Below is an overview of who’s playing when. Each of these — not including New Year’s Eve, to be clear — run from about 7-10 p.m. and are free to attend. Get more info at mcmenamins.com.
The fun starts Friday with a guy who is not from the area, but whose face should be plenty familiar to Central Oregon concertgoers: Tony Smiley, the self-proclaimed “loop ninja,” who has been wowing folks with his impressive one-man band electro-funk-pop-rock sound for more than two decades. Watching him build his songs piece by piece is a blast, and a perfect way to get out of the house on the night after Christmas.
On Saturday, it’s time for local mainstays Thomas T and the Blue Chips, a quartet that is doing its part to keep the blues alive in the area. Formed about four years ago, Thomas and his Chips stay busy gigging around the region thanks to their fun and funky take on old-school Chicago-style blues music — which makes sense, because that’s Thomas T’s hometown.
Sunday brings to McMenamins JuJu Eyeball, the popular local band that specializes in high-energy covers of Beatles songs. For a decade now, this fabulous foursome has played just about every nook and cranny in Central Oregon, bringing to life the most famous catalog of pop-rock songs ever, written and recorded by the greatest pop-rock band ever. Re-creating Beatles tunes is a tough task, and JuJu Eyeball do it with impressive flair.
Speaking of longtime local faves, Five Pint Mary will play Father Luke’s Room on Monday, Dec. 29. Formed in 2011 by Michael and Sarah Holmes, the band is back and playing shows again after Michael’s unexpected passing in 2021. Sarah’s still involved, though, and she and her bandmates are keeping the spirit alive, playing Celtic rock ‘n’ roll with a punky edge, including Irish traditionals, unexpected covers and Michael’s original songs.
“Aladdin Sane,” released in 1973, was David Bowie’s sixth full-length studio album. Aladinsane, on the other hand, is a Bend-based David Bowie cover band playing the venue on Tuesday, Dec. 30. This reminds me that Bowie passed away in early January of 2016, so we are coming up on the 10th anniversary of his death. That stinks, but it’s also a great reason to go hear his songs played by people who loved him and love his music.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source bendbulletin.com ’
