Posted inOpinion

Rudeness at the Tower

This past Sunday’s concert at the Tower featuring bluegrass legend Del McCoury was something that I had been looking forward to all winter.Bend rarely gets such a performer in town, and as Del mentioned, he had to "cross about 16 mountains to get here.
While Del and the boys put on a fantastic show Sunday, I have to say I was extremely embarrassed for our "vocal" Bend crowd. As Del usually does, he asked for requests halfway through his show. Immediately there were requests for songs as audacious as "Rocky Top" and Bill Monroe’s "Uncle Pen," among others. And even when Del mentioned that he had played "Uncle Pen" every night that he played with Bill Monroe and was kinda tired of it, he was challenged with a comment that he has had "50 years to get over it."

Posted inOpinion

Tuscany Comes to Central Oregon

No, What I said was I need some EXERCISE!Upfront likes to spend some of our idle hours browsing through the Central Oregon real estate offerings on craigslist, just to get a feel for what's currently on the market.
Most of the time what we come across is pretty routine - faux-Craftsman bungalows in Northwest Crossing, cookie-cutter McMansions on the Eastside, "quaint cottages" (read: falling-down former mill workers' shacks) on the Westside.
So you can imagine our astonishment, and delight, when we discovered a "Beautiful Tuscan Home" for sale in … MADRAS?!?

Posted inCulture

Word Up!: Suzanne Burns and others get literary at Word Café

Welcome to the Doll Hospital. Local writer Suzanne Burns reads from her flip book at Barber Library. The first reading by Dave Eggers I attended exploded midway through, as
two dwarfs dressed in medieval armor burst into the San Francisco
bookstore, battling through the crowd. The event ended then and there,
and we all knew Eggers had hired them. Larry Brown and I downed a
bottle of Jack Daniels before our (and one of his last) readings in
Oxford, Miss. Slurring throughout, the crowd gave him a standing
ovation afterward. So we went back to the bar to down another.

Posted inOutside

Fly Like An Eagle: Lake Billy Chinook boasts world class gathering

American Bald Eagle adult. Come see them at Eagle Watch 2008.If you're a cross-country skier, snowboarder and looking for something
else to do on your weekend, here it is: Eagle Watch 2008. It's an
opportunity to see lots of eagles and hawks close up, learn about birds
in general and raptors in particular. All you have to do is set aside
the weekend of Feb. 23-24 and head for PGE's Round Butte Observatory on
Lake Billy Chinook where eagles gather for an annual nesting and
feeding frenzy. How's that for easy?

Thirteen years ago, Paul Patton,
a remarkable Oregon Parks and Recreation Department manager who looks
after parks in the Madras area introduced the first Eagle Watch in
cooperation with PGE, Warm Springs Federation and a bunch of other good
people.

Posted inOutside

Digging into the Corn: Local notables, trail work and the science of snow

Skiing on Broken Top — South Sister and her covered moraine in the background.Spring Corn
We have been fortunate this year to have the
snowflakes fall… and fall… and fall some more. So much snow has fallen,
in fact, that seldom skied areas have seen tracks in the past month.
Ralph Tadday and others made turns on Pilot Butte. Mike McLandress and
Guy Giffin skied Lava Butte on Super Bowl Sunday, and many of you have
tracked up your favorite slopes all across Central Oregon.

Posted inCulture

Clash Around the Campfire: The Future is Unwritten gives a glimpse of a punk icon

Cooler than you.There's no doubt Joe Strummer was a cool guy. I wouldn't have wanted to be in The Clash with him, but I would've definitely enjoyed sitting around the campfire telling stories with him, which is exactly how this outstanding documentary, Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten, is woven together.
I was shocked and saddened when I heard he died. I thought he was on the comeback trail but sadly, he succumbed quickly and without warning to a cognitive heart condition and was-poof!-gone.

Posted inCulture

From Sociopaths to Special Effects: My 2008 Academy Awards predictions

can’t you hear me knockin’?It was a year of exceptional films and acting performances in 2007,
possibly the most competitive Oscar field ever. Three Best Picture
nominees are based on major novels. Cinematography and special effects
soar to new levels. Both veteran and novice actors roll out an uncanny
breadth of talent and emotion. So, at the end of Sunday night's 2008
Academy Awards, who will be left clutching those coveted gold
figurines? Here's my roundup of the Best Picture nominees, as well as
some biased predictions of who will win other awards.

Posted inFood & Drink

A Spoonful of…Sherry?: Exploring Grandma’s Drink

I’ve recently spent some time watching Mary Poppins with my 2-year-old
daughter, which got me thinking about sherry. Mr. Banks, as you might
recall, has a penchant for the sweet libation and I thought I’d give it
a try. I’ve drawn on such inspirations before, sipping rum during a
read of Treasure Island and curling up with a bottle of Jameson to
Angela’s Ashes. As a sherry novice, I was initially unsure if the drink
was an appropriate subject for a wine column.
This isn’t grocery
store cooking wine, or as a local bartender fondly recalled, the cheap
butane-like fino stolen from his parent’s liquor cabinet.

Posted inFood & Drink

A Spoonful of…Sherry?: Exploring Grandma’s Drink

I've recently spent some time watching Mary Poppins with my 2-year-old
daughter, which got me thinking about sherry. Mr. Banks, as you might
recall, has a penchant for the sweet libation and I thought I'd give it
a try. I've drawn on such inspirations before, sipping rum during a
read of Treasure Island and curling up with a bottle of Jameson to
Angela's Ashes. As a sherry novice, I was initially unsure if the drink
was an appropriate subject for a wine column.
This isn't grocery
store cooking wine, or as a local bartender fondly recalled, the cheap
butane-like fino stolen from his parent's liquor cabinet.

Posted inFood & Drink

Blacksmith is Back: Finding comfort in fine dining

A glimpse of the New Look Blacksmith.After a total remodel in which a new illuminated alabaster bar greets
diners, Executive Chef and co-owner Gavin McMichael has updated the
Blacksmith’s menu, honed the service and revamped the interior to bring
a fresh mix of modern and rustic touches to the Blacksmith’s solid “new
ranch comfort food” foundation.

The menu is a bevy of seemingly
lowbrow dishes like cheese steak, pot pie, corn dogs and meatloaf. Once
the dishes arrive it is evident that the play on words is the only
lowbrow thing about this meal. The Blacksmith Cheese Steak is a
melt-in-your-mouth combination of beef tenderloin strips on a crispy
crostini, caramelized pearl onions, wild mushrooms, leeks and a creamy
potato sauce infused with truffle essence all topped with shaved Tumalo
Farms Pond Hopper cheese – not exactly the greasy deli sandwich popular
on the other coast.

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