Free Beer!
If you didn’t spend your Memorial Day Weekend prepping your palate (and testing your tolerance) for Central Oregon’s Third Annual Beer Week, you may want to start now. The Ale Apothecary gets the beer literally free-flowing tomorrow night at Crow’s Feet Commons with samples of its hand-crafted, open fermentation brews including La Tache, Sahali and…
City Council Roundup: New Fees, New Jobs
Assistant City Manager Jon Skidmore explains the role of city staff in the planning of OSU-Cascades. The City of Bend is slowly, but surely, rebuilding its staff following the recession of 2008. Last night’s City Council meeting provided a considerable boost to those efforts with the unanimous approval of nearly 21 additional full-time staff positions,…
Meet the new Executive Director for BendFilm
MAY 20, 2014 BendFilm BASH Brings the Bacon BEND, OR—BendFilm will host the 4th annual BASH fundraiser 6—9 pm May 31, 2014, at the North Rim Lodge, 1500 NW Wild Rye Circle, Bend, OR 97701. This year BendFilm celebrates its 11th anniversary by introducing new director, Todd Looby, and celebrating some of Bend’s best local…
A River Kind Of Runs Through It
Dam removal is one of those topics, like gun control, where a middle ground doesn’t seem to thrive. It seems like the arguments bounce between, “Dams equal jobs and if you get rid of a single one you’re a communist” and, “All dams must go, because Mother Nature shouldn’t be boxed in, man. Plus, I…
Film Events 5/21-5/29
Animal activists, dog lovers and community members alike are invited to this illuminating documentary film about what happens after a dog attack, how people in rural areas deal with unwanted animals and what happens at overcrowded shelters. The film is being presented by The Bend Spay & Neuter Project and is originally an HBO documentary.…
National Anthems
A typical response to the announcement of The National at the Les Schwab Amphitheater—or any reasonably obscure band that headlines a gig at the venue where flip-flop prone pop rockers like Jack Johnson and Michael Franti rule the local demographic—is “What song do they do?” That question isn’t easily answered in the case of The…
Source Suggests 5/21-5/29
The Source Suggests Hillstomp Washboards and buckets provide the percussive backbone to this Portland blues duo, as Hurricane Henry picks out syncopated simplicity on guitar and howls down the devil. It’s just hard to tell if Hillstomp’s warning against Satan or summoning him with its ruckus. (DJC) 8 pm., Fri., May 23. The Belfry, 302…
Straight Killer
It is fitting that Freddie Gibbs is from Indiana. He balances the long-held dichotomy of hip-hop, the much ballyhooed west coast–east coast division that splits sensibilities between California’s laid back gangster raps, and New York City’s harder beats and flows. That balance very much marks his style. But to make his mark, seven years ago…
Out of Town 5/21-5/29
portland friday 23 Christina Perri Competition show “So You Think You Dance” has not only opened up a new generation to modern dance—and jettisoned a cadre of young dancers to relative fame and career prospects—it also raised the profile of some otherwise obscure musicians. Before each choreographed piece, the show’s viewers glimpse the title of…
I Scream, U Scream . . .
When Ben & Jerry’s started making ice cream, flavors came in about three choices—vanilla, chocolate and, for the bold, strawberry. Oh sure, there was the more expansive Baskin Robbins dishing out 32 flavors, but even those were fairly traditional, with variations on chocolate like Rocky Road. But in 1978, two Vermont hippies had a completely…
What Makes Bend Such a Beer Town?
There are so many aspects and different definitions to what it means for Bend to be a “beer town,” but, entering its third year, the loosely organized Beer Week is coalescing as a summer ritual that seeks to provide dozens of examples of exactly what that means. With nearly every local brewery opening its doors,…
That’s Some Funny Business
The Last Comedian Standing competition started five years ago in Bend, and has grown into a state-wide affair that, this year, screened more than 100 comics in six Oregon cities. The touring showcase of winners is a localized version of The Comedians of Comedy Tour, with the four top competitors from the 2014 face-off traveling…
Poetic Sasquatch and Alien Intervention
It’s not difficult to imagine William L. Sullivan—the author of four novels and 13 works of nonfiction focused on Oregon and its many wonders—in a rough-hewn log cabin, tucked into the wilderness, typing out his novels and stories on an ancient manual typewriter (which is exactly what he did). In his most recent book, The…
Our Picks 5/21-5/29
friday 23 One Nation Under Dog Documentary—The Bend Spay and Spay & Neuter Project is presenting an HBO documentary that delves into what happens after a dog attack, how people in rural areas deal with unwanted animals and what happens at overcrowded shelters. It won’t be the most comfortable film to watch, but illuminating. Bluegrass…
What A Long and Twisting River It Has Been
Like the Deschutes River itself, it would appear that nothing to do with the decision about whether to keep the Newport Avenue Dam—the structure that creates Mirror Pond—is ever straightforward. For the past several years, it has been a tug-of-war with sentimental emotions to keep the iconic pond, and environmental considerations to blow the dam…
Locally Grown Radio Takes Root
Lisa Goetz-Bouknight and her husband Jon are abuzz. They are professors at Central Oregon Community College, and a recent turn of events—really, a historical turn of events—has delivered a Federal Communications Commission (FCC)-sanctioned radio license to them. With only so much bandwidth available, radio licenses are increasingly difficult to obtain, especially if you are not…
Raise A Champagne Toast!
A few minutes before noon on Monday, Judge Michael McShane, who sits as a judge in Eugene for the Federal District Court, filed his opinion in Geiger v. Kitzhaber, a lawsuit challenging Oregon’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriages. Judge McShane plainly stated that same-sex couples are entitled the same privileges of marriage under the U.S.…
Letters 5/15-5/21
IN REPLY TO “SPORTS ARE SO GAY” (5/8) I am going to keep this short and sweet. Mr. Jegglie’s comments around Michael Sam and his apparent attack on our very fabric of society are shameful, but not from the standpoint of his belief system, but from the standpoint of you choosing to publish them. I…
Old, But Not Slow
When I was a 17-year-old punk, I was not old enough to race in the Nordic ski marathon, the Birkebinder, but I was eligible to ski its 30 km half-race for teenagers. I did well, and the evening after the race sat at the winner’s table with a few other teenagers, and with an equal…
Election Results District Attorney: John Hummel
Although election officials said that there had been a big day at the ballot boxes, and that trucks were still bringing in voters’ responses from the outlaying districts, by 8 pm results were posted—and all of the races seemed to show clear cut winners; no hanging chads, no nail-biters. Jodie Barram cleaned up 98 percent…
