Downtown Bend Business Association welcomes Albany’s Rod Porsche as new director
Last May, we talked to Chuck Arnold about his tenure as executive director of the Downtown Bend Business Association and his plans for the future. Today, the DBBA has officially announced Arnold’s replacement: former director of the Albany Downtown Association, Rod Porsche. “I’m incredibly excited to be joining the Downtown Bend Business Association and look…
“Save Troy Field” petition asks City to keep public facilities designation
A petition is making the rounds online and in town asking the City of Bend to maintain Troy Field’s public facilities designation.
Building Bend’s Future
Bend has a housing problem—or, more precisely, with rental vacancy rates less than half a percent, an affordable housing shortage. And some city leaders believe that loosening up the Urban Growth Boundary could provide some relief from that chokehold. It is a basic theory that makes sense: Opening up more land for development will provide…
Near and (Mule) Deer
Mule deer can be found in Bend’s backyard gardens and along the highways connecting the city to other Central Oregon towns. In fact, seeing one is so unremarkable that the risks facing them are easy to miss. But wildlife biologists say the species is suffering, and humans are to blame. That simple conclusion should come…
Side Notes 8/5-8/12
A new brew playing off a soon-to-be iconic Central Oregon attraction is heading to the market. Crux Fermentation Project and Sierra Nevada Brewing Company are collaborating on the Paddle Trail Ale, a 35 IBU / 4.5% ABV session IPA. The beer will be distributed across the state by Columbia Distributing and will be available starting…
Raise a Glass to Wyden
Last week, Sen. Ron Wyden hosted a 30 minute “Happy Half-Hour” Google Hangout. The presentation was a bit like watching a grandpa Skype for the first time with his grandchildren. He leaned into the computer’s camera and spoke loudly and ticked off some groaner jokes. Speaking about craft beer’s sizable impact on Oregon’s economy, Sen.…
Letters 7/29-8/4
A PLAN FOR TROY FIELD Yes, there was a reason for the City to buy Troy Field. I was on the school steering committee, which recommended to the school board that they save Troy Field for part of a civic center, which was already in the planning stage. It was precluded by the recession but…
Pounding The Pavement, Off Road!
Luke Larsen knows a thing or two about trail running, having participated in the Wasatch 100-miler that includes 5,000 feet of elevation gain in a single leg-busting, nine-mile stretch, and the Speedgoat 50k held in Snowbird, Utah, a marathon-plus run that sends runners up an 11,000 foot elevation gain. For good measure, Larsen has also…
Go Here 8/5-8/12
It could be easily argued that living in Bend means never needing to travel far to access a wide variety of recreational and scenic opportunities. But, if your hunger for the mountains, the hiking and biking trails, the river, the music, or the beer becomes sated, there are an equal number of doable road trips…
Small Portions
Remember the joke Woody Allen tells in Annie Hall about the two old women in the Catskills? The gist is this: One woman complains that the food is terrible, the other replies, “I know, such small portions.” Allen’s films in this later part of his career are so innocuous, so wisplike, so slight, that while…
In Spite Of, or Because Of
It’s hard to explain Ziggy Marley without talking about his dad, the prototypical reggae singer whose name is so recognizable that the (excellent) documentary about his life three years ago needed only his last name as a title. Bob Marley’s image is so iconic, with dreadlocks slicing through the air, it can easily be caught…
Drive-Thru Metal
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a McDonald’s-themed Black Sabbath cover band from Los Angeles fronted by a health-conscious, heavy metal clown named Ronald Osbourne. Seriously. The whole thing sounds like the imaginative daydream of an angsty teenager in the back of a high school health class, but fortunately for us, not only does it…
Homeschooled & Barefoot
You’d think someone with such flaming red hair would be the stereotypical feisty hothead. But, at the prime age of 35, Brett Dennen speaks as though he has been around the block a few times. In an interview on Vevo, he slowly and thoughtfully responds to questions fans post on Facebook, explaining that his guitars…
Source Suggests 8/5-8/12
Freekbass Cincinnati-based funk musician Freekbass worked in a music store while studying the classics of Larry Graham, Sly Stone, Stevie Wonder, and Parliament. He worked there to pay off his first bass guitar that was on layaway. Now, with bass in hand, Freekbass creates funky beats sure to have listeners dancing from the first note.…
Smoke Signals 8/5-8/12
Just Say No. DARE to Keep Kids Off Drugs. If these black-and-white, fear-based programs had been successful, we would have seen more of a shift in illicit drug use by teens. Rather, in the past 20 years, the percentage of 12th graders who say they’ve used an illicit drug in the last month has continued…
A Beer-cation in Sunriver
The Mountain Jug is the kind of place any beer lover wishes was their local watering hole. Wood-paneled walls. Comfortable couches. An AC/DC pinball machine in the corner, and a ’70s-era VW Thing parked semi-permanently outside. A few hundred vinyl albums for you to freely choose from. And, of course, lots and lots of local…
Our Artist of the Month: Josh Cleland
In one image, a holiday card, a brown bear glides down a mountain on the pure white snow. He is wearing a blue down jacket, a green striped scarf whipping in the wind, a Santa hat, and a smile from ear to ear. His pup rides in the front. It is an image that is…
Art Watch 8/5-8/12
For the past five years, local photographer Gary Calicott has been capturing the candid and expressive emotions at local music shows. He has collected hundreds of images of favorite bands like Larry & His Flask and, on Friday, many of those photos will be displayed at The Tower Theatre—and (silently) auctioned off; all, appropriately, to…
