Page 2969 – The Source

Liner Notes: Don’t Skip the Openers

Mike BookeyMay 21, 2008August 16, 2023

Did someone say old timey? the decembErists join death cab on Saturday’s lsa bill. This weekend is one of the biggest ever for the Les Schwab Amphitheater, which is hosting what we could fairly call Sasquatch Jr. or perhaps Baby Sasquatch, or maybe Oregon-quatch - take your pick. Any way you split it, we're basically just cashing in on the overflow from the Central Washington mega festival and bringing those acts down our way. This siphoning of Sasquatch Festival acts results in an added bonus - super sweet openers to already super sweet headliners.

The names on your ticket stubs will read Michael Franti & Spearhead, Death Cab For Cutie and Modest Mouse, but the bands warming the stage for those acts could each hold their own as headliners under different circumstances.
Friday night, it's Built to Spill, long time residents in the upper echelon of indie rock, taking the stage with their sometimes poppy, sometimes jammy and always tight brand of rock and roll. We've been looking for BTS to come by for a while now - their hometown of Boise isn't that far away is it? - and now we finally get a stop off.

Culture

Across the Earth: Lahiri’s new collection of stories spans the globe

John FreemanMay 21, 2008August 16, 2023

Toward the end of Jhumpa Lahiri's mournful, deeply satisfying new collection of stories, two Bengali lovers visit a museum in an Italian town founded by Etruscans. There, amidst dusty sarcophagi, they discover shelves lined with terra-cotta urns depicting the journey the Etruscans made to this landscape - a landscape since claimed and reclaimed by several other populations. "The sides were covered with carvings showing so many migrations across land," observes Lahiri's narrator, "departures in covered wagons to the underworld." It is a beautiful, yet idealized, image of how people get from here to there. Nothing at all like the scattered, dislocating journey she or her family made to the U.S.

"Unaccustomed Earth" is a profound meditation on the emotional undertow
of these migrations. Ranging in setting from Seattle to suburban
Boston, Rome to the clattering streets of Calcutta, Lahiri's cast of
mostly Bengali characters struggles to grow accustomed to their new
homes, their new families created by loss sustained in faraway places.
In the title story, a recently widowed father flies out to Seattle to
visit his daughter, a new mother, ferrying a secret about a woman he
has begun to see. "Once in a Lifetime" chronicles a brief time when the
Chaudhuri family lived with friends outside Boston while searching for
a new home. It later emerges that their house hunting has a haunted
edge: Mrs. Chaudhuri has cancer. The home they buy will be the place
she dies.

Outside

Killer cat strikes again!: High Desert Museum turns a blind eye to cat menace

Jim AndersonMay 21, 2008August 16, 2023

Nothing is safe when an outdoor cat is on the prowl. Last week I gave the High Desert Museum the glad hand for the many things they are doing to further conservation of our natural and cultural resources. The principal subject was the excellent work they are doing with spotted owl reproduction with captive owls.

In my opinion, the spotted owl work the High Desert Museum is doing is akin to the art and science carried out with the (once nearly extinct) California Condor in similar institutions around the nation.
However, when it comes to carrying out conservation of wildlife that inhabits the Museum's grounds the HDM is a total flop! At this moment they are not going to get the "glad hand," but the back of my hand. Why? The Oregon High Desert Museum is allowing one of the most destructive alien species in the country, the housecat, to kill Oregon's indigenous wildlife on museum property.
Let me tell you how this all came about…

Outside

Hot & Fast: The 2008 edition of the PPP proves scorching, while two skiers take Europe by storm

InternMay 21, 2008July 18, 2024

shortly after landing in their invisible jet. Pole Pedal Paddle

"It's hot, it's damn hot!" This classic line from O Brother, Where Art Thou must have played over and over again in the minds of many of the PPP racers on Saturday. Scorching temperatures reaching up into the 90s made for one of the hottest PPPs in history. This sentiment was the main topic of conversation among competitors after Saturday's race.
"Even the two skiing legs were hot today," said Colin Mahood, one of the first competitors to begin the journey down from the mountain, competing in the men's elite division. Jenny Ruiter was happy to cross the finish line and proud of finishing her first individual PPP race. "The run was so hot." She added that the kayaking stretch was a relief, as she was able to dip her hands in the water to cool off. Jen and Josh Newton, who competed as a pair in the race, echoed most everyone I talked to. "The sun was just beating off the rocks toward the end of the run. Sorry if I'm a little spacey right now, but it was just so hot out there!" exclaimed Josh. Brad Bond also discussed the difficulty during the run due to the lack of shade on the course. Overall, he was quite pleased to knock around five minutes off his individual time from last year. "I think I would attribute all five minutes to better borrowed gear," joked Brad. Brad and his wife Amy Peterson came up one kayak short. In order to both complete the race as individuals, Bond and Peterson simply shared the one kayak. After crossing the finish line in second place overall in the women's elite division, Peterson couldn't talk to the press as she had to trek back to the kayak exchange to complete her last leg of the day: the kayak transport.

Culture

Kill ‘Em All: Grand Theft Auto makes its triumphant return

Shawn WallbaumMay 21, 2008August 16, 2023

American gangsta.When stores open at midnight on the day of a game’s release, you know it's big.

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IV is the first installment in the popular series designed for the latest game systems. The Grand Theft Auto series was the first notable game outside of the RPG genre to introduce open world game play back, which it did back in 1997 with the release of GTA 1. Now, 11 years later, with GTA 4 the evolution of the series continues.
You take on the role of Niko Bellic, a Serbian who's come to Liberty City to meet up with his cousin and find that special someone. The core game play remains intact. Players navigate a massive interactive city while completing missions that earn you props in the organized crime world.
One of the series’ stand-out features is that players can ignore the main plot and just drive around filling their criminal fantasies. Killing virtual people on the street may not seem like fun, but after five minutes in Liberty City most folks will be running from the law and beating pimps with baseball bats. The way that GTA brings out the worst in people is part of the beauty of the whole series.

Culture

The Spell is Gone: Flying griffins and fearless mice can’t redeem Prince Caspian

InternMay 21, 2008August 16, 2023

Wait a minute, you’re not frodo. As a fan of the C.S. Lewis book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, in which fantasy and adventure are underlain with greater conflicts, I truly wanted to fall under the spell of the second installment of its film franchise, Prince Caspian. Ten minutes into it, when the four Pevensie children land back in Narnia-this time perched atop a stunning New Zealand beach-I thought the film might be spectacular in both setting and emotional scope. And although certain aspects of the film prove awe-inspiring, the piece as a whole does not leave me longing for a return voyage to Narnia.

Flying griffins, fearless mice, Narnian dwarves, and other mythical woodland creatures steal the show in Prince Caspian. This is due partly to the fact that the acting and the emotional depth of the human characters remain shallow. Lucy, Edward, Susan and Peter all return, but produce disappointingly wooden performances. Only Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) show some spunk, with Edmund occasionally able to convey subtlety imbued with a spark.

Culture

Forever Young: You’ve never been rocked until you’ve been rocked by senior citizens

InternMay 21, 2008April 5, 2024

something about a whipper snapper. I defy anyone to not like this movie. Young at Heart will run your emotions through the gamut of joy, sorrow, anticipation and hilarity with affirmations of life, death and yes, even sex…you get it all.

This documentary is about the "Young at Heart" senior citizens chorus whose average age is in the 80s, conducted by a 53-year-old taskmaster and musical genius named Bob Cilman. Focusing on the rehearsals for their "Alive and Well" tour, the film follows the development of three diverse new numbers: Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia," James Brown's "I Feel Good" and Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can-Can." The songs are chosen by Cilman, as the performers' personal tastes range from classical to opera with only a vague knowledge of rock. After performing "Should I Stay or Should I Go, " 92-year-old singer Eileen says, "I dunno, I think it's the Crash?"

Food & Drink

Bucking the “Kid-Friendly” Restaurant Trend

InternMay 21, 2008January 4, 2023

Here in Central Oregon we have many, many options beyond over stimulation and bad burgers. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern options have become easy and kid friendly for open-minded parents. The happy hour at Merenda offers all sorts of Northern Italian/Southern French influenced dishes for cut-rate prices. Get there at 4:30pm, sit in the dining room and order off the bar menu. Kebaba has great Lebanese food and a relaxed atmosphere – especially in the summer months. I’ve yet to meet a kid that won’t eat hummus or falafel with a little tzaziki. Demetri’s has Greek food in a low-key atmosphere. Try the spanikopita to introduce them to spinach and finish off the meal with the baklava – a kid favorite.

Food & Drink

Bucking the “Kid-Friendly” Restaurant Trend

InternMay 21, 2008March 29, 2025

I have often wondered why, in a society of parents who are wait-listing their barely conceived children at private schools and enrolling toddlers in immersion language schools and advanced tap dancing, that we so neglect the education of the palette. America is fostering a culinary culture unmatched in our history and there is no reason to be ordering your kids mystery nuggets or plain pasta.

Here in Central Oregon we have many, many options beyond over stimulation and bad burgers. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern options have become easy and kid friendly for open-minded parents. The happy hour at Merenda offers all sorts of Northern Italian/Southern French influenced dishes for cut-rate prices. Get there at 4:30pm, sit in the dining room and order off the bar menu. Kebaba has great Lebanese food and a relaxed atmosphere - especially in the summer months. I've yet to meet a kid that won't eat hummus or falafel with a little tzaziki. Demetri's has Greek food in a low-key atmosphere. Try the spanikopita to introduce them to spinach and finish off the meal with the baklava - a kid favorite.

Food & Drink

Not Your Everyday Buffet: Cramming your plate at Taj Palace dinner buffet

InternMay 21, 2008January 4, 2023

Burgers and Fries beware. We’ve got ethnic, buffet style. Since its opening, Taj Palace has stood out as the ONLY Indian eatery in town, but it also happens to produce some of the best Sag Paneer (spinach and cheese cubes in a spiced cream sauce) this side of New Delhi. I’ll admit that I’ve never been lucky enough to eat in India, but of the food I’ve eaten in Indian communities in large American cities, Taj Palace holds its own.
For the last couple of years, Taj has offered a Friday and Saturday night buffet. It’s a variation on the popular lunch buffet, featuring a bit more upscale items. For $14.95 you have a choice of unlimited amounts of sag paneer, lamb curry, homemade nan, lentil dahl, chicken tikka, sambar (thick lentil vegetable soup), aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower cooked with Indian spices), vegetable biryani (basmati rice with mixed vegetables) and malai kofta (vegetable and cheese balls in a yogurt sauce). Not only is this a smokin’ deal, it’s the best way for a novice to try Indian cuisine.

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