The Birk Welcomes The Pete Anderson Band

Pete Anderson

Long considered one of the world’s best-of-the-best Tele-twangers, musical pioneer Pete Anderson has never been satisfied with Pete Andersonmaintaining the status quo. The last 10 years has found Anderson focusing on his solo career, perfecting his craft, honing his musical vision, and fusing together blues and country to forge a style all his own. Well known as a pioneer in the roots-rock genre, he was an early champion of the Americana movement, where he had a hand in introducing the world to artists such as Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, Michelle Shocked and Rosie Flores. He is also a renowned band-leader who has appeared on “Saturday Night Live”, “David Letterman” , and “The Tonight Show,” was the musical partner of Dwight Yoakum and has played over 3,000 live shows in upwards of 15 countries around the world. Yet his focus as a solo artist has always been aimed at his first musical love, the blues.

Pete Anderson will be showcasing his guitar prowess for a performance at The Birk on Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 pm. The Birk is located at 11139 Hwy 202 in Birkenfeld. Tickets are $10.00 advance at Tickettomato.com or $15.00 day of show at the door.

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What’s on Tap for April’s General Membership Meeting…

What’s on Tap for General Membership Meeting

Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder Str., Portland
Wednesday, April 5 – 7:00 pm
Members always Free – Non-members $5.00
Opening Set – Louis Creed & One Geezer
Second Set – Cary Fly Band

For our April General Membership Meeting, the Cascade Blues Association is proud to present once again two acts coming from out of town to perform for us. They will include a familiar face, a long-time act who has not played for us for many years, and a fresh new young artist to keep an eye on.

Opening the night will be Louis Creed & One Geezer. Usually working as a full-sized band, the outfit has been trimmed down to a duo to play the meeting’s first set. Louis Creed just turned 21, but has been proving his skills up and down the Willamette River with a number of big time gigs that partner William “Froggy” Hyland deemed as an extensive hot dog and pizza tour.

“Louis Creed is the future of the blues,” cites grizzled IBC veteran and multi-instrumentalist Froggy. “He was about ten years old and listening to Black Sabbath when I started the legendary Calapooia Blues Jam and his mom put him on the sign-up sheet. His name finally came up last year and we started to have us some big fun.”

Creed will be driving up to “The Big City” with Froggy providing some “adult supervision” for a not very acoustic set like you’ve never heard before. Time for some new blood and some old blues. Check them out!

Spokane-based The Cary Fly Band last played for the Cascade Blues Association about 11 years ago and a lot has changed during those years. Working hard with an almost completely different song list, the Cary Fly Band is not always considered “just a blues band,” and are capable of playing just about any genre of music.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Cary Fly is the undisputed leader of the band. He commands the stage at every moment of the performance. Playing since the mid-1950s, he has played with the likes of Roy Clark, Buck Owens, and Waylong Jennings, been a member of well-known bands like Journey, Sugarloaf, Anaconda, and others, and has written more than 5,000 songs in his career. He has been a staple on the Northwest scene for more than forty years.

The band for the meeting will also include (former CBA Board Member) Jerry Fiddler, on Mandolin and vocals, who has been involved with music for almost 60 years. Drummer Michael Hays, who has previously worked with the Sammy Eubanks Band and The Fat Tones.  drums, adds a very nice touch/sound to the band.

Don’t miss out on the Cary Fly Band. This is a very energetic band that will have you dancing from the beginning.

We still have no word from The Melody Ballroom on our future status in the room. So as the manager has told us to do, we will keep on looking forward to meeting at this location until notified otherwise. Remember, to pick up your free drawing ticket as you enter at the door and we’ll also have the winner-take all multi-CD drawing for a $1.00 per chance ticket. This night is looking to be an exciting time, so make a point of joining us and all of your blues loving friends for the meeting. See you there!

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Here’s Your Last Chance To Enter The 2017 Journey To Memphis Competition

Journey To Memphis

The Journey To Memphis is the Cascade Blues Association’s regional competition to select the acts that will represent our organization and region in next year’s International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, TN, held in early 2018. This year saw more than 260 acts converge on Beale Street to represent blues societies from around the world in band, solo/duo and youth showcase categories. And the Cascade Blues Association was represented extremely well as our band entry Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers came out in third place overall. A great achievement to say the least. The music industry is in full force during the IBC, searching for new talent and offering opportunities to win recognition and prizes that include major festival performances and more. But the only way an act may participate is to win a regional competition held by one of The Blues Foundation’s affiliated societies like the Cascade Blues Association.

The Journey To Memphis competition consists of two rounds. The opening round will be held on Friday, June 2 and Saturday, June 3 at The Vinyl Tap, 2099 SE Oak Grove Blvd. Acts will be selected by random drawing to fill the time slots during the event. Entries should keep both dates open until they know when they have been drawn for.  Acts are scored by a trio of judges selected for their backgrounds and knowledge of the blues. The highest scoring acts from each night of competition (up to four acts) will advance to the finals held at the Waterfront Blues Festival on July 4th.

Applications to participate in the competition will be accepted up until Wednesday, April 5 at the Cascade Blues Association membership meeting. No late applications will be accepted. All eligible acts that meet our criteria as described below will be able to compete. The performance schedule for the competition is drawn at random.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

  • Entry fee is $25.00
  • Each act must have at least one person in the band who is a member of the Cascade Blues Association.
  • Only acts located within the region of Oregon, Washington or Idaho are allowed to enter the Journey To Memphis.
  • Any act that has been nominated for or received a Blues Music Awards from The Blues Foundation are ineligible to compete.
  • Any act that has competed in the International Blues Challenge two consecutive years, regardless whether with the same society or as a solo/duo or band act, must sit out a year before being allowed to compete again.
  • Along with your $25.00 application fee, send an up-to-date band bio including names of all members, a 300 dpi photo of the band, full song samples of the band’s music (this may be used on a radio broadcast to promote the event), and we need to be made aware of any band member who may be under 21 years of age at the time of the competition so the venue is aware ahead of time for Oregon or Washington Liquor Commission laws.
  • We require that any act that moves forward in the competition must use the same band members that they won the rounds with. In other words, if you won with a certain bass player or drummer at the Waterfront Blues Festival, that bassist and drummer must be in your band to compete in Memphis. Exceptions will made in rare circumstances when not under control of the act, such as health issues.
  • We do not prevent acts competing with the Cascade Blues Association from doing so with other societies. All that we ask is that if you win another group’s competition before ours is held, or if you win ours before theirs, please remove yourself from further competitions to allow other acts the chance to win the right to go to Memphis.
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Band Stand – April 2017

Lloyd “Have Mercy” Jones

Winter is OVER. Everything is new again!

Before I get started though, I must continue to think good thoughts and send all our love to Curtis Salgado! After all he has given us, we gladly cheer him on to a quick and strong recovery on his triple bypass surgery. With all those new belts & hoses, he’ll be good for another 300,000 miles easy!

Returning from a fantastic (and productive) trip to Nashville, I’m excited and honored to be a guest at Cal Scott’s “Songwriters Showcase” Monday, April 3, at O’Connor’s in Multnomah Village, 7pm.

These are truly creative and inspiring events that are not to be missed. Bringing some new notes for this one. Great shows this month: April 15, at Hwy 99 in Seattle with LaRhonda Steele; and a wonderful fundraiser here in Portland on April 22 that Norman Sylvester does every year at the NoPo Eagles. Gotta love the “Boogie Cat”!

Saving the best for last… on Saturday April 29…I’ve got three reasons for ya’ll to come out to “Catfish Lou’s”!

1) Catfish Lou’s is a fantastic new club here in Portland that you should see (2460 NW 24th Ave. PDX)
2) It’s a “Birthday Party”
3) Lots of special guests and crazy fun!

Happy Spring,
Lloyd “Have Mercy” Jones

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Norman Sylvester Band

Besides our nightclub performances, Norman would like Portland’s blues lovers to know about two upcoming bigger shows. The Inner City Blues Festival was a popular, annual event sponsored by the Portland Rainbow Coalition that began with the “Jam for Jesse” Jackson presidential campaign in 1988, in the old Royal Esquire Club on NE Alberta Street. The Rainbow Coalition continued the festival series through 2003. True to the spirit of the Rainbow Coalition, in 2012 Health Care For All Oregon revived the Inner City Blues Festival with the goal of making known HCAO’s mission to vote-in a universal, affordable, single-payer healthcare system for all Oregonians, and ultimately, all Americans.

This year’s Inner City Blues Festival, the 6th Annual Healing the Healthcare Blues, will return to the North Portland Eagles Lodge April 22, 6:00 pm till 12:00 am, doors open 5:30. The 2017 lineup features two stages of entertainment with the Lloyd “Have Mercy” Jones Band, Steve Cheseborough, Mary Flower, Tevis Hodge Jr., the Strange Tones with the Volcano Vixens, Bloco Alegria, Obo Addy Legacy Drummers, Shoehorn the tap-dancing sax player, the Doo Doo Funk All Stars, rapper Mic Crenshaw, the Mad as Hell Doctors and the Norman Sylvester Band with Lenanne Sylvester Miller, and the Boogie Cat Horns, Peter Moss and Shoehorn Conley. The festival will be simulcast live on KBOO radio, on the airwaves at 90.7fm, and streaming worldwide at www.kboo.fm.

The address of the North Portland Eagles Lodge is 7611 N. Exeter, one block west of Portsmouth on Lombard Street, Portland OR 97203. Cost of admission is $20 in advance, or $25 at the door. All proceeds go to support Health Care For All Oregon. Food and drinks including adult beverages are available, must be 21. Advance ticket sales at Music Millennium, Musician’s Union Local 99, Geneva’s Shear Perfection, Peninsula Station, Cascade Blues Association meetings, or online at www.tickettomato.com/calendar?search=inner+city&city=all. This show has always sold out, plan accordingly.

Friday June 2, Boogie Cat Productions presents the Phenomenal Concert at the Alberta Rose. This unique night of music traces the journey of American music from Africa to the Mississippi Delta and beyond. The art forms of blues and gospel music have been used for communication and inspiration since the days of slavery. Performances by Portland artists will illustrate music from the cradle of birth in Africa, the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, and our urban cities. Join us for this healing music celebration.

PROGRAM

  • The blues history journey
  • Chata Addy “African drumming and dance”
  • Norman Sylvester, LaRhonda Steele and Lenanne Sylvester “Down home gospel”
  • Tevis Hodge Jr. “Back porch delta blues and ragtime”
  • Norman Sylvester quartet with Bill Rhoades “Chicago blues”
  • Video  A sneak preview of Jeff Dodge Visual Service’s project “Tales from Old Portland”
  • Rhythm and blues, funk and soul concert
  • The Norman Sylvester Revue featuring LaRhonda Steele, Lenanne Sylvester Miller, and the Boogie Cat horns, Renato Caranto & Peter Moss.
  • Finale Chata Addy, Tevis Hodge Jr. & Bill Rhoades jam with the big band

The address of the Alberta Rose Theater is 3000 NE Alberta Street, Portland OR 97211. Showtime is 8:00 pm till 11:00, doors open at 7:00. Food and drinks including adult beverages are available, minors must be accompanied by a parent. Admission price is $20. Advance tickets recommended, online at www.albertarosetheatre.com/tickets.html, by phone (503) 764-4131 or at the box office. Box office is open one hour before any Alberta Rose show.

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Steve Cheseborough

All right! There is finally going to be a grave marker for the great Bo Carter, one of the best guitarists and lyricists in blues history — make that in American music history of any genre.

Carter was one of the stars of the 1930s blues scene, selling records like crazy and recording hit after hit during the depths of the Great Depression, and doing it without moving out of his home in rural Mississippi. He also managed, and often played with, the Mississippi Sheiks, featuring his brother Lonnie Chatmon on violin.

I became enthralled with Mr. Carter’s music many years ago, after picking up a Yazoo collection of his just because I liked the look of his National guitar on the cover photo. Little did I know I would get to play that guitar someday, as I worked on my master’s thesis on Carter and his music as a Southern Studies student at the University of Mississippi in the late 1990s.

And soon I’ll get to talk, sing and play at the dedication of a marker on Bo Carter’s grave, sometime this summer. The Mount Zion Foundation, which has cleaned up many abandoned rural graveyards and placed many stones, has raised the funds to do that for Bo Carter’s grave in Nitta Yuma, Mississippi. (I know there are many worthy charities vying for your donation budget, but if you want to chip in to help with this and other blues-headstone projects, look up the Mount Zion Foundation and send them a few bucks.) And they have invited me to be part of the ceremony, to my honor and delight.

Come hear me at any of my Portland appearances and I’ll be happy to play you a Bo Carter tune or three or four, anytime! And if you want to learn how to play his beautiful music yourself, ask about my Blues & Beer Class!

Steve Cheseborough
www.stevecheseborough.com

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Guitarist Doyle Bramhall II To Visit Mission Theater

Doyle Bramhall II

Doyle Bramhall IIDoyle Bramhall II is one of the most distinctive vocalists, guitarists, composers, and producers in contemporary music. Indeed, none other than Eric Clapton, with whom Bramhall has worked with for more than a decade, lauds him as one of the most gifted guitarists he has ever encountered. As the son of the late Texas music legend Doyle Bramhall, he was raised in a home filled with the blues and rock ‘n’ roll styles indigenous to Texas.  The younger Bramhall – a rare and distinctive guitarist who plays left-handed, but with his instrument strung for a right-hander and flipped backwards – was befriended and supported early in his career by Stevie Ray Vaughan, recruited by Jimmie Vaughan to play in The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and formed The Arc Angels with Charlie Sexton, Chris Layton, and Tommy Shannon. His guitar mastery even led to his being showcased on a few tours with both Eric Clapton and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters.

His latest released, Rich Man, finds Bramhall exploring an intensive spiritual and musical journey that includes instrumentation he discovered through trips to Northern Africa and India. Rich Man is a watershed achievement for Bramhall, both in terms of the many music styles in the tracks-which begin and end with his fundamental American blues influences and in between follow his global music explorations and arrangements-and the inner examinations resulting in the spiritual growth expressed in the lyrics.

“I read a quote from Charles Mingus,” Bramhall explained upon the completion of Rich Man. “He felt like he was not playing his music as much as creating the sound of his life and experiences through the medium of his music. I looked at his life and related to that, and tried to capture the same thing on the album.”

Doyle Bramhall II will be returning to Portland for a performance on Sunday, April 9 at The Mission Theater, 1624 NW Glisan Street. Tickets for this 8:00 pm, 21 and over show can be purchased through Cascadetickets.com for $20.00 in advance or $22.00 day of show at the door.

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Registration Open For 2017 Blues In The Gorge Acoustic Blues Guitar Camp

2017 Blues in the Gorge

2017 Blues in the GorgeThis coming September, the fourth annual Blues In The Gorge acoustic blues guitar camp will return to the Menucha Retreat & Conference Center. Presented by Menucha and co-sponsored by the Cascade Blues Association, this year’s instructors will feature world-renowned artists Guy Davis, Mary Flower, Orville Johnson, and Valerie Turner. Guests will immerse themselves in music, enjoying up to four workshops each day, with instructor concerts and jams each night.

It’s not too early to register as participants are limited to only 46 to ensure plenty of instructor attention for all. Happening September 30 through October 4, Menucha Retreat & Conference Center is located in Corbett, Oregon in the beautiful Columbia River Gorge, about 30 minutes from Portland. Registration is open at menucha.org/programs/blues.

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Cascade Blues Association Schedules Extravaganza For Its 30th Anniversary Celebration

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Cascade Blues Association 30th Anniversary Celebration

Cascade Blues Association 30th Anniversary CelebrationIn December 1986, a small group of Portland area blues fans decided to form a society to help support, promote, and preserve the blues and related music. It was named the Cascade Blues Association as it was the only blues society in the Northwest at the time as the former Oregon Blues Society in Eugene had folded. Thirty years later the Cascade Blues Association is still alive. And to celebrate, it’s throwing a party with the aid of many of the local performers who have been stalwarts in our music community throughout our tenure.

The party will take place on Sunday, May 21 at 4:00 pm, at McMenamin’s Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W Burnside Street in downtown Portland, and will feature sets from the following:

  • BILL RHOADES & THE PARTY KINGS AND QUEENS
  • DUFFY BISHOP BAND
  • KINZEL & HYDE
  • LLOYD JONES STRUGGLE
  • MARY FLOWER
  • NORMAN SYLVESTER BAND
  • RAE GORDON & THE BACKSEAT DRIVERS
  • TERRY ROBB
  • TOO LOOSE CAJUN/ZYDECO BAND
  • THE STRANGE TONES with THE VOLCANO VIXENS
  • TY CURTIS BAND

Additional artists will be making special appearances throughout the night including:

BOBBY TORRES / ROBBIE LAWS /DAVE MATHIS / MIKE MOOTHART and more TBA!

Tickets for the CBA’s 30th Anniversary Celebration are available at CascadeTickets.com for $15.00.

A ton of thanks go out to Joey Scruggs who has been piecing this event together for us and to Terry Currier for securing the Crystal Ballroom. Both of these gentlemen have been involved with the Cascade Blues Association since the beginning and continue to show their love for the organization.

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Duff’s Garage Last Hurrah

Duff’s Garage

Duff’s GarageWith a great deal of sadness we witness the loss of one of Portland’s iconic blues venues as Duff’s Garage closes its doors in April. During the last fifteen years, Portland’s music community have seen much growth in the number of its musicians, it benefit showcases, and touring artists. And now they will all find it a bit tougher to locate a room to play in the city.

So although it is bittersweet, Jon and Jennifer Wallace will be closing Duff’s with one final celebration of their fifteen year history, going out in style with a night of jumping blues featuring a doubleheader with the Ben Rice Band and The Jumptown Aces on Saturday, April 1.

Multiple Muddy Award winner and St Blues Best Guitar winner at the 2015 International Blues Challenge Ben Rice has had pretty much the length of his career coincide with Duff’s Garage, playing there on many occasions. One of the area’s most popular bands, they are a perfect way to headline this final night.

As also are The Jumptown Aces. Duff’s has always maintained a venue open for bands that offer swing music and The Aces are a natural fit for that. The essence of the band is hard hitting swinging rhythms, honkin’ sax parts, fast walking bass lines, greasy guitar riffs and blues shouting vocals that just makes your body want to move.

Duff’s Garage is located at 2530 NE 82nd Avenue. Show time is 9:00 pm.

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Paris Slim Tours Oregon In April

Paris Slim

Paris SlimFormer Portland resident and Delta Groove recording artist, Franck Goldwasser, aka Paris Slim, will be heading back to Oregon for a spring tour that will be making stops at numerous venues and will also feature special guests along the way. Without doubt, Paris Slim is one of the finest and most creative international guitarists. He has a handful of critically-acclaimed solo recording and a WC Handy Award (Blues Music Award) nomination for his disc Blues For Esther. Since moving to the United States from France in the 1980s, Paris Slim has been a mainstay of the West Coast blues scene working with artists such as Jimmy McCracklin, Troyce Key, Curtis Salgado, Alastair Greene, and The Mannish Boys.

Bassist John Mazzocco and drummer Brian Foxworth will join Paris Slim during his current Oregon tour on Saturday, April 1 in Hood River for a show presented by Squrl at The Pines Tasting Room, 202 Cascade Avenue. Admission for this 7:00 pm performance is $20.00 and may be purchased in advance at the venue.

On Monday, April 3, Paris Slim will be holding the court at The Muddy Rudder filling in for Lloyd Jones’ regular acoustic showcase. This is a solo appearance, but Slim says that he’d love to have some friends drop by to join him. Located at 8105 SE 7th in the Sellwood neighborhood, this is a free event, beginning at 8:00 pm.

On Tuesday, April 4, AC Porter & The Live Wires featuring Jim Wallace will welcome Paris Slim to the Blue Diamond, 2016 NE Sandy Blvd, for a special free evening in tribute of blues legend Muddy Waters, at 8:00 pm.

Then, on Saturday, April 8, Paris Slim will be appearing in Eugene alongside Henry Cooper at Mac’s At The Vet’s Club, 1626 Willamette Street. Show time is 8:00 pm, contact the venue for admission information at 541-344-8600.

 

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Ramblings On My Mind – April 2017

Ramblings On My Mind

Ramblings On My MindGreg Johnson / CBA President

Things have gotten a little harsh as of late. First, Portland’s premier blues icon Curtis Salgado suffered a mild heart attack while on tour on the East Coast. Mild? Is there really anything mild about a heart attack? When hospitalized it was discovered that he had major blockage in his arteries and underwent multi-bypass surgery. All went well we’ve been told, but we still send out our heartfelt best wishes for his recovery. Shows through May had to be canceled, so it also causes loss of income for the band as well. Curtis is planning on being at the Blues Music Awards to sing, but this is only a ten-minute performance so hoping that it will work out for him. And we hope to see him back onstage in full strength soon.

We got word mid-March about Duff’s Garage being sold and changing hands at the first of April. It doesn’t sound like it will continue to be a music venue, which in itself is another sad loss. But we’ve heard people remark that the venue was closing because it wasn’t making enough to keep it going. Jon & Jennifer Wallace have said that is not the case. Jon has come to the decision that he’d like to retire and Jennifer is looking at a different direction in her career. But mostly, the couple want to share more time with their son. When you’re working full time each night, it doesn’t give you much family time so we need to appreciate their choice.

Duff’s Garage has meant a lot to our blues community over its fifteen year history. We witnessed a lot of history go down in both venues. So many shows come to mind from that tenure: Hillstomp making one of their very first public performances, Tuesdays with Dover Weinberg’s Quartet and Wednesday night jams with Suburban Slim, CBA events including IBC fundraisers and Brandon Santini’s debut performance with his then band Delta Highway. Images of Rick Welter will always come to mind along with the first appearances in Portland from touring acts like Gina Sicilia, Samuel James, and Nikki Hill. Regular national acts stopping in like The 44s, Candye Kane, Nick Moss, John Nemeth. Tom Royer’s fundraiser. Fiona Boyes made it a second home when living and visiting Portland. Just too many good times to list them all, so thank you Jon & Jennifer for making a welcome location for the blues in Portland.

But it does lead to a very important question. With the loss of Duff’s Garage and Jimmy Mak’s a couple months before, where will the touring musicians now find a spot to play in Portland? The Lake Theater has offered a location on Monday nights, and venues like The Alberta Rose Theatre, Aladdin, Revolution Hall, Roseland and Crystal Ballroom are fine for larger spaces and can accommodate the well-known artists. But it is those smaller acts trying to break-out who will find it harder to find dates in town. And we all lose if someplace cannot fill the need.

It also hurts local musicians with the loss of established venues. Recent openings of places like Vinyl Tap and Catfish Lou’s will help. I had the opportunity to visit both lately and they were packed on both visits. Please support these venues and others throughout the city/region. Without our support they cannot survive and the loss of any music venue in this town is one too many.

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