Culture Features
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I Heard It In The Desert: A new book compiles the best of the late Jim Witty's literary wanderings

A new book compiles the best of the late Jim Witty's literary wanderings.
Eric Flowers

The well-loved local journalist Jim Witty wasn't the kind of guy to go through life with a lot of regrets, but when Jim died at age 50 of a heart attack in his home, he left behind one piece of unfinished business – a yet-to-be-completed compilation of his fine work cataloging his decade of trekking around Central and Eastern Oregon's wide open spaces. As his many local readers recall, he chronicled his deliberate wanderings in his weekly Outings columns for The Bulletin where Jim had worked as a journalist and feature writer up until his unexpected death. The pieces were delivered in Jim's signature laid-back, lyrical style but also filled with his keen observations about the natural world around him and sprinkled with colorful histories.

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A Giant Rabbit, a Final Curtain: 2nd Street Theater closes down with a spirited take on Harvey

2nd Street Theater closes down with a spirited take on Harvey.
Suzanne Burns

Brian Johnson, director of 2nd Street Theater's last official production, Harvey, rallied his cast at the beginning of a recent dress rehearsal. He joked, “You should all feel honored and dismissed,” at being the final play before the theater closes.
In true “the show must go on” form, owner and artistic director Maralyn Thoma remains optimistic. She spoke of her love of the theater, the cast, the community, while lamenting the inability to finance the business during times when shows aren't playing. Others have shown interest in the space and Thoma sounds confident the theater will continue in new incarnations.

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Our Picks for 11/25 – 12/3: Toys for Tots, Hillstomp, Chicks with Picks and more

What to do in Central Oregon the week of 11/25-12/3.
Source Weekly

Toys for Tots featuring Ruckus
friday – saturday 27 & 28
Local rock band Ruckus is playing this two-night engagement at the Riverhouse to benefit the Toys for Tots program. They're asking you to bring new and unwrapped toys or canned food to the shows that you can deposit before rocking out to one of Central Oregon's longtime local bar bands. 9pm. Crossings Lounge at the Riverhouse. 3075 N. Highway 97. 389-3111
Hillstomp, Larry and His Flask
friday 27
For the second year running, Portland's Hillstomp is coming to town to help you shake off the Thanksgiving gravy hangover with what we guarantee to be a raucous show. Hillstomp, as many locals know, combines north Mississippi style blues with a punk rock ethos that they deliver care of wicked slide guitar, junkyard drums and CB-radio-style vocals, and Bendites tend to freak out for these guys. Opening the show is Central Oregon's own Larry and His Flask, home for the holiday before venturing out on yet another West Coast Tour. 9pm doors, 9:30pm show. $8. All ages, bar w/ID. Domino Room, 51 NW Greenwood Ave.

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Our Picks for 11/18 – 11/26: Moon Mountain Ramblers, Too Slim and the Taildraggers, The Ascetic Junkies, GWAR, Renegade Rollergirls

What to do in Central Oregon 11/18 – 11/26.
Source Weekly

Moon Mountain Ramblers
friday 20
It seems that most recent Moon Mountain Ramlers shows are connected with some sort of holiday extravaganza… their Labor Day weekend festival, the recent Halloween Hoedown, and of course their New Year's Eve show next month. But sometimes it's nice to just see a normal Ramblers show in a normal packed bar. Not too much to ask, right? $7. 9pm. Silver Moon Brewing Co., 24 NW Greenwood Ave.
Too Slim and the Taildraggers
friday 20
This Seattle-based rock quartet is fronted by Tim “Too Slim” Langford and offers a tear-down-the-house mix of blues, rock, country and much more. Check out the band's new record, Free Your Mind. $13/adv, $15/door. 8pm. The Annex, 51 NW Greenwood Ave.

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Vandal Art: Learning the non-criminal version of graffiti

Learning the art of graffiti, without breaking the law.
Sara Roth

The first time I encountered the anonymous graffiti artist named Banksy was last summer in my then neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He had graffitied a two-story-high piece on the side of a brick building, depicting a man using a remote control to force a giraffe to paint the word “VANDAL.” This piece, like so many of Banksys' and other famous graffiti artists' pieces, became a source of neighborhood pride. The image still remains today.
Here in Central Oregon, graffiti often evokes a much different reaction from the community. Graffiti artists are seen as nuisances as well as, well, vandals. Indeed, graffiti causes thousands of dollars of damage to public property every year in Bend. The most popular targets are rail cars, bridges and public buildings.

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Our Picks for 11/11 – 11/19: The Bayliens, Re:Session, Eek-A-Mouse

Our picks for this week’s events in Central Oregon.
Source Weekly

The Bayliens & Cloaked Characters
thursday 12
Locals Cloaked Characters share a bill with indie Bay Area hip-hop heroes The Bayliens for this intimate show. It's like rap music in your living room! 9:30pm. Bendistillery Martini Bar, 850 NW Brooks St.
Re:Session
friday 13
Teton Gravity Research, is not, as the name suggests, a physics exploration organization, but rather a ski film production company that is bringing this big-mountain, big-air ski doc to town. The film (which has nothing to do with economic policy) features HD footage from all over the world, stopping in Poland, Italy, as well as making its way stateside, showing its host of skilled riders in the Cascades and Rockies. Showings at 6pm and 9pm. Tickets available at bendticket.com. 6pm. Old Stone Church, 157 NW Franklin Ave. $10.

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wRite: Grape Popsicle

Source Weekly

This is Eskimo Nell's story. I barely know her. We met at a gem and mineral show in the Little America hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona at least fifteen years ago. I have not seen her since then.
I bought a raw opal from her. She gave me two more for free – a brown opal and a sun fire. She had dug them from her little claim in Australia.
The brown opal was the size of the nail on my fourth finger. It was a tiny puddle of glint, green and pale blue against the rough brown of its matrix.
The sun fire opal was a rough blue cylinder no bigger than the first joint of my little finger. The surface was matte. She had chipped off a sliver so the gleaming interior was visible. “Put it in water,” she said, “and set it in a window in natural light. That way you'll see the fire.”

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The Imprint of Adam Haynes: From beer labels to landscapes, the local artist has an eye on the fringe

From beer labels to landscapes, the local artist has an eye on the fringe.
Source Weekly

Have you sipped a Deschutes Brewery Hop Trip recently?
If you have, you probably took a gaze at the bottle or tap label, and maybe without knowing it, experienced the work of Adam Haynes. Working as both a commercial and fine artist, the Bend-based illustrator's art can be seen on several lines of Deschutes brews and up on the mountain as the artwork for Gnu Snowboards. His intricate drawings of extreme riders that place the viewer in the snowboarder's boots, or on a bike at the top of a gnarly landscape, were the basis for the Nike 6.0 campaign, used on billboards and bus stops nationwide.

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Our Picks for 11/4 – 11/12: The Nature of Words, Swollen Members, First Friday, Jim Witty Book Release Party and more

Our Picks for the week of 11/4 – 11/12, 2009.
Source Weekly

The Nature of Words
wednesday-sunday 4-8
It's time again for Central Oregon's biggest literary celebration and this year the festival has brought in some high-powered wordsmiths for readings, book signings, workshops and more. The lineup includes Sherman Alexie, Matthew Dickman, Charles Goodrich, Seth Katner, Karen Karbo, Jane Kirkpatrick, Valzhyna Mort and Kim Stafford. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.thenatureofwords.org.
Sherman Alexie Unplugged
friday 6
This year's Nature of Words features an appearance by this National Book Award Winner (for Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian) in an open forum where he'll read, answer questions and probably just run that hilarious mouth of his. Alexie's presentations are entertaining and sometimes delightfully profane – but in a good way. Ask him about the Seattle Supersonics if you really want to get him going. $45. 9am-11am Friday, Nov 6. Pinckney Center at COCC, 2600 NW College Way.

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The Hemingway of Hoops: Sherman Alexie has a National Book Award, a new hit book, but I just want him to write more about basketball

Sherman Alexie has a National Book Award, a new hit book, but I just want him to write more about basketball.
Mike Bookey

Sherman Alexie has recently published War Dances, a much-praised collection of short fiction and poetry that he's referred to as a “mixtape” and when he appears at The Nature of Words next week, he will almost certainly read from this work.
Chances are his 2007 novel, Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which earned him a National Book Award for “Young People's Literature,” will also come up in his discussion. And it would be near shocking if Alexie didn't address the fact that this is the same book that was yanked from the in-class curriculum of Crook County schools because it – brace yourself – featured foul language and mentioned masturbation.

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