Sunday night LA-based Orgone rounded out two days of funkiness at the Volcanic Funk Fest. From what we could tell, the music was good but at $30-35/day the price may have proved too steep for many.
Bent
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Sam Adams Says He Won’t Run for Re-Election
With pole figures plummeting, Adams opts to not run for re-election.
This just in: Portland Mayor Sam Adams has reportedly been calling his opponents with the announcement that he will not seek re-election in 2012.
Here’s a statement just released by Adams:
Dear Portlander,
I am finishing a long-scheduled, and much appreciated, week-long “staycation.
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Whisker Wars: The new reality show features plenty of Bend
A look at the new reality show Whisker Wars about competitive beard and moustache growing.
Remember last year when we devoted nearly an entire issue to beards, mustaches and the men who wear them? A year ago, Bend was hosting the Beard Team USA National Beard and Moustache Championships. And we definitely had beard fever.
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Jerry Joseph Tonight in Bend
Road warrior songwriter Jerry Joseph plays the Astro Lounge tonight.
We highlighted this show in last week’s Picks section, but by and large, Jerry Joseph’s show tonight at the NEW Astro Lounge location on Bond Street has flown under the live music radar.
If you don’t know, Joseph is the leader of The Jackmormons as well as a member of Stockholm Syndrome.
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Portland’s Next Mayor: The Contenders
A rundown of potential candidates for Portland’s next mayor.
Will it matter to Central Oregon who Portland’s next Mayor is? Maybe not, but to keep our readers current, the incumbent Sam Adams has had some PR difficulties since taking office centered around the fact he lied about having an affair with a young man before his 18th birthday during Adams’ first campaign. In 2009, Time magazine asked, “Can Portland’s Gay Mayor Survive a Scandal?” We will see. Considering he has only raised $40 this year, it’s not looking too promising.
Eileen Brady the co-founder of the Portland-based New Seasons Market has announced her candidacy against Sam and seems to be gaining momentum fast with over $100,000 raised and an announcement last week she has been endorsed by Emily’s List, a national PAC that supports women candidates. But New Seasons is not a union shop and that could hurt her if unions decide to support Sam or someone else.
Jefferson Smith (D-Portland), 38, has confirmed to the Willamette Week that he is also considering a run. While there is no doubt his background as founder of the Bus Project (progressive young Portlanders who get on a bus to knock on doors in more conservative areas) and as instigator of the Oregon Legislative “Rick Roll”, he could ignite an exciting campaign, some doubt he has the management experience to run a city the size of Portland (How ‘bout Bend Jefferson?).
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Trying to Steal Our Stash: Imposters in our garage
Our beer is not your beer.
Imagine our surprise when opened our garage this morning, and found a neighborhood character happily helping himself to beer from our kegerator!
In nice weather, we typically leave the garage door up, but we had foolishly left the kegerator, which is normally kept close to our desks, in the garage. We didn’t realize we were leaving the door open to community beer fills.
The exchange went something like this:
us: “Excuse me??!!”
local (already shwilled at 10am and talking in a voice not unlike Barney, from the Simpsons): “Ohw…I’m just filling up this here growler.”
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Weighing Benefits of Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
Oregon Capitol News takes a look at the possibility of medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon.
We’ve done quite a bit of reporting on medical marijuana over the past couple of years and recently ran this story on Bend’s marijuana collectives. The issue isn’t always easy to understand, given all the gray area that exists in Oregon’s medical pot laws.
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New Brett Dennen Video Features Bend, Oregon!
The video for Brett Dennen’s Comeback Kid (That’s My Dog) features some shots of people in Bend.
I was just taking a look at the new Brett Dennen video for his song “Comeback Kid (That’s My Dog)” and all of the sudden was all like, “Whoa, I think I just spotted someone I know!”
That’s because parts of the video were filmed at Dennen’s early June show at the Athletic Club of Bend, which is pretty cool. Even cooler is that the video was directed by Bend’s own Ben Moon!
Here’s the video.
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Win Tickets to This Weekend’s Volcanic Funk Fest
Win two tickets to the Volcanic Funk Fest!
This weekend, the Century Center in Bend is transforming into a little slice of New Orleans with the Volcanic Funk Fest, which I previewed in this week’s issue.
The festival, taking place on Saturday and Sunday, features some big names in the funk world, including Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Orgone, Cast of Clowns and plenty others.
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On the Mariners Losing Streak
How have the Seattle Mariners lost 17 games in a row? And why do we keep watching?
Update: At about 1:15 local time, the Mariners 17-game losing streak came to an end with a 9-2 win over the Yankees. Consider this an obituary to the worst run of loses in Mariners history.