PAGE 4 • GO! MAGAZINE
Thursday, June 24, 2021 • The BuLLeTIn
music notes
Flogging Molly, Violent Femmes
to play Les Schwab Amphitheater
Flogging Molly and the Violent Femmes will perform Oct.
15 at Les Schwab Amphitheater, according to an Old Mill
District announcement.
The punk bands are co-headlining a concert tour in Sep-
tember and October around the country. The last time the
Celtic punk rockers Flogging Molly were scheduled to play
in Central Oregon was March 2018, but the concert was can-
celed due to inclement weather and was not rescheduled.
Violent Femmes are celebrating their 40th anniversary in
2021.
Online presale starts Thursday at 10 a.m. at bendconcerts.
com, with the password, “encore,” according to the website.
Regular sales will begin at 10 a.m. Friday at either bendcon-
certs.com or the Old Mill District Ticket Mill, located between
Lush and Tumalo Art Co.
Bandcampin’:
Good stuff for your ears
BY BEN SALMON • For The Bulletin
B
andcamp is an online music platform used largely by independent artists and record labels to
stream songs and sell merchandise. It’s also a vibrant virtual community teeming with interesting
sounds just waiting to be discovered. Each week, I’ll highlight three releases available on the site
that are well worth your time and attention. If you find something you dig, please consider supporting the
artist with a purchase.
LSA announces Brantley Gilbert,
Pink Martini shows
Country artist Brantley Gilbert will perform on Aug. 8 at
the Old Mill District amphitheater, according to an Old Mill
District announcement.
Gilbert released the full-length “Fire & Brimstone” in 2019,
followed by last year’s deluxe edition. This month saw the
release of the single “The Worst Country Song of All Time,” for
which he teamed with Toby Keith and HARDY.
Oregon’s genre-blending “little orchestra” Pink Martini will
bring its flair for Latin, jazz and pop to the amphitheater on
Sept. 19.
With these additions, Les Schwab Amphitheater has an-
nounced 24 shows for the season, with more to come, ac-
cording to the Old Mill District.
Online presales run from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday at
www.bendconcerts.com, with the password “local,” accord-
ing to the release. Regular sales will begin at 10 a.m. Friday
at either bendconcerts.com or the Old Mill District Ticket
Mill, located between Lush and Tumalo Art Co.
$20 tickets available for 20 concerts
In celebration of the Les Schwab Amphitheater’s 20th
anniversary, the venue will offer $20 tickets to 20 select con-
certs this season. Only 20 tickets per show will be available
and must be purchased in person at the Ticket Mill starting
at 10 a.m. Saturday. These tickets will be sold on a first come,
first served basis with no additional fees attached with a
limit of two tickets per customer.
“Central Oregon’s been supporting us for two decades,”
said Marney Smith, general manager of the amphitheater in
a press release. “This is something special for the locals in the
area to help celebrate where we’ve been and where we’re
headed.”
The amphitheater hosted Lyle Lovett on June 26, 2002,
the first of just three concerts that year. This year, the venue
aims to host 26, the most in a single year, according the re-
lease.
Only the following concerts are eligible for the $20 deal:
Brantley Gilbert, Rebelution, Trampled by Turtles and Mt.
Joy, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Primus, Atmo-
sphere and Cypress Hill, Old Dominion, Dirty Heads and Sub-
lime with Rome, Modest Mouse, Brandi Carlile (both nights),
Death Cab for Cutie, Lake Street Dive, NEEDTOBREATHE, Pink
Martini, Foreigner, Lord Huron, My Morning Jacket, 311 and
Iration, and Flogging Molly and Violent Femmes.
— The Bulletin staff reports
FRUIT BATS ,
MAMMAN SANI,
“The Pet Parade”
“La Musique Electronique du Niger”
With downtown Bend’s annual pet
parade canceled yet again, “The Pet Pa-
rade” — the 10th album from Eric D.
Johnson’s wonderful Fruit Bats project
— will have to suffice as a replacement.
For two decades, Johnson has been one
of the best singer-songwriters working
in the world of indie-folk-pop-rock,
thanks in large part to his honeyed
voice and his seemingly endless sup-
ply of lovely melodies. This is perfect
sunny summertime hangout music;
it’s a balm in a world that feels harsher
than ever. Put it on when you need
something unhurried and uncompli-
cated and unassuming and reliably, re-
lentlessly beautiful.
I’m not going to tell you that I knew
the name Mamman Sani, or that I
knew he’s a legendary avant garde mu-
sician from Niger, or that I knew he’s
a pioneer of electronic music in West
Africa. I didn’t know any of that un-
til the Portland-based Sahel Sounds
record label told me. That’s the cool
thing about labels like Sahel: They’re
out there finding new and old music
by far-away artists like Sani and deliv-
ering it to ears around the globe. Sahel
is one of the best, and so is “La Mu-
sique Electronique du Niger,” which
was originally released in 1978 and still
today spills over with minimalist elec-
tronic music that merges traditional
Nigerien melodies and once-modern
organ buzz.
MESH, “Mesh”
Over the past couple of years, buying
music on Bandcamp has significantly
expanded my collection of cassette
tapes. For smaller bands and labels,
producing a run of cassettes is a lot less
expensive than pressing to vinyl, and
as someone who wants to own my mu-
sic if possible … well, I buy their tapes.
The latest is this EP from the Philadel-
phia punk band Mesh, which has only
five tracks — all killer, no filler. These
folks mix a bit of Devo influence into
their sound but unlike a lot of their
peers, they don’t overdo it. The result
is a set of songs that are weird and fid-
gety, but still sturdy and awesome.
e
Ben Salmon is a Bend-based music journalist
and host of Left Of The Dial, which airs 8-10 p.m.
Thursdays on KPOV, 88.9 FM and streams at kpov.
org.
“The Pet Parade” is perfect sunny summertime hangout music; it’s
a balm in a world that feels harsher than ever. Put it on when you
need something unhurried and uncomplicated and unassuming and
reliably, relentlessly beautiful.