As reported recently the much-loved Downtowner restaurant picked up stakes and moved down the street, shacking up with its sibling establishment the Summit Stage and Saloon. Now comes word that the Downtowner's former home in the breezeway has a new tenant. Lola's (In The Breezeway) opened late last month after taking over the lease and equipment from the Downtowner. Owner Amy Levinger has added a full bar with beer, wine and cocktails and hours that stretch until 11 p.m. on most nights to accommodate hospitality workers and other folks who operate on a more European dining schedule.
Keeping It Casual
Posted inFood & Drink
Keeping It Casual
As reported recently the much-loved Downtowner restaurant picked up stakes and moved down the street, shacking up with its sibling establishment the Summit Stage and Saloon. Now comes word that the Downtowner's former home in the breezeway has a new tenant. Lola's (In The Breezeway) opened late last month after taking over the lease and equipment from the Downtowner. Owner Amy Levinger has added a full bar with beer, wine and cocktails and hours that stretch until 11 p.m. on most nights to accommodate hospitality workers and other folks who operate on a more European dining schedule.
Posted inMusic
… And They're Canadian: Swollen Members battle addiction, stereotypes and end up with a damn good record
Canada's hip-hop contributions may not have been as respected, as say, the country's contribution to curling and ice hockey or its French-fry-and-gravy culinary innovations. Artists like Snow (of “Informer” infamy) have given our northern neighbors a reputation that was hard to shake. These days, however, a solid Canadian underground hip-hop scene has materialized and legitimate groups like Kardinal, Drake, Sweatshop Union and Swollen Members have helped to eradicate past indiscretions.
Posted inMusic
Going Bi-Coastal with Dropkick Murphys
Not to say that there aren't other Celtic punk rock bands touring the country, but there's really only two that matter: Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. The latter sold out the Midtown Ballroom about two years ago and the former will try to do the same this weekend.
It's not a Biggie/TuPac sort of thing, but Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly indeed create the same sort of coastal dichotomy with the Murphys being pretty much the biggest thing in Boston while Flogging Molly has the L.A. market, and much of the West Coast, on lockdown. But let's get something straight. There's no real beef between the two bands – in fact, there's plenty of crossover with the two acts' fan bases.
Posted inMusic
Recordings you may have missed but need to hear
Galaxie 500
Today
Released 1988
Galaxie 500's debut, Today, is the sum of an odd confluence of events that conspired to make a genius record. The Boston trio of school friends formed in 1986 with Naomi Yang (who was just learning the bass) and a sound that was atypical relative to the scene at the time. But with the guidance of famed underground rock producer Kramer, Today was released as a solid marker that the band had arrived.
Posted inCulture
wRite: Grape Popsicle
This is Eskimo Nell's story. I barely know her. We met at a gem and mineral show in the Little America hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona at least fifteen years ago. I have not seen her since then.
I bought a raw opal from her. She gave me two more for free – a brown opal and a sun fire. She had dug them from her little claim in Australia.
The brown opal was the size of the nail on my fourth finger. It was a tiny puddle of glint, green and pale blue against the rough brown of its matrix.
The sun fire opal was a rough blue cylinder no bigger than the first joint of my little finger. The surface was matte. She had chipped off a sliver so the gleaming interior was visible. “Put it in water,” she said, “and set it in a window in natural light. That way you'll see the fire.”
Posted inCulture
The Imprint of Adam Haynes: From beer labels to landscapes, the local artist has an eye on the fringe
Have you sipped a Deschutes Brewery Hop Trip recently?
If you have, you probably took a gaze at the bottle or tap label, and maybe without knowing it, experienced the work of Adam Haynes. Working as both a commercial and fine artist, the Bend-based illustrator's art can be seen on several lines of Deschutes brews and up on the mountain as the artwork for Gnu Snowboards. His intricate drawings of extreme riders that place the viewer in the snowboarder's boots, or on a bike at the top of a gnarly landscape, were the basis for the Nike 6.0 campaign, used on billboards and bus stops nationwide.
Posted inCulture
Our Picks for 11/4 – 11/12: The Nature of Words, Swollen Members, First Friday, Jim Witty Book Release Party and more
The Nature of Words
wednesday-sunday 4-8
It's time again for Central Oregon's biggest literary celebration and this year the festival has brought in some high-powered wordsmiths for readings, book signings, workshops and more. The lineup includes Sherman Alexie, Matthew Dickman, Charles Goodrich, Seth Katner, Karen Karbo, Jane Kirkpatrick, Valzhyna Mort and Kim Stafford. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.thenatureofwords.org.
Sherman Alexie Unplugged
friday 6
This year's Nature of Words features an appearance by this National Book Award Winner (for Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian) in an open forum where he'll read, answer questions and probably just run that hilarious mouth of his. Alexie's presentations are entertaining and sometimes delightfully profane – but in a good way. Ask him about the Seattle Supersonics if you really want to get him going. $45. 9am-11am Friday, Nov 6. Pinckney Center at COCC, 2600 NW College Way.
Posted inNews
Green Light: Pot remains illegal, but Oregon's medical marijuana laws have led to a booming industry that continues to confound cops
Sandee Burbank is 65 years old, a breast cancer survivor, a grandmother and a longtime community volunteer in her hometown of Mosier, Oregon. She also uses marijuana.
Burbank is one of Oregon's 23,000-plus marijuana cardholders and also the executive director of Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse, a group that has long held two-day clinics here in Bend to assist residents in obtaining medical marijuana cards. She doesn't think of herself as a criminal – even if federal law says she is – and she hasn't for a long while, ever since taking up the cause of medical marijuana in the early 1990s. This winter, her organization plans to open a permanent clinic in Bend. It's the first such business in the region and comes at a time when marijuana and the enforcement puzzle surrounding it is becoming an increasingly frequent topic of political discussion.
Posted inOpinion
Kulongoski's Sneaky Green Fastball
Deceptiveness is an admirable quality in a baseball pitcher, but not in a political leader. When Gov. Ted Kulongoski sold his green energy tax credit plan to the legislature, he threw a sinking fastball that any major-leaguer would be proud of.
The tax credit, officially known as the Business Energy Tax Credit, is the core of Kulongoski's campaign to transform Oregon into the green energy capital of America, and in the process to create lots of jobs. To accomplish that, it offers tax credits to developers of projects such as wind farms and solar energy installations.