Ringing In The New: Predictions for 2010
2010 is here and with its arrival every pundit in American is making predictions as to what the new year holds. Not be outdone, I offer my fearless predictions based not on fact but on gut feel and hunches.
Call Them the California Golden Ducks?
USC won’t be in the Rose Bowl this year. Neither will UCLA, UC-Berkeley or Stanford.
Bend’s Live Music in 2010: It’s Gonna Be OK
I’ve written spent some valuable cyber ink and real ink doing some written hand wringing about the future of live music here in Bend. For a while, things looked BTQB (Bleak To Quite Bleak), but now I have some hope.
Wishes: Between the Covers
“It's going to be a total bummer,” Saenz said. “It made me wish I had shopped there more.” – A Quarter-million People Without One Bookstore The Associated Press, December 19, 2009
“It's the life you live, not what you say/” – Bishop Grace C. Osborne
My friend, Fisher, his buddy Dave and I moved me…
Telfer's Funny-Money Budget “Solution”
Carla Axtman on the BlueOregon blog tears into state Sen. Chris Telfer for peddling some fuzzy numbers in her proposed “solution” to the state’s budget problems.
Once in a Blue Moon: Timing is everything
HAPPY BLUE MOON! A Blue Moon is “an event of timing,” says Conrad Jung, a staff astronomer at the Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland. A full moon occurs every 29.5 days. If there is a full moon early in the month, there is a possibility that a second full moon will appear at…
Birds: 8 – Hunters: 0: Christmas bird counters clash with illegal hunters
Saturday, December 19, was the official day for the annual National Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC), an event that's been going on for more than 100 years. Participants throughout the U.S., Canada and 19 other countries in the Western Hemisphere count birds in a 15-mile circle. Armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists, the volunteers…
Blue Sky Thinking: George Clooney rebrands unemployment for Up In The Air
In this sure-fire Oscar contender, George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man hired by companies to fire their employees. Or rather George Clooney plays George Clooney as a man criss-crossing the country to let people go in the smoothest and easiest way possible. The film begins, and ends, with a collage of actors and non-actors…
Rock 'em Sock 'em Sleuths: Action and dull wit dominate Sherlock Holmes
Ye gad! Guy Ritchie made a kid's movie in the same vein as Pirates of the Caribbean. Sherlock Holmes gives the feeling of a Disney ride – this Ritchie number features uncharacteristically straightforward storytelling and zero cursing. As Sherlock homes would say, “It boggles the mind.” In the action-packed opening scene, Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.)…
Après Ski Pub Crawl! – Eat and drink your way down the mountain for a song
There are pros and cons to situating a ski resort on National Forest land, but one of the biggest cons for Mt. Bachelor – that last call for food and alcohol coincides with the last chair at around 4 p.m. – can also be a huge pro. Since après ski up top lasts only a…
Après Ski Pub Crawl! – Eat and drink your way down the mountain for a song
There are pros and cons to situating a ski resort on National Forest land, but one of the biggest cons for Mt. Bachelor – that last call for food and alcohol coincides with the last chair at around 4 p.m. – can also be a huge pro. Since après ski up top lasts only a…
The Mighty Fine 2009
This is the week the bar manager doesn't sleep, the lead up to what is the biggest night of the year when bar records get broken. Every angle must have an exit strategy, as it is an evening where anything can happen and the impossible will. It's the only night that it wouldn't be a…
The Best Band That Never Was: Wildwood Ave.'s first show was also their last, but it was a good one
“You have to play a show.” “Why?” “You just have to play a show. What's the point of having a band if you're not going to play a show?” “Where would we play?” “I dunno, but you have to play a show.” This back-and-forth replayed itself on a loop for a good hour in my…
Our Picks for 12/30 – 1/7: New Year’s Eve, The Rose Bowl, The Dirty Words and more
New Year's Eve Music thursday 31 Even more so than past years, this New Year's Eve offers up an enormous helping of mostly free music events. We have them catalogued for you (as we also did in last week's issue) in the On Stage column that can be found in the Sound section of the…
Glasses Up. Curtain Up. Why performing plays in pubs might be just what Bend's theater scene needs
This may not be an absolute truth, but the lines of Bobby Gould in Hell very well may be funnier when read by a group of beer-sipping amateur actors lounging on a couch on the bottom floor of an Awbrey Butte home than in a high-end, big city playhouse. The David Mamet one-act play is…
Holy Days Indeed: Underwear bombs, holy daze, smugglers blues and more!
The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from a TSA screening checkpoint, proudly standing naked and asking for that puffing device again, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
So your dad walks into the American embassy and narcs on you,…
The City's Land Grab
While the final report is still pending, the Department of Land Conservation and Development has indicated that it is getting ready to throw the city of Bend's growth boundary expansion back in Bend's lap after finding what appear to be numerous fatal flaws with the document. Most notably the expansion is totally overblown.
Holier Than Thou
This week's letter comes from Rob Murray and marks the latest installment in our “Gay Marriage: Is it for you?” series. Thanks for the letter, Rob. You can pick up your winnings, a bag of Strictly Organic Coffee at our office. 704 NW Georgia.
I can only assume you highlighted the sermon by Rev.…
This Is No Reform
President Obama and the Members of the United States Congress, Please save the eloquent speeches for those in your own small choir. Please do not continue to insult the intelligence of your fellow citizens. No matter how you all try to dress it up, you have sold us, and the hope of having affordable and…
A Christmas Hangover
Dear Christmas-philes, I don't like Christmas. I don't like it one bit. In fact, you might even call me a Grinch. Gasp. You see, friends, I take issue with a holiday that starts in October and ends in January. I also take issue with the fact that a Long Island Wal-Mart employee was trampled to…
