Bagpiper Carlos Nuñez comes to Bend

Need proof of the global reach of Irish music? Just glance around this page of GO! Magazine.

Over in the Rum Rebellion brief, we talk about a gang of Portland kids who play Irish traditionals and Irish-influenced songs with punk-rock spirit.

And here we have Carlos Nuñez, a bagpiper from the Galician region of Spain who’ll bring his spirited Celtic rock to the Tower Theatre on Sunday.

Nunez is best known, perhaps, as the adopted seventh Chieftan, as he toured with the massively successful Irish group and recorded with them for years before launching his solo career. But he is also known as the Jimi Hendrix of the bagpipes, and while I did indeed lift that directly from the Tower’s press release, I also did some poking around the Internet and confirmed that, yes, many people have called Nunez that. Which is awesome, and not just because it gives me hope that he will end his show in Bend by setting his pipes on fire.

Before that, though, he will showcase his mastery of the Galician bagpipes, known as the gaita, which are ancestors to Scottish and Irish pipes.

Anyway, Nunez’ show at the Tower on Sunday is his only Oregon appearance, so don’t miss it.

Carlos Nuñez; 7:30 p.m. Sunday; $22, $32 and $37, plus fees, available through the venue; Tower Theatre, 835 N.W. Wall St., Bend; www.towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.

Jack Martin visits The Belfry in Sisters

A couple weeks ago, GO! Magazine told you all about The Weather Machine, an excellent Portland folk-rock band fronted by Sisters High School product Slater Smith.

Well, the Machine’s bassist is Jack Martin, and he fronts his own band called, cleverly, the House Band. Martin and The House Band will play The Belfry in Sisters on Saturday night.

There’s not a ton of sample-able stuff on the Internet from Martin, but the song posted at www.jackmartinmusic.com, “House of Cards,” is a lively slice of Northwestern folk-rock that sounds like Ray LaMontagne trying to keep up with Larry and His Flask, especially in the nifty little descending chord progression that accompanies the third verse.

Anyway, Martin is celebrating his new album “The Folk” this weekend with a show tonight in Salem, and then Saturday’s Sisters show. Accompanying him at the latter will be two other songwriters with Sisters roots: Travis Ehrenstrom and Laura Curtis.

Jack Martin & The House Band, with Travis Ehrenstrom and Laura Curtis ; 8 p.m. Saturday; $10; The Belfry, 302 E. Main Ave., Sisters; www.belfryevents.com or 541-815-9122.

Rap-rockers Rehab say farewell (for now)

The Atlanta band Rehab — which has been blending Southern rap and Southern rock for more than a decade — has rolled its national tours through Bend a handful of times in recent years.

On Sunday, they’ll do so for the final time, at least for the foreseeable future.

This particular tour is of the farewell variety for the duo, as Danny Boone and Demun Jones are hanging up the group name and pursuing solo careers. (Both have already released solo singles.)

Rehab has been one of the smoldering success stories within Atlanta’s white-hot 21st-Century music scene.

The group scored a few hits (“It Don’t Matter,” “Bartender Song,” “Welcome Home”) by combining punchy raps and beats with country-pop melodies, and has toured with huge names like Kid Rock and Linkin Park, gathering a sizable fan base along the way.

To mark their final tour together, Boone and Jones will host a post-show meet-and-greet in Bend.

“Our fans have been so loyal throughout the years,” the duo is quoted in a press release. “We are so excited to get back out there on the road and play the hits, as well as some of the new music that we have both been working on.”

Farewell, Rehab. Vaya con carne.

Rehab, with Angel’s Cut, Jay Tablet and DJ Harlo; 8 p.m. Sunday, doors open 7 p.m.; $15 plus fees in advance at www.bendticket.com and all TicketsWest outlets, $18 at the door; Domino Room, 51 N.W. Greenwood Ave., Bend; www.facebook.com/Rehabfarewell.

Get to know the Rum Rebellion

According to Wikipedia, the Rum Rebellion happened in 1808 and was “the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history.”

But as we all know, Wikipedia is one of those so-called “crowd-sourced” websites of the newfangled Internet age, and I don’t trust it. Not one bit. Anyone can edit? More like anyone can make stuff up about the Rum Rebellion.

So I did some Googling and I found a website at www.rumrebellion.net that says it’s a Portland-based band that started out in 2005 playing traditional Irish music and sea chanties “for fun.” (Now that’s the kind of fact I like.) Eventually, these enterprising young fellows added bass and drums so they could play punk shows.

Since then, there’ve been albums and U.S. tours, all powered by the band’s unique sound, which none other than punk bible Maximum Rocknroll described thusly: “They don’t claim to be Irish, so no weird/phony accents, just some rollickingly good punkified reels and jigs in there with the melodic punk.”

Now if Maximum Rocknroll says it, I believe it.

Rum Rebellion, with the High Desert Hooligans; 9 p.m. Monday; $2; Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 S.W. Century Drive, Bend; www.volcanictheatrepub.com.

— Ben Salmon