But first, let’s get something straight.

The name of the band, Bonde do Role, is not pronounced /bond do roll/. In the great and not-celebrated-enough-language of Portuguese it sounds like /bahnjee doo ho-lay/. A bonde in Portuguese is a bus or streetcar, and role, is well, simply put a party. And if this bus-cum-mobile-celebration-factory stops in your town, you should see it.

Image: Domino Records

Seriously, when I saw them at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill I had the most enjoyable time writhing around, waving my arms and jumping up and down to their oft-commented raunchy lyrics.

I had my doubts, though, that the legacy left by Marina Rabitska would hold up to my expectations. In fact, even though I am a huge fan of this band, my expectations were pretty low. It’s no secret in several of her interviews that Rabitska complained of just being plain burnt out, and who knows what nutrient-deprived state she was in by the time she finally called it quits. And no wonder. This band is aural junk food and it can’t be easy to maintain that sugar-sex high night after night. Either founding members Pedro D’eyrot and Rodrigo Gorky made an unconsciously genius decision to deliberately fill Marina’s gap with two women (adorable Ana Bernadino and the Scarlett Johannesque Laura Taylor), or this move was a calculated and well thought out strategy to balance the band both gender and number wise.

It’s clear to me from the clip below, however, even with the Marina going in and out of focus like a hipster apparition, that she really made the band what it was.

Still, the show at Local 506  was as close to the quintessential final scene of a John Hughes movie as you could get. You know, when the unexpected house party that the quietly hip kid from school hosts when his parents are out of town and (miraculously) creates that one night everyone gets along and doesn’t care how silly, sexy or stupid they are? (In fact silliness is encouraged at BDR shows, as is evidenced by the fans that randomly jumped on stage at the show I attended.)

The truth is though that most people either love BDR, or really find them annoyingly tacky like my Brazilian friend, Alex. But if you love this band you owe it to yourself to see them. I couldn’t stop dancing for, like, two days after the show. In fact I am still humming the songs in my head.

And as far as buses go, I don’t think it’s a mistake that the multi-seater in the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test bore the colors of the Brazilian flag: yellow and green. That was a party bus, too.

Video: You Tube