Wyden Gets the Public Option Message
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Sen. Ron Wyden – whose support of the public option for health care reform had been considered somewhat iffy – finally came down in favor of it, voting yes today on two amendments in the Senate Finance Committee.
Green Goes Kinky
For one reason or another, my name and e-mail address are on about 250 public relations firm’s e-mail lists. So daily I get a batch of e-mails extolling some new book, travel opportunity, gear, and more recently more hype about “green” products and services.
Video Explosion: Bend Roots Revival
I’m still wrapping my head around exactly what happened up at the corner of 14th Street and Galveston Avenue this weekend. If anything, the 2009 edition of the Bend Roots Revival proved that whatever negative labels the dismal economy has placed on our town do not apply to our music scene.
Responses Answered
Easily the most enjoyable part of blogging (I’m new at this, or is that stating the obvious?) has been some of the responses I’ve received. There have been the truly creative and the not so creative, and, unfortunately, the way predictable.
Cruiser’s Paradise
Balloon tires, wide comfortable saddles, cool paint jobs-what’s not to like about contemporary cruiser bikes that have become popular get-around-Bend vehicles during the warm months. Given the fact that most of our fair city is relatively flat, it’s ideally suited for cruising.
Best of Central Oregon
Click to launch the full edition in a new window.
Bend Roots Revival: A Complete Schedule
The Bend Roots Revival, taking place between the Victorian Café and Parrilla Grill (14th St and Galveston Ave.) all weekend got under last night with a show by Grateful Dead tribute act Rising Tide and bluegrass from Back from the Dead.
Telfer Gets a Failing Grade From OLCV
Central Oregon’s first-term legislators emerged on the opposite end of the spectrum on environmental issues, according to the legislative scorecard released this week by the environmental policy watchdog group Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV). The non-profit has been tracking the votes of individual legislators on environmental policy issues for more than three decades…
wRite: the ritual
Beneath the moon Beside an ancient lake Enter again the sweet forest Enter the hot dream Come with us Everything is broken up and dances.
AWAKE – Jim Morrison I've taught writing for seventeen years.
Dr. K's Radical Prescription for Health Care
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 John Kitzhaber, The Man Who Would Be Governor Again, had some right-on-the-money things to say about health care reform last week at the Columbia Forum in Astoria. The gist of his message: We need to create a new and better system, not just prop up the…
Cats Out of Control: Time for a Sensible Policy
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The weather might not show it, but the birds know it: Autumn is here, and they’re heading south along the Pacific Flyway, the main migratory route along the West Coast. The Pacific Flyway runs right over Central Oregon, and the autumn and spring migrations bring entertaining…
Video from Deer Tick at McMenamins last night
If you happened to be wondering how many people will willingly cram themselves into a relatively small room to see a free show by one of the most buzzed-about bands in all of indie rock, last night’s Deer Tick show at McMenamins gave you the answer—a hell of a lot. By the time the Rhode…
A Tarnished Treasure?
It’s one of life’s great truisms. Something very unique is cherished by a few, becomes a cult classic, and then, as more people find out about it, becomes more of a classic trashed.
Letter of the Week: What Do We Have To Lose On Health Care?
This week's letter comes from Elsan Zimmerly who makes a compelling case for rethinking health care, a topic that's gotten a lot of attention and not enough intelligent discussion recently. Thanks for your well written and researched letter Elsan. You can pick up your winner's prize, a bag of Strictly Organic coffee, at our office,…
Wilkommen to Cabaret!: Cat Call Productions brings Berlin to the Tower
“We have no hassles in here. Here, life is beautiful!” intones the Emcee of the Kit Kat Club in Cat Call Productions' inaugural showing of Cabaret.
Do Something Oxymoronic: Have some serious fun at a work party
What are you doing this weekend? If you've got random plans to do nothing, I've got an incredibly convincing argument for you to consider a Work Party. Sure, you could enjoy a Staycation eating jumbo shrimp, drinking dry martinis and watching reality TV. I am hopelessly optimistic that you will find a Work Party to…
Ladybird, Ladybird, fly away home… The truth on Lady Beetles
Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home Your house is on fire and your children are gone All except one, and that's Little Anne For she has crept under the warming pan.
In Medieval England, farmers would set fire to old hop vines after the harvest in order to clear the fields for the next planting.
Wearing a Wire: Matt Damon takes true story gold to the next level in The Informant!
Expectations are understandably high for The Informant! since Warner Brothers has spent a fortune placing pop-up ads and television spots virtually everywhere. It has been extraordinarily difficult over the last month to avoid the nerdy image of Matt Damon in the title role of Mark Whitacre. But the finished product stands up to the scrutiny.…
Body Parts and Dialogue Chunks: Teenage girl power gore dies early in Jennifer’s Body
The first line of Jennifer's Body is, “Hell is a teenage girl.” Let me rephrase: “Hell is enduring a teenage girl/demonic possession movie written by Diablo Cody.” The film features the same producers as Juno, but brings into the fold director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight) and it seems this group is slapping themselves on the back…
Zappa Plays Zappa coming to town… and Deer Tick plays tonight
I’ll admit that I’m not a Frank Zappa enthusiast, but I’m aware of a bucketful of folks here in Bend that worship at the alter of perhaps the only man to have earned the title of “rock and roll composer.” And they’re in luck because there’s some Zappa music coming to town.
A Return to Redmond: Chloe's new location is back where it began
Just months after leaving Redmond and settling in at a new location in the FivePine complex in Sisters, Chloe New American Cuisine got an offer in its old hometown it couldn't refuse. A space opened up in the Sleep Inn conference center, formerly occupied by Canyons.
A Return to Redmond: Chloe's new location is back where it began
Just months after leaving Redmond and settling in at a new location in the FivePine complex in Sisters, Chloe New American Cuisine got an offer in its old hometown it couldn't refuse. A space opened up in the Sleep Inn conference center, formerly occupied by Canyons.
Little Bites: In Deep At Typhoon
My dad, who still doesn't understand why anyone would want to forgo hamburgers, lives by the motto: If it's green, it's trouble; if it's fried, order double. I've been meaning to get his take on items that cross both barriers: like vegetable tempera or the crispy-friend vegetarian spring rolls my husband and I devoured with…
Frequently Asked Questions: What you should know about Bend Roots
The last weekend of September is upon us, which means that it's time to party. No, not party in the summer sense of the word, because it's now officially and sadly the fall season.
Ryan Costello: After the Fire
In stores October 20
With a melodic depth that catches the ear, Ryan Costello remains true to his roots as a member of indie rock band, the Oaks. Costello's use of 12 different instruments creates a soulful arrangement that sounds similar to that of Sufjan Stevens, who is a clear influence on Costello's most personal…
The Yard Dogs Road Show's Hobo Delight
Yard Dogs Road Show has a new EP, entitled September Summer, but that really doesn't especially matter because this is a band that almost certainly won't make any sense to you merely on record. And that's not to say YDRS, a San-Francisco-based traveling variety show (of sorts), isn't a collectively talented musical troupe, because it…
Our Picks for 9/23 – 10/1: DJ Barisone, Pepper, Bend Roots Revival
Finn Riggins, Church thursday 24 This was in the Picks last week, but since we got our hands on Finn Riggins' new album, Vs. Wilderness, we have to write more about this Boise, Idaho trio given that said album is incredibly awesome.
Off Target: Conservationists' opposition to hunting wolves is wrongheaded
I never thought I'd say this, but wolf recovery in the West has been the most successful program ever accomplished under the Endangered Species Act. Thanks to the efforts of the U.
In Each Other We Trust: Bend tries its hand setting the dollar aside for local currency
The end of the world is nigh. We're just polishing the brass on the Titanic. This is all going down. That got your attention, right? Apocalypse sells. FOX News feeds a diet of disaster – the swine flu epidemic, nuclear arms in North Korea – into our living rooms. The Apocalypse used to be so…
The Wrong Way to Protect River Access Rights
Many areas of law are murky, but the law governing access to Oregon rivers and their banks is a veritable Okefenokee Swamp. We can't blame state legislators for wanting to clear the waters a little, but the approach they're taking could end up seriously limiting recreational users' rights – while leaving the legal situation as…
My Local Paper
Imagine a world where the only network television news came via FOX, or the New York Post was the only national newspaper. Kind of frightening.
Let's Review: Obama hits the circuit, Afghanistan smolders and Romo runs for his life
The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from where your relatives and America started – Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown, Virginia – on assignment for Or-Bust.
Government can be counterproductive
I write this letter in response to Wayne Bredtze's letter “Government Can Be Good” in last week's issue. At first glance federal loans and grants indeed do seem like an essential part of higher education, though upon closer inspection they are quite counter productive.
Lotto Numbers Don't Add Up
Props to Dr. Nathan Boddie for his piece in favor of health care reform.
Who Gives A Sh#@?
Dear Boot, So that's what's wrong with Bend? Goose poop that hinders using the park? You're given a column to bitch about anything you want and you pick geese? What's wrong with you? You wasted half a page and go off about how bird droppings 'ruin' the park? And then you mock the people who…
Fuzzy, Fuzzy Math
Last week The Boot opined that tavern owners would only take a $6,300 hit if their share of video lottery game revenues drops from roughly 24% to 15%. I suspect that The Boot may have attended the Timothy Geithner/Charles Rangel School of Fuzzy Math and/or he/she got a head start sampling some of the delicious…
My Country 'Tis of Thee: Take time to remember our wild heritage
The early stunning vistas of beautiful America gave rise to some of the best known and most evocative writings, song and poetry of this wide and sweeping land, a land to the earliest of inhabitants and those who came after, of wildness, diamond-blue skies and waves that tumbled onto golden, unsullied beaches. “America the Beautiful”…
A Prayer For The Wandering Eye
Dear Mr. Miller, I hope this letter finds you in good health and enjoying your food and plain beer.
Living With Lyme Disease
You never know what you live amongst or what you're exposed to. Lyme disease is something we hear more frequently, but often played down.
Looking For Java Love
I’m giving up coffee. Not because of some medical reason but for the simple reason that I can’t find a coffee shop that I like to drink my morning cup.
