(Technically, it's still the day before Thanksgiving as I write this, but this has turned into a slow week here on the blog and I don't expect to be on tomorrow (duh).)

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, everybody. Eat, drink, and be merry. And don't kill yourselves trying to get out the door for "Black Friday" either—relax! Enjoy the holiday weekend.

I picked this up from Jake's blog and ran with it: Sunday, December 7th, the Cascade Winds Symphonic Band will be having a free concert at Summit High School. Yes, free.

This first concert of the Winds season includes a variety of band standards, show tunes, orchestra transcriptions and marches that demonstrate the excitement and richness of great wind band literature. The program begins with Franz von Suppe's famous "Light Cavalry Overture". You will feel and hear the beat of the horse's hooves in this classic overture from the 19th century. "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral" will change the pace, as the band explores the rich beauty of Wagner's piece from "Lohengrin". Otto Schwarz's "Roller Coaster" will actually take you on an unforgettable wild ride (however, you should remain seated throughout). Norman Dello Joio's beautiful "Scenes from the Louvre" earned him an Emmy Award, and will conclude the first half of the concert.

Jake notes that these concerts are suitable for all ages, so kids are welcome.

The concert starts at 2pm.

I probably should keep this to myself in order to score more beer, but Bend Brewing Company's website has a notice posted that their HopHead Imperial IPA is going to be available in 22-ounce bottles starting November 28th (this Friday).

This is a pretty limited beer, and remember, it won the gold and then the bronze medals at the Great American Beer Festival in recent years. So I expect it won't last long.

No word yet on price.

The young adult vampire novel Twilight is all the rage right now, and the movie version (filmed entirely in Oregon) just came out. Now, the Bulletin reports that Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the movie, will be appearing at the Sisters Movie House for a special screening next Saturday, the 29th.

At the screening, Hardwicke plans to introduce the movie and then take questions. It is her third appearance at the movie house. She also stopped by for showings of two of her previous films, “The Nativity Story” and “Lords of Dogtown.” But interest in this screening has run much higher, according to Sisters Movie House owner Lisa Clausen.

Note, however, the screening is already sold out. But it's interesting to read that Hardwicke has roots in the area.

McMenamins Old St. Francis School is turning four (already!) and this Friday and Saturday, they're having a 4th Anniversary Weekend Party. Featuring live music starting at 7pm (for free), all ages are welcome

Come to our 4th Anniversary Party, with live music both nights by McMenamins' favorite country-folk rockers, the Freak Mountain Ramblers and their rollicking brand of rock 'n' roll, bluegrass, alternative country and country-blues to McMenamins hotels.

Head on down there this weekend (the 21st and 22nd), drink some seasonal Kris Kringle ale on tap, and catch some music.

Time for look back on what I was blogging about the past couple of Novembers.

In 2006:

• The start of the Central Oregon Paranormal Society
• Construction on the Newport Bridge downtown was running long
• First word on the Oxford Hotel (supposed to be finished by Fall 2008...?)
• I blogged a bad experience at the Outback Steakhouse (and haven't been back since)
• A Renegade Rollergirls review
• Pimping Zydeco
• First hints and news about Wildfire Brewing
• Duncan at Pegasus Books started his blog

In 2007:

• I wondered about keeping chickens in the city limits
• Typhoon downtown first opened
  
• La Rosa was moving to Northwest Crossing
• Phishing warning
• Announcement of the "Bulletin letter forum" website (which is now defunct)
• A roundup of other local online forums
• Deconstructing last winter's advertising theme

This year, Deschutes Brewery's annual Garage Sale is moved up a couple of weeks from early December to this Saturday, the 22nd. Even better, there's a Bake Sale involved.

The Garage Sale will be held in the Mountain Room along with a benefit Bake Sale this year. All proceeds from the Bake Sale, featuring treats from five other local bakeries, will go to the Arthritis Foundation so you don't have to feel guilty about buying that second plate of brownies.

It runs from 11am until 3pm.

Cheap beer merchandise and baked goods—what more could you ask for?

This came in over the weekend and seems like a good cause and a good opportunity to get involved:

Next weekend the Amani Life Project (a local group that works to send orphaned girls to college) will be raffling off Thanksgiving baskets with all the fixings for a nice meal for 6. The tickets are just $2! With the price of food these days, that's a great deal.

Here are the times and locations:
Friday, 11/21 9am - 2pm Bend Ray's Food Place and Walmart Super Center
Saturday 11/22 9am - 2pm Walmart Super Center
Sunday 11/23 9am - 2pm Bend Ray's Food Place and Walmart Super Center

And Amani's website:
http://amanilifeproject.com/

A couple of restaurant items of interest in the Bulletin today. First, Celina's Latin Bistro, on the east side of town (the northeast corner of 27th and Highway 20) is closed; business just wasn't busy enough. I was driving by there earlier this week (after work) and thought it looked awfully dark inside.

Next, the (former) Village Grill (in the spot that was the Grove) is no longer the Village Grill; now it's a nightclub named Seven. Will it be any more successful? I don't know; it seems like one of those locations which seems like a revolving door—the restaurant doesn't do well/last long but people keep coming along and buying it out and changing it up. (More on that in a future post.)

This is totally a worthwhile cause: Bend resident Jason Freiboth (and "longtime Bend park district sports program do-it-all" as the Bulletin mentions) is suffering from skin cancer, and the community is rallying around him with support.

This was sent to me today, so I'm running it in its entirety:

Friends and supporters of the Freiboths,

As many of you know, Jason has been in the fight of his life battling cancer. The impact on his whole family has been overwhelming. What they need right now is for their friends and the community to come forward to provide support so Jason and his family can focus all their energy on this tremendous battle.

Because so many people have asked just how they can help, we thought we’d put together a list of ways you can support them in their time of need:

• Make a donation in the Freiboth’s name to Bend Take-Out. Their phone number is 382-8844. You can call them between 10:30am – 2:00pm or 4:30 – 9:00pm and tell them you want to make a contribution to the Jason Freiboth account. They take Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover. You can also send a check This allows the family to order food that they enjoy, in quantities that are right for them, and get it when they need it.
• Attend the Spaghetti Feed for the Freiboths on Sunday, November 16th at Aspen Hall between 4:00 and 8:00pm. All proceeds will be put into an account set up at US Bank for the Freiboths.
• Make a donation directly to the Freiboth account at US Bank. A special account has been set up so that Candy can access it to help with the many bills they are dealing with around Jason’s treatment and keeping the family going.
• Other fundraising ideas are in the works. If you have questions please give Russ Holliday a call at 389-7275 x 108 or Todd LaFrenz at 389-4361.

We are so encouraged by the many people who have been willing to help their family. We know that they greatly appreciate all of the support and well wishes from the community. Thanks for helping in any way that you are able.

They have a blog, too. In addition:

Thursday, November 20th will be Jason Freiboth Day at Tony's Deli. A percentage of all sales that day will be donated to the Freiboth Family. Tony's Deli is located at 320 SW Century Drive, Suite 410. Their hours are 10:30 am to 6:30 pm. Stop by or call (647-1653) to get lunch or dinner. They offer a variety of hot entrees, wraps, grinders, sandwiches, salads and soups. They also have "Take 'n Bake" and catering platters. Enjoy some good food and support Jason at the same time!

Lots of opportunities to help out.

Ever take time to read the City Code for Bend? It's definitely interesting. Like Chapter 5, Offenses, section 5.070:

Possession of a Throwing Star.

(1) Definition: "Throwing Star" means any instrument, without handles, consisting of a metal plate having three or more radiation points with one or more sharp edges, and designed in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond, or other geometric shape for use as a weapon for throwing.

(2) A person commits the offense of possession of a throwing star if the person knowingly manufactures, causes to be manufactured, brings into the city, keeps for sale, offers for sale, exposes for sale, gives, lends or possesses a throwing star as defined in section l herein.

(3) Possession of a throwing star is a Class A misdemeanor.

[Section 5.070 added by Ord. NS-l398, passed 6-20-84]

I am simultaneously greatly amused and a bit puzzled by this one. Did we have an epidemic of ninja gangs in Bend in the early 80s to cause such a specific ordinance to get on the books? So far my digging around hasn't revealed any history behind it.

But what's more puzzling is why there's only the restriction on throwing stars. Why not nunchucks? Or swords?

I ran across a couple of links lately relating to Bend's history that I thought I'd share.

The first is a photo on Flickr of Downtown Bend looking east on Franklin Avenue. It was taken circa 1972, and the cross street at the light is Bond. The new Franklin Crossing building occupies the space where that Texaco gas station used to be.

The second is a link to the City of Bend's historic City Council meeting minutes. I found this page when I was digging around the City Council page the other night; the City has posted scanned PDFs of the original documents going back to January 1913. Pretty dry reading, but still a hugely valuable resource, and too interesting not to share.

Web geeks (and other professionals), take note: next Friday, November 14th, there's a COWPU presentation on.

What:
Mark Turner will make a presentation on Git, the newest rage in version control.

When:
Friday, November 14th 2008
7:00 PM

Where:
The Bulletin
1777 SW Chandler Ave
Bend, OR 97702

Everyone is encouraged to bring beer and food.

It's been awhile since I blogged about rollerderby, but the sport is alive and well in Central Oregon. Saturday, November 22nd, the Renegade Rollergirls have a bout at the Midtown Music Hall:

The 3rd game of the season. Radar Lovers vs. The Skull Rollers. November 22nd at the Midtown. Doors at 7, Action starts at 8. $10 tickets available at Aspect Board Shop, Riverside Market or your favorite Renegade. Kids 10 and under are now free so bring your entire family! Afterparty at the happening new club "Seven" downtown Bend.

$10 seems cheaper than I remember.

Last night's local elections for City Council seats were pretty tight (all except Position 4—Jim Clinton owned that one), and resulted in some surprises. Here are the results of the four seats that were up for grabs:

Position 1:

I expected Peter Gramlich to hold on to this one.

Position 2:

This one was tight... at one point, Jeff Eager and Jodie Barram were separated by only two votes. (This was the seat vacated by Chris Telfer).

Position 3:

Position 4:

I am a little curious as to what the various write-in's were...

So, here's what our new City Council looks like:

• Bruce Abernethy (Mayor)
• Mark Capell
• Bill Friedman
• Jim Clinton
• Tom Greene
• Jeff Eager
• Kathie Eckman

So where am I going with this? I've had the idea for awhile to do some in-depth posts about the members of our local governing body, and this seems like an awfully good starting point. More to come over the next several weeks.

After pointing to Deschutes County's election results page earlier today, I've been watching it since 8pm (when the polls closed) to see local election results (aside from the Obama win, I'm very interested in some of the Oregon—and Bend—specific races). So far, though, there's nothing—no results at all—which is a little frustrating.

KTVZ's election results, though, are showing a whole bunch of the Oregon election results (though only a few of the very local elections so far).

So right now, KTVZ is the winner, though I'm checking both.

With today being Election Day and all (you voted, right? Right??), everyone interested in outcomes is going to be online trying to find numbers. Deschutes County has a good page of election results here, in an easy-to-scan, no-nonsense format. National down to the local issues.

No results have been updated yet (just after 1pm), but I expect that should change shortly. (I think?)

I saw this in Deschutes Brewery's email newsletter, and thought it was interesting:

Come down to the Deschutes Brewery & Public House in downtown Bend on Tuesday, November 4th to watch the Presidential election and enjoy Monday night pricing ($3.00) on select pints all day long. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent or just looking for a cheap pint, Deschutes Brewery is your spot. We will have full Presidential election coverage, as well as, an election of our own.

The "election of their own" is a faux throwdown between Mirror Pond Pale Ale and Hop Trip. I'm not sure if they're actually having people vote on which they prefer, or if it's just election night fun.

$3 for their imperial pints is a pretty good deal.