, eerie feel.

Posted inCulture

Getting Behind the Camera

Annie Leibovitz is, of course, a photographer, not a writer. That’s why her new book, At Work, might surprise some who crack the 240-page hardcover
Mike Bookey

Annie Leibovitz is, of course, a photographer, not a writer. That's why her new book, At Work, might surprise some who crack the 240-page hardcover and find that the vast majority of the pages are covered in black type, not the iconic images the esteemed American photographer has captured over her 40-year career.

Fear not, there are plenty of photos to behold in the book. But this isn't a coffee table book, rather a platform for Leibovitz to tell the stories behind the photographs she's taken over the years. At Work provides priceless tales of Leibovitz's work with some of the most well-known individuals in the world - ranging from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Queen Elizabeth, and damn near every major rock star you can think of.

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