Booking entertainment in Bend is often a balancing act.

Just ask Reggie Martinez, who since January has booked shows and events at The Capitol after being a regular performer there for more than a year. Martinez is best known for his DJ work under the name Theclectik and for booking music at a number of now-closed venues around town, including the Bendistillery Martini Bar and his own business, Madhappy Lounge. Madhappy, which evolved from the downtown Martini Bar, closed in 2011 after just a few years in business.

“Bend is forever changing,” Martinez said recently while sitting with Capitol owner Nate Edgell at the venue. “It seems like every three years, the crew of people move out and then a new crew moves in. I think me being an artist myself, a musician and artist and whatnot, I think artists come here, they do what they can, and then they kind of outgrow and they move past — they’ve gotta go to a city to do it bigger and better and whatnot and make a living off of it. So I see that. That’s really the biggest struggle.”

Martinez, who took over the booking manager position from Kelsey Shanely, is taking the lessons he learned from Madhappy’s closing to help revamp The Capitol’s already busy offerings. Madhappy was known for hosting everything from hip-hop to electronic music to full rock bands, a model The Capitol has followed to some extent in its 2½ years in business (though the electronic and DJ shows have found a niche at the venue).

Since January, the venue has expanded its offerings to include themed events during the weekday “off-nights,” including a Cult Classics Movie Night on the second and fourth Mondays of every month; the Wire & Wood Acoustic showcase for local musicians on the fourth Wednesday of every month; another local music showcase geared toward full bands and sponsored by Recycle Music on the last Tuesday of every month; a hip-hop showcase, Beats & Rhymes, on the first Tuesday of every month; and Beertown Comedy on the third Wednesday of every month. The DJ music still dominates on the weekends, and the schedule continues to regularly feature reggae shows from DJ Colonel’s Simmer Down Sounds and punk nights brought in by Bend PyratePunx.

“Being from a city and living in a city, it was always about the off-nights,” Martinez said. “The off-nights were always the cool nights to go to and get something unique and different, whereas … everyone needs to make their money on the weekends, and it’s more of a bigger pool of people that you’re catering to. So it was really coming in here and (Edgell) being receptive to the ideas, and come to find out, those are a lot of the ideas he’s shared that he was wanting to do, like the Cult Classic Movie Night.”

The revamped entertainment isn’t the only change the venue made this year. Also in January, Edgell took over sole ownership of the venue, which he opened with business partner Sean Day in late 2015. Edgell said it was not a mutual decision. Day said he was blindsided by his dismissal and is “going through attorneys” at this point, but that he wishes The Capitol the best.

Edgell made a few improvements to the concert area of the bar, including moving the stage to the opposite side of the room so that it no longer faces the bar and adding a VIP area where the former stage was located.

“We’re trying to create different atmospheres for the different hours of the day here,” Edgell said. “This place changes from now to the next three-hour bit to the next three-hour bit beyond that. Reggie’s done a great job trying to fill every piece. We’ll do a comedy show and then have a DJ after.”

Plans include adding more interactive events, again focused on the venue’s weekdays. Edgell said he wants to add more daytime events such as Bend Beer Yoga and a craft fair inside the venue. So far, response from regulars and new customers has been mostly positive.

“We can’t please everyone all the time, but we will try our best to please everyone some of the time, as much as we can,” Martinez said. “… It’s like, look: We’re all artists here; we’re all trying to achieve something here. We’ve gotta work together. We can’t just come in here and expect to get something for nothing without putting in our work, blood, sweat and tears.”