Music

Take a look at that trimmed up Vince Herman. Never a bad time to polish up a taxi.

Sunshine, lollipops and plenty of feedback.The last time the Pink Snowflakes played in Bend, they brought their
bubble machine madness to Players Bar and Grill for a set of the
Portland band's quirky and loud-as-hell psychedelic rock. Back in town
this weekend, the band has covered some new ground since the last
visit, mainly in the form of a trek down to Austin, Texas where they
added their name to the list of 1,800 some bands that performed at the
storied South by Southwest festival.

For a band that seems to pride
itself on weirdness, the Pink Snowflakes kept it true to form at SXSW -
where guitarist Tom McGregor admits the band had "no idea what we were
getting ourselves into" - playing a show at a venue that professed a
"clothing-optional" policy.
"We figured it out a week or two
before we left and thought it would be perfect because we're all about
the slightly weird and thought it would be great to be listening to
this loud, crazy psychedelic rock and freaking out to it," says
McGregor over the phone from his Portland home, "But there only ended
up being one guy naked and it was the guy in charge."

Who's that guy in the van waving at?There is a place in Colorado called Nederland. If you listen to
bluegrass or any of the myriad of styles that orbit around that genre,
you probably know about this little mountain town. I've never been
there, but this is how I've often pictured it: Everyone is playing a
banjo, a mandolin or a double bass and some people are playing two of
those things at the same time. I picture people picking together on
street corners, stopping only to wave at passersby and saying something
folksy like, "Have a good day, ya hear!"

In reality, the actual
town of Nederland most likely isn't anything like that, but it is the
home of members of Yonder Mountain String Band, String Cheese Incident,
as well as Vince Hermann of Leftover Salmon and Great American Taxi
fame. Now, you can add another name to the ever-growing roster of
Nederland bands, Mountain Standard Time, a sextet that's touring the
West Coast (which includes stops at Saturday's Earth Day celebration
then another show at the Silver Moon that night) and hitting up the
summer festival circuit before ever releasing a record.

I was gonna lock the door, but then I got high…Easter Sunday. It's a day for crowded churches followed by crowded
brunches and topped off with a whole hell of a lot of ham followed by a
slow-moving Monday morning. This Easter in Bend you can add one more
thing to your holiday docket and that's the blunt-smoking, Colt-45
swilling goofball rapper Afroman.

That's right, the author of the
smash turn-of-the-millennium hit "Because I Got High" is just the
latest rapper to make a return appearance here in town. The party-hardy
rapper is touring in preparation of the release of his new album
Frobama (how can you avoid a golden pun opportunity like that?), slated
for a May release. The record is quintessential Afroman, plenty of
silly skits and boasting cuts about well, weed malt liquor and some
digs on his former label, Universal. And yes, most of this is hilarious.

Dylan Howe is eating what appears to be a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich at a table in a cramped Northwest Crossing coffee shop while
talking about his band, We Are Brontosaurus. In a few minutes, the
power trio's guitarist will also dig into a stick of string cheese - a
staple of any sack lunch - as he attempts to fit a meal into a life
that includes playing in one of Bend's most intriguing rock bands,
ultimate Frisbee practice, and being a junior in high school.

Across
the table from Dylan, the band's lead singer, Owen Quon, speaks acutely
about Bend's youth music scene in a soft yet deep voice that is a mere
whisper in comparison to the rampaging vocals he unleashes on the
band's indie rock recordings.
"It's amazing to see that the
music scene in Bend is starting to grow, especially in the youth music
scene there's a lot of kids starting to play in bands," says Quon, the
son of Mark and Linda Quon, who together play around town as The Quons.

Nuthin' but a good time. As far as we can tell, Dirty Penny is serious about what they do.
Well, as serious as four big-haired, eye-lined 20-somethings who play a
mid-1980s brand of glam metal can be…which probably isn't all that
serious.
Dirty Penny started out under the not-so clever handle
Antidote covering tunes from '80s glam poster children Poison - and the
act is clearly still an influence on the band. They dropped the name
and the covers and cultivated a collection of originals that, although
new, are full of the guitar wails, echoing drums and arrogant lyrics
that made glam rock, well, glammy. Oh and did we mention these guys
look totally awesome in huge hairdos, tattered t-shirts and eyeliner?
Because they certainly do, which is to be expected from members with
stage names like Binge Daniels, Jonny Prynce, Tyno Vincent and Spanky
Savage and music videos featuring no less than 15 completely
intentional boob zooms.

Another local guitar pickin' poet. Songwriters. They're pretty much omnipresent in these parts. Whether
it's a strumming solo man or a minor-chord-pounding pianiste, there are
people writing music around every corner in this unsuspecting town.
That reclusive neighbor of yours? Yup. He very well might be crafting a
rock opera out in the garage, which hopefully explains those 2 a.m.
sousaphone soliloquies.
But you know what? These people tend to
know what they're doing here in Bend when it comes to song
construction. At least that's what Dennis Plant says. Plant isn't
merely the treasurer of the Central Oregon Songwriters Association
(COSA), he's also a musician himself and the owner of Bon Vivant
Studios in Tumalo where he records local artists. He says that COSA's
Song of the Year Awards Show slated for the Tower Theatre on Saturday
night will be, in a way, similar to a local version of the
Grammys…minus, of course, the eye-coveringly-awkward Jonas
Brothers/Stevie Wonder duet, among other things.

Mr. Andre Nickatina, looking dapper as usual.