Franco Paletta and The Stingers will be having a release party for their latest album, I Like It Just Like That, on Friday, May 10th, at the Muddy Award winning Trail’s End Saloon, 1320 Main Street in Oregon City. You will have a chance to hear some of the fantastic music they took with them to compete at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis and to be able to take it home with you, too. There will be a raffle for prizes and CDs and the venue will have specials on selected food and drinks. Plus, you have a chance to be a part of the live video the band will be recording that night.
The cover for admission to this incredible night is only $8.00. But wait, if you are a current CBA member just show your membership card at the door for a $1.00 discount as this is a CBA co-sponsored event. Showtime is 9:00 pm. As Franco and the band say, “Catch a Blues Buzz.” Coming out to celebrate their new disc at The Trails End is the perfect way to do so!
Take one red-hot horn section – we’re talkin’ alto, tenor, baritone saxes and trombone – down and dirty. Add liberal amounts of barrelhouse boogie-woogie piano and stinging Fender guitar. Pour over a funky and swinging rhythm section that Blues Review magazine called “the best in the business”, and top it all off with a crazy and charismatic front man, Eddie Scheer, with one of the biggest blues voices around. Season with a few years on the road tearing up juke joints, festivals and concert halls across the U.S. and Canada and on both sides of the Atlantic. Sound tasty? It’s a recipe for music and mayhem, for intensity and irreverence; it’s The Love Dogs.
Blues and roots fans know that the soundtrack to early rock’ n’ roll ran on three-minute instrumentals with sax in the lead, and was directly related to 1950s and 1960s New Orleans R&B hits, along with that deep-fried wildness that came from Memphis. With this history lesson, old school rock ‘n’ soul saxophonist and singer Terry Hanck makes perfect sense. Clearly, Hanck has worshipped at the right Southern altars–those of such iconic R&B brothers as Fats Domino, Ray Charles, B. B. King, Lee Allen and King Curtis. “I write songs that you think you’ve heard for years,” says the South Florida-based Hanck, who’s got suave movie-star looks and a good time presence that immutably anchors the old-style R&B he adores.
The New Iberians, one of Portland’s premier zydeco-blues bands are going to hold a fais do do at The LaurelThirst Public House in celebration of their latest CD release, Pingaddamidy! Join them Friday May 17th. You’re always guaranteed a good time when it comes to The New Iberians, who just dare you to try to sit still while they play their infectious dance tunes flavored with the hot sauce of Louisiana-based themes and rhythms. Led by the sensational trio of Evan Shlaes on accordion/vocals, Claes Almroth on harmonica and Paul Bassette on rubboard, they present a authentic sound that proves that you do not need to travel to Louisiana to hear some of the best renditions of this genre when you’ve got a band like The New Iberians right here in the Northwest. Grab your Mardi Gras beads and second line over to The LaurelThirst for a rousing party.
Last fall, Steve Kerin went back home to visit his friends and family in Lafayette, Louisiana. While there, he gathered a few of his friends and laid down the tracks that make up his latest CD titled Joy. Though he has already celebrated its release with shows down South, it is now time to throw a little party in his current home town of Portland. Joy is filled with various musical visions behind the mind of Steve Kerin and the dozen numbers on the disc are all well-crafted and a delight to hear. Here’s your chance to catch the songs performed live by Steve and a few of his friends, plus the opportunity to pick up a copy of your own. The CD release party will be held at Duff’s Garage (1635 SE 7th) on Sunday, May 19th. This will be an early show, starting at 7:00 pm. Ticket price is $12.00, but 
