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  Friday, April 06, 2007

Bend Art Hop

Today was Day 2 of my vacation. Oh, did I mention I was taking some time off? No? I'm taking off a week and a half. Yesterday was Day 1. I'll blog about yesterday tomorrow. Today I'm blogging about today. Pictured below is Mirror Pond, a beautiful bend in the Deschutes River, along which is located downtown Bend.



The first Friday of every month is celebrated in downtown Bend as First Friday Gallery Walk. Several art galleries and other downtown establishments have an open house with wine and cheese and other refreshments, and people make a night of it, walking from gallery to gallery. Twice a year, however, it gets kicked up a notch, with music and performances. It's not just a gallery walk, it's an Art Hop!


After a wonderful meal at Merenda, Connie and I first stopped at the High Desert Museum Art Gallery just a few steps away. Playing there was Coyo, a local band, pictured above. The drummer in the center is Dale Largent, my doumbek instructor and all-around great guy. On Native American flute is Ron Laws, and on guitar is Tim Moore. They're outstanding. We also ran into a friend of ours we met at a book reading in Sunriver.


Across the street we encountered local band Slick Side Down playing jazz. They did an exquisite version of Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine. I wish these guys had an album. Yes, they're playing in a clothing store.


This is Crescent Jazz playing at the Mockingbird Gallery. The singer reminded me of Jessica Rabbit. Great, smoky voice.

These are The Erins. Violin and guitar just go so well together.


They got tall girls in Bend.


At Mirror Pond Plaza was a free performance by FyreFlyte as a benefit to raise money for a member's sister who was seriously injured in a car accident. I love the sense of family and community in Bend. People pull together to help each other.

FyreFlyte is a band of fire performers who do incredible dance and acrobatics with fire. The performance tonight was accompanied by Coyo, mentioned above, and Ubuntu, a group of local drummers. (Hi, guys!)

There's only about a hundred thousand people here in Central Oregon, but we have an amazing number of musicians, dancers and artists who perform just for the joy of it. People do stuff here. Central Oregon rocks.





Posted by Dave    Blog Tag: Chatter

6 Comments:

At 4/07/2007 8:21 AM, Blogger Lisa said...

Nice pics. I like the tall girl with the tall pants. I would freak out being that girl. I'm afraid of heights!

 
At 4/07/2007 10:14 AM, Blogger Live on the Fly Studio said...

Thanks for the pics and update - I was on my way there, just pulling into a parking space downtown, when my husband called me in intense pain. A trip to the ER at fast speeds confirmed a kidney stone. I was bummed - I missed many friends who had featured art, magazines, music, etc... that I was hoping to see! Glad you saw The Erins, they're one of my faves!

 
At 4/07/2007 10:48 AM, Blogger dkgoodman said...

Thanks, Lisa. There were three or four people on stilts like that girl. They were incredibly stable, somehow. I wouldn't mind being tall like that, but I'd be afraid of falling while stuck to stilts.

It's a little unnerving seeing groins at eye level. :)

Sorry we missed you, Elise. Is hubby better now?

 
At 4/09/2007 8:48 AM, Anonymous beajerry said...

Looks like good times!

 
At 4/09/2007 5:13 PM, Blogger Melissa said...

I would fit in just fine without the stilts. :)

 
At 4/09/2007 6:13 PM, Blogger dkgoodman said...

LOL You're tall, but you're not that tall. But you would fit in here. The first time we took Debbie to the Safeway here, she looked around and said, "Everyone is blonde!" Add to that the fact that everyone here has dogs. You'd be a natural. Fit, that is.

 

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