Hip-Hop on Parade: Trading E-mail with Aesop Rock

Posted inMusic

Hip-Hop on Parade: Trading E-mail with Aesop Rock

The Source Staff

You need goggles like that when you send these kind of e-mails.Aesop Rock is coming to Bend along with the esteemed gentlemen of the
Hieroglyphics crew and a gaggle of other hip-hop all stars for what
very well might be the most prolific hip-hop event this town has seen
since we got that shipment of water-damaged Sir Mix A Lot cassettes in
'91. I wanted to get some phone time with Aesop Rock, but was told that
Mr. Rock prefers questions be directed his way in the form of e-mail. I
obliged and here's what Aesop Rock had to type about Tom Waits, curtain
installation and reading National Geographic:

tSW: A slightly
pedantic question: Indie hip-hop, or alternative hip-hop or however you
want to "genre-ify" it, seems to be increasingly drawing on influences
outside of the hip-hop arena. What’s your most significant non-hip-hop
influences past and present?
Aesop Rock: Probably either the
Mountain Goats or Tom Waits. They both happen to strike that chord in
me that usually only a savage MC can get to. They both are masters at
their craft, they put a massive amount of effort into the lyric-writing
aspect of all of this, and each have distinct deliveries that work
hand-in-hand with the way they write. I'm a longtime fan of both. Tom
Waits' albums have such unique production, and overall drunkenness to
them. I dunno, I could go on about them each forever.

Posted inNews

John Butler at the Athletic Club of Bend: 9.9.08

Mike Bookey

Here’s a rundown of JBT’s show in Bend on Tuesday night. We’re still trying to get some video and pics up here … bear with us, they’ll be up soon.

We hadn't made it out to a show at the Athletic Club of Bend yet this
summer, but we'd heard a thing or two about how shows go down at this
venue. Rumors have graced our ears of draconian no standing/no dancing
decrees, picket fences segregating VIPS from general admission peasants
and a smattering of other no-fun policies.

So, one can understand why we had our guard up when we arrived at the
ACB last night to see the John Butler Trio drop into Bend for the
second time in a matter of nine months. But after JBT's fellow
Australians Crash Symphony opened the show and Butler walked onto the
stage much of the crowd (the one's who weren't sipping wine from Eddie
Bauer coolers) STOOD UP, in direct violation of the rumored rules. By
the time John Butler shouldered his banjo and blasted out "Better
Than," these standing folks had charged the stage, flooding what we
thought was the "reserved section" and for the next two hours, it was a
real-live rock concert. And the best part…no security or venue
management personnel did anything to stop it.

Posted inOpinion

McCain Is Not the Answer

Eric Flowers

McCain has a long history of working against workers. He has worked with large corporations and the right wing to weaken and destroy organized labor by supporting right to work (for less) laws, he has attempted to limit overtime for workers by radically overhauling the Fair Labor Standards Act and he has blocked a Senate vote on the Employee Free Choice Act which would restore workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions without employer harassment.
McCain has waged a 25-year attack to destroy prevailing wages by attempting to completely waive or repeal the Davis-Bacon Act which requires that workers on federally-funded construction projects be paid no less than the wages and benefits paid in the community for similar work. He has also blocked votes on "Strikers' Rights" legislation which allows SCABs to undermine striking workers by permanently replacing them while the workers are on the picket line fighting for wages, benefits and working conditions.
McCain failed to vote on legislation extending unemployment benefits to hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers whose lives are being brutalized in this economic crisis created by the Bush administration. McCain, who claims to be an independent thinker, has actually supported the Bush policies and positions 89% of the time including making Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent and attempting to privatize social security.

Posted inCulture

C’est La Ski: Rage Films unofficially launches winter with Such is Life premier

Mike Bookey

Super FloatyThe growing cold, the occasional frost, the ski shop sales: Winter is
just around the corner. With last year's epic snow season still in the
back of our minds and the last patches of the deep snow pack still
holding in the mountains, dreams of bottomless powder and of floating
smoothly into the pillowy abyss below creep back into our subconscious.
While we mere mortals may only realize our winter desires on the
weekends, saving our on-hill heroics for deep REM sleep, elite skiers
from around the world further the limits of possibility to feed our
fantasies in the form of the ski film. And the debut of these mountain
flicks has become as synonymous with winter's return as the first
snowfall.
For years, Bend's Rage Films has charged ahead into
exotic locales and enough shots of our own backyard to hype up the
eager crowd. This year's release, Such is Life, is no exception,
delivering an ample dose of kickers, bottomless Japanese powder, one of
the most brutally awesome haircuts ever, and the creativity and quality
we’ve come to expect from this crew.

Posted inOutside

There’s fungus among us

Jim Anderson

Our world, as we know it, would cease to exist if it weren't for fungi,
(the plural of "fungus" is "fungi") which is among us everywhere
whether we like it or not, and is – hopefully – here to stay.
When a
deer, cockroach or elephant dies there are a whole string of events
that take place to insure that (a) said animal is not lying around
stinking up the countryside, and worse, (b) spreading germs around that
will create biological havoc.
The process of cleaning up and
recycling dead things in the wild usually begins with the scavengers.
During the summer around these parts, that's the handsome turkey
vulture, the clever coyote and a whole lot of other opportunists. Once
vultures, coyotes, woodpeckers, hawks, eagles, owls, weasels, skunks,
mice, rats, squirrels and other so-called "higher " organisms have
gleaned all they can, insects take over.

Posted inOutside

I Love the Deschutes: Upriver, Downriver and In Between

Pam Stevenson

How lucky am I? The Deschutes River flows through my backyard.
Everyday, I watch the geese and the ducks, sometimes the swans, float
by as I work in my home office. It's magical when the sinking sun
bounces off the rippling river under the willow tree and sets my living
room asparkle. My dog is endlessly entertained by the beavers, otters
and minks and I never have to worry about filling her outdoor water
bowl. Occasionally, neighborhood boys set crawdad traps from my dock. I
frequently paddle from my backyard up to McKay Park, down to the
Newport Bridge and back again. I can say with 100% confidence that I
have logged more river miles on the Mirror Pond run in the past eight
years than anyone in the world. I am intimately familiar with the
channel of best flow, the submerged rocks above the Columbia Park
footbridge, the underwater pylons below the Drake Park footbridge, the
swan nests, the water level and the silt buildup in Mirror Pond.

Over
the years, I have also collected the following out of our river: a love
note in a beer bottle, a leather statue of an ibex, a plastic frog, an
Aerobie Flying Ring, a license plate, a horseshoe, a lawn chair, a
couple flip flops per summer, several pumpkins, a few unmanned
floaties, 20 softballs, 39 tennis balls and approximately $5.75 in
recycling. A couple of weeks ago we reported to the Bend Police a
picnic table going down the river. It is still hung up on the buoy line
in front of the Newport spillway. Why someone felt compelled to launch
the table, presumably from McKay Park, and why no one has removed it, I
don't know. I love the Deschutes River and I think we should all
appreciate this treasure that flows through the heart of Bend.

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