Editorial

It's Always Half Full.
Upfront made almost half of the 11 shows at Bend's biggest venue this summer. We were there on the cold and wet night that Michael Franti and Spearhead opened up the season by getting our beanie-covered heads bopping and we were also in attendance as the revamped Stone Temple Pilots closed out the season with a "Time Life Alt-Rock of the Early-Mid Nineties" nostalgia set.
All in all, the amphitheater season was a success, say the organizers of the venue. But what caught the eye of Upfront were the show-by-show figures printed in the Other Paper this week stating that even the most well-attended show (Brooks & Dunn, y'all) drew less than 5,000 people. The number is impressive, but not as remarkable when considering that the stated capacity for the Schwab is 8,000.
We were at Sheryl Crow's post-Obamarama late-night (at least by Bend standards) rock-a-thon which reportedly drew about 4,400 fans and the place seemed pretty much packed. There were a few spots in the beer garden to strap in a few more people, but for the most part, an open piece of grass was hard to come by.

Now familiar with the whole background check thing. GOP

After the historic DNC Convention in Denver, which saw some 84,000 Obama supporters gather to hear his acceptance speech at Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos, Republicans were surely looking to make a huge splash with their convention in St. Paul, Minn. But after a strategic start which saw McCain steal a bit of Obama's thunder by announcing his pick for V.P. the day after the DNC, things have sputtered and then spiraled for the GOP. First Hurricane Gustav rolled up on a beleaguered Gulf Coast as Category 4, stealing the Republicans’ thunder, wind, lightning, fire and a few other yet to be identified elements, and forcing the convention planners to temporarily delay the kick off of the "festivities" in St. Paul, Minn. Instead of getting back on track, though, the McCain train appears to have jumped the rails with revelations that his largely unknown pick for VP was keeping secret that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant - something that is sure to rile the party's deeply conservative Christian base. Sarah Palin, the self-described "hockey mom" and first term governor may have a few more skeletons in the closet. At the very least, the former beauty queen whose most extensive political tenure was on the Wasilla City Council is feeling the burn of the national media spotlight. As of Tuesday morning the web was lighting up with stories that had Palin under investigation for firing her state transportation director, a move that some said came after he refused to fire the ex-husband of Palin's sister. Palin, who made her name, in so far as she has one, as a crusader against oil company corruption in her home state, also risks being pulled into the scandal surrounding Alaska Senior Senator Ted Stevens, for whom she has reportedly done fundraising. But the real barometer for the Palin Pick may be the website intrade.com, which put odds on whether Palin would be pulled from the McCain ticket on its popular betting/forecasting site.

You Think you’re so bad. Upfront spent some time last week lamenting the false pageantry around the Beijing Games including the decision to have a child lip sync a song during the opening ceremonies. But apparently China wasn't the first to decide that it needed to fake it to make it on the world stage. Australian papers reported this week that the 2000 opening ceremonies in Sidney weren't exactly the real McCoy. The then host country used a canned recording as the backdrop for its opening ceremony while the Sidney Symphony essentially air-guitared along with the pre-recorded soundtrack. Australian officials also conceded that the music wasn't even recorded by the Sidney Symphony, most of it was laid down by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

If we didn't know better, Upfront would think the Olympics were just one big made for TV spectacle, rather than the purest form of international athletic competition that they surely are.

Still there were some great moments in the recently concluded games: Michael Phelps’ unprecedented run to eight gold medals, the men's basketball team finding redemption, Gold for women's beach volleyball. Ah, bikini ball…

There were also some great flameouts: the United States track team in general, U.S. gymnasts falling off the balance beam. But our favorite meltdown had to be the Cuban tae kwon do fighter who intentionally kicked a Swedish referee in the face after being disqualified from the bronze medal match. That was some serious Lone Wolf McQuade shit. DNC

Opening ceremonies from beijing.The Olympics will wrap up this weekend in Beijing and the world can stop caring about things like trampoline, badminton, and air pistol shooting for another four years. Speaking of the Olympics, was anyone as indignant as Upfront over the blatant cheating by the Chinese gymnastics team who essentially rolled out a bunch of prepubescent girls for its team competition, where IOC rules require that all competitors be at least 16 years of age or turn 16 during the calendar year of the Games? While the Chinese insisted that the flat-chested babes it put forward were indeed 16 years old, the New York Times found evidence that several of China's gymnasts were as young as 13 and 14, a huge advantage in a sport where physics wreak havoc on larger and heavier bodies.

The proof appears to be in the pudding. The average height of the Chinese team members is 4 feet 9 inches and they weigh in at an average of 77 pounds - less than some dogs in this town. By contrast, the US team averages over five feet and weighs about 30 pounds more than the Chinese.

The contrasts were no more apparent than when the two teams stood next to each other, the muscular, curved bodies of the Americans contrasting sharply with the underdeveloped bodies of their sticklike counterparts.

It's been a rough year locally for non-profits. The Redmond Humane Society is on the verge of financial collapse, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Oregon are closing several locations because of a cash shortage and the Cascade Festival of Music packed it in, owing to a lack of sponsors.

As if the tough economic times, which have sent donors and sponsors heading for the sidelines, weren't enough, the taxman is getting in on the act. Not the IRS mind you. No, it's the county tax collectors who are putting the pinch on one local non-profit, Arts Central, the regional arts council, that provides art opportunities for kids as well as support for public art displays, like Bend's roundabouts.

Executive Director Cate O'Hagan said that Arts Central recently got word from the Deschutes County Assessor's Office that it is revoking the organization's tax-exempt status for the Mirror Pond gallery in downtown. The gallery, which sits adjacent to Drake Park in the historic Rademacher house, is an exhibition outlet for local artists and one of the few sources of non-donor/grant revenue for the local arts group.