Posted inFood & Drink

Little Bites: Veg Out: Do You Kanpai?

Editor's note: This is the first in a regular series about vegetarian dining options in Central Oregon from new Source correspondent Nikki Jefford. Look for more features in upcoming issues, including a look at Typhoon's veggie menu.
I suppose vegan sushi is an oxymoron, kinda like when I spread humus and salsa between two tortillas, toast it on the skillet, and call it a quesadilla. “It's called queso,” my husband informs me. “Meaning CHEESE!” Fine, but beanodilla just doesn't have the same ring.
Personally, I prefer the term “vegan sushi” to “rolls” because the latter always conjures up images of doughy balls of dinner bread, not raw slices of cucumber and avocado rolled up in seaweed and rice with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and nearly translucent slivers of ginger.

Posted inMusic

The Friendly Giant: Brett Dennen is tall, red and wants you to like him

When I tell Brett Dennen that I think I just may have broken my computer, he's quiet for a moment, then laughs and says, “Remember the old Nintendo games where you could just pull them out and blow on them? Everybody did that and it seemed like it worked.”
Anyone born this side of the Ford administration knows exactly what Dennen is talking about and probably performed this Nintendo maintenance procedure. Of course, Nintendo has nothing to do with Dennen's folky pop rock or his recent rise to national fame or his work with kids. And blowing on my computer isn't going to fix it, but the fact that he wants to talk about old-school Nintendo rather than the fact that the last year has seen him emerge as one of the biggest names in the singer-songwriter genre just might be the reason why people tend to love Brett Dennen.

Posted inMusic

Recordings You Need to Hear That You May Have Missed

Sonic Youth
Daydream Nation
Released: 1988
Filled with anthems, energy and angst, Daydream Nation portrays the best snapshot of the late '80s East Coast underground rock scene.
Sonic Youth's sixth studio record immediately plummets into an atmosphere of oddly tuned guitars and melody lines come incredibly close to the boundaries of pop. But, Sonic Youth doesn't want you to be comfortable. Songs like “Total Trash” pull you with a toe-tapping melody and then drop their Doc Martens on your foot with an exploding barrage of sound.

Posted inCulture

Be a Doll: Christine Alvarado’s creations are hardly toys…and they aren’t always smiling

Artist and doll-maker Christine Alvarado lifts the lid of a sturdy box, then a layer of bubble wrap like she's gently peeling a blanket from a sleeping child. Staring up is a delicate creature – Brighid, Bride to the Wind – dressed in a white paper gown with a veil of paper dragonflies surrounding her face. Brighid was inspired by an assignment of sorts, an online community challenge to illustrate the Four Elements through the creation of a doll.
Doll making is a long-lived tradition, with endless cultural connotations. For many artists and collectors dolls are a sophisticated form, more sculpture than toy. Alvarado, who has been developing her art and selling her dolls for the last two years, has taken the tradition and infused it with her own unique perspective. She has chronicled the process on her art blog, Du Buh Du

Posted inCulture

Our Picks of the Week 9/3-9/10

G. Love and Special Sauce
thursday 3
In what is by far the biggest non-LSA show of the year, G. Love finally stops off in Bend, one day before he heads up to the Gorge Amphitheatre to open a trio of shows for some act called the Dave Matthews Band. A longtime favorite in Bend, it should be nice to see G. Love and his band kick out their funky, blues-inspired pop rock. Also, make sure you arrive early so you can see local Eric Tollefson and his band open the show. $20/adv, $23/door. 9pm. Midtown Ballroom, 51 NW Greenwood Ave.
First Friday
friday 4
We're not quite sure how it happened, but it's not September, meaning the summer is pretty much over. But before the nights start getting chilly, catch the last warm First Friday of the season. If you need some pointers, check out our Local Arts Calendar in this issue for a complete list of what art is showing where. 5pm, downtown Bend.

Posted inNews

Young Gun: Could an obscure 30-something progressive be the next top dog in Salem?

The list of Democrats potentially interested in Ted Kulongoski's office is growing longer. And it's reading like a who's who of Oregon politics.
Among the names being tossed around in the past several weeks and months is Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio, a 12-term U.S. Representative and one of the state's most powerful progressive voices in D.C.
Former Secretary of State Bill Bradbury is also mentioned as a candidate to succeed Kulongoski, who is prohibited from seeking a third term in next year's election. Perhaps most interestingly, Oregon political icon and former governor John Kitzhaber is said to be seriously weighing a run for an unprecedented third term.

Posted inOpinion

The State School Board Flunks Out

“If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards” makes a funny bumper sticker, but it's a rotten way to run a public education system.
For some years now, Oregon's public schools have not been a shining example of educational excellence. Early this month, 71 Oregon schools – a record for the state – were identified as “inadequate” according to the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
For the past 10 years, Oregon also has been issuing its own “report cards” on schools. When the 2008 report cards came out, many of them were the kind that, in the old days, would have meant a trip to the woodshed for the kid who brought it home. Two-thirds of the state's biggest high schools got grades of “satisfactory” or “low,” the equivalent of a C or D. A record number of 12 schools were graded “unacceptable.”

Posted inOpinion

Road Trippin’: Notes on America from the interstate highway system

The author has been sent on the road to discover a lost country formerly known as America. He is reporting from a town called “Little Valley” (which is actually a little valley) in New York, totally sane, sober, and unfamiliar with rain after a lovely summer in Bend, on assignment for Or-Bust.com and The Source Weekly.
A New Bar for Bad Behavior
Phillip Garrido liked building in his backyard – storage sheds covered with camouflage and other extremities that his neighbors questioned. And authorities overlooked, despite the fact Garrido was a registered sex offender in Antioch, California, and visited on several occasions by police and parole agents. Oops! He was hiding and raping Jaycee Dugard on-site for 18 years, since kidnapping her at the age of 11 and fathering two children with the now-29-year-old woman. Authorities are presently digging in that same backyard for the remains of several unsolved murders and missing persons. Let's hope they have better luck and look a little harder this time.

Posted inOpinion

Birth of a Debate

This is in response to Kenneth Judkins letter in the Aug 20th issue. Kenneth, you question the citizenship of President Obama and cite the fact that his birth certificate says “certificate of live birth” instead of “birth certificate” as proof.

Sign up for newsletters

Get the best of The Source - Bend, Oregon directly in your email inbox.

Sending to:

Gift this article