Next week’s Myke Bogan and Machine Head shows are part of a surge in activity at Bend’s Domino Room that is giving life to the Greenwood Avenue concert-venue complex that houses the space.

The Domino Room, which can hold about 300 people, is one of three venues at 51 NW Greenwood Ave., just west of the Bend Parkway. The building was a creamery in the early 20th century, a disco in the 1970s and a roller-skating rink until the early 2000s, when owners Duane McCabe, Lise Hoffman-McCabe and Creig and Rhoda Jones converted it into its present state. The other two spaces are the Midtown Ballroom, with a capacity of around 1,000, and The Annex, an upstairs bar that holds around 150 people.

For many years, longtime local promoter Random Presents booked most of the concerts in the Midtown and Domino, and the building sat quiet otherwise, except for the occasional independently booked show. Late last year, however, Random owner Bret Grier announced a new plan to move many of his mid-sized rock shows to the Tower Theatre, while continuing to book hip-hop in the Domino Room and bigger concerts in the Midtown.

At the same time, Jim Dickey, longtime manager of the Midtown/Domino complex, felt he was nearing a place where he could begin booking events himself. For years, Dickey has been working on upgrading the spaces, most notably the Domino Room. When he talked to The Bulletin, he was in the process of moving in booths rescued from the recently closed Old Mill Brew Werks “to try to turn (the Domino) into not a cave,” he said.

“Up till now I’ve just tried to get the place aesthetically pleasing enough that people even want to be in the venue, and I’m slowly getting to where I don’t have to do so much remodel,” Dickey said. “So I am trying to book my own stuff. Stuff that doesn’t necessarily pencil out for Bret.

“It may not pencil out for me either,” he said with a laugh, “but the last couple years were rather slow, and obviously a place this big needs as much going on as it can.”

Besides bringing in the new booths, Dickey has upgraded the Domino’s historically horrifying bathrooms, installed a permanent sound system and purchased real glasses to replace the plastic cups he believes were keeping people from arriving early for shows. He is also working on establishing www.midtownbend.com to ease communication for bands who want to book a show in Bend.

And recently, Dickey and his wife, Jennifer, signed a lease on the three venues and applied for a liquor license. The complex has always sold only beer and wine; the Dickeys hope to add to that selection in the next few months.

Meanwhile, the venues’ non-Random calendar is more crowded than ever before. Besides Machine Head on Tuesday, Dickey has booked country singer James Otto on March 13, rapper Warren G on March 14 and experimental rocker That 1 Guy on March 16.

Local promoters are filling the space, too. Former Madhappy Lounge owner Reggie Martinez recently hosted shows by rappers Cage and Sage Francis in the Domino Room, 4 Peaks Presents will host the Jeff Austin Band on April 30 and Red Light Productions’ John Davis, who recently began booking shows at The Astro Lounge, will begin doing the same at The Annex later this month, beginning with pop-rock band The Soft White Sixties on March 27.

Dickey hopes to eventually have something happening in one of the three venues every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night, supplementing ticketed concerts with local DJs.

“The town’s growing enough that it’s going to get more feasible to have more events here,” he said.

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