The first time I saw a show at The Second Street Theater was in the Theater’s 2001 inaugural season. I was enthralled.
Farewell Second Street: the curtain comes down on a Bend stage
Posted inNews
Walden Goes After the Feds on Swine Flu Mess
Last month Greg Walden caught the H1H1 (“swine”) flu, and he wasn’t happy about it. He also isn’t happy about the way the government handled the swine flu epidemic.
Posted inNews
Welcome to Chelm-on-the-Deschutes
In Jewish folklore there is a town called Chelm in which all the inhabitants are complete idiots.
Over the years many jokes have been told about the foolishness of the people of Chelm.
Posted inOutside
Road Trip: With Jimmy Buffett and Dr. Seuss
At the far end of town
Where the Grickle-grass grows
And the wind smells slow-and-sour when it blows
And no birds ever sing, excepting old crows…
Is the street of the Lifted Lorax.
Not quite ready to settle in for a long winter, I got first tracks at Dutchman on November 8 and then headed south. Looking just like a Life Is Good t-shirt, we loaded up the van with mountain bikes, boogie boards and dogs and drove straight through the night, arriving for a glorious sunrise at Malibu.
Posted inOutside
Stop the Jazz Invasion
Guess what? No one we know in this region, likes, cares or has any desire to watch the Utah Jazz. Well, not at least since Stockton retired his thigh-bearing shorty shorts and Malone traded his one-hand-only dunks for rifles and shotguns of varying size and purpose. Still, Utah Jazz games continue to mysteriously and inexplicably appear on local cable despite the fact that the games aren't listed on that fun sliding color-coded programming chart.
Posted inCulture
The Meaning of Strife: The Coen Brothers' newest romp lays pathos on thick and humorously in A Serious Man
Somehow, the filmmaking duo that brought us Fargo, No Country For Old Men and The Big Lebowski managed to sneak a movie under the radar that has the feel of an instant art house classic. Simply put, A Serious Man is the best movie I've seen this year. Stemming from all things Jewish, Leave it to Beaver and Middle America circa 1967, the Coen brothers have executed a comic masterpiece.
While opening credits snap to the drumbeat of Jefferson Airplane's “Somebody to Love,” we zoom through an ear cavity of a kid listening to a transistor radio during Hebrew school. And you might guess that this is going to be another bizarre ride on the Coen Bros Express. But it's not as weird as it is simplistic, a meticulous tale that's taken to every inch of its breaking point.
Posted inOutside
The Water Ouzel: Swimming along with the American dipper
I've been spending a lot more time this fall on the Metolius River than in the past, doing stories on the variety of wonderful river reclamation projects. And in that time I've had the pleasure of seeing several dippers. “What's a dipper?” you may ask. Why, it's an ouzel.
The American dipper, Cinclus mexicanus, was John Muir's favorite bird – and no wonder – few birds are as fun to watch as these little guys, and you will not find them on polluted waters. Dippers are also called “water ouzels,” and their Eskimo name, “anaruk kiviruk,” translates to “old woman sunk.”
Posted inCulture
With A Whimper: Roland Emmerich ends the world, again in 2012
The theory behind Roland Emmerich's latest disaster movie is vaguely interesting. According to the Mayan calendar (gee, that looks so stupid in writing) the world will end in the year 2012. A frighteningly large number of people actually believe this and are busy preparing for the fire, flood and all. An equally vast contingent of people of the New Age variety believe 2012 will bring a shift in consciousness, and we will all get along together in a more friendly way forever after.
In a few years time something will happen because people believe it will – be that mass suicides, or mass yoga practices. The level of intrigue for most of us is probably on a par with our interest in who wins American Idol. 2012, however, is such a nothing nothingness of a film that it should be consigned to a pile marked “unreviewable,” so there's little to say in the face of all its tired old silliness.
Posted inCulture
Hey Mister DeeJay: DJ Hero grinds but never grooves
I don't think of DJs as being particularly heroic. Recently, the best-known examples – DJ AM and Samantha Ronson – have been famous for OD-ing and dating Lindsay Lohan respectively – acts that require a certain fortitude, to be sure, but are hardly heroic.
I understand the heroism of guitarists. Guitar Hero gets me standing up in my living room, rocking my hips and scowling at my fingers while I play a plastic “guitar.” Whenever I screw up, the music sounds like crap. And when I'm rocking, I'm synced with the music in a physically interdependent way – like dancing, but in my case more coordinated.
Posted inFood & Drink
It Came, It Brewed, It Conquered: Three Creeks puts Sisters on the microbrewery map
The most junior member of Central Oregon's league of microbreweries, Three Creeks has quickly made Sisters an important stop on the beer-drinkers' tour. The accompanying brewpub, an oasis in the high desert emerging from the trees as you enter town from the east on Highway 20, almost instantly became a local favorite. While there are plenty of places in Sisters to find a good meal, Three Creeks is the most versatile. It's perfect for a family meal on the restaurant side of the massive barn-style building, or on the bar side, a burger and football, a few pints and a game of pool or dinner and live music on a Saturday night. My visits have run the gamut – a quick beer on the way home from Hoodoo, bar snacks and baseball in the afternoon, the full dining experience – and in all scenarios Three Creeks fared well. It's the kind of place that seems to effortlessly suit your mood, whatever it may be.