Oregon Music News

The downsized but still mighty Waterfront Blues Festival begins on Thursday, July 1 and ends Monday July 5 “Upriver” at the Lot at Zidell Yards. Details here. On Monday, July 5 drummer Tony Coleman’s Tribute to the Three Kings, B.B., Albert and Freddie with an all-star band. T.C. played with B.B. and Albert’s bands and on the same bill with Freddie. Listen to him tell us what we have in store.

We have missed all of the live music in our lives over the length of the pandemic but one thing we should recognize is the efforts by broadcasters to keep sending the music our way. It hasn’t been easy, as I can attest from my own show on KMHD but we do it because we love it and we know you need the music. With me today in the Artichoke Café is Suzanne Nance, CEO of All Classical Portland, also an on-air host there and a vocalist in her own right. What have they had to do to keep themselves in fresh programming? What does the future look like? It’s always a delight to talk with her and today, no doubt will be too since we do see some daylight. Welcome back Suzanne Nance.

As you may have noticed, we’ve been checking in with musicians, organizations and venues as things begin to open up, to see what they’re up to and how they’ve been. This time it’s Sarah Tiedemann, Third Angle New Music’s Artistic Director and a flutist. They’re presenting the “Fresh Air Fest” which they call “an outdoor new music mini-festival located at the idyllic Topaz Farm, on Sauvie Island.” Three consecutive one-hour sets on Sunday July 11 starting at 3:30pm. What’s the status of their 21-22 season and what have they been doing to keep at it? Oh, and don’t mind us, but we geeked out on Twin Peaks in the last little bit….maybe more than a lttle bit. Here’s me and Sarah Tiedemann.

With me in the Café at Artichoke Music is child psychiatrist, poet and artist Dr. Diane Kaufman. She’s here to talk about the release of her suicide prevention song 'Don't Give Up' which is designed to give support to those who are struggling with mental health issues and thinking about suicide. In case you were not aware suicide is the leading cause of death among youth 10-24 in Oregon. So here’s an interesting role that music may play in bringing those stats down. Diane Kaufman is founder of Oregon-based Arts Medicine for Hope and Healing and the Arts & Healing Resiliency Center at Mind Matters P.C. We’re starting out differently this time, I’ll let you hear the song first and then we’ll talk with the Doctor.

Want to do something that makes you feel like we’re getting back to normal? One thing you can do is listen to this episode of Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music because unlike last summer when there wasn’t one, Peter Dammann is here to tell us all about the 2021 Waterfront Blues Festival. You heard me! It’s back. It’s smaller and down the street from where it usually is but there are people at this moment knocking themselves out to make it happen. As he has been since the beginning of time, Festival Artistic Director and ace guitarist Peter Damman is in the Café to tell us pretty much everything we want to know about the festival. All I have to do is push this little switch.

Just when we were thinking that tons of music was right around the corner we find out that there’s a ton of Federal money that could help venues….big and small…that isn’t being spent. Enter a new organization called Oregon Arts Recovery, OAR, that has arrived to help matters. Jim Brunberg, one of the leaders in our music industry, both as a musician himself and as a venue owner (Mississippi Studios and Revolution Hall) has been working non-stop for the past year to convince government that music and music venues are vital to the life of Oregonians. He’s with me on the phone with exciting news about a united front to help ensure that our venues survive and come back strong.

Can you feel it? Can you feel the music returning? Feels good. Karen Lovely is in the Artichoke Music Café with me today. She has not been doing a whole lot of music in the past year but she has been very busy with her other work as an advocate and first responder for domestic violence. We’ll hear about both, that and her return to music. And as important as the music is to all of us, her work with victims of domestic violence is crucial. She’s still got the voice and the attitude however and we’ve missed both. She’s got gigs lined up and is working on a new album but let’s let Karen Lovely do the talking. She’s good at that. She’s good at all of it.

Slowly, in frustratingly small increments, live music is returning to our lives. People are being hired in anticipation of venues re-opening and people like our guest singer/guitarist Kris Deelane are trying to fill that gap we’re all still feeling. Her outdoor Alchemy Shed opens this weekend and has a bookings through the next couple of months. Why? How? She’s here in the Artichoke Café to fill us in, and on her plans to fire up her band The Hurt which has been on the sidelines for a year. One of these days we’ll do one of these and not have to mention the pandemic. Until then, here’s some good news from Kris Deelane.

A year ago, as we slipped into quarantine I decided we all needed to hear from someone who would brighten things up for us…well for me. I called upon composer, singer and songwriter Andrew Paul Woodworth for that. No woo-woo, no sappy advice…and not even a friend who I hung out with, just someone I could count on to take our minds off of things and make us laugh even though he was not a professional comedian. It worked. Now, as we fitfully emerge from all this. I’ve asked him back. He was full of surprises and I just turned on the recorder.

Here’s some good Coffeeshop Conversation news…in June we’ll be shooting two new video episodes of the podcast…first since the pandemic! Stay tuned for details. Today one of my favorite people is in the Artichoke Music Cafe. We met when we were both doing shows at KMHD when it was out at Mt. Hood Community College. I’m still at KMHD and she’s at KBOO. She is Marcia Hocker. She’s also a singer and just wrapped up several years working with PDX Jazz. A few weeks ago she MC’d and sang as part of Siren Nation’s Billie Holiday tribute show. And she’s got this great radio voice. Meet Marcia Hocker.

This makes three times back in the Café at Artichoke and feeling better all the time. Especially today because I get to geek out about obscure records. As you may know, the only Portland representation in the winner’s circle at the Grammys this year was when Omnivore Recordings won for It’s Such A Good Feeling: The Best of Mister Rogers. Omnivore isn’t totally based in Portland but one of the founders lives here. Her name is Cheryl Pawelsky and she is a curator’s curator and a geek’s geek. It’s also her second Grammy. Their catalog is amazing, just looking at the titles makes me happy. We’re going to have some fun. Let’s meet Cheryl.

It sure is nice being back in the Artichoke Music Café and sitting across from our podcast guests again, believe me. Especially when you’re sitting across from The Boogie Cat, the always splendidly dressed, Portland icon Norman Sylvester who has been bringing us Blues and Soul music for generations. He’s working with the Bravo Youth Orchestras organization which has a virtual event on Sunday, April 18 called Crossing Borders at 6:30pm. Norman will tell us all about it. And Norman is going to sing a little right here on the podcast. How about that. Here’s the Boogie Cat.

December 14 of last year was the last time we recorded one of these from the Artichoke Music Café. I told you I would wait until I could get vaccinated and two weeks ago I got my second shot. That’s why we’re back at Artichoke today, and very happy to be here. We don’t plan to be anywhere else. Dino Paris is with me. He’s a therapist…what we used to call a shrink, but we’re too polite to anymore. I wanted to talk with him about the effects of the pandemic on creativity and what we can do about those effects to help ourselves and each other.pari It’s for all of you and especially me. Meet Dino Paris.

This is the last, at least I hope it’s the last of our Skype Coffeeshop Conversations. Next week when we call it Coffeeshop Conversations @ Artichoke Music, it will really be from the Café at Artichoke. Our guest will be therapist Dino Paris and I’ll talk to him about the effects of the past year on creativity. I wish I could be sitting across from December Carson, Artistic Director for Siren Nation but I’m not, They’re having their 14th Annual Billie Holiday Tribute Night, virtually on Saturday, April 3. She’s also Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator for the Northwest Film Center and we’ll get her take on the return of going to movies too. And eleven years ago she wrote a few excellent pieces for OMN. Meet December Carson.

It might be hard to believe but it’s been four years since Jimmy Mak’s closed. It was Oregon’s top music club. It closed the day before owner Jimmy Makarounis passed away. Two key employees JD Stubenberg and Lisa Boyle took up the quest to make a new Jimmy Mak’s and they were poised to make that happen when the pandemic hit. I think most of us figured that if the existing music clubs were closed, any chance of a new Jimmy Mak’s was dead. Well, guess what? They’ re still at it and making plans to begin construction on the new Jimmy Mak’s. JD is on Skype with me to tell us all about it and also about a new organization to aid musicians in distress. It’s hard to imagine JD and Lisa’s friendly faces bringing great music to us again, but we can use all the hope we can get. JD and I just kind of fell into our conversation, like we always do.

We’ll be returning to the Café at Artichoke Music on Thursday April 8 for an interesting OMN Coffeeshop Conversation with therapist Dino Paris on how the pandemic has effected creativity. But today we’re Skyping with keyboardist Dave Fleschner who has been a big part of many Portland bands. Many people remember him from being on the road with Curtis Salgado for six years. He’s doing a lot of teaching these days as most musicians have been doing during the pandemic. One of these days I’ll be able to do one of these things and never have the pandemic come up in conversation…coffeeshop or not. Dave has been a fixture in the Soul/Blues/Funk/Jazz scene around here and it’s a good time to say hello.

George Colligan is Skyping with me today. We’re looking to be back in the Café at Artichoke Music in about a month, once I’m fully vaccinated. You may know George Colligan as a Jazz pianist and composer, a teacher and valued member of several internationally known ensembles. On his new album Long Term Goals with his band Theoretical Planets, he’s a leader and a drummer. Most of the ensemble is made up of former PSU students of his, but they play like they’ve been together forever. That’s all pretty unique in the world of music and it takes a lot of talent to pull it off. That’s what George Colligan does. He’s a true musical intellectual but has the ability to clearly relate musical concepts to dummies like me. He’s peripatetic but he took some time to be with us.

This edition of OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music is headed your way early this week because March Fourth is Thursday. It’s the 18th anniversary of Portland’s beloved March Fourth who used to be called March Fourth Marching Band. They’ll be streaming a special anniversary show featuring footage from the best of the last three anniversary shows at the Crystal Ballroom…and boy do we miss the Crystal Ballroom. It’ll be hosted by March Fourth bandleader and founder John Averill. John is trapped in my Skype machine at the moment. We’ll find out what they’ve been doing for the past year, what they’ve got in store in the future and we’ll look back at some of the moments that made us all love the band. Let’s pry open the lid of that Skype machine and find out what he’s up to.

Curtis Salgado has a new album. That alone should warm your heart and make you get out your dancing shoes. More than that, it’s a satchel full of inspiration for the times in which we live. He didn’t plan it that way, but some people have a way of unconsciously knowing what we need. Curtis Salgado, seems like, has always known what we need, even if he didn’t know what was good for him at the time. You’ll hear a tune from Damage Control at the end of the interview. We’re getting closer to being back at the Artichoke Café. Curtis has a lineup of experienced musicians who have played with giants. You know what? Curtis is a giant too.

We’re getting closer to moving back from Skype to The Artichoke Music Café. This time next month I’ll be able to be back sitting across a table from a real live human being. But we have had a nice run of interesting people in the meantime. Next week I’ll be talking to Curtis Salgado who has a new album coming out. Today it’s singer/songwriter Carl Solomon, no stranger to the Artichoke Music Café. Among other things he’s a part of the popular Soldier Songs and Voices which is now an Artichoke weekly online ZOOM event. Carl has been singing and writing songs for decades and if you’re a part of or a fan of that community, you know that. He and I are both from Baltimore Maryland but we compared notes on those experiences both before and after we were rolling. Meet Carl Solomon.