On Stage

Steve Earle coming to Bend is one of the coolest, most intriguing bookings we've seen at the Tower Theatre (PDXchange not included) this year and that's probably why the show is sold out and has been for a while.
While there are almost 500 ticket holders who know plenty about Steve Earle and understand why they should see the politically minded country rocker, it's still worth noting (and celebrating) the fact that such a performer is playing in town. So, think of June 29 as Steve Earle Day in Bend – even if you didn't get a ticket in time.

There was a time when the Slackers album, The Question, would spend weeks at a time in the car stereo. The record is a pure recreation of authentic Caribbean ska music, not dressed up in punk accouterments, as was the case with so many other “ska” bands that were on the airwaves in the mid-1990s. Some might find what the Slackers do closer to reggae, and maybe they're right, but classifications aside, The Question is decisively my favorite album of the genre.
But in the past eight years or so, I couldn't even be positive that the disc was still in my possession. That was before I heard that the Slackers were the next in a continuing line of ska bands to, somewhat oddly (but awesomely) play the Mountain's Edge Bar on the south end of town on Tuesday night. Further evidence of the Mountain's Edge's plan to become Oregon's integral ska venue (if that's possible) is the fact that just before The Slackers arrive, the Voodoo Glow Skulls play the joint on Friday night.

The name has been bouncing around the media consciousness of Bend for the last month or two. Radio. Websites. Newspapers. But mainly radio – lots of radio, a medium that lends itself well to the baritone pronunciation of a name like Joe Bonamassa, with its vowels and consonants so sexily colliding.
And when you combine the uttering of Joe Bonamassa (go ahead, let that last syllable fling sharply off your tongue) with the man behind this name's fiery new-age blues guitar styling and growling voice, the result is pure promotional magic. Again, Joe Bonamassa is a blues rock guitar virtuoso and not a shortstop or a bantam weight fighter like that name of his might suggest.

Last fall, a staple of Bend's live music scene for the past few years, El Dante, decided to call it quits. Those who saw El Dante probably remember their mostly jammy take on reggae, funk and positive-vibe rock bent on moving some asses on the dance floor. The six-piece outfit was kind of like an inordinately talented wedding band, but without the tuxedos and the cornball-ishness.
The band decided that their stylistic differences were enough to lead them in different directions, and it seems they have done just that, quickly forming two new outfits. First there's Jukebot, which features two El Dante members in Gabe Johnson and Tyler Mason and played a coming-out show at McMenamins a few weeks back after originally forming to serve as the Church of Neil house band.

Well, not that kind of church. I mean Church, the deep-space indie rockers that are coming over from Portland to play the Annex. So if you tell people, “I'm going to Church on Friday night,” your friends just might think you're a religious zealot… or perhaps they'll accurately peg you as a follower of the cult of worthy Oregon rock bands.
Church made its first appearance in Bend this fall, playing a joint show with Tender Loving Empire label mates Finn Riggins where the band showed off its strong songwriting but also an ability to twist their pop sound by way of high-flying numbers that expand to fill a room. The quartet's latest record, Song Force Crystal, is a departure from its previous work, featuring long instrumental breakdowns that use the big reverb sounds of an early My Morning Jacket, but flavored by Northwest erudition rather than Southern charm.

A glance at Central Oregon's local music landscape might give you the impression that men dominate the scene. Well, if you think that, you're kind of sexist. Sorry, but it's true.
In fact, there is plenty of female musical prowess to be found in the greater Bend area and now there's a full night of music to feature this talent. This show, dubbed “Chicks With Picks,” is a benefit for Saving Grace, the local non-profit that provides services for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence, and features a diverse musical scope of the female talent we have here.

Yes, it is now almost winter and starting to snow, the mountain is open, there's a frozen turkey in my freezer, but I'm still intermittently suffering from a Bend Roots Revival hangover. It comes and goes, but there are times when I stop and look back on that last week of September and realize that, damn, there's a lot of good music here.
This week there's an indoor local music gathering called the Homegrown Music Showcase to revive some of that Roots spirit with a lineup that will, once again, remind you of the talent we have here in town. The show, which benefits the Ronald McDonald House here in Bend, is largely on the lighter side – sorry metal, punk and hip-hop acts – but is nonetheless diverse.

Not to say that there aren't other Celtic punk rock bands touring the country, but there's really only two that matter: Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. The latter sold out the Midtown Ballroom about two years ago and the former will try to do the same this weekend.
It's not a Biggie/TuPac sort of thing, but Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly indeed create the same sort of coastal dichotomy with the Murphys being pretty much the biggest thing in Boston while Flogging Molly has the L.A. market, and much of the West Coast, on lockdown. But let's get something straight. There's no real beef between the two bands – in fact, there's plenty of crossover with the two acts' fan bases.

From time to time, a show gets booked in town that causes us to first drop a “WTF?” bomb aloud, and then hit the webernet to make sure this is really, truly, actually happening – for real. That's essentially the reaction that surged through our office when the Silver Moon's talent buyer, Cassie Moore, dropped us an e-mail announcing the UK soul rockers The Heavy would be playing a Wednesday night show at the venue.
The Heavy made a big splash at 2008's South by Southwest festival and have since gained a following in the states that will likely grow in the coming weeks and months given that the band just released its second full-length record, The House that Dirt Built, which dropped just last week on Counter Records. The band combines a dance-o-licious soulful energy with a gritty rock and roll foundation. It's like the Black Keys go back in time to the heyday of Motown and bring Beck along in the DeLorean for inspiration.

Yard Dogs Road Show has a new EP, entitled September Summer, but that really doesn't especially matter because this is a band that almost certainly won't make any sense to you merely on record. And that's not to say YDRS, a San-Francisco-based traveling variety show (of sorts), isn't a collectively talented musical troupe, because it certainly is.