The Bulletin, Bend / Central Oregon News

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 04:29 AM

bendbulletin.com/Frequency blog

Articles Restaurants Yellow Pages Web Newsprint Archive 1907 — 1994

Archive for the ‘ramblings’ Category

What others thought of the year in music (addendum)

Thursday, December 16th, 2010

Tomorrow morning in GO! Magazine, the music section will be dedicated to the best music of 2010, with four whole pages dedicated to the favorite things — albums, concerts, instruments, whatever — of those closest to Central Oregon’s music scene.

A couple weeks ago, I sent out a call to everyone I know asking them for their top five musical moments of the year. I’ve done this for four years in a row, and always received more lists than I could fit in the paper.

This year, however, there were even more lists than usual, and they were longer and more substantive than ever before. I ended up with way more material than I could use in print. Lucky for all of us, the internet is infinite! So I’ve taken all the overflow and placed it right here. Scroll down to see what a whole bunch of local folks were into in 2010.

Larry And His Flask
roots-punk road warriors
1. Best out of town shows: Austin, Texas at the Hole In The Wall with Possessed by Paul James and Tom Vandenavond. Playing at the House of Blues in Boston on Saint Patrick’s Day with Sick of it All and the Dropkick Murphys. Playing with Matt Hensley of Flogging Molly at Matt’s bar in Carlsbad. Playing acoustic at the House of Blues in Hollywood, Calif., in Jimmy Kimmel’s personal VIP section at the Mighty Mighty Bosstones show.

2. Most listened to albums of 2010: Possessed by Paul James, “Feed the Family.” Punch Brothers, “Anitfogmatic.” Noman, “Broadcast.” Murder by Death, “Good Morning, Magpie.” The Tallest Man on Earth, “Shallow Grave.”

3. Best hometown shows: Playing with The Devil Makes Three and the Dela Project at the Domino Room. Super rowdy show! Also, watching The Aggrolites at the Domino Room.

4. Best singer-songwriter of the century: Willy Tea of Oakdale, Calif.

5. Best party in Florida: The Fest, Halloween weekend. We played two shows that were awesome, then snuck onto the fourth floor of the Holliday Inn. Played on the fourth floor only to get kicked out by security and then to play again in the lobby with the manager’s permission at 4 a.m.

(more…)

Eight things I yelled at the Steve Miller Band last night before I realized that legendary guitarist and classic-rock hitmaker Steve Miller is not the same Steve Miller that rents my house in Idaho*

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

“How’s the weather over there? Snow all gone yet?”

“Did you ever hear the sump pump kick on in the spring?”

“Why don’t you take some of that dough you’ve made over the years, buy a big ol’ jet airliner, and fly me over there so I can fix your kitchen cabinets myself rather than paying someone else to do it!”

“Wooooohooooooooo!” (This was in response to the line “I’m a midnight toker,” as required by Bend city code**, which says all local concertgoers must cheer nonsensically in response to any drug reference in any song, to affirm that the concertgoer heard and appreciates said reference. Bonus points for holding your beer aloft and spilling it on the people around you.)

“You seen any more spiders in the kids’ rooms?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you are legendary guitarist and classic-rock hitmaker Steve Miller when we were negotiating the monthly rent, man? Not cool.”

“What does ‘pompatus’ mean?”

“Do the neighbors still have all that junk in their yard?”

*Not really.
**Also not really.

Happy Canada Day!

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

Much love and appreciation to all Frequency’s readers north of the border! If there are any.

Jason Collett rules.

YouTube is watching … and laughing at me

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Warning: If you spend part of your afternoon watching this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

Then YouTube is going to think you’re hella lame:

In case you were wondering …

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

… the Goo Goo Dolls are playing “Iris” on their current tour, at least if this video from a show last week in Minneapolis is to be believed:

In other news, no fewer than 30 videos containing the search term “Goo Goo Dolls” have been uploaded to YouTube in the past 24 hours. Don’t let anyone ever tell you the internet is useless.

Goo Goo Dolls are playing at Bend’s Les Schwab Amphitheater on Friday. Look for an interview with bassist Robby Takac in Friday’s issue of GO! Magazine in The Bulletin.

Observations about Last Band Standing

Friday, May 7th, 2010

I finally made it out to the big Last Band Standing battle of the bands last night. It was the third week/round of the event; the first round happened on the night my daughter was born, and I skipped last week in favor of staying home and continuing to practice being a dad.

By last night, I was ready to ease back into the local music scene, and what better way than to venture into Boondocks Bar & Grill and see five Bend-based bands, three of which I’ve interviewed and written articles about, and three of which I’ve seen play before. The lineup: Shades of Society, Elliot, KouseFly, Tuck And Roll and Jones Road. At the end of the night, Elliot was declared the winner, and they’ll move on to the semifinals, to be held in June.

Here are some things that ran through my mind throughout the night:

(more…)

“fear of running out of time”

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

You may or may not have noticed that I don’t tend to scramble to post here on Frequency after the death of a prominent musician. (I will often retweet the news on Frequency’s Twitter.)

It’s not that I don’t think death is blog-worthy — I do — it’s just that news moves ridiculously fast these days, and with my responsibilities to The Bulletin’s print product, I often don’t have the time to get something posted in a timely fashion. And if four, 12, or 24 hours have passed before I can get something up, I figure everyone’s heard about it, and I often don’t know what more I can add to the avalanche of remembrance happening on the Internet.

In recent months, though, several musicians who mattered to me have passed away, and so I’m going to take one post to pay tribute to them.

(more…)

BRING PAVEMENT TO BEND!

Friday, February 26th, 2010

pave

Welcome, fan of great music! You’ve reached Frequency’s effort to show Monqui Presents and the Les Schwab Amphitheater there are tons of people who’d like to see the band Pavement play in Bend.

The 2010 lineup at the Schwab so far includes Merle Haggard and the Steve Miller Band. Sounds like a pretty good time to me. But I want to have an awesome time at a concert this summer. And I think a show by the reunited kings of indie rock is the shortest path to an awesome time. That’s the short version. Please read the long version in my Feedback column in GO! Magazine today.

If you think Pavement in Bend sounds pretty sweet, please take a minute to leave a comment on this blog post. Tell the world just how much you’d love to see ‘em. Tell Monqui you’d buy tickets, and you’d get friends to buy tickets (if you would … no lying, please). Give the folks behind the concerts to Les Schwab Amphitheater a reason to bring Pavement to Bend!

Art vs. Commerce this weekend in Bend (or why you should go see songwriters instead of cover bands)

Friday, February 12th, 2010

There are a lot of options out there this weekend for music-loving Central Oregonians, and that’s great. But I want to take a quick look at four shows — two tonight, two Saturday night — that provide an interesting contrast in styles and an interesting study in the kind of live-music experience people want to consume.

Both nights begin at Bend WinterFest, and then head to a local bar for a nightcap. Let’s take them in the oft-neglected non-chronological order.

(more…)


The Bulletin
Parade Magazine Bend Homes Luxury Bend Homes