Saturday, January 29, 2011

Some picks for Saturday and Sunday

For more weekend music you might want to check out ...

Saturday
It's an evening of social troubadours at the Alberta Rose with Jim Page, Alice Di Micele, and Brian Cutean ... 8 pm, $15

3 Leg Torso bring their eclectic synthesis of chamber music, tango, klezmer, latin, and world music to  The Blue Monk ... 9 pm, $10

Get your dancing shoes on and head to Duff's for Becki Sue & Her Big Rockin' Daddies ... 9:30 pm, $??

Lloyd Jones will be at Sip D'vine in Multnomah Village ... 7 pm, no cover

Miriams Well will be at Plews Brews in St. Johns. If you haven't seen this band, you should check them out ... 9 pm, no cover

Duover, Matt Brown, and Rob Stroup will be at the Press Club ... 8:30 pm, no cover

The Goodfoot has the afrobeat sounds of Jujuba ... 9 pm, $8

The sounds of Ethiopia and American soul infuse the music of the Tezeta Band - appearing tonight at The Woods ... 9 pm, $10

Sunday
It's the annual party thrown by McMenamins celebrating the birthday of the Crystal Ballroom ... it's free and starts at 1 pm with lots of music in the ballroom and in Lola's Room, including Celilo, Sallie Ford, Pancake Breakfast, the Parson Red Heads, and Elizabeth Cook .... 

Friday, January 28, 2011

A roots rockin' Friday ...

Kind of a roots/blues night around town ...

For no-cover happy hour music catch Ron Rogers & The Wailing Wind at the Hawthorne Theater Pub (6 pm) or Alice Stuart at the Laurelthirst (6 pm).

It will be get-down funky and bluesy with Lloyd Jones at the Trails End in Oregon City ... 9 pm, $??

Lisa Mann & Her Really Good Band are at Jimmy Mak's ... Lisa is CBA's bass player and vocalist of the year and she'll be headed to compete in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next month. .. 8 pm, $10

It's a little more harmonica fueled and swampified up in the 'Couve with Rich Layton & The Troublemakers at the Cascade ... they have an excellent new CD, Tough Town, hot off the presses and available at the show or their website ... 9 pm, $??

The blues get plugged in at The Blue Monk, with the Terry Robb Electric Band ... 9 pm, $10

For some roots/Americana head to the White Eagle for the double bill of Nick Peats and Drunken Prayer ... 9:30 pm, $6

The Freak Mountain Ramblers are at the Laurelthirst ... 9:30 pm, $6

And, you can revisit last summer's Pickathon, through performance videos being screened all weekend at the Mission Theater as part of  Benefest, a benefit festival to support arts education at Buckman Elementary and the Portland Schools Foundation ... 8 pm, $10


On tour with some buzz, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals are in town at the Wonder Ballroom ... hear it's sold out ...but if you show up, you'll probably find a ticket  ... 9 pm, $18

More later for the rest of the weekend .... 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Thursday tunes

Got time for a quick post with some solid music for a Thursday night.

Should you need a reminder of the some of the fine music you can hear virtually every Thursday (I trust most of you remember these, but I'll include them in case someone hasn't been paying attention) ....  At the Laurlethirst happy hour it's Lewi Longmire (6 pm); Morgan Grace at Biddy McGraw's (6 pm); the Mel Brown B3 Organ Band at Jimmy Mak's (8 pm, $5); Lauren Sheehan at the Muddy Rudder (8 pm); and Steve Kerin on the Chapel Pub organ (8 pm).  You can't go wrong with any of those.

Other choices -- If you like unaffected, straight-up country music delivered with confidence and sass, head to the Kennedy School for Nashville's Elizabeth Cook, who has been doing the McMenamin's "grand tour" ... 7 pm, no cover (She'll also be at the Grand Lodge on Saturday and the Crystal Ballroom on Sunday.)

Speaking of country, I just found out that Elizabeth Ames is in town with her band The Countrypolitans. Ames impressed me with her songcraft and performances before moving to LA nine years ago ... But it looks like she's again based in Portland and will be at Duff's tonight ... 9 pm, $??

Curtis Salgado and Alan Hagar do one of their twice monthly Thursdays at The Blue Monk ... 8 pm, $10

Celilo, John Heart Jackie, and Duover will be at the Alberta Rose Theatre ... 9 pm, $8

Scott Law and Ty North are at the Goodfoot ... 9 pm, $6

More soon for the weekend ....

Here's a taste of Elizabeth Cook for ya -

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Saturday and Sunday picks

Too nice outside ... hope you're enjoying the sunshine ...will make this really fast so I don't stay in house a minute longer ...

There's a fundraiser at Mississippi Studios tonight with the Corin Tucker Band (and an opportunity to watch the show online) for the Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School ... read the story here from Ryan White at the Oregonian .... 8:30 pm, $25

Colleen Raney has a CD release show at the Secret Society.  Colleen is a wonderful singer and interpreter of Irish and Scottish music.  She'll be backed by some of the best of Portland's Celtic crew including Hanz Araki, Ezra Holbrook, and Casey Neill ... 9 pm, $5

The Bay Area's Red Hot Blues Sisters are at Duff's tonight - check 'em out ... looks like a really fine vocals, guitar and horn-driven blues band ... 9:30 pm, $10?

Mary Flower is doing a songwriter's circle with Jack McMahon and Gregg Stockert at O'Connors .... 8 pm, $5

Reggie Houston is a Brasserie Montmartre ... 9 pm, no cover

Need a little Zydeco? ...  the New Iberians are at the Cider Mill .... 8 pm, no cover

Devin Phillips and the Quick and Easy Boys will keep everyone on the goodfoot at The Goodfoot ... 9 pm, $7

Fine acoustic bluesman, James Clem, is at the Muddy Rudder ... 8 pm, no cover

Lincoln Crockett is at Vino Vixens ... 8 pm, $5

and on Sunday, for something a bit different, check out Tuvan throat singing with Huun Huur Tu and soRIAH at the Alberta Rose  .... 7:30 pm, $20

okay ... the sunshine is calling ...

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday night

Okay ... trying to work my way back into the swing of things ... here's what I'm seeing for tonight (I'm starting slow) ...

Stephanie Schneiderman is doing a full band show (with Keith Schreiner on beats, bass and ambience, Jade Vanacore on vocals and keys, and special guest Tony Furtado) at Jimmy Mak's. Steph has a lot of new material and a new CD coming out soon. Should be a great show. Lara Michell will open the evening ... 8 pm, $10

It's funky and soulful at the Alberta Rose with Soul Vaccination and the Linda Hornbuckle Band ... 8:30 pm, $15

Blue Cranes are having a double CD release party (including a new remix of their current CD, Observatories) at the Secret Society Ballroom ... 9:30 pm, $8

At the Muddy Rudder, Padam Padam brightens the dark side of January with its unique blend of European cabaret infused with Latin, klezmer and tango ... 8 pm, no cover

Billy D & The Hoodoos are at the Rock Creek Tavern ... 9 pm, no cover

Next post will cover Saturday and Sunday ...

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Well -I'm going to sneak one more thing in here until Jim gets off island time...Dan Reed and band at The Aladdin on January 22, $16.00....yes that Dan Reed of The Network days...making incredibly beautiful soulful music....and Blake Sakamoto will be playing with him.

I'm back ....

Well ... I'm back in Portland after just an amazing week of music and friends on SBC-17 .... I'll update the blog over the next few days with some thoughts and photos about the experience, though right now in catch up mode with non-music stuff. I'll also get back to posting about upcoming live music too .... just need to wrap my head around what's going on.  

Big, big thanks to Marychris for posting while I was gone .... her posts looked great and I hope you had a chance to read and check out her recommendations.

See y'all out and about soon! 

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Well - where to start? Even on hump day there are so many choices: Jon Koonce and friends do their weekly gig @ O'Connor's in Multnomah Village (no telling who will drop in), Pete Krebs is at Andina, 7 PM, all ages, free, Little Sue @ Biddy McGraw's, 6 PM, 21+, Cowboy Mouth, from New Orleans @ Dante's, 9 PM, $12, and Terry Robb is at Edgefield, 7 PM, 21+(he was all over the Rose City Music Fest, so he probably has some new licks to show off...like he needed them..)
Thursday: Morgan Grace on early and a Cajun Jam at 9:30 PM @ Biddy McGraw's, JB Butler once again at the Brasserie, 8 PM, The Laurelthirst has Lewi Longmire and Bob Shoemaker is at the White Eagle and the PDX Old Time Music Gathering is hosting a square dance at the Secret Society Ballroom on N. Russell for $5.
Besides the previously posted Duffy Bishop Show, Friday brings Dashboard Confessional to the Wonder Ballroom, $25 in advance, 21+ and Jackstraw brings their speed bluegrass right down the street at the Secret Society Ballroom at 9 PM.
Saturday provides so many choices, including Kelly Joe Phelps at the Alberta Rose Theater, Wayne the Train Hancock (with my pal, Eric Kotila's band, Truckstop Darling, opening) @ Dante's for a mere $10, Drunken Prayer at Biddy McGraw's (you haven't lived until you hear Morgan sing "Ain't No Grave"..), and the lovely Pilar French at Edgefield for free (she's a lawyer, so behave...) The Mission Theater has a show that includes the Foghorn Stringband and the gypsy airs of Padam Padam. The Strangetones and Boogie Bone bring the rockabilly to Peter's Room at the Roseland (that's the fancy name for the downstairs bar...) and Chervona is at the Secret Society Ballroom.
Our Sellwood neighbor, Lloyd Jones, plays Sunday at Edgefield at 5 PM for free and the one that aroused my curiosity, a John Densmore is playing at the Ash Street Saloon, guitar, not drums, but is there a connection the Densmore of Doors fame?
...and even though Jim will have returned by then...January 22, Dan Reed will be playing the Aladdin and his new music is so soulful, that I felt I had to let you know....and Blake Sakamoto from the old Dan Reed and the Network days will be playing with him...for that walk down memory lane...

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

He had to rub it in about the beautiful weather in the Caribbean, as we prepare (or not) for the freezing rain (or not...it's Oregon..) First heads up for the weekend musical choices - Duffy Bishop and Chris Carlsen and members of their original band from Seattle will play the good- by for awhile show at Alberta Rose Theater on Friday, the 14th. High entertainment value for your dollar!

Dispatch from SBC-17

Weather has been beautiful ... cruising in the southern Caribbean .... Music off the charts ... will have more details and photos when I return ... posting more costs too damn much from the ship!

And thanks Marychris for posting live music recommendations in my absence!

- Jim

Friday, January 7, 2011

This is just blatant promotion for a dear friend. Beth Harrington, who has done documentary films covering several topics, including "Welcome to the Club" about the women in rockabilly, is trying to raise funds to finish her film about the Carter Family, "The Winding Stream". You can go to: thewindingstream.com and there will be the omnipresent Paypal link. From what I've seen, it's a lovely tribute to the Carter/Cash clan and she's been working on it for almost 10 years, so it would be great to see it finished. Back to the live music now! I am off to the River City Music Fest...

Thursday, January 6, 2011

OK - here's go my first attempt at the blogging...if you hate, please take it up with management on his return all tanned and rested and musiced out....
Some things I will just tell you about because they are my friends playing and you should support them, so yeah, I'm playing the I'm with the band card...
Today, Thursday we have JB Butler, extraordinary guitarist at the Brasserie, 8PM, free and all ages (wow this is a different Brasserie, isn't it?)
Shelley Rudolph and Chance Hayden are at Fenouil in the Pearl. Chance is quite the up and coming blues guitarist. Also free and all ages.
For something completely different, Dusu Mali Band is at the Goodfoot, 21+, $6, 8PM. The music of Mali will not allow sitting...you will be dancing.
Mel Brown and his B3 @ Jimmy Mak's, 21+ and only $5!
Lewi Longmire @ Laurelthirst, 21+, $4.
Jack McMahon @ Edgefield, free and 21+
Pagan Jug Band @ McMenamin's Old St. Francis School, tonight and Friday, 7 PM, all ages, free.
...whew...and then we get to the big deal for the weekend..
The River City Music Fest (formerly the Bluegrass Festival) starts on Friday. Ticket prices vary, $130 for all 3 days or $35-$55 depending on which day you go.
Friday's lineup includes my pal Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women (those gals give Dave a run for his money), Guy Clark and The Infamous Stringdusters.
Saturday will bring The Time Jumpers (with Vince Gill), Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, John Reischman and the Jaybirds and so much more...and it continues on Sunday till 5 PM.
rivercitybluegrass.com

Also this weekend is the 28th Reel Music Festival, mostly at the Whitsell Aud. in the Art Museum, but some at the Mission Theater. Personally, I think the highlight will be the film about Phil Ochs (if you kids don't know him, go to the Google right now!) and Search and Destroy: Iggy Pop & The Stooges Raw Power.

I know I'm going on, but want to get all the week end options out now....Friday also brings John Bunzow @ Edgefield, free, 21+, Casey Neill and the Norway Rats @ the Doug Fir, and Eddie Henderson w/The Peter Boe Band @ Jimmy Maks.
Saturday - Drunken Prayer @ The Doug Fir, Freak Mountain Ramblers @ Goodfoot and Thara Memory's Super Band @ Jimmy Maks.
If you make it to Sunday, of course, Billy Kennedy and Freak Mountain Ramblers @ Laurelthirst for Church....

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Guest blogger and see you after SBC 17

So, tonight I leave on a red-eye flight for Florida and another edition of Delbert McClinton's Sandy Beaches Cruise.  I am really looking forward to a week with old friends, great music, and (hopefully) beautiful Caribbean weather.  It is truly a wonderful experience that I feel very lucky to have the chance to do.  Not sure if this will be the last one or not, but it's possible, so I intend to enjoy every moment. 

In the meantime, I thought I'd do something different with the blog while I'm gone - we are going to have a guest blogger make recommendations!  So a big thanks to Marychris Mass for her willingness to post a few times with her perspective on Portland's live music scene.  Our tastes aren't always exactly the same ... but we find ourselves at enough of the same shows, so I am very comfortable leaving recommendations in her hands for the next two weeks. And a change of perspective does us all some good, too. It's possible that I might post trip updates from the ship and when we get back to land on the 14th ... here, and/or on my Facebook page .... we'll see.

One thing though is you won't get an email announcing a post is up from Marychris, so you'll have to check the blog periodically to see what she has to say. 

Keep heading out and supporting live music!  I guess that's exactly what I'll be doing on the boat -- and wish you all could be there with me!

   -- Jim