My new favorite baseball team: The Beavers!
Oregon State did. Oregon didn’t.On Monday, OSU moved forward in the NCAA D-1 tournament to decide the greatest baseball team of all time! (Well, of this season, at least.) Oregon, which was ranked 9th in the country, however, did not.The next round of 16 starts on Friday, with the Beavers squaring off against some midwest…
2013 Likely the Last Year for Mt. Hood Cycling Classic
We just lost another awesome stage race. Sad day for Oregon bike racing: Chad Sperry, Mt. Hood Cycling Classic race organizer, announced today that this year would likely be the last for the 11-year-old stage race that’s become a climber’s favorite and has hosted Giro winners (Ryder Hesjedal), Olympic gold medalists (Kristin Armstrong) and U.S.…
World Naked Bike Ride this Saturday
Portlander’s are weird, yes, but you can’t say they are not enthusiastic! This Saturday is the umpteenth annual World Naked Bike Ride! Heralded as the world’s largest naked bike ride (is that an honor?!?) the event is part of Portland’s three week long celebration of bike culture called Pedalpalooza. The event has grown to (weather…
Bend Dude to Pedal Across U.S. And Blog.
Views from Day 2: Leahey’s trip from Longview, Wash. to Troutdale, Ore. Jonathan Leahey, of Southwest Bend, appears to be on day 3 of his trek from the Pacific to Atlantic Ocean. We wish we could claim that Leahey’s adventure was inspired by our recent Bike Issue, but it seems he had the cycling trip…
WikiLeaks Leaker on Court-Martial
Remember back in 2010 when Pfc. Bradley Manning leaked tens of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks? It’s a fascinating and bizarre story of international intrigue and diplomacy. The whole affair brought WikiLeaks and it’s founder, Julian Assange, on to the world stage in ways any media outlet could only dream of.…
Rare Aurora Borealis in Oregon: Must See Photos
Aurora Borealis in Oregon? You bet your sweet colorful sky! The flickering lights, mostly caused by the sun’s radiation, can sometimes be seen up to hundreds of miles from their origins at the poles, but rarely reach as far as our Oregon skies. Regardless, May 31 was a night of amazing photography opportunities as the…
Music for Mondays
This week’s track:Charles Bradley “You Put the Flame on it.” The Screaming Eagle of Soul, Charles Bradley. While Bradley’s music sounds like it was recorded in the early ’70s, it’s really the modern incarnation of soul. This track is off his upcoming album Victim of Love, due for release later this year. Read more about…
Listen to Aquadeer. Then Head to the Show.
Hear Aquadeer Here. Then hit up The Horned Hand to see them live.
Comedy Tonight!
Josh Cordell makes you laugh, yo.
Broken Top In The News
For those of you who do not wait by your mailbox or stalk newsstands for all things male and macho in the magazine world, you probably missed this nice shout out to our very own, often overlooked, treasure – Broken Top. It will probably come as a shock that there are publications out there who…
Whats Happening!!
Lets play What’s Happening in Bend this weekend. I’ll be Rerun. You be Raj. Up-and-coming NW band Eclectic Approach (named the top unsigned band at SXSW and a recent musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live) will generate megawatts of electro-funk at Silvermoon tonight. Strive Roots, best known for melding reggae, hard rock, funk and hip…
Protect Those Ears: Revisit our acoustic earplug review
Flashback: Last year’s review of custom acoustic earplugs (with video)
Friday Mixtape!
Fresh Pop!
Next Week: Rodeo Issue! And a Bit About Horses…
In Sisters, next weekend. While everyone in Central Oregon frantically digs for their forgotten cowboy boots and favorite pearl-snap shirts in anticipation of the 73rd annual Sisters Rodeo (Friday June 7-Sunday June 9, with a special kickoff Wednesday June 5), we’ve been dutifully working on next week’s Rodeo Issue. (NOTE: Stay tuned to our Facebook…
Best Ever
Editor's note: We asked a few of our favorite cyclists to share their go-to rides with the rest of Bend. They got back to us with sub-alpine mountain bike loops, destination coffee rides, social-hour downhills, and trails below the radar. It says something about the quality of Central Oregon's diverse riding that no two cyclists…
Strange Fruit
Just last week Deschutes County 911 received a report that a 52-year-old mushroom hunter had been missing for about four hours. Albert Reisert did not return to the designated meeting point after a hunt in the Deschutes National Forest west of La Pine. As happens in Central Oregon, the weather had changed from temperate in…
Bike Issue
It's a common misconception that Bend's bike fascination is a recent one. It’s not. More than 30 years ago, Gary Bonacker, co-owner of Sunnyside Sports, and friends were bombing down Mt. Bachelor on modified cruisers (aka some of the world's first mountain bikes). Phil Meglasson (yes, that Phil) started cutting trail in Central Oregon in…
Little Bites: Get A Share!
Like so many great ideas, CSA began in the ’80s. In, of all places, New Hampshire. The idea behind community-supported agriculture (yup, CSA) was to put the power back in the farmers’ control—and also to better connect consumers to seasonal vegetables rather than allowing people to select their foodstuff based on their immediate tastes—whether that…
The Bro
Mountain biking is a moneymaker. Contrary to conventional thought, mountain bikers, by and large, aren’t young punks but well-heeled professionals. According to recent research by Linfield College Professor Jeff McNamee, mountain bike racers spent nearly $600,000 in Bend between last summer’s High Cascades 100-mountain bike race and the USA Cycling Marathon National Championships the previous…
Beers on Bikes
The Cycle Pub rules! Every time the Bend Cycle Pub, a 12-seat bar on wheels, goes screaming by (and I mean screaming to describe the vocality, not the velocity), I am thrown into a state of love-hate. I love it. I hate it. SW Why didn’t I think of that?! A way to get from…
The Pro
I first met Alex Candelario five years ago by a remote beach break on the southern Baja Peninsula. It was November and I was camping with a friend near a pebble beach, in the middle of a 10-day surf trip, when Candelario and company rumbled down a dirt road and parked their RV next to…
The Commuter
A recent study by the League of American Bicyclists shows bike commuting increased by an encouraging 80 percent in “bicycle-friendly [U.S] communities” from 2000 to 2011. The same study points out commuting by bike grew 47 percent nationwide during the same 11-year period. These are promising stats for advocates of alternative transportation—especially for those in…
The Clown
Cyclists tend to take themselves pretty seriously. But Mike Russe is a different breed. It is near impossible to keep a straight face when he rides by on his unicycle, which he uses amazingly, to commute up, and down (!!!) College Hill. “It’s the most inefficient means of transportation you can choose,” Russe said with…
The Bike Mechanic
In 1817, Baron Karl Drais invented a horseless carriage, a two-wheeled pedal-less device propelled by foot, making him the world’s first bike mechanic. Henry Ford, founder of The Ford Motor Co., named his first automobile the Quadricycle; the vehicle featured many bicycle parts, including steel-spoked wheels and pneumatic tires. The two most famous bike mechanics,…
Central Oregon Bike Shop Directory
Backcountry Recumbent Cycles, 541-323-3460 550 SW Industrial Way Ste. #104. backcountryrecumbentcycles.com Bend Cyclery, 541-385-5256 1465 SW Knoll Ave Ste. 101. bendcyclery.com Bend Electric Bikes, 541-410-7408 223 NW Hill St. bendelectricbikes.com Bend Velo, 541-382-2453 1212 NE 1st St. bendvelo.com Bicycle Resource of Bend, 541-382-6977 2669 NE Twin Knolls Dr. On Facebook. Bike Doctor, 541-728-8032 bikedoctor.com The…
Letters 5/22 – 5/30
In reply to Open for Debate (News 5/23) Regarding the issue of allowing buildings higher than 35 feet along the river, where are we headed? From Greenwood to Franklin? Whatever happened to Bend 2030? It isn't exactly ancient history, but in Bend short memories seem to abide. The ugly vacant lots at the end of…
More Letters 5/22 – 5/30
My story is short. The photos say a lot. Drunken cycling is not a favorable alternative to driving, although a DUI may have been cheaper. I wasn't even in motion; this is from trying to get on the bike…twice. Lost a tooth, broke one off at the gum line; broken nose, AC separation in shoulder,…
Bike Bend
Bend Bella Cyclists Group Ride WOMEN'S—Various dates and times. Leaves from various locations. All women’s rides, all levels. bendbellacyclists.org Cruiser Ride CASUAL—Thursday, 7 pm. Starting in June. Leaves from Riverside Market, 285 NW Riverside Blvd. Laid-back group cruise around town. Bring a light. Dirt Divas Women’s Mountain Bike Ride WOMEN'S—Monday 5:30 pm. Leaves from Pine…
Mud = Best Film of the Year!
OMG. OMG. O-M-Gee! Mud is wonderful. Have you been wanting a male companion to Beasts of the Southern Wild? Wait no more! Do you remember the tall tales of Big Fish? Check! Do you fondly remember River Phoenix in Stand By Me? Who doesn’t? Were you enchanted and spooked by the creepy-but-kind Boo Radley in…
Our Picks 5/29 – 6/6
wednesday 29 Know Beer: Boneyard BEER— Listen in as Tony Lawrence, Boneyard Beer’s brewmaster, explains how his brew got so damn good. This “Know Beer” series event highlights one of Bend’s best breweries and includes tastings of its suds. Boneyard’s RPM IPA might be the best India Pale Ale in town. How’d they do that?…
Spokes to be You
There is a scene in Breaking Away (1979) that is perhaps the greatest cinematic moment of innocence lost. David Stoller is an Indiana boy, but has convinced himself he is Italian, singing arias, calling his working class parents “papa” and “mama mia,” and, most importantly, touring around the countryside on his 10-speed, biking cap turned…
The Wheel Thing
In 1994, a community activist in Portland had a harebrained idea: Communally shared bicycles. Why not paint a fleet of 400 low-maintenance bicycles yellow—completely yellow, from handlebars to spokes—and leave them out for public use; any one needing a bike, could simply pedal away. Already, a few European cities were successfully employing the all-for-one, one-…
Earnest & Brutal
Hopeless Jack and the Handsome Devil are the Laurel and Hardy of blues rock. Jack Beisel—Hopeless Jack—is a tattooed guitar player with bruising chops, and Pete Thomas—The Handsome Devil—is the subdued and unassuming baby-faced drummer. And while they may be different in stature, they are both bullheaded rockers, hell-bent on claiming a slice of the…
It’s About Time
Last week, in the oddly named Grapevine, Texas, the Boy Scouts of America announced an about-face: After a decades-long ban on gay children taking part in their activities, a position that was especially vociferous over the past year, the Scouts voted to allow any boys, regardless of sexual orientation, to join the club. More than…
Unplugged
It is par for the course in 2013 that musicians trying to make it must do a certain amount of online grunt work. Websites, free downloads and using social media to acquire fans outside their ZIP code. What club time was in the '80s and '90s is now done online. But Portland folk pop singer/songwriter…
The Wrong Approach
My best friend was killed by a drunk driver. It was nine years ago, and I am still angry. He was living in Maui and returning from lunch hour to visit his one-month old son when a woman, fresh from a booze cruise, smashed into him. His car stopped her from careening off the highway…
Intelligent Folks
Some things can’t be learned in school; like the meaning of the word “Aquadeer.” “Let your imagination run with it,” says Linnea Sablosky when asked to define the name she and her three California Institute of the Arts classmates chose for their band. The fictitious hooved marine mammal likely has nothing to do with a…
One Day at a Time
MONDAY 20 As we’ve begrudgingly reported several times over the past few months, the single worst creature that has ever been birthed into any universe, Kim Kardashian (also known as Cthulhu, who shall bring about Ragnarök, who bleeds acid and feasts on puppies) is having a baby. With Kanye West. And this baby may or…
Out of Town 5/29 – 6/6
portland friday 31 Blitzen Trapper Taking vintage country sounds and making them new, Blitzen Trapper stylishly combines ’70s-style folk with modern rock and roll. Neil Young meets Wilco meets new-school experimental rockers in the family of Dr. Dog, Dawes and Deer Tick. The critics-favorite name drop hit a high point when Blitzen Trapper released the…
MusicFest NW Announces Initial Lineup
It’s official! The first incarnation of the MusicFest Northwest lineup has been released. The festival is a full blown Portland music scene take over for six days each fall. This year features over 150 bands playing at 16 clubs all over the city from September 3-8. MusicFest NW 2013. Here’s what’s been announced thus far…
