Intent to Run – Vice President

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It’s time for the 2015 CBA Board Officer elections. I am hoping to continue serving as the Vice President of this great organization.  As many of you know, this is a role I have held for 3 years and have worked hard during that time to promote blues activity in the Portland area, as well as beyond.  Wherever I go I talk about our CBA activities and I promote our amazing blues community, venues and artists.  Being your Vice President has been hard work but also very rewarding and I hope I have lived up to the membership expectations.  I continue to do the CBA Calendar monthly and solicit input monthly from talent so that our calendar can have the most up to date content, I proofread all the articles that go into the Blues Notes,  and I also post “what’s happening” on our Facebook page regularly. I try to attend as many live shows as I can. My travels bring me to a variety of festivals around the country, as well as sailing on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise – and I always make sure to promote CBA while I am attending these events.

Please consider me for the position of Vice President for the 2015 calendar year.

Wendy Schumer

 

2014 Cascade Blues Association Muddy Awards Recipients

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  •  Contemporary Blues Act – Lisa Mann & Her Really Good Band
  • R&B Act – Curtis Salgado
  • Traditional Blues Act – Kevin Selfe & The Tornadoes
  • Regional Blues Act – Hank Shreve Band
  • New Blues Act – Tracey Fordice & The 8 Balls
  • “Duffy Bishop” Female Vocalist – Rae Gordon
  • “Curtis Salgado” Male Vocalist – Ben Rice
  • Electric Guitar – Kevin Selfe
  • “Terry Robb” Acoustic Guitar – Mary Flower
  • Bass – Lisa Mann
  • Drums – Jimi Bott
  • Harmonica – Mitch Kashmar
  • Keyboards – Steve Kerin
  • Horns – Peter Moss
  • “The Hurley” Award – Randy Schleining
  • Venue – The Lehrer
  • Northwest Recording – Lisa Mann “Move On”
  • National Recording – Tommy Castro “The Devil You Know”
  • Northwest Event – For The Love of Janice: A Celebration of Life for Janice Scroggins
  • Performance of the Year – Curtis Salgado at the Waterfront Blues Festival
  • Back What You Believe In – Soul Sisters Productions
  • Lifetime Achievement – Janice Scroggins

Intent to Run – Treasurer

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I would like to run for the position of Treasurer for 2015.  I believe strongly in the CBA and definitely feel I should work with my body, hands and mind in the same level as I do my mouth.  Being a treasurer requires maintaining a conscious ethical role, as this is the watchdog of the organizations funds.  I am very open to help and assistance from any of our members to both tune up and maintain an open and efficient system.  Our organization transpires a lot of business as we seem to be leaning toward expanding our role in the community.  Together, we can achieve more than one person can do on their own.

Merry Larsen

 

 

Bring In The New Year With Hot Tuna

Now here is a great way to celebrate the coming of the New Year. Hot Tuna are legends amongst the rock, blues and roots scene for a good reason, as guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Casady have been thrilling audiences for more than 50 years. As members of the Jefferson Airplane they set the sound of the San Francisco 1960s music scene and formed Hot Tuna wanting to explore more towards their original base with their love for the blues in the early 1970s. A string of successful albums and Grammy Awards followed.

Hot Tuna has long had a large following of fans in the Portland area, selling out shows consistently year after year. They will be playing New Year’s Eve night at The Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie Ave, Wednesday, December 31st. Showtime is 9:30 pm and this event is open to minors when accompanied by a parent or guardian. Tickets can be purchased at the Aladdin Theater box office or through Ticketfly.com for $75.00 advance or $80.00 day of show. Doors open at 8:00 pm.

Cascade Blues Association Holiday Party, December 7th At The Spare Room

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This year the Cascade Blues Association HOLIDAY PARTY, on SUNDAY, DEC 7, is OPEN TO EVERYONE, so bring your friends & family & enjoy the fun.  It will be held at The SPARE ROOM, 4830 NE 42nd Ave in Portland.  Many of you have been there before, but if this is your first time, enjoy purchasing the very reasonably priced food & drinks.  To start the Holiday Season, you are welcome to BRING SWEET TREATS & DESSERTS for all to share.  We will have both a SILENT AUCTION and RAFFLE, so begin your Christmas shopping here.  MEMBERS ARE FREE and ALL OTHERS PAY only $5.00.  A steal for six hours of music.

Please think of those less fortunate during the holidays and bring a couple cans of food for the Oregon Food Bank to the Holiday Party. The Tualatin Gleaners will be on hand to accept these donations. Nobody should go hungry during the holidays or any other time of the year.

This year’s Holiday Party Line-up includes:

12:00-1:00  BRIDGE CITY BLUES BAND.  They have a reputation of playing a high energy mix of blues standards, both classic and new, that keeps toes tapping and feet dancing.  This band of experienced musicians, all with different musical backgrounds, has a real heart and soul for the blues.  After 6 years together, something unique still happens every time they hit the stage.  Bring your dancing shoes!

1:15-2:15  GABRIEL COX BAND.  Gabriel Cox is a true songwriter at heart, blending elements of blues, rock, pop, funk and soul. He just released his debut album, which you can buy that night at the CBA merchandise table.  His performance at the Waterfront Blues Festival this year was rewarded with the nomination for CBA best “New Act”, and best “NW Recording” of 2014.  Expect great things from this rising talent, you’re gonna love him!

2:30-3:30  KEVIN SELFE & THE TORNADOES.  Kevin Selfe has been electrifying audiences nationwide as he effortlessly combines the guitar traditions of both legends and modern masters into his own unique approach.  Signing with Delta Groove, “Long Walk Home” peaked at # 15 on the Billboard Blues Chart, # 6 on Living Blues Radio Chart, and #2 on SiriusXM Radio Bluesville “Pick to Click” list.  Kevin’s songwriting skills won Muddys for both NW Recording of the Year and National Recording of the Year in 2013.  That same year, Kevin was nominated for a Blues Blast Award.  In all, the band has collectively 18 Muddy Awards.  Take him home with you and put him at the bottom of your sock.

3:45-4:45  THE KEN DeROUCHIE BAND.  This Soul/R&B/Funk/Blues band is composed of top players who bring a crisp horn section, tight rhythm section, & amazing 5-part vocal harmonies.  The original music, written by Ken DeRouchie, has The Oregonian calling them “one of the best live bands in the NW”.  They deserved this year’s Muddy nomination of Best R&B Act.   By this September, their 4th CD, “Muse” has been played on radio stations in 17 different countries.  Come buy at least 1 CD and wrap it up for yourself.  Now that’s true re-gifting!

5:00-6:00  ELLEN WHYTE & ALBERT REDA.  Ellen is known for her astonishing vocals, moving gracefully from blues to jazz to funk to ballads.  No wonder she has won numerous awards, including consideration for 2 Grammy Award nominations, in 1999 & recently 2009 for “Four Way Stop”.  Albert Reda has received 11 Muddy awards & is now in the CBA Hall of Fame for Bass Player.  But he can also mesmerize you while playing guitar or piano.  But a pair of hearts, one from each.

Ellen is developing ”Second Season Concerts”, starting Feb, 2015 at The Alberta Rose Theater.  We can all support this, both by donating funds to get this production off the ground, and coming to hear 3 bands perform on the second Sunday of each month.  How special when artists, who have paid their dues, want to share what they have learned with new fans.  I’m a fan, how about you?

Intent To Run For President

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Intent To Run For President

What can I say. I have been honored to serve as your Cascade Blues Association President for 13 years, 17 years on the Board of Directors. With your blessing, I would like to ask to return for a 14th year as your President.

Over the years I have been involved with just about every event that the Cascade Blues Association has presented at one time or another, but my main focus personally has been toward the Blues Notes,  Journey To Memphis and the Muddy Awards. I believe in delegating to other Board Members responsibilities of handling events to allow them to grow. I know if I had not been given this opportunity from those leading the CBA before me I could not do a number of the roles I take on now.

My participation in the blues community also extends beyond the CBA. For the past three years I have been the talent organizer for the Blues4MS concerts, volunteering for The Blues Foundation helping them run stages at both the International Blues Challenge and the Blues Music Awards, hosting benefit shows when asked, and somewhere in there over the past couple years I have found the time in writing the narrative for a book being released in January documenting the International Blues Challenge featuring photography from my friend from Baton Rouge.

But the main drive for me still remains with our local musicians, helping them gain greater recognition that will hopefully take them beyond the Northwest. And I still hold the ethic that all musicians are treated equally and fairly. Everybody is offered the same access to promote themselves through the CBA as long as they’re blues or roots related music.

Thank you for the years you’ve allowed me to serve you. But there is still a lot yet to do. I’m asking for your permission to continue on that path.

Thank you for your consideration,

Greg Johnson

J.P. Soars

JP Soars CD coverFull Moon Night In Memphis

Soars High Productions

From the first time I saw JP Soars perform on stage at the International Blues Challenge, I knew I was witnessing a truly proficient guitar master. There definitely was something to be said about his winning the Albert King most promising guitarist award at that event, the man can seemingly play any style of guitar and handle them all exceptionally well. That surely comes across on his latest recording, Full Moon Night In Memphis, as he tackles a variety of instruments including electric, acoustic, Dobro, lap steel, cigar box and he even plays bass on one number. An artist who worked in both metal and Gypsy jazz before taking on the blues, he has the feel for anything he sets his mind on and all are completely amazing and satisfying.

Full Moon Night In Memphis is JP Soars third solo outing and he is also a member of the highly successful Southern Hospitality with Damon Fowler and Victor Wainwright. He has a voice that is quite distinctive and just as gritty as Howlin’ Wolf’s. His songwriting skills make him the full package with his knack for catchy, clever numbers that can take on sounds derived from old time blues, Texas shuffles, West Coast swing, New Orleans jazz, Latin and even country. And he covers them all on this disc.

So with so many flavors delivered, where do you start to describe this album. Take your pick. You cannot lose with any of them.

The title track brings back that night at IBC. Soars stood outside the stage door at The Orpheum Theater and looking at the full moon in the sky knew that this night was something special. And he was right as he sings about how it changed his life and things would never be the same again, in a good way. He rips the two strings on his cigar box on this song to their highest potential while Brandon Santini guests blowing some sizzling harmonica. Soars brings that cigar box for another fine outing on the tune “Way Back Home.”

There is a touch of T-Bone Walker on two pieces, obviously on the cover of the master’s “Mean Old World,” though Soars really slows things down here making it one of the most haunting takes ever heard of the number. His original “Makes No Sense” also brings the T-Bone feel with a smooth pace as he informs his baby that it makes no sense for her to try to change his ways as he is already set and happy with his life the way it is.

There is a little Texas styled guitar on “Savin’ All My Lovin,” West Coast swing on “Missin’ Your Kissin’” with Terry Hanck blowing mean saxophone, “Back To Broke” has a funky Memphis taste, and he even plays a little country number with Teresa James on back-up vocals and Santini again on harp on “The Road Has Got Me Down.” Soars shows that he has not lost his potential for rockin’ blues as pounds out a chunky rhythm on “Somethin’ Ain’t Right,” and tells us all he’s tired of spinning his wheels and being held back, going out of his mind on “Thorn In My Side” that starts out slow before really taking off with sharp, biting guitar. Horn players Scott Ankrom and Chaim Rubinov really take key focus on the fun rereading of the old time classic “Reefer Man” and the early New Orleans jazz styled “Viper” where Soars showcases his knack for Latin and Gypsy jazz, which also comes across beautifully on “Lil’ Mamacita.”

Soars can excel on all variations of guitar and he brings a wide variety on Full Moon Night In Memphis. There are so many roads taken on this disc and all of them come across skillfully and are attention grabbing. There’s never a dull moment when Soars is at the helm. Full Moon Night In Memphis is proof of that.

Total Time: 56:27

Full Moon Night In Memphis / Back To Broke / Makes No Sense / Somethin’ Ain’t Right / Mean Old World / Savin’ All My Lovin’ / Reefer Man / Way Back Home / The Back Room / Thorn In My Side / Viper / The Road Has Got Me Down / Lil’ Mamacita / Missin’ Your Kissin’

Rambling On My Mind- Nov 2014

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ramblings201306BNGreg Johnson / CBA President

The Portland music community has seen its overabundance of losses this past year when it comes to iconic musicians in the city. In the past eleven months we witnessed the untimely deaths of Jim Miller and Janice Scroggins, both completely unexpected. Mel Solomon left us in late June after a long time run against diabetes. But personally, it was the loss of Linda Hornbuckle this last month that really struck home. Even though we all knew that she was battling a no-win situation with kidney cancer, I could never imagine Portland not having her with us.

When I began working in the music industry back in the early 80s for the national distributor Lieberman Enterprises, new recordings were flying through our doors every week that found its way onto the players in the building. We would often head out in the evening to catch performances in the thriving local clubs downtown. Several bands from the area were gaining national attention, such as Nu Shooz, Quarterflash and the Dan Reed Network. Linda and her strong soulful voice played a part with each of those acts as they played around the country. But it was the soul band Body and Soul that really captured Linda in this time period. We knew without a doubt at that time that their featured vocalist Linda Hornbuckle was indeed Soul Sister #1 in a city filled with terrific musicians. If you wanted to get out and dance or just to hear some of those great Motown and soul hits, there was no better band to be found.

A few years later, blues legend Paul deLay began a hiatus from performing courtesy of the Federal Prison system, leaving his band without their vocal leader. Many acts’ members may have moved on in different directions at that time under this type of circumstances, but the band recruited Linda to become their focal point and it was a winning formula. She won her first of three Muddy Awards for best Female Vocalist in 1992 (the others coming in 1994 and 2004)and the band released a superb album titled Soul Diva Meets The Blues Monsters under their new name Linda Hornbuckle & The No DeLay Band. Already a star in the soul and R&B community in town, this collaboration firmly set her footprint in the blues scene as one of its best. And I can remember how proud I was to see her included in an article in Living Blues magazine naming her one of the Top 40 Under 40 in the world of the blues.

Sadly, If there is any one part of Linda’s career that I felt was missing, it was the fact that she was highly under-recorded. Aside from the No DeLay album, she only released two others under her own name, 2001’s Clearly and 2009’s Sista, the latter a beautiful meshing of her voice with the piano of her close and long-time friend Janice Scroggins.

Linda Hornbuckle became a regularly featured performer at many festivals and events over the years. She was featured annually with The Trail Band’s Christmas shows at The Aladdin Theater. She was routinely scheduled to sing the National Anthem every 4th of July at the Waterfront Blues Festival, an event that saw her perform in many of that festival’s best known showcases such as the tributes to Paul deLay and Ray Charles. Yet, it was always her annual “Old Time Gospel Hour” that proved to be the most emotionally moving. Not a big surprise as Linda Hornbuckle was born singing the music of church from a young age in her father Bishop Howard Hornbuckle’s congregation at Portland’s Grace and Truth Pentacostal Church. It obviously was this early training that helped develop her strong and heartfelt voice.

In 2010, she was given the highest honor for a musician in the State of Oregon as she was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. A place she so rightfully deserved.

Diagnosed with cancer in 2012, performances would continue over the next two years, though sometimes those scheduled appearances were missed due to her painful condition. And she continued to book gigs at Jimmy Mak’s and the Doug Fir Lounge for her gospel shows. I spoke with Linda’s husband Mark Young not too long ago one night at Jimmy Mak’s asking how she was feeling. I felt bad as it had been too long since I had made my way to one of her shows and I promised that I would do so as soon as I could. I never got the opportunity and it crushes me for not making it more of a priority. But again, it is the perception I falsely led myself to believe that I could not imagine Linda not being around. The last two times I saw her perform was at Janice Scroggins’ Celebration of Life and the Old Time Gospel Hour at the Waterfront Blues Festival. How I wish there was more. I hear her now in my mind, singing “Natural Woman,” “Georgia” with The Ray Charles Tribute Band, and mostly “Amazing Grace,” nobody could do that hymn like her.

Not having Linda Hornbuckle amongst us is going to take a long time to comprehend. For so many years she has always been there giving her heart and soul to her music. Thank you Linda for all the wonderful memories you gave to us and which will forever be held within our hearts. You certainly made my life better with your songs.

 

Tribute To Chuck Berry To Be Held At Duff’s Garage- Nov. 28th

Imagine a musical world without the songs of Chuck Berry. This is the music that inspired many a musician and helped shape the world of rock & roll. And did you know he started out as a blues player from St. Louis and recorded on the foremost blues label of its day, Chess Records. What followed was an impressive string of hits that have become the sing-along favorites of a whole generation, from “Johnny B. Goode,” to “Roll Over Beethoven,” to “Rock & Roll Music,” to “Maybelline,” to “Sweet Little Sixteen,” these are only a handful of the classic songs he created. Chuck Berry is still with us at 88 years old and though his songs are immortal, he himself has slid into somewhat obscurity. A group of local musicians feel that isn’t right, so they have decided to throw a Tribute Show in his honor.

On Friday, November 28th, at Duff’s Garage, 2530 NE 82nd, plan on joining Big Monti Amundson, Vyasa Dodson, Jon Koonce, Rich Layton and Texas rockabilly artist Elvis Cantu, with Jon Wallace as host, as they celebrate the music of Chuck Berry. Showtime is  9:00 pm. Admission is $10.00. This is a CBA co-sponsored event, so show your membership card at the door for a $1.00 discount. This is not a night where you have “No Particular Place To Go,” you’re going to want to be at Duff’s for a “Reelin’ & Rockin’” good time.

British Re-Invasion Tribute To Rock, The Star Theater- Nov. 8th

1907431_852784404741259_5464650878221053829_n[1]Everybody knows that blues rock world was put on its ear with the Invasion of British guitar greats that helped reintroduce American blues music to a wider audience. Three of the most renowned players were of course Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. A trio of Portland’s best stringers have collaborated for a brilliant tribute show honoring these musicians for a concert they’ve named the British Re-Invasion. Cascade Blues Association Muddy Hall of Famer Robbie Laws will be taking on the music of Eric Clapton, Steve Adams known for his work with many nationally recognized progressive rock and new wave bands will handle the Jimmy Page selections, and former Michael Jackson guitarist will be displaying her skills with Jeff Beck’s music, an artist she performed with for three years. Backing the trio of guitar masters will be Federico Pol on bass, Merrill Hale on drums and Kevin Burkhart on keys. Joining the show will also be vocalists Rich Ray and Geoff Metts.

The British Re-Invasion will be held at The Star Theater, 13 NW 6th Ave., on Saturday, November 8th, starting at 9:00 pm. Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased in advance at www.startheaterportland.com.