Bandstand – November

The Randy Oxford Band

Hello CBA friends,

We are thrilled to once again be nominated for the prestigious Muddy Award in the Category of ‘Regional Act”. We feel a strong connection with our Oregon friends, having performed in the region for over 11 years now. We will be returning in December for a couple of shows in the area at both Duff’s garage and the Birk. We hope to see you all out as we continue to celebrate our new CD….”it feels good”….

Thank you all for your continued support of The Randy Oxford Band….it feels good….

www.therandyoxfordband.com

Norman Sylvester

“Blues Stains, An Evening with The Blues” at Jimmy Mak’s, featuring the forever young Norman Sylvester, and young blues lion Tevis Hodge, Jr. is set for friday night November 7. Blues Stains is a tribute to American blues old and new and it’s contribution to the foundation of music around the world. The Norman Sylvester Band and Tevis Hodge Jr. will be paying their respects to the pioneers of the blues. They will also be playing in loving memory of Janice Scroggins and Linda Hornbuckle. The event will support the Music Education Scholarship in Janice’s name, as Janice spent her career teaching and mentoring many young musicians in Oregon.

Guitarist and singer Tevis has been building an impressive resume in recent years, having performed with Peter Yarrow, Ural Thomas, Baby Gramps, Joe McMurrian and many more. Tevis has represented the CBA in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee, has performed at the Portland Waterfront Blues Festival the last several years, recently opened for Living Color at the Aladdin and can be heard regularly at the Laurelthirst Public House, Muddy Rudder, Slim’s, Mock Crest, the Birk and many other local venues. Born into a music loving family in Virginia, Tevis has explored his African-American musical roots deeply and despite his young age can be considered one of Portland’s foremost blues musicologists, with a large and ever expanding collection of 78 rpm disks. His repertoire contains songs by the likes of Charley Patton and Robert Johnson, and he writes much of his own material in the same idiom. His readings of 100 year old delta tunes are true to the originals without sounding like dusty museum pieces, and his own compositions display a timelessness that assures that they will stay around for generations, too.

Norman Sylvester needs no introduction to Bluesnotes readers. At age 69 his long career as a bluesman is still on the rise. Norman’s work has been recognized as a member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, and as a recipient of the Cascade Blues Association Muddy award for lifetime achievement. Besides his role as an entertainer, for many years Norman has brought blues music into the region’s schools at every level from kindergarden to college, and for the last several years he has been an artist-in-residence at Portland’s Irvington School, where he instructs the students about the musical heritage of the blues. He also leads them into setting their own experiences to music, weaving social studies, English and music together, resulting in a recording of all their songs on a compact disc.

Last year he celebrated the 30th anniversary of his current band at Jimmy Mak’s, and for this November 7th show he will be showcasing more of his originals both old and new, concentrating on the songs which were shaped most by Janice’s input. This will be the deluxe version of the Norman Sylvester Band complete with female vocalists “Sweet Thangz 2014”. Expect a collaboration between Norman and Tevis, too.

Jimmy Mak’s is located at 221 NW 10th Ave. between Davis and Everett. Doors open at 5:00, music begins at 8 p.m, one long show until J.D. turns on the lights and chases us off the stage. Advance tickets are available at www.tickettomato.com for $12 reserved, $10 general admission. Day of the show walk-up general admission $12. Reserved seating tickets provide guaranteed seating, and are available only with dinner reservations.  Dinner reservations can be made by calling Jimmy Mak’s at (503) 295-6542.  www.jimmymak’s.com

www.normansylvester.com

Blind Wolf

Hello CBA Membership! Got a new band to tell you about. Since the disbanding of Boogie Bone last year we have been working on an original record and putting together a live act worthy of your attention (hopefully). Blind Wolf includes: Oregon Music Hall of Fame multi-instrumentalist Steve Snyder, Stevie Dee Williams on guitar, Carl Falls on bass, Randy Herbert on drums and introducing Kit Carlsen as lead vocalist. We lean on many of the elements from our collective past to define sound: multi-genre inspiration, high energy, and large doses of fun.

Well, too much rehearsal and no play makes the wolf a dull boy so: “It’s Time to Play!” We would be honored if you joined our party at The Home of the Blues: Trails End Saloon on November 1st. Come hear music you have not heard before, some new twists on tunes you have, and a few that we never play the same way twice. Dancing attire is recommended.

We promise not to color between the lines…

Cheers!

Blind Wolf

blindwolfband.com

facebook.com/blindwolfpdx

A.C. Porter

SOMETHING NEW for The blusiest day of the week, TUESDAY! Starting in November, I am very pleased to announce: EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT at the BLUE DIAMOND— AC’s Blues Drifters… A rotating cast of great local players, sittin’ in, cuttin’ heads, swapping lies, and laying down the grooves that are begging  to get laid down! 8:30pm to 11:30pm EVERY Tuesday! We start 11/4 with the LIVEWIRES, with Whit Draper, Federico Pol, Johnny Moore, and myself, then 11/11 Stu Kinzel will join me! And on 11/18, my good buddy Robbie Laws will show me a thing or two, and for 11/25, Cool Head Ed Neumann lights up the keys i! We are gonna Mix and Match, folks! No Cover, and this will NOT be an open jam session— but you will get to see a lot of killer local musicians playing together that you rarely, if ever get to see! So add another night of live blues to your weekly dosage! See you at The Blue Diamond.

Greg Johnson, CBA President

Pre-Sales orders are now available for Blues on Beale Street, Memoirs of the International Blues Challenge through the DocumentingBlues.com website. This table-top styled book will feature photos taken by Baton Rouge photographer Jenn Ocken over the past ten plus years at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee. Her images capture the artists on stage and behind the scenes, as well as the fans, volunteers, Blues Foundation staff and all that make up the blues family that is the International Blues Challenge. Collaborating with Greg Johnson of Portland, Oregon, who has written the narrative for this project and compiled the memoirs of more than 80 musicians and individuals, this is not a chronological series of who won each year, but focuses on the life changing moments, the personal memories and stories, emphasizing the emotional aspects, why attendees return every year and the impact the event has on the blues community. If you’ve been to the International Blues Challenge, this book will bring back fond memories. For those who have never been, it just may spark an interest where you too may want to make the trip to Memphis.

Lauren Sheehan

Hi blues fans.

I’ve been playing out to town so much that it’s been a while since I’ve done an acoustic concert with pristine acoustics here in Portland.  I am super excited to have a great concert coming up November  17, in the cool early Monday night series at the Lake Theater and Cafe in Lake Oswego and thought I’d fill you in on what’s been going on with me lately.   My website has a recent news section with details, new video clips, past newsletters and photos, probably more than you want to know—Laurensheehanmusic.com.

The upcoming concert will feature folk blues from my two recent CDs, both of which soared to the tops of the folk charts and one was in the top 10 CDs for 2012, #8 for the year!   (Thanks for all that airplay, dis!)  My last project, The Light Still Burns, was part of a feature story on both npr and BBC, and highlights old country blues, Gibson WWII Banner guitars and the story of the women who made them.  Yes, women kept that factory going during war time and only recently have been recognized for doing so.

I’’ll have several old vintage guitars on stage for the November show,  treating you to the delicious soundscape of these great instruments as they ring out old blues and pre-blues, songs that were being played at the time the instruments were made.

If you have a vintage guitar, especially a Gibson, that you would like me to play, just send me an email and let’s make it work!  Send an email to Lauren@laurensheehanmusic.com.

See you soon,

lauren
Laurensheehanmusic.com