Friday Mixtape: Outlaw Country!
Author: Josh Gross Season 5 of the brilliantly written animated comedy “Archer” just started streaming on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re seriously missing out because one of the plot arcs for season 5 is a main character’s desire to become an “outlaw country” superstar. So in honor of that quest, here’s a…
Editor’s Note: In this week’s issue
The job of an editor is, of course, or at least in part, to edit—to remove excess. But while there is a certain joy pruning verbose stories to lean fighting machines, there is also a frustration when we simply do not have enough room in our newspaper for everything. This is one of those weeks.…
Phish to Play Two Nights at Les Schwab Amphitheater in July
The moment we’ve all been waiting for has arrived—Les Schwab Amphitheater announced today that the jam band Phish will be joining the summer concert lineup for two nights, July 21 and 22. Tickets go on sale April 2 for $70. But we have a feeling both nights will sell out, if only because of the…
Share Your Story with the Library of Congress Using Your Smart Phone
Everybody has a story to tell. For the modern day storyteller, media like podcasts and anonymous blogs give the opportunity to share those heartwarming and embarrassing human experiences with ease. From The Moth to Post Secret, Americans have fed the growing cultural obsession with recording those events—ranging from the mundane to the extraordinary—that captivate audiences of…
Congratulations! You’re (probably) registered to vote.
Oregon’s newly-minted Gov. Kate Brown just made history by signing a bill to register all voting-age Oregonians with DMV-issued IDs to vote. The legislation, which Brown had initiated while still Secretary of State, allows residents to opt-out of voter registration, instead of requiring them to opt in. The move is expected to add about 300,000…
Maziar Bahari Film To Light A Candle Highlights Iranian Abuses of Bahá’ís
Newsweek’s Iranian correspondent Maziar Bahari’s newest documentary, To Light A Candle, will be screened on Saturday at St. Helen’s Hall in Bend. Bahari has been in the media most recently due to The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart’s film Rosewater, a retelling of Bahari’s 118 days of detention and torture in Iran. His new film focuses…
Random Acts of Netflix: Invasion of the Bee Girls
Hey folks! Jared here. Every Thursday I’m going to go on Netflixroulette.com, and then watch whatever the damn thing tells me to. In case you haven’t heard of Netflix Roulette, it’s basically a silly website that allows you to spin a virtual wheel which then chooses a film or TV show at random out of…
We’re Off to Philly for a Media Diversity Conference
If you were to poll journalists and ask how they typically spend their weekends, the top two answers would likely be working and drinking. This weekend, I’ll be doing a bit of both at a journalism conference in Philly—the 2015 LGBT Media Journalists Convening. Sponsored by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr., Fund and organized by…
Back From The Grave
Here’s one you haven’t heard before: Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and Nora Ephron walk into the Tin Pan Alley. No, it’s not the prelude to a raunchy literary joke, but the setting of the upcoming Dearly Departed: A Tribute to the Authors of Yesteryear. OSU-Cascades’ Low Residency MFA Program is sponsoring the event, held at…
Wrestler’s Paradise
Psychological thrillers derive tension from their characters’ emotional states—from the intrigue of figuring out the subterranean motivations that drive behavior, decision-making, and relationships. Foxcatcher is more of a physical thriller: The key interpersonal dynamics unfold in the mute interplay of male bodies rolling around on a wrestling mat. (Not in a sexy way.) (A little…
Speak to Me
Julia Cho’s The Language Archive is a play of ideas. While the characters are all well drawn, it is the ideas and themes that Cho really seems interested in exploring and, throughout the play, the audience is led between them gracefully. George (Stuart Hicks) is an academic who works for an archive dedicated to the…
A Good Problem To Have
Sunriver Brewing’s biggest problem is one that every business would like: They are growing faster than they expected. Ryan Duley, the marketing director for Sunriver Brewing, walks between rows of 15-keg capacity containers—eight on each side of the cavernous, cement-floor warehouse on the outskirts of Sunriver—and explains that a year ago the brewing company, which…
Out of Town 3/11-3/18
Portland thursday 12-sunday 15 Portland Oregon’s Women’s Film Festival Lights! Camera! Women! Perhaps you have heard of or seen the women-directed/centric films Citizenfour or Obvious Child, but chances are you haven’t experienced Zombie Fairy, Pie Lady of Pie Town or I Believe in Unicorns. In addition to a women’s film directing workshop, the festival will…
Moving Bend’s Beer Scene Past Bend
In late 2011, three lifelong friends and Redmond locals talked about starting a brewery. Nothing more than craft beer fans at the time, says co-owner Brian Mitchell, “There was a strong appeal to be a part of what seemed to be a fun and exciting industry.” It was a simple and earnest desire and, quickly, what…
Picks 3/11-3/18
thursday 12 Dearly Departed WORDS—A good book can transport you to another time and place. Return the favor and bring your favorite (deceased) author into the present at this tribute to authors of yesteryear, organized by the OSU-Cascades Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing program. Readers will channel their favorite writers in word and in…
Film Events 3/11-3/18
20 Feet From Stardom The documentary 20 Feet From Stardom does not teach its audience any lessons we don’t know. What it does is smarter than that: Instead of spending the majority of the running time talking about how cruel and evil the music business is, the film truly succeeds by shining a light on…
Art Watch 3/11-3/18
Every artist has a process. For many, an intentional studio space, the right supplies, and a spark of creativity are all that’s needed to embark on a new project. For artist Barbara Hudin, whose “Beautiful Math” exhibit runs through March 29 at A6 (389 SW Scalehouse, Suite 120), her creative process is a journey through…
Hot Potato!
Imagine a delicious Thai curry dish, made with spicy green coconut milk curry, drizzled with savory hoisin sauce and sprinkled with green onions, crunchy sesame seeds and fresh Thai basil bursting with flavor. Sound delicious? Now, take away the rice and dump this concoction onto a pile of just-crispy-enough, lightly salted sweet potato fries. Jaw…
Two Guys and a Bottling Company
Ask Levi & Strauss: It wasn’t necessarily the gold seekers who struck it rich, but the entrepreneurs providing ancillary services, like blue jeans, who made the really steady income. Of course, for the current craft-beer rush that analogy is a bit off, as breweries are making good money, but last September, longtime friends Jason Rickley…
Source Suggests 3/11-3/18
James Otto There’s just something about a deep voice that blends perfectly into country music. James Otto has that manly, deep, yet not-quite-so-gritty voice that combines so well with modern country hooks. Perhaps best known for his 2008 country music hit, “Just Got Started Lovin’ You,” Otto returns to the storytelling saddle after a self-imposed…
Brewer in the Woods
Ale Apothecary began as a gamble. After leaving his job at the area’s most established brewery, Paul Arney had to make a choice—either find a way to go it on his own, or sell the house and leave town. “I tied all of my goals to the place. If it succeeded, I would be living a…
Stick and Poke
As vaccination rates decrease and cases of vaccine-preventable diseases increase, Oregon lawmakers are trying to make it more difficult for parents to opt their children out. But Senate Bill 442, which has been introduced this session and seeks to remove non-medical exemptions to Oregon law requiring school children to be vaccinated, is being met with…
A Cider a Day
Aaron Cousins stands facing two shiny new fermentation tanks, the toes of his boots wrapped several times around with duct tape. He is wearing a black skull cap and dressed in a black sleeveless hoodie that shows off aqua-colored lines of a sprawling tattoo on his right shoulder. “Cider sales in the U.S. have doubled…
Get Your Rocks Off
We can thank Central Oregon’s tumultuous volcanic history for most of the things we all love most about living here: the outdoor recreation, the beauty, and probably even the beer if you want to talk hydrology (but you probably don’t, so…). One more gift bestowed upon us by virtue of tectonic mayhem? Rocks! Central Oregon…
Bigger Than Hip-Hop
In many ways, Markets Flooded is 10 years in the making. Local musicians MOsley WOtta (Jason Graham) and Collothen (Colten Tyler Williams) first met a little more than a decade ago, when Collothen was captivated by some of MOWO’s paintings hanging in the COCC library. The two became fast friends—and eventually housemates—and began collaborating musically.…
Side Notes 3/11-3/18
We recently chatted with Spencer Stander, an executive producer working in reality television, about his interest in casting for a show in Bend. Here’s what we learned. 1. He’s been to Bend before. About seven years ago, he shot a pilot for a show about a brewer that opened up a restaurant, called “Brewmasters.” Unfortunately,…
On the Bubble
Billy Beer was never very good, and it didn’t last on the market very long, but it may deserve a large share of credit for the contemporary boom of craft beer. Produced briefly in the late 1970s by Billy Carter, the oafish younger brother of then-President Jimmy Carter, the beer leveraged whatever national attention is…
Creating Affordable
During last year’s campaign season, nearly every candidate we interviewed for local offices declared that “affordable housing” is the most pressing issue for Bend, and for the region. With the population in Central Oregon surging, housing prices have been steadily climbing and pricing out more and more levels of income from purchasing homes here. The…
Growler Fills
Beer Dogs | 32 taps | 2498 S Hwy 97, Redmond | Mon-Thurs Noon-7 pm, Fri Noon-8 pm, Sat 11 am-8 pm, & Sun 11 am-6 pm. Big Dog Growlers | 31 taps | 61160 S Hwy 97, Bend | Mon-Thurs 3 pm-9 pm & Fri-Sun Noon-9 pm. The Brew Shop | 15 taps |…
Letters 3/3-3/10
IN REPLY TO “MORE THAN A MINIMUM DEBATE NEEDED” (3/4) You say “there are also studies that indicate that higher minimum wages actually reduce job opportunities for working class men and women, as fewer employees are hired and sometimes the raises result in reduced hours.” Please cite the source of these studies. Could they possibly…
Small, But Mighty
In 2013, Darin and Meg Butschy literally built Oblivion Brewing Company from the ground up (or at least from the floor up). A Bend resident for 19 years and a brewer for 25 years, Darin got his start at Firestone Walker while studying chemistry at Cal Poly. With growing experience and unrelenting passion, he kicked…
Whatever, Mom
She’s the quintessential matriarch… the wisest old owl… the strongest of guardians… And with about four and a half billion years of relevant experience under her belt, I’d say she’s worth our attention. Mother Nature—the ultimate teacher. We’d be foolish not to acknowledge (and apply) her lessons. In fact, it’s probably one of the most beneficial things we can do…
Taking Center Stage
Ural Thomas has always been there. Since starting to sing and play music at age three, he has been in the vicinity of soul music history. The “middle” of 14 children (and named for the Ural Mountains in Russia), Thomas grew up in North Portland, in what had primarily been an African-American neighborhood until recent…
Crow’s Feet Launches Monthly Beer Tastings
For more than two years, Crow’s Feet Commons has been a go-to spot for skis, snowboards, bicycles, coffee, beer, breakfast sandwiches, and anything else one would possibly need living in Bend, save maybe for toilet paper and cold medicine. The bottle and tap collection has been particularly stellar from the get-go, offering everything from enormous…
Pouring It Forward
Low ceilings, old-fashioned bar stools, and cushioned booths are not common in today’s world of brew pubs more often adorned with hardwood-topped tables, garage doors that open to patios and exposed production facilities–the later which explains why co-owner of Silver Moon Brewing, James Watts, finds himself often answering the question: “Where do you brew ?”…
