Opinion

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.