Oregon Music News

Unless there’s a change of some kind…always a possibility…this will be the last in the series of Skype-recorded Coffeeshop Conversations (Not) @ Artichoke Music. Next week we’ll be back in the Café at Artichoke and I can be in the same room with the person I’m talking to. Thanks to Storm Large, Terry Currier, Jim Brunberg, Jeremy Wilson, Lloyd Jones, Andrew Woodworth and the others who have been guests. Therefore, we end this Skype series with the one, the only, your friend and mine, the inimitable, the sensational, the Tony Starlight. Applause goes here. We pick it up shortly after we fixed our respective audios.

Back for another Coffeeshop Conversation (Not) @ Artichoke Music. It’s looking like we’ll be back in the Café for real in a couple of weeks. The café won’t be open to the public but I’ll be able to sit in the same room and talk with people. Today, continuing what we’ve been doing, checking in with folks to see how they’re doing and how they’ve been doing it, Lloyd Jones is on Skype with me. He’s got a new album coming out at the end of the summer. There’s a story there and nobody tells a stry like Lloyd Jones. He’s been streaming online a lot you can find out about them here. He misses us and we miss him in person. So let’s catch up with Lloyd Jones.

We’ve been checking in on folks to see how they’re doing during the current tribulations. We checked on Jim Brunberg, Jeremy Wilson, Storm Large and others and today we’ve got Music Millennium’s Terry Currier on Skype. They’re still open, doing curbside delivery but everything is tenuous. Life itself. They’re still getting new product in every week at Music Millenium so let’s find out how their doing, what they’re doing and what are some good new albums. Here’s Terry Currier

Since the music industry is shut down, although I know musicians are continuing to make music…and performing…particularly online and especially on Sundays at 6pm on the OMN Live series…and since Artichoke Music’s doors are still closed, how about we get back to talking to people who were and are big parts of OMN. One of them is on Skype with me. Her name is Stephanie Salvey. She was a club owner, a band manager and publicist, one of our first OMN writers and now produces movies…while remaining a rocker through and through. She used to be an upstairs neighbor of mine…and I’m glad to say, a friend. Meet Stephanie Salvey.

We’re Skyping our way through another Coffeeshop Conversation (Not) @ Artichoke Music and hoping for the day we can sit in the Café across the table and talk the way we used to. But here’s the next best thing. Last fall we did a video episode with Shelly Rudolph and Chance Hayden, two musicians who are married to each other. Thing is, I had promised Shelly we’d do an episode with her when her long-awaited album came out. Well the wait is over. It’s called The Way We Love and it was worth the wait…in gold.

This is more than a Coffeeshop Conversation not at Artichoke Music with Art Levine our National Editor when he’s not being an author and one of the best investigative reporters on earth. He’s going to talk about the current phenomenon of musicians and comedians live streaming performances from their homes. I hope you’ve been catching ours, OMN Live which streams every Sunday at 6pm on our Facebook page. Maybe we’ll get lucky and in this podcast you’ll get to hear one or more of Art’s famed endless and endlessly entertaining rants. We can hope.

About his new album "Sasquatch", Lord Russ and the failure of our Skype Recorder.

Hello once again from not at Artichoke Music. Hopefully we’ll be back there when this is over. One of the busiest people during this thing who is not a first-responder is Jim Brunberg, who I’m sure you know is a musician and owner of Mississippi Studios, Revolution Hall etc etc etc. I thought that combination of things would make him the perfect person to talk to about the current situation where we find doors closed and musicians scrambling to find an income. He has been working on a new coalition of venue owners to try to keep them intact for when the music starts again. He’s been on the podcast before in better days. We’re thankful he took the time to talk to us.

Another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation but not at Artichoke Music and not sitting with a guest…and waiting for the day we can do both again. This time I’m talking with Storm Large, the only real star Portland has produced in this century. I don’t need to tell you anything else about her, you already know. Since the pandemic she’s been putting up live performances on her Instagram which have been everything you could ever want. How is she dealing with the current situation? She’s meeting it head-on, as you might expect. Let’s hear from Storm Large.

Welcome again to the OMN Coffeeshop Conversations @ Artichoke Music Not at Artichoke Music because it’s closed because you know why. Rather than wallow in the misery of the moment, I thought I’d like to bring back singer/composer Andrew Paul Woodworth for a fresh and funny distraction. We’ve had some very funny episodes with him, and that’s what we need right now. That’s why I put up those April Fools stories on Wednesday. As usual this will be NSFW, but since most of us are at home, or listening on headphones, there’s less chance you will offend anyone. He had just answered my Skype call……

Well, hi there. We recorded this episode before we all got told to stay home. So it’ll be the last one until the time we can sit in the Artichoke Music Café again. Until then, as we did last week, we’ll make do with Skype and phone. Today I’m with composer/pianist Jasnam Daya Singh who has a new album on the PJCE label…that’s Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble. It’s called Ekta: The Unity Project. Sound like something we need right now? At the end of our conversation we’ll play a track, “Acceptance.” We’re not going to stop making Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music while we can’t really be at Artichoke Music

Needless to say, we’re not in the Artichoke Café for this episode, but we’re going to keep doing Cofeeshop Conversations until the doors open again. On the phone with me is Jeremy Wilson who has just launched the COVID-19 Oregon Musicians’ Relief Fund. At this moment there are no venues open for musicians to play and no pay for no play. Of Course, he runs the Jeremy Wilson foundation which helps with musicians’ health costs. This is a whole different thing. I thought you ought to hear it from him.

One of the most joyous sounds you’ll ever hear in Portland is the Afro-Beat band Jujuba. Sitting with me at Artichoke Music 2007 SE Powell Boulevard is Norjeem Isisi their leader, he of the talking drum…which he has brought with him. He’s from Nigeria and he toured with King Sunny Ade, the man who helped make Afro-Beat music popular throughout the world. Just a word about the temporary closing of Artichoke during the COVID-19 virus. While we wait for the go-ahead to open the doors again, Coffeeshop Conversations will continue, even if we have to skype or do them on the phone. Jujuba found a home at the Goodfoot Lounge and their performances there are legendary. So lets meet the man who makes the drum talk, a Coffeeshop Conversation with Norjeem and his drum.

Bob Howard CEO of Artichoke Music, Portland's iconic music store/venue, announced today that it will close it's doors temporarily until safety returns.

I always look forward to this and it’s become almost a yearly pleasure to sit across from Liv Warfield and visit. She’s with me in Café Artichoke at Artichoke Music 2007 SE Powell. She was in town for an appearance at the 2020 Portland Jazz Festival. Apparently it’s been a busy year for her, a year of moving forward. And in talking to her before we started recording she mentioned something about a CIRCUS. This coming from a woman who once played professional football. That’s football, not soccer. She was radiant, of course.

I’ve got someone in the Artichoke Café who I’ve never met before. I like those Coffeeshop Conversations. I get to be nosey with a stranger. Articoke Music is located at 2007 SE Powell Boulevard and we’re very happy to be there. Tate Peterson of the Resolectrics is here. They’re an up and coming band who have been around for ten years. I think we’ll find out how a ten year-old band can be up and coming and how taking things at their own natural pace can help a band develop. They do an interesting combination of Americana, Rock, Soul and their own special sauce. They’re playing at the Bunk Bar in Portland on Saturday, February 29, Sadie Hawkins day. Let’s meet Tate Peterson.

Archie Shepp in a Jazz Conversation with Jazz journalist Ashley Kahn on February 22, 2020 in the Art Bar at the Portland Jazz Festival 2020.

Jazz Conversation between guitarists Stanley Jordan and Ashley Kahn, February 21, 2020 at the Art Bar during the 2020 Portland Jazz Festival.

If you’ve been going out to hear music in Portland for a long time, you’ve probably seen Norman Sylvester and if you’ve seen Norman Sylvester, you’ve seen his bass player of 30 or so years, Rob Shoemaker. Rob is in Café Artichoke with me now at Artichoke Music 2007 SE Powell Boulevard in Portland. Veteran musicians are vintage treasures. They’ve made their homes here and are important parts of our community. Norman and Rob are going strong and I hear they’re actually expanding their sights in the new year. It’s safe to say that perhaps Norman might not be the complete Boogie Cat without Rob. Let’s meet the bass player.

Welcome to Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music that’s 2007 SE Powell Boulevard. Six-plus years ago, pianist/composer Andrew Oliver, the central figure in the emerging new Jazz scene left Portland and moved to the U.K., to London where he became a figure in the Traditional Jazz scene in London. We’ll find out how that happened and why he’s moving back to his Portland hometown because he’s sitting across from me. It’s going to be interesting to see what direction his music takes once he’s back. Contemporary Jazz? Tango? Traditional Jazz? Or something new. Or does he even know at this point. Welcome home Andrew Oliver.