Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
Hardcore troubadour Steve Earle put on a great (and long!) show last night for a sold-out Tower Theatre in Bend. Bulletin photographer Rob Kerr was there and came back with these excellent photos of the man doing what he does better than just about anyone else alive.
Monday, May 31st, 2010
Very, very solid show last night by Band of Horses. I have one complaint, but it’s relatively minor and I’ll save it (as well as my thoughts on She & Him) for my review in Friday’s GO! Magazine. For now, let’s look at some pretty pictures by The Bulletin’s Ryan Brennecke, who was a busy man this weekend. Be sure to click below to see the photos of She & Him and Dawes.
Band of Horses
Saturday, May 29th, 2010
I couldn’t make it to Les Schwab Amphitheater last night to watch the Goo Goo Dolls kick off the 2010 Bend Summer Concerts series. Parenthood called. But Bulletin photographer Ryan Brennecke was there, and he came back with some terrific photos of the band and what appears to be a quite bundled-up crowd. Be sure to click below to see the whole bunch.
Friday, May 21st, 2010
Portland’s Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside played to a pretty full house Wednesday night at McMenamins Old St. Francis School in Bend. Things were kind of slow-going at first; there were lots of folks seated at tables, with the standing crowd behind them, afraid to move up and block their view. After a few songs, though, a couple of energetic gals and wobbly, long-haired dudes broke through and boogied in a small pocket at the side of the stage. Ford — still new enough to fronting a band that plenty of awkwardness shines through — was obviously amused by this. So before she launched into “Danger” she made sure to point out that the song is “good for dancing.” And it is.
This, of course, was all the license folks needed to pour into the space in front of the stage and dance, dance, dance. In this day and age, Ford’s sound is unique, a blend of vintage jazz and soul, modern rock ‘n’ roll and Ford’s powerful, Neko Case-meets-Joanna Newsom voice. (Special shout-out to guitarist Jeffrey Munger, whose playing is a tastefully perfect fit for the songs. The guy has a way with tone.) It truly sounds like something you’d hear pumping out of an old phonograph at an antique shop … well, except for the lyrical references to ’90s emo giants Sunny Day Real Estate and Jets to Brazil.
So anyway, the band got the dance party rolling, and it was rolling along pretty well when Ford announced the band would take a short break. The crowd didn’t like the sound of that one bit, though, and warmly voiced its displeasure. To which Ford looked at her band mates, laughed, and said, “Well, OK! I guess we won’t take a break!” She went on to do more originals and prove she wasn’t afraid to tackle legends, covering folks like Tom Waits and Patsy Cline. Eventually, the band did indulge in an intermission, after which it seemed to me some of the show’s momentum (and crowd) had waned. No big deal, though; Ford and her mates just went back to work, using their snappy, cross-generational dance music to begin building it back up again.
A few more photos:
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
(Note: I hoped to get this review into Friday’s GO! Magazine, but we’ve run out of space, so I’m posting it here. It’s been a full week since the show, but better late than never. All photos by Ben.)
Words can’t convey the feeling that filled the Sisters High School auditorium March 16 when Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue came to town.
But I will try to put it into words for you, anyway. Or rather, a word: Joy.
Pure, unadulterated joy coursed through the auditorium for two solid hours on that Tuesday night, as Trombone Shorty, aka Troy Andrews, and his six-piece funksplosion of a band wrapped up the Sisters Folk Festival’s Winter Concert Series.
It was quite a sight watching the good people of Sisters and Central Oregon, ranging in age from 7 to 70, get down – deep, deep down – to the soulful urban sounds of Orleans Avenue. This was truly a melding of cultures, where a 24-year-old black man from a tough neighborhood in New Orleans can coax hundreds of white people from a rural New West town to wave their hands in the air like they just don’t care, and not one person in the room feels even a hint of self-consciousness.
This is what happens when a hyper-skilled and high-energy band throws down in front of an adoring audience – folks simply lose control of their body and mind. There was a sense of euphoria in Trombone Shorty’s crowd, and nowhere was it more obvious than on the faces of the young people who packed the open space between the stage and the first row of seats.
It was like watching inspiration – profound, core-reaching inspiration – happen in front of your eyes.
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Seattle-based singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile played an excellent set in front of a sold-out Tower Theatre last night in Bend, and she’ll do the same tonight. (Well, I don’t know if the set will be excellent, but I think it’s a safe bet. I do know tonight’s show is also sold out.)
Anyway, Bulletin photographer Ryan Brennecke was there last night, and he got some awesome shots of the show. Be sure to click below to see a bunch more, and then tune in to the March 26 GO! Magazine for my review.
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
Local pop-punk quartet Tuck And Roll celebrated the release of its new album “Time To Run” at Bend’s Players Bar & Grill Friday night. I’ve gushed plenty about these guys (see here and here), so it suffices to say that they were 100-percent awesome, ripping through almost every song on the new record and last year’s excellent EP, with guitars, boundless energy and snotty, earworm melodies cranked up to 11.
Ben Jones’ bass bounced vigorously, and guitarist Chris Murra shredded solo after solo with precision. Sean Garvin drove the ship from behind the drumkit, while Sam Fisher delivered his consistently compelling tunes through perfectly strained and nasally vocals. Near the end of the set, as Fisher bopped through the sine-wave pre-chorus of “Small Packages,” it really hit me just how intensely infectious Tuck And Roll’s songs are. Without question, this is a band that knows exactly what it’s doing, and it does it very well.
Tuck And Roll is one of Bend’s best bands, and there’s no reason these guys couldn’t catch the ear of some pop-punk label head and make this go a long, long way. They’re playing Saturday night at the Domino Room, and you should try to catch the show.
Friday, March 12th, 2010
(All photos by Ben. Look for more soon in Frequency’s Flickr pool.)
Igor & Red Elvises have become very familiar faces in Bend over the past few years.
I never saw ‘em, but lots of people have. And the advice I’ve heard from those people was pretty much unanimous. Something along the lines of: “Oh, you have to see them live. They’re so much fun.”
I always believed it. From afar, the Elvises look like fun. They dress in zany animal prints and play funny-looking instruments and call themselves “your favorite band.” Musically, they mine just about every upbeat sound vein from the past five decades, add a hefty dose of humor, and call the charming result Russian “rokenrol.”
Wednesday night gave me an opportunity to see it with my own eyes, as Igor and his crew returned to The Annex. (Quick aside: The Annex is a woefully underused venue in this town. Please, someone start booking more shows there.)
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Bulletin photographer Rob Kerr attended The Gourds’ set at Bend WinterFest last weekend and came away with some terrific shots of the band. Thanks, Rob! Be sure to click below the first couple to see the rest, click here for video from the show, and look for my full review in Friday’s GO! Magazine.
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
(Sorry this is showing up three days after the concert. I like to be more timely than that, but sometimes other duties call.)
Over here, I encouraged folks attending the Slightly Stoopid concert Wednesday night at the Midtown Ballroom in Bend to show up early and catch the opening act, L.A.’s The Aggrolites, who play a compelling brand of music they describe as “dirty reggae.”
I almost didn’t follow my own advice. Old Towne Pizza took longer to make my calzone than I expected, and by the time I was done, I could hear the band playing as I crossed the street, where I was met by a line to get in that extended from the Midtown’s door to the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Hill Street.
So I cut in line. I confess, I cut in line.
I had to get in, and quickly, because The Aggrolites were the main reason I wanted to see this show. They didn’t disappoint. These dudes know how to bring it, and they make reggae — a style of music I’ve admitted to not “getting” — sound funky and fresh and awesome.
The indispensable element is the organ. The Aggrolites’ bubbly brand of reggae features narcotic doses of the genre’s classic, choppy organ sound, courtesy of Roger Rivas, who wore a bandana that covered not only his forehead, but most of his eyes. When Rivas took a solo, as he did in “Work To Do” and “Keep Moving On,” it was like being plucked out of Bend and dropped in the middle of some gritty punk-rock carnival. The man’s keys are, without question, The Aggrolites’ MVP.
The Aggrolites. All photos by Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
But the whole band is solid. The four non-drummers stood side-by-side on stage, bouncing around, hitting perfect harmonies, dressed in all black and sweating like crazy. Their “ooooh”s and “na na na”s on “Keep Moving On” gave the song and distinctly doo-wop feel, like Motown meets Kingston. And they blasted out of a buoyant instrumental jam with a spirited performance of their best song, “Mr. Misery,” with its triumphant “ah-ah-ah-uh-ahhhh!” refrain.
The Aggrolites basically do one thing, and they do it very well. And at the Midtown, they did it in front of a giant Slightly Stoopid backdrop, a constant reminder that this was just the warm-up act.
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