CBA Holiday Party Dec. 11th!

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CBA Holiday PartyThe annual CBA Holiday Party is set for Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Moose Lodge, 16411 NE Halsey, Portland, and it is open to everyone, so bring your family and friends and have some fun. The lodge members are really excited to share their place with us and are preparing a great menu for us to enjoy. Their more than reasonable prices for food and drinks may be your first holiday gift. For faster service, the best way to pay is always cash, but the lodge will accept credit cards. We will again set up a table for you to bring desert goodies to share. Another table will display silent auction items for you to bid on, and a CD raffle will be held after each band, so bring your Christmas shopping list. The Moose Lodge is a very family friendly space: pool and shuffleboard are free and you can play darts for a reasonable charge. CBA Members are free and all others pay only a $5.00 donation to attend this event

It’s the holidays, so please think of those less fortunate than you. Bring cans of food for the Oregon Food Bank as the lodge has barrels set up for us. The lodge also sponsors the Boys & Girls Club. It will have barrels to collect dog and cat food for the Troutdale Humane Society, so bring pet food!

We have great music planned for you: 12:00 – 1:00   Harvey Brindell & the Tablerockers; 1:15 – 2:15 Bottleneck Blues Band; 2:30 – 3:30 Suburban Slim Band; 3:45 – 4:45 Franco Paletta & the Stingers; 5:00 – 6:00 Karen Lovely & Ben Rice

2016 Muddy Awards — A Night To Remember

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The Cascade Blues Association’s 28th Annual Muddy Awards was held on Wednesday, November 2 at The Melody Ballroom to once again another full house of fans and musicians. Honoring those acts, performers, venues, events, recordings and performances who helped raise the bar on the Northwest’s blues scene over the past year in twenty-two categories.

Dave Kahl - "Paul deLay" Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dave Kahl – “Paul deLay” Lifetime Achievement Award.

Three artists were big winners taking home two awards each: Andy Stokes for the “Curtis Salgado” Male Vocalist and the “Lloyd Jones” R&B Act; the Ben Rice Band taking both the Contemporary and Traditional Blues Act awards; and Dave Kahl for the Bass award and the biggest honor of the night, the “Paul deLay” Lifetime Achievement.

Dave Kahl’s award noted not only his career as a bass player with a multitude of acts including the Paul deLay Band, Fiona Boyes & The Fortune Tellers, and the Ty Curtis Band, but also due to his tireless work to bring together the music community, seeking recognition from the City and means to make finding and connecting outlets for musicians through such efforts as MyGigNet.com.

The Back What You Believe In Award was presented to CBA Vice President Wendy Schumer. This award notes those in a non-musician role that has made an impact. Wendy’s tireless efforts with the BluesNotes, various CBA events such as the Muddy Awards, a monthly blues emailing and daily posting of events in our area are just a few of the things that she has made her mark with.

The top CDs of the year were awarded to Lisa Mann for the Northwest Album of the Year with Hard Times, Bad Decisions and the National Recording of the Year also stayed at home with Curtis Salgado taking the prize for The Beautiful Lowdown.

Mitch Kashmar was also recognized for the Harmonica Award for the third consecutive year, placing him into the Muddy Awards Hall of Fame.

The Muddy Awards always has terrific music on hand and as tradition goes, we present sets from our Journey To Memphis winners. Band winners Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers opened the night and solo/duo winner David Pinsky played a mid-awards set bringing surprise guest Ben Rice for a dual acoustic guitar performance.

Every year the night closes with a Muddy All Star Band made up of past and present Muddy Award nominees and recipients. This year’s band leader was Ken DeRouchie who was handed the reigns to put together a group for the night, and he came through big time. The All Stars included Arietta Ward, Ben Turner, Brian Harris, Chris Lay, Dave Fleschner, David Chachere, Doug Rowell, Edwin Coleman III, Jeff Knudson, Jimi Bott, Lisa Mann, Noah Bell, Pat McDougall, Pete Petersen, Peter Dammann, Peter Moss, Rae Gordon, Rob Busey, and Timmer Blakely.

A big thanks goes out to The Melody Ballroom, Affordable Trophies, JBL Sound, Big Screen Productions, Cedar House Media, Photographer Tony Kutter, the CBA Board of Directors and all the volunteers who helped make this event happen, and to our membership, without whom none of this could occur.

Please note that we are aware that there were problems with the online balloting that we began this year. It is a first effort and we knew that there would be glitches. Thanks to CBA webmaster Buko and Wendy Schumer for assisting those who needed an extra hand getting their votes entered. We will make improvements next year on the process. But when it was all said and done, we actually received more returns for the final ballot than we have averaged over the past five years.

2016 Cascade Blues Association Muddy Award Recipients

Contemporary Blues Act: Ben Rice Band

Traditional Blues Act: Ben Rice Band

“Lloyd Jones” R&B Act: Andy Stokes

New Act: Thunder Brothers

Regional Blues Act: Hank Shreve Band

“Curtis Salgado” Male Vocalist: Andy Stokes

“Duffy Bishop” Female Vocalist: LaRhonda Steele

Electric Guitar: Alan Hager

“Terry Robb” Acoustic Guitar: Mary Flower

Bass: Dave Kahl

Harmonica: Mitch Kashmar

Keyboards: Steve Kerin

“Jimi Bott” Drums: Brian Foxworth

Horns: Peter Moss

Venue: The Lake Theater & Café

“The Hurley Award”: Barry McKinley

NW Event of the Year: United By Music North America at The Hotel Rose

NW Recording: Lisa Mann – Hard Times, Bad Decisions

National Recording: Curtis Salgado – The Beautiful Lowdown

Performance of the Year: (Tie) Kevin Selfe Buy My Soul Back CD Release Party at The Bossanova Ballroom / Karen Lovely at the Waterfront Blues Festival

Back What You Believe In Award: Wendy Schumer

Lifetime Achievement: Dave Kahl

New Muddy Hall of Fame inductee: Mitch Kashmar

Third Annual Ken DeRouchie Band Food Drive

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Ken DeRouchie Band

Ken DeRouchie BandPlease join the Ken DeRouchie Band as they seek to help feed the hungry in our region during the holiday season. For the third year collection barrels have been set up throughout the Portland metro area and they’ll be accepting your food donations through December 10.

Last year there were 1822 pounds of food collected and another $325.00 in fund donations. That was almost double the amount collected the first year. This year they’re aggressively seeking to collect 5000 pounds! Let’s make it happen!

Food collection barrels are located at:

KINK FM 101.9
Alpha Broadcasting
PacWest Center
1211 SW 5th Ave
Portland, OR 97204

Banner Bank (Tualatin Branch)
7675 SW Nyberg St,
Tualatin, OR 97062

Banner Bank (Lake Oswego Branch)
412 A Ave., Ste. 100
Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034

Rogue Distillery and Public House
1339 NW Flanders
Portland, OR 97209

Rogue Hall
1717 Southwest Park Ave.
Portland, OR 97201

The Green Dragon
928 SE 9th Ave
Portland, OR

Portland Music Co
531 SE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,
Portland, OR 97214

Portland Music Company
2502 NE Broadway St,
Portland, OR 97232

Portland Music Company
10075 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy,
Beaverton, OR 97005

Portland Music Company
12334 SE Division St.
Portland, OR

Trails End Saloon
1320 Main St
Oregon City, OR 97045

The Blue Diamond
2016 NE Sandy Blvd,
Portland, OR 97232

Five Star Guitars
2303 NW 185th Ave,
Hillsboro, OR 97124

Silkin Management Group
6655 SW Hampton St.
Suite 120
Tigard, OR 97224

Tiny’s Coffee Northeast
2031 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd,
Portland, OR 97212

Tiny’s Coffee  Southeast
1412 SE 12th Ave,
Portland, OR 97214

Guitar Center
1147 N Hayden Meadows Dr
Portland, OR 97217

Guitar Center
9575 SW Cascade Ave
Beaverton, OR 97008

Guitar Center
13029 SE 84th Ave
Clackamas, OR 97015

Laurel’s Wine Shop
263 N Hemlock
Cannon Beach, OR

If you can’t make it to one of these locations and would still like to help by providing a cash donation, go to the Ken DeRouchie Band’s website and click on the link to the Oregon Food Bank for the food drive’s location on their site.

CBA Rummage Sale Rescheduled to October 15th

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Who would have thought it? The entire week prior to the date for this year’s Cascade Blues Association’s annual Rummage Sale the weather had been sunny and comfortably warm, but on the Saturday morning of our rummage sale, the rains came — big time. Our trusty Rummage Sale leaders Cherie Robbins and Rae Gordon, Board Members Greg Johnson, Wendy Schumer, Fred & Joann Morgan, and a handful of volunteers like Deidre DeMier & Al Hooten, Jimmy Wong & his family, and Gary Jaskowiak (on Friday for truck loading), were on hand to set up the sale, pop-up tents and tables were put up and a truck full of donated items were at The Bomber parking lot, but we were not able to set everything up before it was determined that it just wasn’t going to happen that day. Attempts to relocate to an indoor site were futile.

Thanks to Jimmy Wong for volunteering his barn in Mulino to store all of the items to save the CBA from the expense of continuing the U-Haul truck and finding a storage unit. Better yet, he has volunteered his barn to hold the rescheduled Rummage Sale indoors, plus he has an outdoor covered stage for performances (if the weather is good, inside the barn if not).

So . . .the Rummage Sale has been rescheduled for Saturday, October 15, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The location is 26412 S Highway 213 in Mulino, Oregon, directly behind the Mill Barn Espresso drive through stand. There will be music and plans are looking to hold another side event at the same time, so keep up to date by checking the CBA website and Facebook page.

A special thanks go out to all the musicians who were originally scheduled to perform at the Rummage Sale in September: Timothy James, Justus Reece, Kathryn Grimm, and Ben Rice, we will try to see if you’re now available for October. Thanks to Robin Gibson for bringing his PA system for set-up, plus all of his work with the moving of the sale items to Mulino. We will still need volunteers for the new date, so if you’re available to help, contact Rummage Sale chair-person Cherie Robbins at cherieerobbins@gmail.com.

The Annual Muddy Awards set for Wednesday, November 2

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Muddy Award

muddy_awardMark your calendars for Wednesday, November 2 as the Cascade Blues Association’s annual Muddy Awards celebration will return with a fun-filled night of excitement, recognition, and amazing music. It will take place at The Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder Street, upstairs in the main ballroom, beginning at 6:30 pm. Various music celebrities and CBA board members will present awards, as selected by our members, in a number of categories honoring the musical achievement from the past year.

Of course, the Muddy Awards would not be complete without musical entertainment. This year’s event will follow tradition set a few years back with an opening set from this year’s Journey To Memphis winning band Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers. Midway through the awards, we will have a short intermission set for the solo/duo Journey To Memphis winning act David Pinsky. And to top the night off in grand fashion, an All Star Set featuring many of past and current Muddy Award winners and nominees, put together and led by the soulful vocals and steamy guitar of Ken DeRouchie. Ken already has commitments from some of the best musicians in the region, so expect another over the top night with the All Stars.

The Muddy Awards is an all ages event and is free for CBA members with their current membership cards. Non-members are just $5.00 for one of the most anticipated nights of the year in Portland’s blues community.

Last Chance To Submit Entries For The Best Self-Produced CD Competition

best-cdIf you’re planning to offer your self-produced CD to the Cascade Blues Association for consideration as its entry in The Blues Foundation’s competition, then time is running short — all entries must be received no later than the October 5 General Membership Meeting at The Melody Ballroom. This is to ensure that we have plenty of time to have a committee together to listen and score the entries properly before they’re due in Memphis by the end of the month.

Since 2005, The Blues Foundation has held an annual competition to recognize excellence in independent blues recordings. The Best Self-Produced CD competition allows affiliated blues societies from around the world to submit one entry each, preferably selected by a regional competition. The Cascade Blues Association has taken part in this event since its inception, including having the overall winner chosen in 2011 — Joe McMurrian’s Get Inside This House.

All are welcome to enter with the exception of artists who have been nominated for or received a Blues Music Award or recordings that are released on labels that have been nominated or received a Blues Music Award. No compilation discs are accepted. The CBA will accept for consideration only discs from artists in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho.

The listening committee will judge the entries using the same criteria that The Blues Foundation will later use in its own evaluation. These are: Blues Content (is this a blues recording?), Musical Performance (musicianship), Audio Quality (production values, levels), Cover Art & design (professional packaging — is this recoding ready for the rack at your favorite music outlet?), and Credits & Liner Information (informative, professional).

After submissions from each affiliated blues society have been received, The Blues Foundation will conduct judging in three stages, with the first two rounds being conducted by a select group of radio/print media people. The finalists will be announced a week prior to the 33rd annual International Blues Challenge and the winning recording will be named at the IBC finals in Memphis on February 4, 2017.

Entries may be mailed to: BSPCD c/o Cascade Blues Association, PO Box 6566, Portland, Oregon 97228, but they must be received by October 5.

CBA Picnic 2016 THANK YOU

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by Wendy Schumer

The 2016 picnic was a huge success! Even the folks at Columbia Crossing said it was the best picnic ever in their history. And of course we could not have done it without the help of many great volunteers and the CBA board. Thank you to board members Wendy Schumer, Merry Larsen, Brenda Docken, Fred Morgan and JoAnn Morgan—all of whom worked tirelessly to prepare, set up, work and then tear down at this year’s picnic. Thanks to Jody Gunn for signing up volunteers.

As you can imagine, this takes a lot of work and time so this year’s picnic would be great for our members. In addition to the board members, we need to thank all of the volunteers who helped to make this possible. Without these volunteers I don’t know what we would have done. So let me list the names of those who I want to thank and apologize to anyone I may have overlooked:

  • First of all, Jon Pierce, Rich- ard LaChapelle and Ed Seifert. Thanks to Everyone Who Made the 2016 CBA Picnic a Huge Success These three worked tirelessly to pick up and load the truck. They had to get tables and ice, then unload the truck.
  • Dan from Dano’s Dogs for cooking and providing all the hotdogs, hamburgers and buns. We love you Dan!
  • Bryan Olson, Al Raines, Holly Thomas, Pat Rolsing, Vince Rolsing, and Matt Northy for setup.
  • Ron Beed, Barbara Sandoval, Robert Jones, and Mark Rankin for cooking under the hot, hot sun!
  • Lucia Michaud for being the master of the food table—cutting, prepping and cleaning! Judith Ellis for helping her.
  • Bonita Davis, Carol Hamley, Beverly Jones, Don Geren, and Michelle Bean for the hectic oversight of checking members into the area and signing up new members.
  • Imperial Bottleshop for providing the beer.
  • Carl Lehman, Danny Knoll, Mark Von Pressentin, Mary Maxson, Darren Maxson, Rick Ivey, Kim Wrabel, Will Crowe, Mary Cummings, and Priscilla (don’t know her last name) for overseeing pouring the beer and wine.
  • George Stevenson, Kathy Rankin, and Mark Rankin for tear down.
  • Gary Jazkoviak and Jim & Nancy also helped.

I know there were a lot more people who helped us load the truck and bring everything back to the office—I apologize if I didn’t get everybody’s names. But I want to thank you as well!

OK, now for the music. What a stellar line-up: starting off with Beacon Street Titans, followed by Gabe Cox, then Bolt Upright and concluding with The Thunder Brothers! What a day?! A warm thank you to all the musicians who graciously donated their time to help us put on this event. I just hope everyone had a great time and I would encourage the membership to think about volunteering to help us next year!

Blues & Bargains – The Sixth Annual CBA Rummage Sale Returns To The Bomber! Sept. 17th

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Imagine making a big difference to your blues association while cleaning your closet of your unneeded items — now imagine having fun while making that difference! The annual rummage sale is coming up fast, and you can donate your good used items and turn it into cash for the CBA, offer just a little bit of your time helping to run the sale, and introduce new people to the CBA . The CBA is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization and your donation is tax deductible!

LIVE BLUES: Terry Robb, Timothy James, Justus Reece, and Kathryn Grimm!
BARGAINS: Furniture, tools, kids items, household, collectibles, antiques, musical instruments and more!
WHEN: September 17, 2016, 9am – 3pm
WHERE: The Bomber Restaurant, 13515 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Portland, Oregon 97222
WHY: To help fund programs of the Cascade Blues Association and offer live blues music and bargains while educating the public on all that the CBA does and grow membership and awareness of the organization.

VOLUNTEERS & STUFF NEEDED!

To make this year’s rummage sale a success, we need you and your stuff! You need to clean your house, garage, and tool shed anyway, now is the perfect time to do it, don’t wait until Spring!

DONATIONS NEEDED: Furniture (dressers, shelves, small desks, coffee tables, etc. SORRY NO couches, but futons are ok), tools, kids items, pet supplies, collectibles, and musical instruments highly desired (no full size pianos, but consoles welcome).

DONATION DROP OFFS: Please bring your good used items to The Bomber Restaurant parking lot before 9am on September 17, before sale. If you will not be in town that weekend, but feel you have items that would sell well, please contact Cherie Robbins. If in boxes, consider bringing to CBA September meeting where a van will be made available to load items (no furniture at that time).

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: More hands make for quick work, but more bodies make for more fun! To volunteer, please contact sale chair Cherie Robbins at cherieerobbins@gmail.com.

Volunteers are needed all day, but here are the most important times:

6:30AM – Oregon City Storage Location – load moving truck

8AM – The Bomber Restaurant Parking Lot, lots of help needed to unload truck as quickly as possible and place on tables.

9AM-3PM – Helpers needed to work with customers, help load customer vehicles and make thing like pretty!

3PM – Loading truck to donate to charity Thrift Store & clean up restaurant parking lot. The more help for this makes it easier at the end.

There are often more people wanting to donate items, but cannot drop off themselves the day of the sale. If you can donate a couple hours to pick up some great items that will help make a big difference for the sale. Please let Cherie know.

Entries For The Best Self-Produced CD Competition Now Being Accepted

Since 2005, The Blues Foundation has held an annual competition to recognize excellence in independent blues recordings. The Best Self-Produced CD competition allows affiliated blues societies from around the world to submit one entry each, preferably selected by a regional competition. The Cascade Blues Association has taken part in this event since its inception, including having the overall winner chosen in 2011 — Joe McMurrian’s Get Inside This House.

The CBA is now accepting submissions for this year’s Best Self-Produced CD competition. All are welcome to enter with the exception of artists who have been nominated for or received a Blues Music Award; or recordings that are released on labels that have been nominated or received a Blues Music Award. No compilation discs are accepted. The CBA will accept for consideration only discs from artists in Oregon, Washington, or Idaho.

A committee will judge the entries using the same criteria that The Blues Foundation will later use in its own evaluation. These are: Blues Content (This is a blues recording), Musical Performance (musicianship), Audio Quality (production values, levels), Cover Art & design (professional packaging — is this recoding ready for the rack at your favorite music outlet?), and Credits & Liner Information (informative, professional).

After submissions from each affiliated blues society have been received, The Blues Foundation will conduct judging in three stages, with the first two rounds being conducted by a select group of radio/print media people. The finalists will be announced a week prior to the 33rd annual International Blues Challenge and the winning recording will be named at the IBC finals in Memphis on February 4, 2017.

All entries for the CBA must be received no later than the October 5 membership meeting at The Melody Ballroom.

CBA Member Picnic – August 7th

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cba-picnicIt’s time for one of the most anticipated events of the year — the annual Cascade Blues Association members picnic. Taking place on Sunday, August 7th, it is open to CBA members and their families only, and is one of the best perks of belonging to the CBA.  What does that mean? Who can come? FAMILY= 2 adults and up to 3 children under 18 living at the same address.  Additional “family” will be subject to a $5.00 entry fee.

Not a member or your membership has expired? Not to worry. You can join or renew at the picnic.

The picnic will return again to Tomahawk Moorage at Columbia Crossings on Hayden Island, 515 NE Tomahawk Island Drive, Portland, and will run from noon until 6:00 pm.

The Cascade Blues Association will be providing hamburgers, hot dogs, and beverages. The rest is a pot luck. We’re asking members to bring an item to share, so using the first letter of your last name, we are asking you to bring:

A – C: Hot Dishes

D – H:Salads

I – M: Goodies/Desserts

N – Z: Chips, Dips & Veggies

We are also in need of volunteers to help make this year’s picnic a success.  If you can spare a few hours of time for set-up, tear down, check in, raffle sales, or other help please let us know! Send us a message on Facebook or contact us via email at cascadebluescalendar@gmail.com

The CBA is an organization devoted to our love for blues music, so you know we are going to have an all-star line-up highlighting the afternoon. Four great regional bands will be on hand. Here are short bios of each and a tentative schedule:

12:30 – 1:30: Beacon Street Titans Daryl Boggs – Guitars Bill McNamera – Drums Howard McClung – Vocals, Harp, Sax Steve Malski – Bass Tom Ladouceur – Sax John Swecker – Trumpet – we are in for a dancing treat! BST made it to the finals of the CBA Journey to Memphis 2 years running now so they are perfectly suited to kick off the CBA picnic with their lively foot tapping music. Tasty jump blues and swing with just a touch of honey.

1:45-2:45: Gabe Cox, Gabriel Cox is a true songwriter at heart. This multi-talented artist is creating his own fresh, innovative, and quality sound that you will love. His music blends elements of blues, rock, pop, funk, and soul, which comes straight from the heart of the great northwest. He is dedicated to his fans, and always reaches for that one person out there that needs to be inspired. He made headlines with his first album in early 2014, and now he just released his 2nd groundbreaking album June 2016 that is already gaining national attention. Backed by a powerhouse band of all-star musicians, he has a fun, energetic, and truly unique show lined up that you simply can’t miss! He has performed all over the west coast including the Waterfront Blues Festival. His music has been featured on commercial radio, he’s had the privilege to work with many national touring acts, and he was nominated for several prestigious awards from the Cascade Blues Association.

3:00-4:00: Billy D & The Hoodoos is an award winning local blues band. Billy D’s life experience has given him the strength to write his brand of “Bluzy Rock” with a passion that only comes from living it. Heavily influenced by Chicago blues, Rock & Roll, and “Backbeat Roots” music of all types, his songs reflect the tough lessons of his past and show his love for Mother Blues and her first-born, Rock & Roll. Blues influenced roots music with a sexy backbeat!

4:15-5:15: The Thunder Brothers : Michael Quinby-Vox and Guitar Doug Rowell-Vox and Guitar Edwin Coleman III-Drums Timmer Blakely-Vox and Bass – WOW – now that’s a combination perfectly suited to the grand finale of this year’s picnic. The Thunder Brothers have rumbled into the Portland blues scene and are taking it by storm. They were also a finalist this year in the CBA Journey to Memphis completion.  This is a group that has played with others locally and in other configurations, but joined together to compete this year. We are sure to have a blast enjoying their upbeat energy and talent.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all there!