How Bizarre: Avoiding comparisons with Fleet Foxes

Posted inMusic

How Bizarre: Avoiding comparisons with Fleet Foxes

Mike Bookey

Didn’t get the beard memo. It's Friday afternoon and hotter than all hell as Casey Wescott and I talk on the phone. The Fleet Foxes keyboardist and vocalist is at home in Seattle and it's hot there too. So hot, in fact, that this member of one of the most talked-about bands in the country describes the rare Seattle heat as "lay-around-the-house-in-your-underwear kind of weather."

Other than discussing our heat-induced discomfort, we're talking about a video interview the five-piece band did with former MTV News correspondent John Norris. In the interview, the established music guru admitted his Fleet Foxes fandom, and had no problem touting the band's mastery directly to the faces of its members.

"It's weird and rad when anybody likes your music, but it was definitely one of those moments where you're scratching your head and realizing that people are really getting a chance to hear this. Honestly, when you make a record, you just hope people will see it," Wescott says.

Posted inMusic

Modern Change: Talking with Beck about Hannah Montana’s America

Mike Bookey

Two turntables, a microphone and a laptop. On a recent Friday afternoon, we connected with one Beck Hansen (most of you know him exclusively by his first name) as he relaxed at home in Los Angeles in between a recently concluded European tour and the North American trek that brings him to Bend this weekend. It was nearly a month to the day after the release of his latest studio effort, the much-heralded Modern Guilt, a record he co-produced with mastermind Danger Mouse. A new record, a new band, a new producer and now a new tour…clearly there was a lot to talk about. Here's a portion of the conversation.

tSW: Your live show seems to change from tour to tour. I'm guessing this show is going to be different from the last time you stopped in Bend. What can we expect?

Beck: I have a new band. We just did our first tour in Europe together and there are just four people this time.

I remember seeing you on the Odelay tour in 1997 and I think there were at least 10 other guys in the band, that's a pretty big change.

I feel like every time I come through town you're gonna see a different show. It's going to be a slightly different interpretation of the songs and then obviously the presentation is going to be different. You know, last tour we had puppets. We had a miniature stage built with puppets of ourselves.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the week of 8/21-8/26

Mike Bookey

Necktie Killer

thursday 21

There's nothing wrong with ska music, even if you're part of the faction that since 1998 have believed the horn-happy style is inherently flawed. If you need a local dose of ska revival, Necktie Killer can bring it to you in a full-speed, full-fledged ska/punk/funk attack that they learned while playing music together at Redmond High School. This is why we need to keep music in the public schools people. 9pm, Long Shots Pub, 314 SE 3rd St.

I.O.U.S.A

thursday 21

Are you worried about the national debt? Well, you probably will be (perhaps rightfully so) after viewing this documentary that addresses our nation's problem with maintaining fiscal sustainability. Following the screening of the doc, you can look in as five of the nation's most notable financial leaders and policy experts (like Warren friggin' Buffet) discuss the issues in a town-hall style meeting live from Omaha. Tickets available at the box office or at FathomEvents.com. 7:30pm. Old Mill Stadium 16, 680 SW Powerhouse Dr.

Posted inNews

Death and Taxes: Tax bill cripples arts organization’s gallery

Eric Flowers

Denied tax exempt status, Mirror pond gallery faces closure. Nobody likes paying taxes, but when you're a small arts group with a federally recognized tax exempt status it probably stings just a little bit more - especially when the tax bill arrives to the tune of $28,000.

That's the case with Arts Central, Central Oregon's regional arts council, which was recently given an unprecedented bill for property taxes at its Mirror Pond Gallery and served notice that it could be on the hook for five years in back taxes.

It's a significant blow to Arts Central which has decided to close down the gallery in the next year, but it could have even larger ramifications for other arts groups and non-profits who count on retail sales from things like bake sales and thrift stores to support their charitable work.

"I can tell you for sure this is going to reverberate all over Oregon and all over the country," said Cate O'Hagan, Arts Central's executive director.

Posted inNews

The Power of One: Catching up with a former council maverick in Africa

Intern

John Hummel had the life: A house in Bend. His own law firm. A seat on the city council. Lots of friends. But he wanted a change.

And change he got.

As a Project Manager for The Carter Center's Rule of Law Program in Liberia, Hummel is now working to develop a functioning justice system in a war-torn, economically-devastated West African country. He lives in Liberia's capitol, Monrovia. His house, which he shares with lizards and the occasional cockroach, is surrounded by a razor-wall fence. The area is so dangerous he doesn't walk outside at night. He rarely has power and never has hot water.

And he's got another problem: What to do with the chicken?

"I was invited by the Traditional Women of Liberia to come to their weekly meeting so they could officially welcome me to the country. They greeted me wearing their brightly colored traditional clothes, and sang, danced, and played music. They then presented me with a live chicken. I was honored. However, the chicken now lives in my yard," he wrote in a series of email correspondence. "I have no idea what to do with it."

Posted inOpinion

Anti-Union Astroturfing

Intern

Grass roots right wing style. In the PR game they call it "Astroturfing." It means creating a movement or organization that looks like it's "grassroots" but really isn't.

One of the more noxious sprouts of Astroturf we've encountered this campaign season is an outfit called the Employee Freedom Action Committee. The Washington, DC-based group is registered as a non-profit, which means it doesn't have to disclose where its money comes from. But it operates out of the offices of lobbyist Richard Berman, a notorious Astroturfer who has operated front groups supporting the restaurant, liquor and tobacco industries and opposing (among other things) consumer protection, animal rights, increases in the minimum wage - and, almost needless to say, labor unions.

In a 2007 "60 Minutes" segment, correspondent Morley Safer described how Berman "has come up with a clever system of non-profit 'educational' entities. Companies can make charitable donations to these groups, which … are neutral sounding but 'educating' with a particular point of view, all perfectly legal."

Right now, EFAC is flooding the Oregon airwaves with an ad attacking Democratic US Senate candidate Jeff Merkley. "Some union bosses and their politician friends want to effectively do away with privacy when it comes to voting on joining a union," the narrator says. The screen shows a picture of Merkley looking sinister, then a scene of a big, scary-looking guy - a "union boss," presumably - looming over a poor little old lady.

Posted inOpinion

Thanks for Cheating: Working around Bend Broadband, travels to Cuba, more

Intern

Opening ceremonies from beijing.The Olympics will wrap up this weekend in Beijing and the world can stop caring about things like trampoline, badminton, and air pistol shooting for another four years. Speaking of the Olympics, was anyone as indignant as Upfront over the blatant cheating by the Chinese gymnastics team who essentially rolled out a bunch of prepubescent girls for its team competition, where IOC rules require that all competitors be at least 16 years of age or turn 16 during the calendar year of the Games? While the Chinese insisted that the flat-chested babes it put forward were indeed 16 years old, the New York Times found evidence that several of China's gymnasts were as young as 13 and 14, a huge advantage in a sport where physics wreak havoc on larger and heavier bodies.

The proof appears to be in the pudding. The average height of the Chinese team members is 4 feet 9 inches and they weigh in at an average of 77 pounds - less than some dogs in this town. By contrast, the US team averages over five feet and weighs about 30 pounds more than the Chinese.

The contrasts were no more apparent than when the two teams stood next to each other, the muscular, curved bodies of the Americans contrasting sharply with the underdeveloped bodies of their sticklike counterparts.

Posted inOpinion

No Free Pass on Bike Death

Intern

Letter of the Week

 This week's featured letter comes from Daniel Brewster, who happens to deliver the Source's downtown route by bike and knows a thing or two about the interactions between drivers and bikers. For more on the tragic death of Keith Moon, see this week's Boot, Page 8.

Posted inOpinion

Let Love Rule the Road

Intern

Just when my faith in the local population falters, along comes inspirational words like those from "The Mailbox" contributor Heather McKenzie (8/14).

After watching this morning's continued news coverage of the recently-killed bicyclist, I tended toward the negative "How many SUV drivers have been killed by bicyclists?" or "If only he'd been wearing his helmet.

Posted inOpinion

It Ain’t Easy Being Green

Intern

It's great to be poor in the green movement! Now when I ride my bike, it doesn't have to be because my car broke down
three months ago and I have no way to fix it, it can be because I am reducing my carbon footprint. Now, when I eat two small organic meals a day to save money, it's because I am only taking just my fair share from the world food bank.

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