Nico Wind’s Road Dog Tales ‘n Jam

By Nico Wind Cordova with Anne Morin

We are so fortunate here in the great northwest to have a huge community of world-class musicians and extremely talented artists. So what does that mean? According to Wikipedia, Portland, Oregon, is the 29th most populous city in the United States, the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest region, and we are number nine on the list of Most Musical Cities in the United States.

We have a lot of musical people who live here in Portland. Why? Maybe it’s because it’s a beautiful place to live, or it’s a more liberal state, or there is more acceptance of the weird and wonderful here. But one thing it’s not: It’s not a place to be if you’re looking for fame and fortune from the music industry. In fact, I think you could safely say, that Portland is a good place for our great musicians to hide out and be incognito.

The established artists who sit on the throne of Portland’s musical royalty, folks you might say are “local household names,” are the people who are not only super talented but have dedicated a lifetime of passion, energy, love, and work into supporting the Northwest music scene–people like Curtis Salgado, the late, great, Linda Hornbuckle, Norman Sylvester, Quarterflash, and Nu Shooz, to name a few. All of these people and their teams worked hard, as did other musicians climbing up the proverbial ladder. For example, Robert Cray is a well-known Portland musician, but do you know who his bass player is?

Dedicated musicians invested years of loyalty doing a painstaking nightclub grind, or developing a good fan base, or attaining lots of exposure by doing free benefits. And this phenomenon takes place, not only in Portland, but in other places around our country and even the world. I tip my hat to these richly deserving musicians. I also acknowledge the people beside them–the production engineers (live and recorded), the promoters, booking agents, photographers, and graphic artists that helped them achieve their goals. Who are they and what do we know of their journey and successes?

Making music my own career and profession on the road for nearly four decades and having great successes and failures of my own, I find I’m having to re-introduce myself all over again in my own home town. And, shockingly, I’ve learned I’m not alone. For instance, you may have heard of Gary Fountaine–that he’s a great bass player, and you might even know that he was in the band Nu Shooz. But did you know that that his band appeared on American Bandstand in the 1980’s? Like many of his colleagues, Gary’s done a lot of really interesting things that most of us know nothing about.

Road Dog Tales ‘n Jam is about reintroducing our successful and maybe even unsung hero artists to our community. The intention is to provide our spot- lighted artists with a safe and entertaining interview type of platform, led by Nico Wind Cordova, at Trail’s End Saloon (1320 Main St.) in Oregon City, once a month. The idea is that these professionals will get down into the trenches with all of us and share their experiences without hype or ego. They tell their stories, and we receive them firsthand. Some of these tales are hilarious and some are really unbelievable or dramatic, but the point is that their telling should be informative, interactive, and entertaining.

The first hour of the 3-hour evening at Trail’s End Saloon is the interview of the featured artist by Nico Wind who introduces the guest, traces their journey as artists, and then turns the process over to the audience. They then get to ask questions like what the musical process with coming up with a hook line or a lyric might have been, or why the guest chose a particular route in his or her career and what that was like, and what they might have done differently. This information could be especially educational for people who are looking at music as a possible career. The featured guest might then join in during the second and third hours of Road Tales ‘n Jam for the Jam– meaning that musicians present would be welcome to sign up on a participation sheet and then perform with Nico Wind and her Free Rein band.

Road Dog Tales ‘n Jam plans to video record these interviews for  our Portland music historic archives. We hope to make these available to the public in the future.

The first Road Dog Tales ‘n Jam took place on Sunday, February 15, with continuing events on the third Sunday of every month at Trail’s End  Saloon. A different guest will be spotlighted the first hour of each show.  The interview will start at 6 PM. There will be a cover charge of $2.00. We hope the loyal followers and fellow artists of the Portland music scene will support this important and entertaining program.