Airbnb is popular in Bend. The service, which allows people to find unique accommodations around the world, recently named Bend one of the Top 10 most hospitable cities in the U.S. Airbnb has also caused the city to raise an eyebrow on who may be paying their portion of the 9 percent transient room tax […]
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 inNews
Can Art Save Our Children?
Can Art Save Our Children?
It is 9 am sharp, and a pint-size teenager, barely larger than the Liberty Bell she approaches, grabs a rope and begins tugging. The bell rings out three times into the cloudy morning, and the remote woods just past Suttle Lake, which were still and quiet just five minutes ago are transformed by a chattering […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Thai
Noi
Oh, Noi, you had me at “Swimming Rama.” My one lunch routine is that I order Noi’s Swimming Rama at least once a workweek. So simple, yet elegant. Really, just four ingredients: Spinach softened by a quick sauté, coconut steamed rice, tender slabs of chicken and, oh the coup d’état, a creamy, rich peanut sauce […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Bakery
Sparrow
Each day, Sparrow sends out dozens of its ambassadors around the city—the swirling “ocean rolls,” toasty buttery coils that hold an addictive sprinkling of cardamom. Because cardamom—a distinctive, bigger, bolder nutmeg-like flavor—is foolishly underused in dishes and baking, these ocean rolls are both exotic and memorable. (Really, though, comparing nutmeg to cardamom is like saying […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Brewery
10 Barrel
Is it the beer or the atmosphere that our readers like so much? There is no way for us to know the nuances about why you-all voted 10 Barrel the coveted Best Brewery award, but what we do know is that Bend is fortunate to have this relatively new addition—a brewery that distinguishes itself not […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Most Reasonable Compromise:
Noise Ordinance
With so many examples of how politics can be a divisive sport, where there is inevitably a winner and a loser, the resolution concerning the city’s noise ordinance is prime win-win example. Well played, city council, well played! Over the past year, the question of when venues can host live music and how loud the […]
Posted inBest Of Central Oregon
Best Fine Dining & Best Service
Zydeco
Not surprisingly “fine dining” and “great service” go hand in glove. And, not surprisingly, Zydeco was chosen by our readers for both categories. Open and airy, with simple, clean and confident décor, Zydeco imports the best of big-city attitude to the High Desert—the coolness of an LA restaurant, the sly sass of a San Francisco […]
Posted inCulture
A Film That Almost Wasn’t
What would the world be without Dirty Dancing?
Nobody puts baby in a corner! The same can be said for the actual film “Dirty Dancing,” which was never intended—or remotely expected—to be a blockbuster cultural icon. Yet, the movie introduced a new term to the world, grandly mirrored the same loss-of-innocence of one Jewish-American girl to that of America in 1963, had a […]
Posted inCulture
Zero Dark and Troubling
Dirty Wars tells the real story
The common refrain is that investigative journalism is a dying industry; that the time and painstakingly meticulous detective work necessary to uncover politicians’ dark secrets are rare commodities in today’s rush-rush media world as Remington typewriters. But Jeremy Scahill, the national security correspondent for The Nation, gives hope that the likes of Nellie Bly, Bob […]
Posted inMusic
A Gumbo of Swamp Sounds
Cedric Watson wraps up summer series
Yes, it is cliché to describe something from Southern Louisiana as “gumbo,” but it is also so, so apt. Gumbo, if I must explain, is a spicy stew made with seafood, meat, celery, onions and other root vegetables. Most important are the bitter okra leaves that draw together the dish. Likewise, Cedric Watson, an East […]
