We’ve heard whispers for several weeks and, while we still haven’t gotten official confirmation from the current owners, it appears that Players Bar and Grill is ending its long run as a destination for fans of live metal, rock, hip hop. Players is apparently putting on its final shows over the next few weeks, winding down its live music by the end of the month as the new ownership takes the reins at the hard drinking and hard rocking nightclub, according to one local bandleader who has been working with the club recently.

No official word on what will become of the bar, which is being acquired by the same ownership group that controls The Mountains Edge and the Timbers locations, but one rumor is that Players will be supplanted with a restaurant.

While the loss of any venue is never a good sign for the local music scene, there are indications that Century Drive is thriving. In addition to the recently completed Show Us Your Spokes Series at Parrilla, the Hump Day Hash series at the new Century Center, formerly Brightwood mill, is generating a solid buzz. Next month the Century Center will host the Bend Roots Festival, which is moving from the area around Victorian Café and Parrilla Grill where it has outgrown its makeshift festival grounds.

Word is that the Century Center will debut a new stage at Roots that could position the multi-use complex as one of the new go-to venues for local bands and smaller traveling acts.

The Thermals, probably one of my favorite rock bands of the past decade is playing the Tower Theatre. Yes, that's right, an awesome rock and roll band is playing at our nicest indoor venue!

The show, part of the PDXchange Program, kicks off at 8pm tonight with an opening set from another rock trio -- our very own Autonomics. Tickets are just $15.

Just yesterday, the Thermals released a new album, Personal Life, which, as I wrote about last week, may be the band's most solid full-length recording to date. To celebrate the release, the band is planning on rocking your face off...just like they did to the crowd at Bumbershoot over the weekend. Here's some video of that performance. Watch it, and then go to this show.

The latest addition to the already strong fall music lineup is the rabble rousing British punk/folk rocker Billy Bragg, who will play the Tower Theatre on November 2.

This year, Bragg released Must I Paint You a Picture?, a collection of his greatest hits, a disc that should be required listening for the next generation of songwriters. Over the years, Bragg has been not only a consistently great songwriter, but also a political activist, fighting for lefty causes in the UK and beyond.

Hit the Tower website for advance tickets and all other show info.

Here's Bragg, playing "A New England" back in the day.

I just climbed the rock wall behind our office and got a look at the Little Woody (produced by our sister company, Lay it Out Events) set up at the Des Chutes Historical Society and things are already almost set up for tonight and tomorrow's barrel-aged beer festival. Check out the hop-wrapped entry to the event -- pretty cool.

Here's a list of all the brews that will be present from these breweries: 10 Barrel, Bend Brewing, Block 15, Boneyard Beer, Cascade Lakes, Deschutes, McMenamins Old St. Francis School, Ninkasi, Silver Moon and Three Creeks.

The festival kicks off at 5pm (ending at 10pm) tonight and opens up at noon tomorrow (and going until 10pm again.

There's also plenty of music to go along with your sipping. Moon Mountain Ramblers headline tonight at 8:30pm and Jackstraw plays Saturday night, also at 8:30pm.

To keep with OLCC regulations, the Little Woody is for adults 21 and over only. For more info, check out the guide in this week's print edition of the paper.

Also, this year has bourbon on hand! For $30 you can get entry to the festival and get six tastes.  I'll be there tasting tonight and then selling you your glasses all day tomorrow, so come say hello, or tell me what a jerkwad I am -- your choice.

It's September 2, 2010, which translates numerically to 9/02/10, making today the most fitting day in the history of time and space to celebrate the legacy of the soap-opera-influenced teenage drama, Beverly Hills 90210.

People are actually celebrating 90210 Day.

If you're not familiar with this show, it was an ongoing saga focused on rich teenage kids (who were inexplicably played by 28 year olds) and the insane high school and post-high school shenanigans that rich teenage kids are known to get into. It was a less funny Saved by the Bell or, to be more contemporary, a less sexy Gossip Girl. My sister was a loyal fan and from the few episodes I sat through, I recall it to be mostly about people taking high school very, very seriously.

The show -- which spawned spinoffs and a remake that's still on the air -- ran from 1990 to 2000, at which point most of the actors floated off into oblivion.

But that's not stopping fans of the show (or perhaps just fans of '90s nostalgia in general) from gathering for parties today and celebrating on Facebook. It's unknown whether or not these fans will wear  some of the ridiculously high-waisted jeans and poofy hair styles made popular by the program.

Let me beat you to it -- yes, John Mellencamp was probably better than Bob Dylan at the Les Schwab Amphitheater on Friday night. Everyone has been saying this for the past few days (during which I've been battling a print deadline and ignoring my blogging duties) and I'll begrudgingly agree.

People say that Dylan didn't even sing...which is partially true. They said he didn't play many hits...that's not necessarily true. Sure, he doesn't sound that great behind the mic, but his band is still stellar and, most importantly, he allows you to say "I just saw Bob Dylan." Check that off the "things to do in my life" list.

(Side note: Check out this article about young people's reaction to Bob Dylan.)

But judge for yourself. Here's some cheap-seats video from the show.

Adventure Galley, the Bend-rooted band I've blogged about and wrote this feature story about, is in the finals of the Toyota Music Rock the Space contest.

The band cruised its way out of the preliminary rounds and then made it into the finals, thanks to the success of their song "Addict" -- a track that showcases the big, almost orchestral sounds of the electro rock band.

Drummer Brock Grenfell, who's here in Bend for the summer before returning to Eugene to continue class at the U of O in a few weeks, stopped by the office today and said there are still a few more days to vote for Adventure Galley in the contest. So click here and head over to vote for the band -- all you need is a MySpace account.

If they win, the band will receive some $40,000 in prizes. So yeah, help these guys out!

If there's one thing I've been anxiously awaiting (Hoverboards excluded), it's the much-rumored documentary, entitled I'm Still Here, about the increasingly weird and insanely bearded Joaquin Phoenix, who gave up on his acting career in the past year to allegedly pursue a life as a rap star. Seriously.

This all became apparent when he appeared horribly unkempt and out-of-this-world despondent on the Late Show with David Letterman and made a case for the fact that he may have completely lost his mind. But then came word that Phoenix was the subject of a documentary directed by Casey Affleck that would outline his foray into the hip-hop world.

This all looks like some sort of Andy Kaufman-esque ruse in many respects, but after watching the trailer for the soon-to-be-released documentary, things get even weirder. Just try to glean one bit of sense from this 62 second spot. Totally nonsensical...and of course endlessly intriguing.

Before I left on a glorious, glorious, non-blogging and out-of-the-office vacation, I chatted with Mat Kearney about his musical career and what it's like to make music for television doctors to make out to. You can read about that here.

Kearney, a Eugene native and former college soccer player at Chico State, is playing the Domino Room tonight. Chances are you've heard his easy-on-the-ears take on pop rock, but if you haven't check out the video below and you'll realize you know who this is after about six seconds.

Tickets are still available and are $23 at the door. Show starts at 9pm and Katie Kerzig opens.

With such an awesome line up of music Wednesday night, you couldn't go wrong wherever you ended up. I hit up the Hump Day Hash featuring The Autonomics at the new Century Center, and I've got to say seeing the venue, it's got me pretty stoked for Bend Roots.

The Autonomics were spot on with their indie rock, which they blended with punk, jazz, and country influences. Lead singer Dan Pantenburg has got an insane amount of stage presence and interacted with the crowd very well. The Autonomics are quickly becoming one of my favorite local bands. Catch them while you can. And in the meantime, watch the videos below of their Hump Day performance.

Upcoming Shows:

9pm Thursday, Aug 26. The Summit Saloon and Stage, 125 NW Oregon Ave.

9pm Saturday, Aug 28. JC's Bar and Grill, 642 NW Franklin Ave.

8pm Wednesday, Sep 8. Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St. *Opening for The Thermals

4pm Saturday, Sep 25. Century Center, 1355 SW Commerce St. *Bend Roots Revival