Giving Thanks: People and things in Bend that make life bearable
Like many Americans, I think Thanksgiving is our nation’s best holiday. It’s a day devoted to being with friends and family and giving thanks for what we have and what has made our lives better.
Another Reason You Should Be Drinking
Since it is negative 50 degrees today (well, almost), I needed a soup and sandwich fix. The Downtowner at The Summit Saloon is my go-to for soup, and today didn’t disappoint – the chicken and dumplings soup tasted like hugs and rainbows.
Four Loko Watch: Oregon Bans All Caffeinated Malt Liquors
Well, it was a wild ride while it lasted. If you were one of the folks who participated in Four Loko Friday, you got in on the malt liquor and caffeine craze just in time because this weekend the Oregon Liquor Control Commission voted to ban the sale of Four Loko and six other energized…
Blonde Redhead got super loud at the Roseland Theater last Saturday
This past Saturday I headed down to our rainy sister city to check out Blonde Redhead at the Roseland Theater. I’ve been a fan of the New York-based trio for a while but wasn’t expecting the intense show the band put on.
Getting Out: Updates on Horse Ridge, Skull Hollow
Horse Ridge It’s that time of year when mountain bikers head to Horse Ridge to ride snow-free singletrack. What many of them don’t know is that the new parking area and trail access is open and should be used in favor of parking along the roadway.
Oregon Economy: Some Ups, Some Downs
The good news (for conservatives) is that Oregon lost public-sector jobs in the third quarter of 2010. The bad news for the Oregon economy is that Oregon lost public-sector jobs in the third quarter.
Going Loko
As part of our ongoing commitment to excellence in journalism, we’ve embedded two of our staff members in the “Four Loko” nation. If you see either Ryan “Sleepy” DeBardelaben or Brandon “Slappy” Sizemore passed out in a pool of their own filth on a downtown street corner or dumpster, please return them to our offices…
Happy Four Loko Friday, Everyone!
What is Four Loko? It’s only the most dangerous (and, of course, most popular) malt liquor and energy drink beverage on the market! And there’s a good chance that the FDA is going to ban Four Loko, as well as all the other caffeinated malt liquors, as soon as next week after scores of college…
The Ascetic Junkies Tonight in Bend
Just a few days after the release of their new full-length album, This Cage Has No Bottom, Portland indie folk rockers The Ascetic Junkies are playing a show tonight at the Silver Moon to celebrate the release. I profiled the band this week and you can read that right here.
Mt. Bachelor Announces Opening Day
This is for real: Mt. Bachelor is opening on November 24.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Opens at Pilot Butte on Friday
Fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millenium Series and the Swedish film adaptions can rejoice: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, the third and final chapter in the series is opening at Pilot Butte 6 on Friday. I received the screener this week, so you can count on reading the review in next week’s paper and…
Playing the New Game of “Deficit Buster”
Think you know how to fix the federal budget deficit? The New York Times has posted an interactive tool that lets you take a shot at it. The Times gives you 40 different options to play around with, including spending cuts in areas such as the federal government payroll, the military, Social Security and Medicare,…
Sasquatch! Music Festival Announces 2011 Dates, Foo Fighters to Headline
Winter really hasn’t even begun, yet the summer music festival announcements have already begun. Yesterday we got the dates for Bonnaroo and today I opened my inbox to find that Sasquatch! already has its days lined up.
Larry and His Flask to Tour with Streetlight Manifesto
As if 2010 wasn’t good enough to Redmond’s Larry and His Flask, 2011 is looking just as exciting. Yesterday the band announced that they’d be touring this spring with Streetlight Manifesto, the New Jersey punk and ska outfit that has a loyal and sizable following.
Flaherty To Get Blaylock Murder Case
In a break from string of hostilities dating back to the May election campaign, District Attorney Mike Dugan has announced that his successor DA-elect Patrick Flaherty will serve as a special prosecutor on the high profile Lori Blaylock murder case. Blaylock's husband, Steven, was arrested last week and charged with killing his wife whose body…
FLASH: Oregon Wants Palin!
I damn near lost my breakfast when I pulled up the Oregon Catalyst site this morning and glanced at the item headlined: “Oregon’s Top 2012 Presidential Picks.” Under the headline was a bar graph showing the percentage of support for each of 10 likely or possible 2012 presidential prospects.
Peddling Paddling Art: On kayak sculptures, slideshows and the “other” triple crown
The new kayak/flower sculpture in the roundabout at Riverbend Park is the latest piece of public art to confound and/or delight the citizens of Bend. The proposal for the sculpture, “Yakaya,” was submitted by Seattle artist Troy Pillow and was unanimously chosen by the Art in Public Places committee, the same non-profit organization that is…
Spider Time: Charlotte and other marvels of nature
Sometimes I get calls from folks all in a dither: “Oh, Jim. There's a huge spider in a web above the horse's stall… and there's another behind the barn door… and my son just came in and told me there's another one near the porch light… are they dangerous?” The answer is a flat, “no.”…
College Hoops All Night: Watching basketball in the middle of the night because ESPN told me to
It's almost two in the morning on Tuesday and what do you think I'm doing? Sleeping? Nope. First of all, how would I be writing this if I were sleeping? Jeez, get your head in the game, pal. No, I'm watching college basketball on live television between two teams about which I could care less.…
No Day but Today: Rent hits the 2nd Street Stage
Rent, the Pulitzer prize-winning musical about struggling musicians and artists living in New York's Lower East Side during the early '90s AIDS epidemic, is a difficult show – vocally, physically and emotionally – for any seasoned performer to complete. Yet B.E.A.T., the theater workshop made up mostly of high school-aged students, is currently in the…
“I Object!”
The author is reporting from rehab, watching a literal squawk box, some annoying bimbo making the beautiful state of Alaska look ugly. When we're forced to choose between molestation and strangers seeing our privates via X-ray, the terrorists have won. Hand Al Qaeda a trophy, bring back the troops, ground the drones and shutter the…
Not-So-Crazy Train: Unstoppable is on a crash course with the mundane
Unstoppable is the fifth collaboration of director Tony Scott and actor Denzel Washington and is merely by-the-numbers stuff. That's not to say Unstoppable isn't engaging, because as a suspenseful thriller it works fine, but it plays out as Hollywood mainstream schlock at its most finely tuned.
A Little Father-Son Talk: When it's time for an imagined heart-to-heart, call on us
“Son, why are you always going around dancing and playing patty-cake with everybody? Don’t you have a kingdom to save?” “I am saving the kingdom, dad. But unlike when you did it back in Fable II, this time it’s a revolution – against my brother, your son, whom you made king, I might add. In…
The Ice Concussions Cometh
Don't get me wrong – I like sports. I just don't like the sports everyone else seems so crazy about. I don't like basketball (AKA the “sport of fools”), but I do like office chair bowling (where you hide in the corner of your office, and when someone walks in, you sling your roll-y chair…
Back to Earth: The new Marz Bistro struggles to find its footing
It's tough not to have high expectations for a venture that combines an old favorite – in this case, Marz Bistro – with a prominent chef and restaurateur, Gavin McMichael of The Blacksmith and Bourbon Street. Marz, the 2008 Source Weekly Restaurant of the Year, recently sold to McMichael and re-opened under the same name.
As Loud as They Want to Be: The Ascetic Junkies prove that they can rock
Ascetic Junkies guitarist and co-vocalist Matt Harmon was riding a bike near his southeast Portland home when he noticed a piece of paper hanging from a tree. He couldn't quite read what was written on the page, but being the sort of curious individual who stops when he sees out-of-place items in trees, Harmon turned…
The Return of Talib Kweli
For the most part, when a band or performer comes to Bend, there's talk of the show maybe for a few days, but then the chatter dies down and you don't hear anything about that act until they come back to town. But on occasion, there are shows that reverberate through the local music scene…
Our Picks for 11/17-11/25: GWAR! Talib Kweli, and much more!
11th Annual Powder Hound wednesday 17 The yearly photography and filmmaking show returns to the Tower this year to display shots of your neighbors having fun in the snow. There are also plenty of giveaways to be had, including $2,500 worth of raffle items from Pine Mountain Sports and other free schwag. $12/adv at Pine…
Internet Famous! Allie Brosh has made Hyperbole and a Half into one of the Web's most read and hilarious blogs
Allie Brosh is sipping an IPA and taking the occasional bite of a cheeseburger as she gives a detailed treatise as to why she'll never be a real, actual adult, even though she's 25 years old. She says the pressures of real-world responsibilities like grocery shopping and replying to e-mail eventually give her reason to…
Forest Service Wants Off-Leash Input: Proposal would expand winter access for dogs
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 Silly No-Sitting-On-the-Sidewalk Law
“The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to steal bread,” the novelist Anatole France wrote in 1894. The law the City of Bend is contemplating to deal with the (supposed) problem of loitering on downtown streets would, we…
This Weeks Number
8 That's the number of votes that separates City Council candidates Chuck Arnold and Scott Ramsay as they head into a state-mandated recount.
Dirty Dancing, More Loko, A Population Push and Persistent Poachers
Dirty Dancing Too Much For Portland Teachers Students were getting a little too close for comfort at a Portland High School, causing teachers to cancel the school's winter formal. Cleveland High School in Southeast Portland has cancelled the dance due to the new style of dance known as “grinding.” Obviously a little movie from 1987…
Don't Hate on Spam
As a fairly recent newcomer to Bend, I gratefully turn to the Source when seeking to dine out. Last week I read a mouth-watering re-cap of a review for the Bend Fish Co., “Hawaiian Grindz,” when I had cause to pause and ponder. What’s up with all the Spam bashing?
There Is Another Way
Everywhere in Bend I meet people who sincerely believe that the only way to resolve the goose poop problem is through periodic exterminations. Then I explain that non-lethal methods are more effective, sustainable, and cost effective and are currently being used successfully in dozens of locations in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. At that…
Give Them The Debt
With the news this past week of how to fix the deficit and get the U.S. back in the black, I'm sure everyone is going to have some ideas of what they think will work best. So here's mine. Since we had a surplus 10 years ago before Bush, Cheney and Rove weaseled their way…
Powderhound Preview Tonight at the Tower
If you haven’t heard, there’s a big ol’ snowstorm headed our way. Skiers and waxing their gear.
