Bend Fire Department—More Photos
First off, welcome to the “Bend Lens Blog”—This blog was started to capture Bend news and events through photography. Occasionally photos will link with stories to offer more insight and a richer view of the story. Other times the photos will stand on their own as the story. Feel free to share any ideas for…
What in the World?
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division It’s another Central Oregon (spring?) morning. So, why not read something interesting while sipping on that fair-trade coffee? RSD14 Assessment: Wading through all the releases from RSD14 is going to take a bit of time. So, here’s some help from a gentleman who writes for Pitchfork, among other…
Kombucha Mama Changes to Humm Kombucha
Remember a few weeks back when we announced that beloved local tea makers Kombucha Mama would be changing their name? Well it’s official! The rebranding to Humm Kombucha is complete. Via Humm website. Flavors include Blueberry Mint, Pomegranate Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Original, Lemon Ginger, Apple Sass, Maté, Coconut Lime, Chai and will soon be available…
What in the World?
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Lamb Studios Archive A lot happens while you’re not paying attention. So, just like Lewis Black, we catch what’s fallen through the cracks. Chemical Trespass: Curry County residents have complained about helicopters dropping pesticides on their properties while doing work on privately held land. The spraying continues. (via…
More dope? Nope.
Well, Deschutes County Commissioners have already made their decision on pot shops in the county. Bend businesses are open, though. But other locales around the state are still weighing in, with about 100 cities and municipalities banning medical marijuana businesses. Some of the bans and moratoriums predate Senate Bill 1531 being enacted on March 19.…
Better Living Through Music: Shakey Graves with Esmé Patterson
Austin, Texas cult hero Shakey Graves performs with Esme Patterson at this year’s SXSW. Patterson will perform solo (or so we think—we’re hoping for a guest appearance from Shakey, as he played sold-out shows in Portland and Eugene this weekend) tonight at 7 at Volcanic Theatre Pub. $5. Hit the jump to see the video.
Amos Lee Announced at LSA
Soulful folk singer Amos Lee will play the Les Schwab Amphitheater Friday July 18. Tickets will be on sale this Friday, April 25 at 10 am. $59 reserved seating, $34 general admission. As the summer concert schedule shapes up we are still speculating when (or if) the Amphitheater will announce another Memorial Day weekend concert…
Friday Mixtape!
Get ready for tomorrow’s National Record Store Day!
Answers to this Week’s Crossword Puzzle 4/17
crossword puzzle
Bad dog behavior
Taking care of your dog’s dookie is one thing—and we told you why in our Boot, Don’t Make A Pile of Poop, this week. But having your dog attack and kill another pet is a bit more than we can comprehend. Yeah, that reportedly happened today at a La Pine dog park. (Via KTVZ) Deschutes…
Jane Kirkpatrick Resurrects History
Award-winning and prolific local author Jane Kirkpatrick brings history to life. Lending her inspirational voice to historical women has earned her more than 25 published books, numerous awards, and countless devoted readers. In her new novel, One Glorious Ambition, Kirkpatrick focuses on an early champion of the mentally ill, and her efforts to ensure compassionate…
Our Picks 4/16-4/24
thursday 17 How Did We Get Here? SCIENCE—The first of the Human Origins, Evolution and Migrations Lecture Series, “How Did We Get Here,” is the COCC-hosted equivalent of “Cosmos” with Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Scott Fisher from the Department of Physics at the University of Oregon will discuss clues from our universe hinting at how…
Treading Water
A s a kid growing up in Washington, D.C., David Blair remembers his mother taking him down to the banks of the Potomac River and watching the kayakers go by. His mother wasn’t necessarily an advocate of outdoor recreation, and Blair said that she might not have even known what all those people were doing…
Connecting the Dots
The word “holistic” is thrown around a lot these days. It is a grown-up way to say that the dots are all connected; or, to use another playroom analogy, that all the puzzle parts fit together. This concept—or, more appropriately, this goal—plays out in very obvious ways in our parks and Central Oregon’s recreation pursuits,…
An Uninterupted River Runs Through It
The Deschutes River Trail offers nearly uninterrupted access for hikers and bikers along the banks of the river in six stretches ranging from one to four miles through the heart of Bend. But for those who want to play and recreate IN/ON the water rather than beside it, there are four non-navigable, man-made obstructions standing…
Parks Apart
The First Street Rapids Park is beautiful. Caramel-colored cliffs slope into the Deschutes River. This is surely postcard worthy. And, the addition last summer of a bridge to connect running paths on one side of the river to the other, surely made the space even more easily accessible. Yet, not everyone can access the park.…
Love in the City of Lights
After the first 15 minutes of Le Week-End, I couldn’t stand the film’s two lead characters, Nick and Meg Burrows. He was drowsy and a bit oafish, while she was sour and prickly to the point of being unlikeable. Luckily, a few moments later I realized I was not supposed to like them since they…
The Wheels Keep Moving
It is already difficult enough to navigate over the steep topography and around hairpin turns. Add in maneuvering through an alphabet soup of federal, state, county and city agencies, and the feat that is biking in Central Oregon is even more impressive: For example, to connect trails throughout the region, like the popular Phil’s Trail,…
A Right Bastard
I can see why Jude Law wanted the part of Dom Hemingway—he’s entirely against type for the heartthrob who once played the perfectly bronzed, lean Dickie Greenleaf. Dom, on the other hand, is a burly, boozy, burnsided safecracker on the back end of a 12-year-stint in the pokey. (Do they call prison “the pokey” in…
Don’t Make A Pile of Poop
Although best known as the first openly gay man elected to a significant office in America, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk also staked his political career on cleaning up dog poop. A month after winning his landmark election in 1977, Milk went about establishing his first city ordinance, a law requiring dog owners to pick…
Film Shorts
Steve Peat just loves racing his bike. And Won’t Back Down is a love story, chronicling the veteran downhill mountain bike racer’s love affair with the sport—and all the ups and downs, victories, losses and struggles. Yes, the film has plenty of footage showing Peat successfully navigating some pretty narrow-as-the-eye-of-a-needle trails and, yes, just as…
Letters 4/8-4/15
IN REPLY TO “GET ON THE BUS, GUS” (SLIPPER, 4/10) Your work in the Source is changing the conversation on transportation and parking by focusing on a vision of what can be. What a challenge. Developing partnerships, policies and incentives around alternative transportation is one thing. Changing the conversation in order to make it happen…
The Band that Almost Wasn’t
This wasn’t how things were supposed to go for chamber folk band Bombadil. With bassist Daniel Michalak sidelined by a neural condition rendering his hands pretty much useless, pianist Stuart Robinson in medical school, and guitarist Bryan Rahija getting his graduate degree, the Appalachian pop band was all but kaput a mere two LPs into…
What the Fish Are Eating
Peter Bowers is the high-energy and disarmingly friendly owner of The Patient Angler, a popular fly fishing shop along Bend’s Third St. The store is tidy and small, barely the length of a standard river fishing boat. But within the small space is both a wealth of knowledge and enough fishing flies to reel in…
Source Suggests 4/16-4/24
The Source Suggests Inherently, Appalachian hill folk are DIY types of people. Portland blues revival duo Hillstomp has taken to that same homegrown philosophy, fusing what could easily be heaps of garbage into John Johnson’s “drum” kit, which he fondly refers to as his buckets. Henry Christian’s dirt-oozing slide guitar makes for a two-man-fueled boot…
Two Heads Are NOT Better Than One
It was way back in the ’60s, while I was working for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry as the staff naturalist that I had the opportunity to see—up-close-and in-my-hand—a real honest-to-goodness living, two-headed animal; that NW Garter snake pictured above. It is not Photoshopped! I cannot recall the young man’s name who brought…
My Cup of Tea
Is there anything more American than baseball? The smell of the grass, the smack of a worn leather glove, the crack of a wooden bat, the rolling of a cold beer down your throat. Willy Tea Taylor is a poet and songwriter who, better than just about anyone, captures baseball, heartache, death and rodeo, wrapping…
The Singularity Is Near
“Within thirty years,” wrote computer scientist, mathematics professor, and science fiction author Vernor Vinge, “we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.” Vinge wrote those words in 1993, and while the human era isn’t over quite yet, the idea of the singularity—the point when artificial…
Strict Diet of Songwriting
In 2006, David Strackany, known by the stage name of Paleo, took on an ambitious project. His goal was to write a song a day for an entire year. The Song Diary, which Strackany successfully wrapped in March 2007, resulted in 365 complete songs, and a shorter collection of selected recordings—a winding soundtrack of life,…
Gimmie Some Dim Sum
Sweet Saigon is the only restaurant on the downtown strip with a cooked animal hanging in the front widow. The newly added peking ducks and sides of pork dangling from hooks on Wall Street are taunting meat piñatas saying, “Eat me,” and also are the centerpiece of the Vietnamese restaurant’s new dim sum menu, served…
Record Store Day Dusts Off Gems
Since its 2007 inception, Record Store Day has revitalized crate-digging culture and shifted interest from cloistered geeks and tiny, independent imprints to the general public and major-label releases. On Saturday, well over a hundred albums will be released—full lengths, singles, 12″ and 7″ records. What follows is a curated list of a few discs we…
Little Bites: Easter Brunches
Easter Brunches 10 Below 10 NW Minnesota Ave. | 541-382-1010 10 am.-2 pm. $30 adults, $15 kids, free 5 and younger Often overlooked (well, it is downstairs after all), this sleek subterranean setting offers a traditional variety from tasty crepes to prime rib. Awbrey Glen 2500 Awbrey Glen Drive | 541-385-6011 9.30 am – 1…
Out of Town 4/16-4/24
seattle saturday 19 Snoop Dogg/Lion Snoop Dogg/Lion brings his “Wellness Retreat” to Seattle as part of a two-state tour of weed-welcoming locales (he performs the following day in Denver) with Wiz Khalifa. The mini tour’s slogan: “Inhale. Exhale. Recharge.” Considering that Snoop Dogg shows are, in and of themselves, pot-friendly states, most of Seattle’s Pioneer…
Free of Pretense; Full of Delivery
As a young brewery, Bridge 99 has little time on the scene. espite its youth, it is wise beyond its years, with very good beer and zero showboating. For the April 9 tasting at Platypus Pub, Bridge 99 brought four beers: Wizard Falls IPA, Candle Creek Pale, Red Rock Red, and Bull Trout Stout. Three…
Think and Drink
Geek borders on a dirty word in Bend, where the athletic mindset drives folks to care more about their recreation and their after-workout beers than their brains. But that’s not the case across the board, and a new pub-quiz-style trivia game is out to prove that Bend has its share of brainiacs, as well as…
