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Archive >> August 2009
Posted by: Burgermeister in Food on
Aug 31, 2009
 This month we journeyed to the east end of Main Street to check out the Backstage Bistro. Anyone who loves live music knows what a labor of love the Bistro is for owner Bob Parrish, whose appreciation for food and music seeps into everything he does.
Some may have already forgotten his espresso stand (just "The Backstage") in the old Liberty Theater lobby that's part of Macy's-coffee lovers will remember, I'm sure-but it was merely a sign of things to come, and when the Paula Ray Gallery gave up the ghost, he saw an opportunity at the corner Main and Palouse to serve up a few items that were missing on Walla Walla's dining out menu. Good steaks, interesting pasta dishes, slow-cooked barbecue, and, of course, hamburgers. For a while it seemed like the Backstage Bistro was the only place to find a patty melt in town. In an onion town, that seemed like an oversight. So we sat down to see how the burger has been faring at the Bistro, and it was happy homecoming indeed. I ordered the Bistro Burger with cheddar, and chose sweet potato fries instead of a salad for accompaniment. As you can see, the dish is attractively presented, with the burger served on a cornmeal-dusted bun with shredded lettuce and two large slices of tomato on the upper bun. There were pickles hiding under the burger, much to my delight.
Posted by: Andrew Holt in Music on
Aug 24, 2009
 The bows slowly cross the strings of the three cellos, producing a moaning sound, each bow manipulated in perfect unison by the hands of the three musicians who sit in an open semi-circle facing the enraptured crowd. A young man with jet black hair tinkers on the piano just behind them as the haunting sound of David Popper's "Requiem for Three Cellos and Piano" rises from the instruments and floats through the spartan chambers of Chism Recital Hall.
It is the final concert of the "Second Annual Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival" and the opening piece provides a stark contrast to the airy and upbeat performance of Mendelssohn's' "String Octet in E Flat" the night before where a mirthful audience sat in an open-ended winery production room, taking in the music after filling up on vino and hors' de oeuvres.
The sad but moving "Requiem" is an appropriate piece for Chism, which in its own way, serves as a perfect setting for a festival concert. The warn wooden floor, the lack of any ornamentation to the stage or walls, the small piano cloaked by a dark tarp pushed against the deep back wall of the cavernous stage, all serve to create an atmosphere where ones focus is solely on the music and its performers.
Posted by: Skip Pritchard in Fishing on
Aug 17, 2009
 "... it can take a lifetime's worth of attention to learn even half the secrets of a good river, and in our quieter moments that's all a lot of us want for ourselves: something modest but fine."
John Gierarch
Standing in a River Waving a Stick
Why fly fishing?
When asked this a number of folks simply say it's because of the places it takes them. For others it's respite and therapy from the stress of life. For some it's the "purity" of the sport and the connectedness one has to nature. Still others say it's the aesthetic or the art of it all, the grace of casting or the imitating the natural order of things through tying one's own flies. And for some, there's the sense of tradition and timelessness conjured up by images and memories of cane rods, silk lines, and wicker creels.
The same can be asked of our area, "Fly fishing and Walla Walla? Why?"
The Walla Walla Valley and the foothills of the "Blues" with their rivers, streams, and pastoral landscapes provide ample opportunity to answer the "why." For me the answers started coming shortly after moving to Walla Walla. My first year here I spent more time fishing for personal enjoyment than the prior five years combined guiding in Colorado. It was a no-brainer in Colorado, what time was available to fish was spent guiding to make a buck. Don't get me wrong, I loved every minute of it, but guiding is way different than fishing - with one you watch and with the other you catch. With the waters here I learn or discover something new about the area, how to fish it and how to appreciate it, every time I am out. And, it doesn't hurt that I'm catching a lot of fish.
Posted by: Sam McLeod in Downtown on
Aug 10, 2009
 From my desk I have a window-framed view of Main Street here in Walla Walla. While I gaze out the window looking for inspiration, I watch folks come and go through the double glass doors at Bright's Candies.
A young mother in skimpy black marathoner shorts, wrap-around sunglasses, and a hot pink sports bra parks her doublewide stroller in front of Bright's. She's talking on her cell phone, wrestling one of the blonde-haired kids back into his stroller seat, and wagging her finger at a long-eared Bassett Hound puppy leashed to the stroller frame.
Deep-based rap music blasts from a sleek-black Mercedes stopped at the Second Street light. My window rattles to the beat. I think, "If Hollywood does a remake of The Graduate, the old guy should whisper ‘audiology' instead of ‘plastics'..."
The Mercedes rolls through the intersection followed by a trolley bus.
About twenty kids, several moms, and a dad stroll the sidewalk in front of Bright's. They're all playing violins, except the dad. He's capturing the event on a video camera. I open my window. The music is beautiful.
An elderly gentleman emerges from Bright's. He's wearing white Nikes, neatly creased khakis, a blue cotton shirt, and a pork-pie hat. He dodges the young mother still talking on her cell phone, the stroller, and the floppy-eared puppy. He sits on a wood-slat chair under the metal awning, eating a scoop of vanilla ice cream perched atop a brown cone.
Posted by: Catie McIntyre Walker in Wine on
Aug 03, 2009
 No, they aren't techie geeks who dress in costumes and live in their parent's dark basements. Nor are they bon vivant high brows whose cellars are filled with cases of 1787 Chateau Lafite, once owned by Thomas Jefferson. They are your neighbors and co-workers. They are attorneys, waiters, professors, artists, teachers, PR consultants, hiking tour guides and even winemakers who all have one thing in common: They write about their wine experiences on the internet. They are known as "wine bloggers."
Once ignored or referred to as "wannabe critics" and "hacks" by traditional media and the wine industry, wine bloggers are now being recognized as a driving force behind the wine social media. And when you think about it, wine bloggers aren't that much different from the mainstream wine journalists, other than with two exceptions: there are no editorial politics to answer to and the most crucial thing, yet sometimes an advantage in the integrity of the wines they review, - - no pay check. And believe it or not, the majority of the wines reviewed in blogs, are purchased by the blogger.
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