For a while now, my calendar’s had a big red circle around Feb. 13, when The Everybodyfields played at McMenamins Old St. Francis School and Pinback performed at the Domino Room.

The pop-rock of Pinback has long been a favorite of mine, and a few months ago the solemn, small-town twang of The Everybodyfields made me an instant fan. Plus, I was curious about Pinback’s opening act, MC Chris, the nerdcore rapper perhaps best known for his voice work on Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] programming.

What a delicious night of music, I thought earlier in the day.

By midnight, I felt like I’d downed a sandwich made with two gourmet pieces of bread around a slice of rancid baloney. (Not bologna. Baloney.)

Things started off well enough, as The Everybodyfields played a magical set to an attentive, standing-room-only crowd in Father Luke’s Room at McMenamins, with people spilling out into the hallway, too.

The Tennessee-based quartet lurched along at a snail’s pace and, despite persistent guitar troubles (tuning issues, broken string), nailed sad song after sad song after sad song.

Frontman Sam Quinn did a fine job on his old-timey numbers, and Tom Pryor’s plaintive pedal steel played a key role in the set. But it was Quinn’s musical partner (and former romantic partner) Jill Andrews who really shined. She can write a hell of a song, and her voice is gorgeous. All night, she and Quinn traded vocals and knowing glances that said as much as their lovelorn lyrics.

From there, it was down the street to the Domino Room for MC Chris and Pinback.

It was chilly in the venue as MC Chris took the stage, both in temperature and audience response. There was no applause, and this apparently annoyed him, as he started dropping self-deprecating comments: “Don’t worry, Pinback will be out soon. It’s almost over.”

He clearly believed this was a case where a headliner’s crowd didn’t “get” the opener. I don’t think that was the problem.

I get the schtick: He’s white. He’s short. He has a squeaky voice and raps about “Star Wars” and Robitussin. He writes clever rhymes and he seems like he can be a funny guy.

But this performance was dreadfully boring.

And then things went from bad to ugly, and fast.

Mid-song, Chris stopped his music, berated two guys in the front row for overzealous dancing and told them to stop. Then he called them names.

I thought it was a joke. It wasn’t.

After the next song, he again lambasted these two for clapping out of time with the song and called for a bouncer.

“Security!” Chris yelled, looking offstage.

No one moved. I’m guessing the bouncers, like me, thought he could not possibly be serious.

But he was. He stopped the show until a security guard waded through the crowd and tossed the rogue hand-clapper out of the venue.

Two people out of hundreds were up front and dancing and clapping along to this guy’s music, and he threw one of ‘em out.

(One positive note: The show’s promoter, Bret Grier of Random Presents, said he let the guy back in after just a few minutes.)

So let’s get this straight: You’re MC Chris, and you agree to tour with Pinback as an opener, and then complain when people aren’t hyped for your set. (Note: That’s the life of an opener. If you don’t like it, don’t open.)

You get distracted halfway through a performance by a couple guys dancing and clapping along to your songs, so you insult them. (Note: When you play live music for people, they might dance and clap. It’s best if you don’t let such outlandish behavior throw you for a loop.)

Then, even though it’s obvious that these two guys are fans, you force security to remove one of them from the club. (Note: When you have two fans in a room of several hundred people who are either bored or ignoring you, you might consider allowing the fans to stick around.)

Unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it.

Want to hear the MC Chris side of the story? You can. He blogged about it at www.myspace.com/mcchris; click on “View All Blog Entries” and look for the post about the “terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.”

I read it, and now I think he’s not only egotistical and unprofessional, but also incredibly needy. And below the post are 225 supportive comments from fans, giving MC Chris all the attention he craves.

His legion of fans may not be willing to call him on his bad behavior in Bend, but I will: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a worse performance than this one.

Fortunately, the night wasn’t over, and in contrast to MC Chris, Pinback principal Rob Crow was a trooper, soldiering through a nasty cold to put on an hour-long set of the band’s trademark complicated pop-rock. It was nice to see an artist giving his all for his fans rather than giving them the heave-ho.

He had a cup of tea, a shot of whiskey and a package of meds lined up on his keyboard, and he used them all to hit the high notes in songs like “Penelope” and “Fortress.”

What stood out to me, though, is the importance of Zach Smith’s bass lines to this band. The guy has a distinctive playing style — sometimes strumming like a guitar, sometimes slapping — but I really think that if Crow’s vocals are the chrome on Pinback’s bumper, Smith’s bass parts are the engine that drives everything.

And together, they helped all of us put MC Chris in the rearview mirror.