I arrived at McMenamins Old St. Francis School last night and quickly discovered that there were a couple hundred other people who also thought it clever to take in a free show from Blue Turtle Seduction.
The bubbly Lake Tahoe jam band had the place packed (even more jammed than the typical free Wednesday show) and bobbing along to their bright, sunshine-filled songs and improvisations. People were dancing wholeheartedly, sweating the place up and giving me a slight case of claustrophobia.
At set break, rather than muscle our way into the venue, the wife and I opted rather for McMenamins movie theater where the indie comedy Youth in Revolt was playing. While we could still hear the jammy jams through the wall, Michael Cera as a car-stealing, Frank Sinatra-loving arsonist was belly-giggling hilarious. It looks like this film - which had a sadly short mainstream cinema run - is nearing the end of its run at McMenamins, but you can catch it tonight at 8:30pm.
After departing McMenamins, we then made a brief stop at Silver Moon Brewing to catch a few cuts from Problem Stick. Sure, front man Wayne Newcome does some work for the Source, but it's not for that reason that I think this is one of the most solid rock bands in Bend. Their sound is intentionally messy, but the rock underpinnings are dead on. Check out the below video for proof.
