In Homage of Emulation: Why we love tribute bands, with or without the wigs

Posted inMusic

In Homage of Emulation: Why we love tribute bands, with or without the wigs

Mike Bookey

Being all sly about it. There is probably a tribute band for every major American or European rock band you can think of and most of them have names that unmistakably link them to the band they idolize and emulate. Zeppelin tributes have names like Led Zepagain, Physical Graffiti, Whole Lotta Zep and Beatles emulators go by monikers like the Backbeats and Hello Goodbye. There's a Portland band called Appetite for Deception - and yes, they play the music and wear the leather of Guns N' Roses.
 
On Sunday, Joey Porter brings his nine-piece Sly and the Family Stone tribute to the Les Schwab Amphitheater for the Summer Sundays kickoff, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss the tribute band phenomena.
Some, and possibly most, tribute bands are the result of an excessively enthusiastic love of a particular band gone overboard. When I was 13 years old, I found myself having unintentionally become the guitarist of a Nirvana tribute band. The intention was never to become a tribute of any kind, but we played Nirvana songs exclusively while wearing our Nirvana T-shirts and listening to Nirvana on cassette tapes during breaks in our rehearsals. We wore our guitars right around crotch level, just like Kurt Cobain and Krist Noveselic, and donned thermal undershirts while trying to let our hair grow long. I grew out of that Nirvana phase, but I can see how some might stick with it, taking the delusion to the next level by making a career of not being a rock star, but pretending to be a rock star.

Posted inCulture

Our Picks for the Week of 6/6-6/11

Mike Bookey

First Friday Art Walk
friday 6
Supposedly, it's almost summer, which means it's a great time to wander the streets during the warm nights and what better reason to wander than for the art walk. There's a delight of different exhibits (and free wine, nudge nudge, wink wink, drink drink) to be found so get on out there! Downtown Bend.
Andre Nickatina
friday 6
California rap veteran Nickatina lights up the Midtown, once again, with his delightful pimp style. When this guy comes to town, a party is sure to follow. Openers include some local and regional talent along the lines of Cool Nutz, Cloaked Characters, Benzo and Mindscape. See Liner notes for the word on Nickatina's film production career. 8pm doors, 9pm show. $22/advance, $27/day of show. Midtown Music Hall. 51 NW Greenwood Ave.

Posted inNews

Till Death Do Us Part: Two longtime Bend enviro groups hope a merger will bolster their work

Intern

She has a nice house in a great location. He has an attractive bank account. They care about the same things, and they court the same friends. So the Central Oregon Environmental Center and Resource, two local environmental groups, are merging. Their union should, over the long term, strengthen Bend's go-to spot for green living (Resource) and clarify the Environmental Center's somewhat nebulous mission, according to those behind the merger.
 
On July 1, the Environmental Center officially absorbs reSource. Mike Riley, who has been running Resource, will become chief of the expanded Environmental Center. Shauna Quistorff will relinquish that title to become its publicity and fund raising chief. They say that together the two organizations will more effectively and efficiently serve what had previously been overlapping missions: generally speaking, to create and sustain a healthy local environment and encourage conservation.

Posted inOpinion

Commissioner Mike Daly

Intern

Hitting is wrong, mike.An estimated 3 million American women are physically abused by their husbands or boyfriends every year. On average, between three and four women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every day.
We don't see anything funny in those numbers. But apparently Mike Daly does. During a recent discussion about whether to add another probation officer to handle domestic violence offenders, Commissioner Daly delivered some philosophical musings on the general subject. Drawing on his experience as a state police officer many years ago, he speculated that maybe it wasn't a good idea to arrest the battering spouse or boyfriend on the first offense, as the law now requires.
"I know there's probably some very minor cases of domestic violence," he added, "but if there's a mandatory arrest on every occasion, I question that."
Then, having stuck one foot in his mouth up to the ankle, Daly performed the astonishing acrobatic feat of inserting the other one up to the knee. "Did anybody ever think that he or she might have had it coming?" he asked.
Daly's fellow commissioner, Tammy Melton, was flabbergasted. "I think just the sheer fact that we're talking about the beating of spouses as okay really makes my stomach turn," she said.

Posted inOpinion

Keeping the Beat Going: You don’t know Diddley, R Kelly’s home cinema, and closet dwellers

Joseph Oguiza

Bo knows guitarsKeeping the Beat Going
BOMP-a-bomp-bomp … bomp-BOMP. If you've ever heard rock-n-roll - whether it was Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Bruce Springsteen, U2 or anybody in between - you've heard that beat. It was the creation of Elias Otha Bates, better known to the world as Bo Diddley.
Born in Mississippi and raised in Chicago, he reportedly was inspired to start playing guitar by hearing the great bluesman John Lee Hooker and began his career as a street musician. After several years of doing nightclub gigs he released his first record, "Bo Diddley," in 1955, and it rose to the top spot on the R&B charts.
That song introduced the "Bo Diddley beat," described by Wikipedia as "a rumba-like beat similar to 'hambone,' a style used by street performers who play out the beat by slapping and patting their arms, legs, chest, and cheeks while chanting rhymes." The music scholars say Bo Diddley didn't really invent the beat - that it goes back to West Africa. But what the hell do they know.

Posted inOpinion

Unintentionally Revealing?

Intern

Letter of the Week
On May 22, The Bulletin ran an article concerning trail use in the Deschutes National Forest. In it a representative of the Deschutes County 4-Wheelers argued for the construction of "more trails that are designed with boulders and logs and things.

Posted inOpinion

Don’t Block Bike Lanes

Intern

On Sunday morning May 24th 2008, I decided to go for a leisurely bike ride. With me were two young children who rode their bikes following close behind.
The route I chose would take me south on Mt. Washington past the Skyline sports park. As we approached the area near the softball fields, which were located to my right, I noticed a very common sight. However, on this morning what I witnessed was more disturbing than usual. We were forced to move from the bike lane into traffic because there were vehicles parked illegally in the bike lane ahead. Luckily, we were able to stop and navigate this detour without serious incident. We then continued on our way southbound. Some time later, we were returning home in the opposite direction. We also encountered more illegally parked vehicles directly in our path. Once again, we were forced to detour into the traffic lane to avoid these cars. I would estimate that between both southbound and northbound bike lanes, there were approximately 20 vehicles in violation of clearly posted No Parking signs.
My complaint is two-fold. First of all, you don't have to like or dislike what I choose to do for recreation. However, it is not acceptable for someone else's behavior to create an unsafe environment for me to enjoy my form of recreation. I highly doubt that parking a large number of vehicles on the softball fields would be allowed. Especially if I were to totally disregard the posted signs stating that it was illegal.

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