With so much natural wonder and countless outdoor opportunities, it can be easy to forget that Central Oregon is also a location for heartbreak. Warm Springs Reservation is a stark reminder of that contrast; stunningly beautiful, but with nearly half of its population living in poverty and unemployment rates up to seven times those of the rest […]
Phil Busse
Phil Busse has done his tour of duty with alt-weeklies, starting in 1992 right after graduation from Middlebury College as the first environmental beat reporter for San Francisco Weekly. After a brief detour through the University of Oregon School of Law, Phil returned to writing as the first Managing Editor for Portland Mercury. In 2006, he started the Media Institute for Social Change in Portland, through which he continues to host a summer program teaching college students to produce documentaries.
Until he was 25 or so, Phil thought that he would be a spy, and took scuba lessons to prepare, and learned to drive a motorcycle and an 18-wheeler. Perhaps, then, it is unsurprising that his favorite holiday is the Fourth of July (he loves blowing stuff up). He feels at home with Joseph Conrad's fictional characters.
Posted inFood & Drink
Parked Between Rich and Spicy
There’s a new barbecue sheriff in town
Broken Top BBQ has ruined my summer. Or, more precisely: The addition of the food cart, Broken Top BBQ along NW Colorado, threatens to ruin my perfect bikini body. I mean, true story, eating a strawberry and spinach salad for a lunch simply is not as satisfying when I know that mounds of brisket and […]
Posted inNews
Rogue Wave
Comments by Mayor Clinton bring back Mirror Pond discussion—at least for the time-being
If plotted out, the conversation about what to do about Mirror Pond would probably look something like a wave in the ocean—a community discussion that gathers momentum when one public official or another offers his opinion about whether to maintain the Newport Street Dam, but then quickly crests and dissipates. In May, the conversation about […]
Posted inOutside
Climbing Past Stereotypes
A local teen is set to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro
When Eli Reimer reached basecamp at Mount Everest, he was perhaps more excited about his reward—Lay’s barbecue chips—than completing his climb and, more broadly, about his remarkable accomplishment as the first American with Down Syndrome to reach that altitude. “He took it in stride,” says Eli’s dad, Justin Reimer, about his son’s achievement in March […]
Posted inNews
Cancer…WTF? (a fundraiser you should go to)
Silver Moon Brewing is hosting a fundraiser this evening to benefit Bend Relay for Life/American Cancer Society. With live music from Parlour (folksy, bluegrassy band) and a silent auction, the event is free to the public with donations kindly accepted (meaning, if you’re going to buy a $5 pint of beer, don’t be so self-center to not give $5 to fight […]
Posted inNews
PICK: Elks Baseball
BASEBALL—This year, the Elks are like a springboard to the major leagues. And what is more American that big-league success, baseball and hot dogs? That’s right: Nothing! (Except maybe apple pie, Cameros and George Clooney.) This evening’s game against Tacoma Buckeyes will leave you in perfect view of fireworks from Pilot Butte.6:35 pm. 401 SE […]
Posted inNews
PICK: Pet Parade
Fri July 4PET PARADE—When Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, it is doubtful he imagined a country as wonderful as one that allows all creatures great and small (and tied to balloons) to march together with such glee—or, even could have forecast the joy of three-legged races and watermelon eating contests. 10 am. Pet […]
Posted inNews
Recommended Movies This Week/end
Playing at Tin Pan is not really a summer comedy, but an excellent scifi film, Snowpiercer, which our film reviewer Erik Hendrickson calls director Bon Joo-ho’s best film yet. A pretty big statement. More sporty is Pantani: The Accidental Death of a Cyclist screening, an intense documentary chronicles the rise and fall of one of […]
Posted inNews
PICK: Steely Dan
Steely Dan STONER MUSIC—Throughout the early 70s, Steely Dan found the perfect easy-going vibe for a paradoxical era, a confusing yet oddly laidback time. Forty years later, the band still smoothly blends urban funkiness with crunchy guitar chords, smooth jazz piano and languid cymbals with no-nonsense, street talking storytelling lyrics. (And, little bit of trivia: […]
Posted inNews
The Boot: When Corporations Took Over
Three years ago, in mid-September, dozens of protestors, upset about economic inequalities, stalked out a park near Wall Street in Manhattan. Over the next three weeks, similar “occupy” protests sprung up from coast to coast, entrenching the concept of “the 1%” in the mentality of Americans—or, less colloquially, that a minute portion of Americans holds […]
