Squirrel Butter & The Horsenecks Thursday 30 SQUARE DANCE — Featuring two folk bands in a night of string music, square dancing and fun for the whole family. Hailing from jolly good ol’ England, the Horsenecks bring high-energy roots music while Portlanders Squirrel Butter fuse traditional bluegrass & blues with a bit of Cajun thrown […]
Bend Source
Posted inCulture
Lightning Bottles
“Beauty and the Beast” can’t help being magical
Every single Disney movie I review seems to come to the same basic conclusion: Disney done did it again. Their new releases could play more like victory laps than anything and still make billions, yet the movies continue to be entertaining and artful almost across the board. Last year’s live-action remake of “The Jungle Book” […]
Posted inCulture
Lovesong In A Minor Key
Poetry is alive in cinema
There’s something perfect about a film like this being called “Lovesong.” Every moment of the movie feels lyrical, like the beginning lines of a poem before we can see its form or understand its content. The movie will be categorized as an LGBTQ romance, but it’s also filled with sweeping moments of breathtaking sadness that […]
Posted inMusic
Reppin’ Woodstock
Longtime NYC musician brings tunes from the Woodstock Sessions and more to his show at the Capitol
For nearly 20 years, Marco Benevento has been a key figure in the shaping of the New York music scene. His diligence has let him amass an arsenal of fantastic music that can only come from self-made artists. Last year, Benevento released the concept album, “The Story of Fred Short,” under his own label. His […]
Posted inNews
Touting Cannabis at the State Legislature
Last week, I got up at 4:30 am, to leave at 6:30 am, to arrive in Salem by 8 am. Was I super eager to get to Salem for, uh, whatever it is Salem is so well known to offer? No, friends. I was dressed in my finery to lobby my gubbermint elected officials on […]
Posted inMusic
Classical Boom
Black Violin may just turn the Tower on its ear
With a definite departure from only classical or bluegrass music, these guys are not your grandparents’ string players. Heck, they’re not even your parents’ string players. The duo Black Violin whips up a high-energy hybrid of classical, hip-hop, rock and other musical genres that reaches out and grabs the listener by the ears. Head-bobbing is […]
Posted inOpinion
Letters 3/15-3/22
Readers heavily respond to the Gas Tax and Roads Editorial
Contributions of the Poor I appreciate and honor the poor among us because they walk, cycle and use public transportation, contributing very little to the carbon emissions polluting our air. They use very little water and do nothing to pollute our water resources with exploitative resource extraction and indiscriminate waste disposal. They do not destroy […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Beer Abounds in Boise
On a tour of U.S. beer (this time closer to home!), Payette Brewing leads a suddenly-crowded pack
The drive along US-20 between Central Oregon and Boise can be pretty boring: vast tracts of uninhabited, sagebrush-filled land with little to ease the monotony until the mountains past Burns. But Idaho’s capital is worth at least a weekend visit for any Bendite, thanks to its towering state capitol, its vast array of outdoor activities […]
Posted inOutside
Natural World: From Marsh Hawks to Northern Harriers
There was a time in the long-long-ago of “bird-watching” when today’s Northern Harrier was known as the Marsh Hawk, because the low-flying, small bird- and mammal-eating raptor could almost always be seen in western marshes, flitting along just a few inches above the foliage, always looking down and rarely where it was going. Those were […]
Posted inNews
Cover All Kids
Bills that would offer insurance for all Oregon children have passed through committees in the state House and Senate. But if passed, where will the money come from?
Health care coverage is a “hot topic” these days, and Oregon is no exception. The uncertainty created by discussions in Washington, D.C., only adds to the chaos in the health care arena—but a pair of bills currently making their way through the Oregon Legislature meets this head-on. Senate Bill 558 and House Bill 2726, commonly […]