What's cooler than being cool?, • Hip-hop acts The Coup, Busdriver and Buck 65 ...

To paraphrase that great, graceful star of stage and screen known as Meat Loaf, I would do anything for a quality hip-hop show in Bend ... even that.

And by “that” I mean “traipse around Bend’s west side on a bone-chilling February night to see three interesting and imaginative rappers perform in a town that has experienced a dearth of good hip-hop in recent months.”

Even that, I would do.

Let’s get this out of the way: Saturday night was cold. So, so cold. Cold enough that my brilliant plan to park at the Century Center, walk a mile or so to Bend WinterFest to see Oakland-based funk-hop group The Coup on an outdoor stage in the Old Mill District, and then walk back to the Century Center for an indoor afterparty show by oddball rappers Busdriver and Buck 65 didn’t seem so brilliant at about 9:45 p.m., as I trudged along Simpson Avenue, teeth chattering.

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