After Abuses, City is Ready to Pull Plug on Parking Program
The city of Bend is preparing to pull the plug on its downtown parking validation program, again, because of persistent problems with downtown employees and business owners who abuse the system. City staff is proposing to kill the validation program at the end of the calendar year and has already met with the program’s chief…
Sara Jackson-Holman Releases Christmas EP
Christmas music.
Forest Service Wants Winter Leash Law Input
Bend dog owners who want more access to groomed ski trails will have a chance to share their perspective with the Forest Service and other winter trail users this week at an open house aimed at airing some of the access issues. While there are no official proposals on the table, off-leash proponents lead by…
The Sawyers Find a Champion – for a Price
The tragicomic tale of Tami and Kevin Sawyer just keeps getting stranger and stranger. The Sawyers were high flyers during Bend’s real estate bubble era but were shot down in flames last month when a federal grand jury in Eugene indicted them on 21 criminal counts including wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to…
Miller Landing Campaign Gets A Boost
The push to build a new riverfront park in Bend got a boost this week from the Oregon Community Foundation, which announced that it has pledged $50,000 toward the acquisition of the Miller Landing property. The news brings the Trust for Public Land, and the community at large, a step closer to realizing the…
Wake Up, America: Despite a few character flaws, Morning Glory keeps you tuned in
Morning Glory's Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is relatable, but at the same time her character is flawed. We all know her, or at least we've all met someone exactly like her. She (or he) was the person sitting in the front row in every class. She's enthusiastic about her job and she's incredibly driven. For…
Republican: Dudley Wasn't Ready for Prime Time
Rarely do I agree on anything with Ted Piccolo, a right-wing activist and political consultant who blogs under the alias “I Am Coyote” on the NW Republican site. But he’s posted an analysis of why Chris Dudley lost the governor’s race that I think is spot on – and refreshingly candid.
Rachel Ray Recipe for Microwave Bacon Inspires Best Comments Ever
Sometimes, genius happens where you least expect it. Yesterday, it was on foodnetwork.
Man Forced to Eat His Own Beard…seriously
I, like many other Oregon men, enjoy sporting a healthy beard during the colder months and sometimes during the warmer months (and during other months, too). I love beards and sometimes I write about them.
New Music Video From Cloaked Characters, Featuring Joanna Lee
Local filmmaker Tim Cash is making music videos all over the world these days, including a piece for Brian Lee that took him all the way to Korea. But the man behind Far From Earth Films isn’t above helping out our local music scene.
Video From Built to Spill in Bend
So yeah, that Built to Spill show at the Domino Room last night easily hopped into my top five shows of the year list and I’m now endlessly obsessed with the guitar work of Doug Martsch after having forgotten its majesty during my two-and-a-half-year hiatus from seeing the band live. If you were there, you…
Of Bambi, Bubbles and BS
Jeffrey Auxier thinks great things are just around the corner for Bend. Auxier, president and CEO of Auxier Asset Management and Auxier Focus Fund in Lake Oswego, spoke at the Central Oregon Economic Forecast Vision 2011 meeting here Tuesday.
Win Tickets to Head for the Hills on Saturday Night
As is their wont, Colorado next-generation bluegrass band Head For The Hills, is returning to Bend for yet another show on Saturday night at Silver Moon Brewing. Knowing that they’ve got plenty of fans in this region, the band is giving away some tickets to the show, right on this very blog! Want to win?…
Built to Spill! Tonight in Bend!
After a long month of waiting, I’m happy to announce that the Built to Spill show at the Domino Room is finally here, which makes me feel a bit tingly — I haven’t been this stoked for show in a long while. The band, which includes guitar god and production sorcerer Doug Martsch, released There…
Down, Set, Grub: Surveying the Sunday morning football breakfast scene
With winter arriving this month, or maybe this week, but ski season still a few weeks away, you finally have an excuse not to do anything outside on your Sunday mornings. Rather, you have all the reason in the world to spend the day watching football. But we all know that football at home is…
Want Some Karma with that Burger?: Common Table is serving fresh, local food with a purpose
The first thing you notice when walking into Common Table is the 20-foot-long black walnut table, which runs the length of the new non-profit café on Oregon Avenue. The restaurant, which occupies the former Cork location, has been open for just over a month. Yet, with minimal promotion, save a few articles (we wrote about…
A River Run Right: Surviving a steelhead trip on the lower Deschutes
A successful fall steelhead trip starts with the right provisions. If you're running the lower Deschutes, you'll need a boat capable of surviving a head-on collision with a speeding pick-up truck, about half a dozen rods, and 150 hand-tied flies. If it's October, you'll need clothes suited for the third week of June as well…
“Myths and Other Disguises”
The author is reporting from “ObamaCare” and hoping his doctor didn't drink the tea. No more slanderous ads, robo-calls from famous people who would never give you their number. Shhh… Secret strategy sessions, appointments, impermanent power divvied in dark rooms. The post-midterm election hush has been unusually brief.
Caring About the NFL is Hard … now that they can't properly knock each other's heads off
On the last few Sundays, I've done some strange things. I've gone to movies, ran (almost) three miles, folded laundry, endured three consecutive hours of a reality show about kids who can see ghosts, and NOT watched NFL football. Well, that's not entirely true. Last week I witnessed the Seahawks give up two touchdowns in…
No Surprise: The Hangover director Todd Phillips plays it safe with Due Date
I recently read an article in the New York Daily News, in which Due Date director Todd Phillips divulges that the secret ingredient to making a great comedy is danger, and by danger he means the element of surprise. Anyone who's watched his smash hit The Hangover can agree with that statement, but when it…
Welcome, New Tea Party Readers!
As you may have noticed, we had an election last week! And while this particular election may not have turned out exactly as I would've liked, I've decided NOT to hurl myself face first into a rusty electric wood chipper. As my slightly insane and perpetually inebriated Aunt Wanda used to say, “When the world…
Down, Set, Grub: Surveying the Sunday morning football breakfast scene
With winter arriving this month, or maybe this week, but ski season still a few weeks away, you finally have an excuse not to do anything outside on your Sunday mornings. Rather, you have all the reason in the world to spend the day watching football. But we all know that football at home is…
Little Bites: In Case You Missed It: A recap of some of our recent restaurant reviews
Common Table If you've heard about Common Table, you know that it's much more than a restaurant. Run by Zack Hancock, a young, charismatic former schoolteacher and ordained Presbyterian minister and Bob Pearson, a member of the First Presbyterian Church, CT is structured slightly differently than your run-of-the-mill café. Proceeds benefit those who can't afford…
Bend Makes Noise: Local acts take the stage to raise money for kids
It has been a good year in local music. In fact, one could make a convincing argument, as I may here, that 2010 has been the best year for local music in Central Oregon. Maybe it's the decline in bigger name acts coming to town or the fact that local artists can work on their…
Ben Folds/ Nick Hornby: Lonely Avenue
Nonesuch Records I really couldn't feel more mixed about an album, a singer and a writer. Lonely Avenue is rooted in a cool concept: singer/piano man Ben Folds takes the words of Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy) and makes them into songs. Easy enough, right? Well, no. Not at all.
Our Picks for 11/10-11/18 Out in the Silence, Pray for Snow, and lots more!
Out in the Silence wednesday 10 This documentary, which focuses on gay rights and equality in small-town America, arrives for two screenings in Redmond and Bend at an especially apt time, considering all the news surrounding issues of teen bullying. The film is directed by Joe Wilson, who returns to his hometown after an announcement…
The Secret Hotel Tax Deal
If you, or we, owed the City of Bend a couple of thousand dollars in taxes and told the city, “Okay, how about if we pay half of it and forget the rest?” the response probably would be something along the lines of: “Are you SERIOUS?!?”
A Word About Radioactive Rabbits
Rabbits are pretty innocent, not exactly straddling spider or rattlesnake territory when it comes to the terror factor. But the Hanford nuclear reservation took one rabbit and turned it into a radioactive death machine.
Do You Vegan? Check out Veg Net Bend’s Upcoming Events
As much as I try to have my finger on the pulse of the food scene here in Bend, I have to admit I haven’t been that aware of vegan offerings. Honestly, it wasn’t until I talked to the folks from VegNet (vegnetbend.
Time For GOP to Back Up The Tough Talk
“The American people” here, “The American people” there, “conversation with the American people,” etc…These kinds of utterances have been made by scores of politicians oven the decades and with the recent turn of the midterm elections, they seem to be back to daily use. And yet, for all the considerations for the “American people,” very…
Bring the UGB Back to Earth
To all Bend City Council Members, As a homeowner in the city of Bend I am very thankful that the [Land Conservation Development Commission] was watching out for our best interest with respect to this ridiculous UGB plan.
Voting Down Pot: Marijuana initiatives in Oregon and California both failed, but advocates find promise in the results
You probably didn't hear much about it during the local, regional and national television election night coverage and it's likely that you only caught a brief news story about it in the days that followed, but Measure 74, the Oregon voter initiative that would have created a state-regulated medical marijuana dispensary system, did not pass.…
Growing Up Beatle: Nowhere Boy explores John Lennon's troubled youth and explains a lot of his lyrics
On what would've been John Lennon's 70th birthday, comes the docudrama Nowhere Boy, which chronicles Lennon's early years in Liverpool and the women who were instrumental in raising him. Or more aptly put, who provided him with the trauma that fueled his creativity.
