Submitted photosDJ Barisone, left, and DJ Wicked — both from Portland — will perform Saturday night and tonight, respectively, at Dojo, located on the west end of the breezeway in downtown Bend.

Justin Cook moved to Bend more than two decades ago. He has coveted the bar and restaurant space on the west end of the breezeway between Wall Street and Riverfront Plaza in downtown Bend for almost as long.

“I always loved the space,” he said earlier this week. “I always loved the breezeway (and) loved the connection to the park, and I wanted to make something happen here, but I just always missed out.”

Over the past several years, both halves of the space have turned over several times. The restaurant was most recently Boken (owned by Cook), and before that Lola’s and the Downtowner sandwich shop. The bar was Madhappy Lounge, and before that the Bendistillery Martini Bar.

But in June, Cook struck a deal with his landlord to take over the bar space. Since, he has knocked down a wall, remodeled the inside, spruced up the outdoor patio, upgraded the bar facilities and ditched the Boken name.

The whole place is now called Dojo and it has become, in the past few months, a new hub in Bend’s music scene, hosting local and regional DJs, plus occasional live bands.

For anyone who has paid attention to the downtown Bend bar scene for more than a few years, some of the names playing Dojo — including the two headliners this weekend, DJ Wicked and DJ Barisone (see “If you go”) — should be familiar.

Cook hopes the vibe of the place is familiar, too.

He provides a little local barstool history: “The Astro moved (from Minnesota to Bond), the Martini Bar was done and The Grove (a popular Bond Street bar that closed in 2007) was done, and those three places kinda had a feel that I enjoyed,” he said.

“What we’re trying to do here is … that feeling of family,” he continued. “Like you’re really a part of something.”

Tonight: DJ Wicked

Tonight’s headliner, DJ Wicked from Portland, knows what Cook is talking about. He used to make the trip to Bend about once a month to play The Grove back in its heyday.

He still calls that spot “one of (his) favorite places” he’s ever played.

Wicked, whose real name is Kirk Kirkpatrick, is an increasingly rare artist in the exploding world of DJing: He is old school, the kind of guy who lugs crates of vinyl records to gigs, selects records one by one, loads them onto a turntable and mixes songs together, stopping regularly to show off his scratching skills.

After Kirkpatrick graduated high school in 1992, he went straight to work and saved his first few paychecks to buy turntables and a mixer. He’s been honing his craft ever since, focusing on playing hip-hop music, which he was first exposed to while hanging out with graffiti artists as a teenager.

Kirkpatrick — who has spun records at Portland Trailblazer games and competed on the DJ-skills reality show “Master of the Mix” — is also a vinyl purist whose tendency toward rap sets him apart from those who make the kind of beat-heavy electronica that has taken over the world of dance music.

“What I’m doing, some people might even look at it as kinda like a novelty at this point. It’s like, ‘Wow, he’s using old-school vinyl records and doing all these different tricks and things,’” he said. “(With all the new technology), DJing is so accessible now … the technical side of things and the skill set has been dumbed down a little bit.”

Not that Kirkpatrick lets that bother him. In fact, as the DJ crowd has grown and competition has increased, it has only served to highlight his vintage-cool and skills-required niche.

“There’s nothing that can be done about it, not that I’d even necessarily want to do anything about it. I think that’s kinda neither here nor there,” said Kirkpatrick, who will also perform at The Astro Lounge Saturday night. “I think at this point I just stay true to what I do and try to have fun with it regardless of who’s doing what around me.”

Saturday: DJ Barisone

Saturday’s headliner, DJ Barisone, isn’t as old-school as Wicked, though he does cite him as an inspiration and an influence. “Wicked’s a legend in the Northwest, man,” he said Monday.

He’s not from the brand new “bass till you drop” school, either.

Barisone — that’s his last name, his first name is Bryan — is from somewhere in between, where beats and bass are vital, but vibe, soul and melody are still highly valued, and “digital” isn’t a four-letter word.

And Barisone’s even more familiar with The Grove than Wicked: During his 15-year stint living in Bend, he was one of the bar’s resident DJs and most popular performers. To this day, Barisone says The Grove, and co-owners Chris Lohrey and Erica Reilly, “changed (his) life.”

Barisone left Bend for Portland in 2009 to find new inspiration, but also to get more serious about DJing in hopes that he could do more traveling. It worked. In the past few years, he has been booked at The Bounce festival in California and the Shambhala and Bass Coast festivals in British Columbia, Canada, plus more club-oriented gigs around the West.

Barisone credits his free online mixes — often slick and soulful, with heavy hip-hop, reggae and world-beat influences — for his increasing success.

“I always just really enjoyed making mixes and giving them away for free so people have something to listen to,” he said. “Then they build a little familiarity with a style and a sound.”

Like Wicked, Barisone isn’t trying to position himself to ride the cresting wave of electronic music. He says he has “definitely accomplished some of the goals (he) set out to, but there’s always room for more.”

At the same time, he’s aware of his place in the DJ world and the dangers of chasing trends.

“I’m not necessarily in touch with what 18- to 21-year-olds want listen to, but I don’t necessarily want to play music for 18- to 21-year-olds,” he said. “So it’s a challenge to stay inspired and current but also have your own style.

“Ultimately, you just want to be able to play music that you enjoy,” he continued, “and hope that the crowd is into it.”

That was the case in October, when Barisone made his first trip to Bend in a while for a show at Dojo.

“It felt like old Bend. A lot of familiar faces came out and the vibe was really good in there,” he said. “You can’t really ask for much more.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0377, bsalmon@bendbulletin.com