Thursday, April 30, 2009

Lots To Look At and Listen To, Not Much News...Amuse Yourself

Stop me if you've seen this before. I mean it's only been seen nearly ten million times, but just in case you haven't:



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HERE'S A TRACK FROM THE NEW VAGABOND OPERA ALBUM

I have a story in the O next Friday. Their CD release is next Saturday, May 9 at Mississippi Studios.

The album is The Zeitgeist Beckons. This is Eric Stern's Goodnight Moon


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THE SEWICKLEY'S ROBBERY STORY…ACCORDING TO JEN LANE

I was standing around outside the Mt. Tabor during the Bridgetown Comedy Festival's opening schmooze. I'll go anywhere for free pizza. BarFly Magazine's Jen Lane was there to help Andy Wood be organized. She told the story of the recent robbery at one of her favorite bars, Sewickley's.

Apparently the ex-cleanup guy hid in a closet after the bar closed so he could rob the place. He waited till the doors were locked and he thought the place was his but when he came out of the closet, he found that the gambling machines he wanted to robbed were gone. So the crowbar he wanted to open them with was no good.

What's a robber to do? Just then he noticed the current cleanup guy was sitting at the bar. My memory is a little fuzzy on the rest of the details, except for the fact that he came into the same bar the next day. The management, having been told that he had been in the place to rob it the night before, called the cops. The poor schmuck still had the tools on him.

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INDUSTRIAL JAZZ GROUP'S STIMULUS PROGRAM MUSIC

And now, Andrew Durkin with the news:

We actually introduced this at our New Year's Eve show this past December. What can I say? The real-world context has become more dire in the ensuing months, and so I ended up putting together something that has a certain melodramatic flair. Not sure if that's good or bad.




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SEEN:

Belinda Underwood (singer/bassist/composer/sister to Melissa) vampy but not trampy at the Heathman with Steve Christofferson.

Norweigan avant-smashers The Thing at Backspace reminding me of being in a dirty Manhattan bar in 1986 and watching John Zorn's sonic screaming.

Little-known sax player Malcolm Lewis leading a soul/jazz/funk/hip-hop band at The Report and carrying it off. Here he is practicing with E-Li-Jah:

Malcolm Lewis, E-Li-Jah OkeeDoke Sax Prt.




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A COUPLE GO SEES

David Friesen and Greg Goebel Friday May 1st 9pm Camellia Lounge

Goodfoot All-Stars James Brown Tribute Show at Goodfoot Lounge, Saturday, May 2 at 10:00pm

Pass the Mic…local pros and up and coming performers at Kennedy School Thursday April 28…free and all ages.
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DON CHERRY AND SONNY ROLLINS

52nd Street Theme just for the hell of it:



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FULLA VIDS THIS WEEK, IN LIEU OF REAL ITEMS

John Stowell & Tim Lerch playing in Seattle on the 17th. The tune is Gentle Rain.



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SORRY SO SHORT AGAIN

Couldn't be helped.

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Pass this blog on!
…and leave a comment!!!


Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!

Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com



Tuesday, April 28, 2009

My KMHD Playlist from Last Saturday Night 4/25/09

10:00 Wayne Horvitz/ Duke/ Monolgue
10:02 Cynthia Jones/ Up from the Skies/ Cynthia Jones & the West Coast Nighlights
10:04 Damien Erskine/ Steps/ Trios
10:10 McCoy Tyner/ Blues on the Corner/ Guitars
10: 16 Bill Henderson/ Never Make Your Move/ Live at the Vic
10:24 Thara Memory/ Drum Suite: Little Girl Blue
10:29 Jm Pepper &Mal Waldron/ Good Bait/ Me Art of the Duo
10:36 Allen Toussaint/ Winin' Boy Blues/ The Bright Mississippi
10:46 Marco Benevento/ Golden/ Me Not Me
10:51 Jacob Fred Jazz Oddesy/ Earl Hines/ Winterwood
10:58 Ken Ollis/ Respite March/ Confluence

11:04 David Ornette Cherry/ Organic Music Society/ Organic Journey
11:06 Ali Jackson/ Wheelz Keep Rollin'/same
11:13 Dr. Michael White/ London Canal Breakdown/ Blue Crescent
11:16 Graj Mahal/ Upstairs at Tipitina's/ Woot!
11:23 John Scofield/ Something's Got a Hold On Me/ Piety Street
11:32 Tony Malaby/ Obambo/ Paloma Recia
11:37 Reptet/ Chicken or Beef?/ same
11:48 China Boy (Go Sleep)/ Lenny Dee/ Cocktail Mix Vol. 1
11:51 Esquival/ Anna/ Infinity In Sound Vol .2
11:54 Leon Redbone/ Up a Lazy River/same

THE BAR

12:03 Tom Waits/ The Piano Has Been Drinking/Small Change
12:07 Roy Brown/ Saturday Night/ Complete Imperial Recordings
12:09 Andre Williams/ Pass the Biscuits/ single
12:11 Champion Jack DuPree/ Cut Down On My Overhead/ CDP & his Blues Band
12:14 Howlin Wolf/ Moanin' At Midinght/ Howlin Wolf Album
12:18 Charles Brown/ Hard Times/ Lieber & Stoller Story
12:21 Sunnyland Slim/ Recession Blues/ Chicago Ain't Nothin but the Blues
12:23 Andre Williams/ Bacon Fat/ single
12:27 Clarence Reid/ Give Me Back My Money/ Dancin with Nobody But You Babe
12:29 Jerry McCain/ My New Next Door Neighbors/ Boogie Is My Name
12:32 Del Raney's Umbrellas/ Can Your Hossie Do the Dog?/ single
12:34 Louisiana Red/ Sweet Leg Girl/ Back to the Black Bayou
12:42 James Brown/ You've Got the Power/ Think
12:45 Tina Britt/ A Hawg For You/ Blue All the Way
12:48 The Mirettes/ Sister Watch Yourself/ Whilpool
12:51 Ruffin & Kendricks/ It's a Family Affair/ Ruffin & Kendricks
12:56 Joe Tex/ Skinny Legs & All/ best of

1:01 Don Byron/ (I'm A) Road Runner/ Do the Boomerang
1:04 Thievery Corporation/ Numbers Game feat Chuck Brown/ Radio Retaliation
1:07 Betty Wright/ It's Hard to Stop Doing Something When It's Good/ Hard To Stop
1:11 Meters/ A Message from the Meters/ best of
1:12 Meters/ Do the Dirt/ best of
1:15 Meters/ Look-a-Py-Py/ best of
1:18 Allen Toussaint/ Louie/ Voodoo Soul
1:21 Lee Dorsey/ Sneakin' Sally Thru the Alley/Yes We Can
1:24 Albert King/ We All Wanna Boogie/ New Orleans Heat
1:27 John Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen/ Let the Gentlemen Do Their Thing
1:35 Mavis Staples/ Endlessly/ Only for the Lonely
1:41 Jill Scott/ Love Rain feat Mos Def/ Collaborations
1:46 Same Cooke/ It's Allright & Sentimental Reasons/ Live
1:51 Vagabond Opera/ Goodnight Moon/ The Zeitgeist Beckons

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

How We Get Money for the Arts...My Bad Boy DJ Night,....and not much else.

While listening to Ace of Base singing It's a Beautiful Life

OK, I'm kidding.

In '96, just before I came to Portland, when I was living in Baltimore and the career wasn't doing well, I had taken a job as a wedding/corporate/party DJ. I needed the dough so I put up with the humilation of having to wear a polyester tux and red bow tie and cumberbund. I had also grown my hair to my shoulders.

Among my duties included teaching the Macarena and leading the Chicken Dance. It's a Beautiful Life had just come out and of course, I had to play it…and act like I was enjoying it.

I was playing a house party in somebody's mansion and set up in a balcony overlooking the swank living room. I made the mistake of taking my new gf with me on the gig. We were at the can't-keep-your-hands-off-each-other stage and naturally we couldn't keep our hands off each other.

In addition, I found later, the customers below could see more than I thought they could see and apparently were Ace of Base fans. This fact alone would have been enough for me to act up. Remember, by that time I had had my work in front of millions of people, and here I was playing shitty pop tunes for rich assholes.

The fooling around was bad enough, but when I played It's a Beautiful Life, perhaps the nadir of that kind of song, I performed a hilarous lip-sync of the song for my gf. The gf got hysterical.

The DJ boss called me on Monday and told me he had to refund the money and wouldn't pay me for the gig. He kept me on tho.

Such a dream, whoa-ah-ohh-ohhh
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THE FUTURE OF ARTS FUNDING IN THE PORTLAND METRO AREA, FOR REAL

The Mayor, several politicians, arts organization heads and Thomas Lauderdale were on stage at PCS last week for a couple hours of talking strategy with a full house. What's most shocking is how little public funding the arts gets here in comparison with other states.
There is plan for fixing that. Here's the whole hearing. I wish I could have had the oppourtunity to FF through the dull parts, but you do.


Creative Capacity Town Hall from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

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ONE OF THESE DAYS PORTLAND IS GOING TO LOOK BACK AT THESE PRODUCTIONS, MARVEL AT THEIR EXCELLENCE AND WONDER JUST HOW THE HELL THEY DID IT

You know what, this doesn't need any embellishment from me. Just go.

 
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The Wonderland Circus
A mad tea-party spectacle relating the adventures of Alice. Fridays and Saturdays
April 24th & 25th & May 1st & 2nd at The Bossanova Ballroom

To the Looking-Glass world it was Alice that said
‘I’ve a sceptre in hand, I’ve a crown on my head;
Let the Looking-Glass creatures, whatever they be,
Come and dine with the Red Qeen, the White Queen, and me!’


With a Cast of the Finest Acrobats, Jugglers, Dancers, and Musicians Any World Has Ever Known with live musical score by The Trashcan Joe Orchestra featuring Shoehorn, And, Representing the Wanderlust Circus:

JESSICA HOAGE as Alice, KAZUM as The Card Army, The AWOL DANCE COLLECTIVE, LEAPIN' LOUIE LICHTENSTEIN as The White Rabbit, SID SIMPATICO , J'MIAH , & SCARLETT ROSE of March Fourth Marching Band,CHERRY as The Queen of Hearts, CHARLIE BROWN as The White Knight and The Walrus, HENRIK BOTHE as The Red Knight and The Carpenter, SADIE LaGUERRE as The Red Queen, TANA THE TATTOOED LADY as The White Queen, J LIEBER as The March Hare, TOMMY TWIMBLE as The Doormouse, MR. CREATURE as The Caterpillar, KEPH SHERIN as The Cheshire Cat,

and
WILLIAM BATTY (Noah Mickens) as The Mad Hatter

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. MINGUS



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PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOU'RE MUSICAL PLEASURE IS

Ben Darwish writes:

I have new info regarding Progression, the session I host every last Sunday at Someday Lounge. I started it because I wanted a place for musicians to culminate and play new and improvised music; a departure from "standard" jam sessions. We've had some really good nights but the last couple months have been thin as far as turnout goes. Progression only happens once a month-- not every week like most jam sessions. That's why we always need a good turnout and an enthusiastic group of people willing to make this commitment. If the turnout this month is short of spectacular, we won't be able to continue the session! So mark your calendars for April 26th and keep the scene alive!

If you've never been, please come and watch before you ask to sit in. The music is sometimes very advanced and while I will give everyone a chance, they may not always be invited back. This is not meant to discourage you from coming, but rather a way to motivate you to get better.

This is not only an event for the performers but also for the music enthusiast. So come hang out and enjoy the music!


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ATTENTION ROOTS ROCKERS

Artist/musican Ron Rogers' band the Atonements will be playing the Aladdin Theater Friday April 24th at 8PM, doing an opening set for Texan James McMurtry and theHeartless Bastards. James is an award winning Americana artist and songwriter. In 2007 he won best album, Childish Things, and song, We Can't Make It Here, at the Americana Music Awards in Nashville.

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APPOLOGY :

Sorry this is so short. Once I'm able to tell you about the project I'm working on, you'll know why.

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Pass this blog on!
…and leave a comment!!!


Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!

Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

My KMHD Playlist from Last Saturday Night 4-18-09

10:00 Wayne Horvitz/ Duke/ Monologue
10:02 Venissa Santi/ Talkin' To You/ Bienvenida
10:05 Straight No Chaser feat Jimmy Ford & David Vest/ Anthropology/ unreleased
10:11 Andrew Oliver's Kora Band/ Fanta Theme/ Just 4 U
10:17 Fly/ Sky & Country/ same
10:28 Bill Henderson/ Royal Garden Blues/ Live at the Vic
10:32 Mike Doolin & Davie Martin/ Sumb Thumb/ Reflection
10:37 World Sax Quartet/ You Don't Know Me/ Breath of Life
10:45 Quadraphonnes/4951 Walnut/ Music to Watch Girls By
10:52 Toque Libre/ Creame/ unreleased
10:56 Rachel Taylor Brown/ Bruce Wayne's Bastard Son/ Susan Storm's Ugly Sister

11:00 John Hassell/ Last Night the Moon Came…/ same
11:09 Diana Krall/ Quiet Nights/ same
11:13 David Ornette Cherry/ Pick Up My Life/ Organic Journey
11:25 Sound for the Organization of Society/ Thirty Sox/Ode to 69/ Poem of the Underground
11:32 Industrial Jazz Group/ Theme from the City of Angles/ City of Angles
11:36 Amadi & Miriam/ Ja Te Kipfe/ Welcome to Mali
11:41 Conjure/ Minnie the Moocher/ Cab Callaway Stands In for the Moon
11:45 Bob Thompson/ Early-Bird Whirly-Bird/ Cocktail Mix Vol.1
11:48 Edmundo Ros/ Old ManRiver (Mambo)/ Porgy & Bess & Showboat
11:56 Esquivel/ Speak Low/ Other Worlds, Other Sounds

THE BAR
12:04 Tom Waits/ The Piano Has Been Drinking/ Small Change
12:08 Roy Brown/ Saturday Night/ Complete Imperial Recordings
12:10 Champion Jack DuPree/ Under Your Hood/ CJD & his Blues Band
12:14 Doctor Red/ Boogie Disease #2/ Savage Kick
12:17 Andre Williams/ Mother Fuyer/ Greasy
12:18 H-Bomb Ferguson/ Bookie's Blues/ Blues Again
12:10 Travis "Moonchild" Haddix/ Problem With That/ Milk & Break
12:23 Shirley Johnson/ Take Your Foot Off My Back/ Blues Attack
12:32 James Brown/ Think/ same
12:34 Joe Tex/ I Gotcha!/ greatest hits
12:36 AWB/ Pick Up the Pieces/ Instrumental Hits
12:39 The Meters/ Pungee/ Fundamentally Funky
12:42 Thievery Corporation feat Chuck Brown/ The Numbers Game/ Radio Retaliation
12:46 Brass Construction/ Movin' On/ Instrumental Hits
12:49 Ike & Tina Turner/ What You Don't See (Is Better Yet)/ Nuff Said
12:52 Sly & the Family Stone/ Let Me Have It All/ Fresh
12:58 Isley Brothers/ Liquid Love/ Family Funk

1:03 Impressions/ Keep On Pushing/ same
1:06 Al Green feat Anthony Hamilton/ Lay It Down/ same
1:10 Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes/ If You Don't Know Me by Now/ 1972
1:13 Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell/ Ain't No Mountain High Enough/ Ultimate Motown Remix Project
1:22 Isaac Hayes & Dionne Warwick/ Medley/ A Man and a Woman
1:36 Gnarls Barkley/ Crazy/ St. Elsewhere
1:43 Vagabond Opera/ Welcome to the Opera/ The Zeitgeist Beckons
1:46 Raymond Scott/ Space Mystery/ Manhattan
1:47 David Byrne & Brian Eno/ America is Waiting/ My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
1:51 Tom Waits/ Heart Attack & Vine/ same
1:56 Rachel Taylor Brown/ Ambush/Reduviidae/ Susan Storm's Ugly Sister

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Blues Festival's Headliners, Hear Phil Baker 's Interview and a Track from Rachel Taylor Brown's New Album

While listening to Tina Britt from her long lost album Blue All the Way from 1968. Very little info on her. Nobody seems to know where she is. Appears to have been spotted in the recent past at age 67. Even Wikipedia and Allmusic.com have virtually nothing. Nice soul album tho.

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ETTA JAMES AND SHARON JONES TO CAUSE WILLAMETTE TSUNAMI AT THE 2009 WATERFRONT BLUES FESTIVAL

If your heart can take it, those two will be among the headliners at the summer's party at the rive, July 2-5. Johnny Winter, Magic Slim and the Teardropw, Sonny Landreth, Robben Ford, Geno Delafose and many others….despite not having the resources it had before the crash.

I will be in the front row….unless I'm MCing for (hint hint)… the Battle of the Bones, two New Orleans bands dominated by trombones (duh). Mark Mullins and Bonerama AND Big Sam's Funky Nation. Sam used to be with the Dirty Dozen.

I'll never forget seeing Bonerama at Tipitina's and Big Sam at the Funky Butt on Rampart St. (he used to own that club with his sister).

Don't forget, it's a benefit for the Oregon Food Bank.

Can it be tomorrow, please

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RACHEL TAYLOR BROWN IS GOING TO BLOW YOUR MIND….AGAIN

Her new album, Susan Storm's Ugly Sister and Other Saints and Superheroes won't be out till June but I thought you'd like to hear a track from it. BTW, Susan Storm is the superhero, not to be confused with Portland's superhero Susan Storm Large.

Rachel says, "june 7, mississippi studios: me & my band plus extra special backup guests, roxy consort & oregon renaissance band...and filling out the bill most excellently, ages (tim perry's new band) and leigh marble. there will be chairs! chairs for every bottom! and also $5 cds."

Here's Gionvanni Bernardone (St. Francis):



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SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RECORD STORE DAY

Saturday is Music Millennium's 2nd Annual Record Store Day and they say it will be more fun that last years! They're going to have over 100 special limited releases for sale including Dylan, Blitzen Trapper, Pretenders, Leonard Cohen.

They will be giving a free gift bag of music to all who attend plus free refreshments. We love that free thing. Queensryche will be signing at noon and there will be a preview of the new Bob Dylan at 2pm. Mary Flower and Lloyd Jones perform live for the first time at 3pm. Paula Sinclair celebrates the release of her new CD with a performance at 5pm.

What's not to like? 10am till 10pm.

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THOMAS LAUDERDALE WILL BE HAPPY TO KNOW THAT PM'S BASSIST PHIL BAKER DID NOT SPILL A SINGLE BEAN ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM ON MY KMHD SHOW

But you can hear what he did say right here:



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YOU WON'T FIND ANY BETTER PLAYING THIS WEEKEND THAN THIS

Gordon Lee's Rough jazz and Andew Oliver's Sextet will be at Jimmy Mak's on Friday. And just 10 bucks. Trust me on this. Get reservations.

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NOTHING NEW ON THE KMHD FRONT BUT………..

I know I was taking a chance writing about how dysfunctional the station has been, and I hesitate to say this, but I'm very grateful for the comments, emails, tweets, facebook messages and face-to-face conversations (they still happen). Not a single one has been negative. Thanks for your support of the issue. I am especially grateful for the musicians who have come up to me and shaken my hand and thanked me for writing it.

People really care about this stuff.


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WHY THE SPIRIT OF NEW ORLEANS WILL NEVER DIE

The description: Glenn David Andrews leads friends in an open jam. If you had a drum. you would have been invited to play.



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Pass this blog on!
…and leave a comment!!!


Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!

Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com

Monday, April 13, 2009

My KMHD Playlist from Last Saturday Night 4/11/09

10:00 PM Wayne Horvitz/ Duke/ Monologue
10:02 PM Jarrett, DeJohnette, Peacock/ Shaw Nuff/ Yesterdays
10:05 PM Drew Shoals/ Friendly Fire/ The Greatest Haven't Been Born Yet
10:12 PM Phil Baker/ Tippin'/ After Hours
10:17 PHIL BAKER INTERVIEW
10:22 PM Pink Martini/ Cante e Dance/ Hey Eugene!
PHIL BAKER SET
10:33 PM Joni Mitchell/ The Dry Cleaner from Des Moines/ Shadows and Light
10:38 PM Wayne Shorter/ Lilia/ Native Dancer
10:46 PM Weather Report/ In a Silent Way/ 8:30
10:49 PM Miles Davis/ In a Silent Way/ In a Silent Way

11:11 PM Andrew Oliver Kora Band/ The Funnell and the Vaccuum Cleaner/ Just 4 U 11:16 PM Salif Keita/ Madan/
11:21 PM Toque Libre/ Marinela/ ReverbNation/ unreleased
11:29 PM Oregon/ Catching Up/ 1000 Kilometers
11:37 PM Imogen Heap/ Hide and Seek
11:42 PM Vagabond Opera/ Tango Till You're Sore/ The Zeitgeist Bekons
11:50 PM David Carroll/ Hell's Bells/ Cocktail Mix Vol.1
11:53 PM Esquivel/ Spellbound/ Exploring New Sounds in Stereo
11:56 PM Smitty/ Blue Velvet/ Upstairs at Larry's

12:08 AM Tom Waits/ The Piano Has Been Drinking/ Small Change
12:10 AM Roy Brown/ Saturday Night/ Complete Imperial Recordings
12:12 AM Bull Moose Jackson/ Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me/ Big Fat Mamas are Back in Style
12:15 AM Wynonie Harris/ Shake that Thing/ Gabes Dirty Blues
12:18 AM Champion Jack DuPree/ Shim Sham Shimmy/ Red Robin Presents
12:20 AM The Toppers/ (I Love to Play the Piano) Let Me Bang Your Box/ Risque Rhythm
12:23 AM Freddy King/ Use What You Got/ Gabe's Dirty Blues
12:25 AM The Swallows/ It Ain't the Meat/ Risque Rhythm
12:28 AM Eddie Vinson/ Featherbed Mama/ Battle of the Blues
12:31 AM Bull Moose Jackson/ Big Fat Mamas are Back In Style Again/ same
12:34 AM Franie Ford/ Roberta/ best of
12:39 AM The Beginning of the End/ Funky Nassau Part 1/ Heavy Soul
12:43 AM Fabulous Counts/ Dirty Red/ Jan Jan
12:44 AM Tina Britt/ Sookie Sookie/ Blue All the Way
12:48 AM Betty Wright/ If You Think You Got Soul/ Hard To Stop
12:50 AM Brothers Johnson/ Get the Funk Out My Face/ best of
12:52 AM Andre Williams. The Dealer, ThePeeler and the Stealer/ Black Godfather

1:00 AM Liquid Soul/ Soul/ Evolution
1:03 AM James Brown/ Super Bad/ Soul 1970
1:07 AM Grandmaster Flash/ The Message/ same
1:13 AM Parliament/ P Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up)/ Uncut Funk
1:19 AM People's Choice/ Do It Anyway You Wanna/ Best of Gamble and Huff
1:23 AM Gap Band/ Oops Up Side Your Head/ Essential Funk
1:26 AM Meters/ Keep On Marching/ Fundamentally Funky
1:29 AM Marvin Gaye/ Got to Give It Up (Pt. 1)/ Every Great Motown Hit
1:33 AM The Spinners/ Mighty Love/ Spinners Live
1:43 AM Phillip Glass/ Changing Opinion/ Songs from Liquid Days
1:53 AM Rachel Taylor Brown/ Giovanni Berardone (St. Francis)/ Susan Storm's Ugly Sister

Sunday, April 12, 2009

A Few Thoughts on My Last Post on KMHD

First of all, thanks for all the emails and calls and comments about the last KMHD post.

I wanted to add that there are reasons why the KMHD DJs kept this in the family. Believe me, many times I've wanted to write the last post but I didn't for these reasons:

ONE:

I didn't want to jepardize the station fund raising. Around 75% of the operating funds for KMHD come from listeners. If I had blown the whistle on the scandal of how the music was not getting to us, I was afraid that listeners would stop pledging.

Since the DJs were taking care of business on our own (many of us deal directly with labels and distributors), any reduction in funds from our listeners could have seriously harmed the existence of the station.

Once OPB takes over operations, not only won't that be a concern, but I believe the good things that OPB brings to the station will actually help fund raising.

TWO:

At the Mt Hood Community College board meeting last Wednesday, several DJs spoke out about how badly the station was run, how the paid staff (with the exception of Calvin Walker) was incompetent, disrespectful to and and at odds with the DJs.

This seemed to shock those in the room who were unaware of the situation at the station. The college president and JoAnn Zahn knew and, although I can't confirm it, I'm pretty sure it's why they took the station in the direction of OPB.

So now that the DJs publicly opened the door to the issue, I proceeded with the story.

Even though one KMHD DJ, commenting on my last post, said that this wasn't news and that everybody already knew it, he is dead wrong. When I told several music industry insiders in Portland about it, people who know what's what, they were shocked.

Should we have raised these issues before. Maybe, maybe not. Since at least two of the staff jobs are union protected, and two former general managers were unable to oust Gomez, most likely nothing would have been done to fix the problem.

It was risky on my part to write that last post, but I think you expect that from me.

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Shocking KMHD Story You've Never Heard

In the past few weeks I've hinted around about KMHD's "toxic assests." Now I will let you know why the vast majority of KMHD DJs are in favor of the move to OPB.

The number one toxic asset is Greg Gomez, KMHD's music director, often called "music preventor." His job is to have a good relationship with labels worldwide and musicians here in Oregon; to make sure he gets everything that's released in the jazz and blues world, listen to it and then make available to the DJ's the new albums he deems the station should play. After a suitable period in the "New Releases" shelves in the studio, his job is to add albums to the station studio library and the computer database so DJ’s can find them on the shelves.

These things he has not done.

Two of his biggest failures are keeping the station library stocked with music and not just having poor relationships with jazz labels, but having hostile ones.

The fact is that over two years went by without Gomez adding even ONE album to the station library.

I know that sounds unbelievable. Believe it. Below you will read his own admission of that fact.

When I started at KMHD in April of 2007 I assumed that when he removed albums from the "New Releases" shelves a percentage of them would be added to the library, at least the ones deserving. For instance, Portland trombonist Stan Bock had a wonderful new album in the new release shelf when I arrived at KMHD. After a month or so, it disappeared and never showed up in the main library. I kept wondering why.

Not long after I got there I was unable to find a lot of albums I knew had come out in the past year or so. I never understood why. I searched for the Grammy-nominated album by Portland's Nancy King and pianist Fred Hersch. It wasn't in the library…a year after its release. After talking with several DJs, I found out that there had been no new additions since 2006.

Yeah, it blew my mind.

A DJ told me, "Oh, I think he just keeps them in his office."

Just before last year's Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, I found Gomez had put some festival-related albums for airplay in a box in the studio. When I went through it , I found the Nancy King album, with the new release sticker still on the cover.

I began to inquire why it was in that box and not in the library and available for us to play

There is a KMHD email listerv, pretty much the only way KMHD DJs can communicate since, with the exception of Calvin Walker, Gomez and Mary Burlingame kept their distance, never communicating on any meaningful level. On August 6, 2008, I sent this:

Is there a good reason why the Nancy King/Fred Hersch album was not available to us for nearly two years and then suddenly showed up in the MHJF box? It was released in 2006, and according to your email, after three months was locked away in your office and unavailable for us to play.

I think we're interested in how your department works.

I don't have to go into detail about what a treasure Nancy King is, or how wonderful the album is. Is the fact that it has never been added an indication that you do not agree that it is worthy?

Many times, I've perused the library on a Saturday night wanting to play Nancy's album only to find it not there. I wondered if it had been stolen. I assumed it had been stolen because it's inconceivable to me that it wouldn't have been added to the library. When the original NR copy, with the playdate sticker on the front, turned up in the MHJF box I was astonished. I remain astonished.

Is Stan Bock's fine album also locked in your office? What will become of Thara Memory's? What others are also unavailable?

You have not addressed why this and many other albums are locked in your office, and why so few have been added to the library.

Is there a list of those albums released in the past couple of years which you placed in NR but which have or have not been added to the library?


On August 9, Gomez wrote this astounding reply:

We’ve all heard the term multi-tasking and I think it’s great that people can do this. At times I find myself even doing two or three things at once, but rarely, because I am more of a prioritizing kind of person. Please understand that in the entire seventeen plus years that I have been working here at KMHD there has never been a shortage of things to do in the area of music. To be a Music Director at a radio station and to be an employee of a radio station the size of KMHD (and please realize that some stations of similar size enjoy a much larger paid staff, thus the work gets spread out so that one person is not singly responsible for the flow of work) means that one will never be truly caught up with all the work. Also, to work in radio is to realize that priorities will change on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. There’s nothing like starting the day thinking you’re going to dive into this project or that project and then you receive an email or phone call asking for your immediate attention on something entirely new.

What this means is,
about two years have passed since a new release has been added to the library. Clearly, adding CD’s to the permanent library has not been high on my priority list. (emphasis mine) Please understand this is not a slight to you or anyone else. I will be adding CD’s to the library. Please look for them in the coming weeks and months.


So Gomez admitted that his main job as music director, placing music in the hands of KMHD DJs to play, was not high priority.

And then he told us where all those albums were.

He wrote:

My usual time frame for keeping a CD in the new releases library is roughly 3 months. When a CD is removed from the new releases library it is stored in my office until I am able to process it for inclusion in the permanent MCR library.


Which was never.

He added this nearly-as-astounding coda to his email of 8/9/08. I can only assume he was being ironic, although it comes out of nowhere:

Will Nancy King be in this batch, I’m not sure…never heard of her. There are a million young sirens out there trying to break into this business. Before she gets too far into the music business, if you know her, tell her to ask the advice of a veteran artist who has been around the block. Someone that got her start singing with her late husband’s band or someone that’s been down heartbreak’s road a time or two and is only now getting her due public recognition for her artistry after years and years of being a “musicians musician.” Someone that is recognized for her scatting ability, her ability to wrap her voice around a lyric to the point that you feel as if she wrote and/or lived every single word she is singing….and probably has. Yeah, help this Nancy King kid out a little bit and tell her to keep her day job. However, if you say she’s good, then I guess so......


That paragraph looks more suspicious in light of something he posted on the listserv this week in one of his infrequent postings about new releases…something he never did before we started raising hell about his lack of competence.

Ben Darwish: Ode To Consumersim (sic)
Ben is a Portland based musician….I believe. Recorded live at Jimmy Mak’s, check out tracks 6, 7 & 8.


I believe? Is he being cute or does he not know?

Something else he wrote in his post of 8/9/09 brings up another problem. First what he said:

There have also been instances where a CD is available at retail but it hasn’t yet been serviced to a radio station. I don’t control when a label/promoter/artist decides to send a CD to KMHD. Another thing to keep in mind when you’re finding out about new releases, even though a label/artist/promoter has shipped the CD to radio and it’s in our grubby little hand’s, there are times when they will ask you to hold off on playing the CD on-air until a certain date has passed for their promotional campaign purposes.


Albums are never available for retail before they're serviced to stations. It just doesn't work that way.

In reality, many label reps have stopped servicing the station because of Gomez' incompetence. Recently, according to one KMHD insider, "Several reps from record companies have written Dr. Ski (President of MHCC) about Greg. Very powerful criticism too." Previously, they’d written and called Doug Sweet, while he was station GM, about the situation. The same source told me that other public radio stations who play jazz told have asked, "What's wrong with KMHD?"

The music director, among other things.

For instance, the 2009 Portland Jazz Festival was built around the 70th Anniversary of Blue Note Records. Here's another shocking example of Gomez incompetence from another KMHD DJ:

Back in February, I was the first on air host to interview Bill Royston, the creative director, for the PDX Jazz Festival, regarding the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records and the tie in to the festival. The station had arranged for several interviews with Mr. Royston to promote the event and for KMHD to derive some underwriting revenue made possible by the fabulous development director Calvin Walker.

I brought all the new and relevant Blue Note CD's from my personal library into the studio as a back for air play, in case Bill did not any or part of the collection with him. Bill was impressed, but I told him they were mine and the station did not have them available for the DJ's to play.

At that point Calvin Walker, the Development Director entered the studio and noticed what a good collection I had assembled for the interview. I said they were mine and KMHD did not have any in the studio. Calvin said that KMHD should be doing that and providing the Blue for all the DJ's, since the Blue Note 70th was so important to KMHD and for the station to out reach to the community. Blue Note chose Portland over ALL others to kickoff this national celebration!

We both shrugged our shoulders knowing the music director was not doing his job. It was reminiscent of communist Russia years ago when on vacation and hearing the same type of futile sighing remarks from the people about their dysfunctional government "not being able to food on the table."

Another example of what the volunteers face on a daily basis at KMHD.

A loyal KMHD On Air Volunteer


At one point, while Gomez was away during the festival and he had still not put out any extra Blue Note albums, two staff members took those much needed albums from Gomez' office and put them in the studio.

Upon his return, he took the box back into his office and locked the door.

One of the interesting things about the MHCC Board meeting on Wednesday was that when some of those concerns were aired, that news seemed to surprise many in attendance.

You might ask why the last two KMHD GMs have not been able to make Gomez do his job. The answer is that the paid KMHD staff does not answer to the GM, but rather have union protected jobs. Don't get me wrong, I'm a strong a union supporter as you'll find, but in this case, the inability of the GMs to either control or fire Gomez (and I know at least one dearly wanted dearly) has materially harmed the station.

JoAnn Zahn, Director, Fiscal Operations, Budget & Auxiliary Servies, who has been caretaker GM of the station since last summer, has done her best, but she is not a broadcast professional. At least she made an effort to interact with the DJs. She listened.

Gomez has been a cancer on the station for many years. After all the hell we raised about the music library, he has put a pitiful couple hundred albums in there over a seven month period. He has never added the Linda Hornbuckle/Janice Scroggins album which came out in July and which I had been playing since June. Terry Robb, the label owner and producer of the album had dropped off at least five copies to Gomez. I emailed Gomez about this repeatedly. Linda and Janice have helped the station many times over the years, number one. And number two it's a great album. Yet Gomez never added it. Who knows why?

When Mary Flower, who has played at KMHD sponsored events, released her latest album, I had to raise holy hell to get Gomez to add it. Eventually it found its way to the blues library shelves, but not without a fight.

Leaving Gomez at MHCC, where he is guaranteed employment, is perhaps at the top of the list in improving the station when it moves over to OPB.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

David Vest on Sun Ra....MHCC Hears Public on the KMHD Deal Weds Night. Peeps On a Pole? Bob Dylan on the Prez!

At the meeting of the Mount Hood Community College Board Wednesday night, they did not approve the transfer of KMHD operations to OPB…but they hadn't planned to. They heard from around 20 speakers including OPB's Steve Bass and the head of the OPB board. Approval may come at their next meeting. Insiders say it may be a done deal already. Not a bad thing.

I will have a full report tomorrow...I'm just behind.

BUT

I wanted to mention the pathetic on-air outcry from one of KMHD's "toxic assests." In real broadcasting, if someone is going to have their show taken away, they are not allowed to be on the air after they find out.

I was doing network talk a while back and the guy who was on before me was notified that it was to be his last show. Unfortunately, management let him know before he did his show. He wailed and weeped and dissed management and begged listeners to save his show. Of course, it was futile and humiliating.

A similar thing happened to me when I was doing a talk show on 620am before it was KPOJ. Luckily, the GM knew I was a pro and wouldn't be dumb enough to jepardize my future in broadcasting, so he let me continue to do the show FOR THREE MONTHS after I knew I was going to be replaced by free network programming.

I did it, signed off with some dignity and that was that. That's what pros do.

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DAVID VEST VEST AND SUN RA…BOOGIE-WOOGIE STARCHILD AND KING OF THE UNIVERSE, TOGETHER AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME

Below you will find the first couple hours of my KMHD show from last week. As I have mentioned before, David has become totally immersed (might say obsessed) with and in Le Sun Ra, Sonny Blount, the man who….well listen and let David tell you.

While his appearance at the Paul deLay Scholarship Benefit show at the Aladdin last Sunday wasn't exactly like the premiere of Rite of Spring there were moments of "WTF IS this?" when he was playing Ra.

The most astounding moment of the evening came when he started Ra's Love From Outer Space and morphed into Champion Jack DuPree's Shim Sham Shimmy. Positively heart-stopping, brain-confounding and at the same time making you (well me) laugh right out loud.



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AND ON THE THIRD DAY THERE WAS REV. TONY

Yes, Jesus Presley is doing their annual Easter show this year, at Dante's on….Easter Sunday. Tony says he'll have a "marshmallow peeps eating contest, bobbing for Easter eggs, a visit from the Naughtiest Easter Bunny in the history of Easter, and an evening of music performed by Jesus Presley and Charlie Girl and the Big Package.

Yes, that's a peeps doing a pole dance:

 
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THIS JUST IN…..ANOTHER NEW BAND WITH ANDREW OLIVER IN IT

High Octane Quartet made its debut last night at Mizz Pizz. I wish I could have gone. Tom Garcia is a new saxophonist in town and Ingo Deul was up from L.A. to play. Here's why I wanted to see them. Garcia says:

The High Octane quartet is the coalescence of four very volatile musicians. Whereas some groups form for the sake of creating a homogeneous mass, the High Octane Quartet specifically seeks to emphasize the personality of each musician. While surprise and exploration are key elements of this band, the one thing you can be certain that you will get is the total commitment of these musicians. Buckle up, turbulence is certain.


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DIY HEADLINE….MAKE UP YOUR OWN BOB DYLAN LYRICS REF AND MATCH IT UP WITH BARACK OBAMA

In case you missed it, the Dylan had some stuff to say about the Prez and he wasn't messing around too much:

Bob Dylan on Barack Obama

Bill Flanagan: In that song Chicago After Dark were you thinking about the new President?
Bob Dylan: Not really. It’s more about State Street and the wind off Lake Michigan and how sometimes we know people and we are no longer what we used to be to them. I was trying to go with some old time feeling that I had.
BF: You liked Barack Obama early on. Why was that?
BD: I’d read his book and it intrigued me.
BF: Audacity of Hope?
BD: No it was called Dreams of My Father.
BF: What struck you about him?
BD: Well, a number of things. He’s got an interesting background. He’s like a fictional character, but he’s real. First off, his mother was a Kansas girl. Never lived in Kansas though, but with deep roots. You know, like Kansas bloody Kansas . John Brown the insurrectionist. Jesse James and Quantrill. Bushwhackers, Guerillas. Wizard of Oz Kansas . I think Barack has Jefferson Davis back there in his ancestry someplace. And then his father. An African intellectual. Bantu, Masai, Griot type heritage - cattle raiders, lion killers. I mean it’s just so incongruous that these two people would meet and fall in love. You kind of get past that though. And then you’re into his story. Like an odyssey except in reverse.
BF: In what way?
BD: First of all, Barack is born in Hawaii . Most of us think of Hawaii as paradise – so I guess you could say that he was born in paradise.
BF: And he was thrown out of the garden.
BD: Not exactly. His mom married some other guy named Lolo and then took Barack to Indonesia to live. Barack went to both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. His mom used to get up at 4:00 in the morning and teach him book lessons three hours before he even went to school. And then she would go to work. That tells you the type of woman she was. That’s just in the beginning of the story.
BF: What else did you find compelling about him?
BD: Well, mainly his take on things. His writing style hits you on more than one level. It makes you feel and think at the same time and that is hard to do. He says profoundly outrageous things. He’s looking at a shrunken head inside of a glass case in some museum with a bunch of other people and he’s wondering if any of these people realize that they could be looking at one of their ancestors.
BF: What in his book would make you think he’d be a good politician?
BD: Well nothing really. In some sense you would think being in the business of politics would be the last thing that this man would want to do. I think he had a job as an investment banker on Wall Street for a second - selling German bonds. But he probably could’ve done anything. If you read his book, you’ll know that the political world came to him. It was there to be had.
BF: Do you think he’ll make a good president?
BD: I have no idea. He’ll be the best president he can be. Most of those guys come into office with the best of intentions and leave as beaten men. Johnson would be a good example of that. Nixon, Clinton in a way, Truman, all the rest of them going back. You know, it’s like they all fly too close to the sun and get burned.


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WATCH THE REVOLUTION BEING TELEVISED ON THIS BLOG

For the hell of it, here's Gil Scott-Heron:



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FREE MOVIES AT THE NEW MISS!!

They tell me each night will have food and "possibly drinks that have something to do with the movies shown." Sunday they're showing CB4 and Fear of a Black Hat. Maybe they should serve a Blackhattan.

Full schedule here.

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REPTET'S NOTES FROM THE ROAD

We did our part to save the economy by doing a west coast tour last month, and as I write this, the DOW is up over 200 points! Coincidence? I don't think so. I believe we've turned a corner here folks. But to make sure we don't get weak kneed and lose faith in our capitalist paradigm, Reptet will be doing a brief east coast tour in early May (gigs listed below).

Sandwiched between these two tours we will be doing a show with punk rock legend and founder of SST Records, Greg Ginn! Mr. Ginn is the founding member of Black Flag - he also was their guitarist & wrote most of their songs. In other words, Henry Rollins would be a nobody without Gregg Ginn. He is also the owner of SST Records (a la The Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Sonic Youth, Husker Du and many others), one of the most influential indie labels EVER. He still owns SST, but is now more of a jazz player and his band is called JamBang...kind of a punk/jazz/jam band kinda deal (check em' out here).


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Hey, I have more but time is running out and I've got to get ready to go to the MHCC Board meeting. Plus I'm working on a project that will blow your mind. More in the near future.

Pass this blog on!
…and leave a comment!!!


Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!

Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com

My KMHD Playlist from Last Saturday Night 4/4/09

10:00 Wayne Horvitz/ Duke/ Monologue
10:02 Enrico Rava/ Lady Orlando/ New York Days
10:07 Quadraphonnes/ Monk-Tuno/ Music To Watch Girls By
10:10 David Ornette Cherry/ Going My Way/ Organic Journey
10:16 David Vest/ Monklite In Vermouth/ unreleased

DAVID VEST INTERVIEW (see above post)
10:23 Sun Ra/ Big City Blues/ The Singles
10:36 Sun Ra/ Enlightenment/ Sun Ra's Greatest Hits
10:46 Sun Ra/ Blue Delight/ Blue Delight
10:49 Sun Ra/ Take the A Train/ Solo Piano Recital
11:00 Sun Ra/ Chopan Prelude in A Major Opus 28/ Pleiades
11:13 Sun Ra/ Beautiful Love/ Hours After
11:21 Paul deLay Band/Life Is Just a Struggle/ Last of the Best
11:25 Northwest Blues Pianorama/ I Gotta Love You/ unreleased

11:37 Mary Flower/ Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me/Bywater Dance
11:44 Esquivel/ Whatchamacallit/ Exploring New Sounds In Stereo
11:48 Kaskade/ String of Pearls/ Upstairs at Larry's
11:53 Dick Schory's Percussion & Brass Ensemble/ Hernando's Hideaway

THE BAR

12:03 Tom Waits/ The Piano Has Been Drinking/ Small Change
12:06 Roy Brown/ Saturday Night/ Complete Imperial Recordings
12:08 Wynonie Harris/ Wasn't that Good/ Gabe's Dirty Blues
12:11 The Five Du-Tones/ (Bend Over Let Me See You) Shake a Tail Feather/ Savage Kick
12:13 Bull Moose Jackson/ I Want a Bow-Legged Woman/ Gabe's Dirty Blues
12:16 Julia Lee/ My Man Stands Out/ Risque Rhythm
12:18 Champion Jack DuPree/ Walkin' Blues/ Gabe's Dirty Blues
12:20 Upsetters/ The Strip/ Las Vegas Grind
12:23 Mar-Keys/ Last Night/ best of
12:25 March Fourth Marching Band/ Space Hole/ 5th Anniversary Live
12:31 Big Chief Bo Dollis and Rebirth Brass Band/ Shoo-Fly/ Louisiana Spice
12:39 King Floyd/ Groove Me/ Heavy Soul
12:41 Albert King/ Steve Cropper/ Pops Staples/ Opus de Soul/ Jammed Up Together
12:47 Sam & Dave/ I Don't Need Nobody (To Tell Me About My Baby)/ best of
12:49 Marvin Gaye/ That's the Way Love Is/ Every Great Motown Hit
12:53 Brothers Johnson/ Takes One to Be Alone/ best of
12:57 Brook Benton/ Shoes/ Heavy Soul

1:02 Soul Vaccination/ Souled Out/ Souled Out at Jimmy Mak's
1:06 Parliament/ Aqua-Boogie (etc)/ Uncut Funk
1:11 Tabu Ley Rochereau/ Gange, Gange, Perdu, Perdu/ Loyenghe
1:18 Toots & the Maytals/ Sweet and Dandy/ The Harder They Come
1:21 Electric Light Orchestra/ Daybreaker/ Instrumental Classics (a mistake)
1:25 Four Tops/ Gira Gira (Reach Out I'll Be There)/ Motown in a Foreign Language
1:28 Otis Redding/ These Arms of Mine/ Otis in Europe
1:31 Percy Mayfield/ Please Send Me Someone To Love/ Walking on a Tightrope
1:34 Ray Charles/ I Want a Little Girl/ best of
1:37 Percy Mayfield/ Walking on a Tightrope/ same
1:40 Stylistics/ You Are Everything/ Stylistics
1:44 Albert King/ The Very Thought of You
1:47 Anita Baker/ Soul Inspiration/ Composition
1:53 Stevie Wonder/ All In Love Is Fair/ Innervisions

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Cherry Pickings, Nightmares at Mt. Tabor, Liv and Prince, Latest from KMHD/OPB

While listening to David Ornette Cherry's new album….not out yet, but I'll play some of it on my KMHD show on Saturday night. You'll be surprised, very very happily surprised!

Sorry I'm late with this week's blog. You don't want to know.

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SPEAKING OF MR. C

He was out of town on one of his world journeys for a few months. Since he's been back he's been busy. His CD release is Thursday, April 16 at Jimmy Mak's and he has booked a late Saturday night jazz series called "Round Midnight" from 11:30pm to 1:30am at the Curious Comedy Theater.

A portion of the $8 admission fee will support jazz and art programming at Jefferson High School, where David teaches after school on Mondays and Wednesdays.

He says, "When I was first running around Portland, I realized that every club that had live music was just closing down around 11:30 p.m., except for the bars. This is an alternative for late night cats who want to interact with live music at a performance spot with a positive vibe."

This means I'll never get to hear any of it but ………

April 18: Impressions of Energy, featuring pianist and internationally traveled jazz composer David Ornette Cherry with special guest drummer Ron Steen. David, who has been groomed by some of the great jazz artists of our time, including his godfather Ornette Coleman and avant-garde trumpeter and father Don Cherry, the inventor of “world music,” writes, arranges and improvises music that blends the thick, sweet textures from David’s rich jazz, classical, African, and world music background.


April 25: Farnell Newton Project, featuring trumpeter Farnell “Bleek” Newton, who performs regularly with Klezmocracy, Mel Brown, Thara Memory, Cana Son, Johnny Polanco, Ricardo Lemvo, Conjunto Allegre and Darrell Grant to name a few. Farnell recently recorded his debut CD, co-led with pianist Marcus Reynolds.

He has bands booked through the end middle of June. This is very exciting. He's got some of the best players in town, and a wide variety of styles. David is a jewel, an asset to Portland that I hope more people appreciate.

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MORE LIVE JAZZ YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT

Right under our noses, one of the best and least publicized spots for hearing excellent playing is at the Three Degrees at the RiverPlace Hotel on the waterfront south of the Hawthorne Bridge. It's spsonsored by the Portland Jazz Festival, it's FREE and it's called, oddly enough PDXJazz@RiverPlace...from 8-11pm on Friday and Saturday nights.

It's a fine mix of ages and styles. Gordon Lee is there Friday and Dan Balmer Saturday. Next weekend it's Ben Darwish on Friday and a rare appearance by the Michelle Medler Trio on Saturday. (She's a Quadraphonne.) They're booked thru the middle of June, too.

So don't you tell me you can't go hear great music in Portland. I mght slap ya.

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THE NEWS FROM KMHD/OPB REMAINS THE SAME

OPB CEO Steve Bass hosted a group of KMHD DJs on Thursday night in the TV studio at OPB. Although he fleshed out some things, what I reported last week remains the same. They don't want to blow up the station. They want to keep the station pretty much intact with some tweaking. Tweaking is welcome.

Although the boards of Mt. Hood Community College and OPB have to approve the deal, believe me….it's a done deal. OPB is building the new KMHD studio and even has sign on the studio window saying, future home of KMHD

The three current paid staff at KMHD are likely to stay at MHCC. Two of the three are toxic assets and nobody is unhappy to see them go.

KMHD appears to be headed for a renaissance.

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DON'T FORGET "REMEMBER ME" THE PAUL DELAY MEMORIAL CONCERT ON SUNDAY

....at the Aladdin with all kinds of great bands and most of the people who played in Paul's bands.

Headlining the celebration is award-winning bluesman, James "Icepick" Harman. Over his 40-plus year career, Harman has released nearly 30 recordings, earned multiple Blues Music Awards, and performed with many of the world's greatest blues artists. Harman was a friend of and frequent collaborator with deLay on Mark Hummel's Harmonica Blow-off tours. Harman will be backed by former Paul deLay Band members Peter Dammann on guitar, Dave Kahl on bass, and Jeff Minnick on drums. The concert also features a stellar lineup of local blues talent, including Janice Scroggins, Linda Hornbuckle, DK Stewart, Lloyd Jones, and Franck Goldwasser. They will be joined by organist Louis Pain, drummer Kelly Dunn, bassist Don Campbell, and The Heart Attack Horns. Curtis Salgado and Alan Hagar will perform as a duo. Former deLay Band pianist, David Vest, who has relocated to Victoria, British Columbia, will perform with The Willing Victims.


David Vest is going to be a guest on my KMHD show Saturday night. He is going to play some Sun Ra at the concert. I can't wait to hear that...and see the expressions on the faces of the audience.

Proceeds are going to establish a scholarship in Paul's name at Ethos.

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DIANE RUSSELL'S PORTRAIT OF GATEMOUTH BROWN INSTALLED ON HIS GRAVESITE

 
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….on Tuesday in Orange, Texas. She says, "The headstone is made of black granite, and stands over five feet tall with the shape of Gate's signature Firebird Guitar in the center. The 8x10 ceramic inlay of my painting is just to the right, along with a quote by Gatemouth. " Find out more here.

She has a show up at The Pines Tasting Room in Hood River and she'll be showing at the Silverton Jazz Festival, May 9, the Mt. Tabor Art Walk, May 17-17 and the Lake Oswego Art Festival, June 26-28.

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BYE BYE, I'M LEAVING. WAIT, NO I'M NOT

Torch singer Karen Maria Capo, often heard at Tony Starlight's was going to move to L.A. She even played her farewell gig. And then…..

You've heard the rumors; I was offered a great new job in Los Angeles! And I thought ... hmmm, I have no job, I have no man, and I just lost my house, so I'm already packed! A no brainer!
Then, I got offered a really good job here! Not as good as the one in LA, but ...it's here! hat to do, what to do .....
Then so many people came out to my show at Tony Starlight's and showed me love.
And those who couldn't be there called and emailed and showed me more love, and my massage clients begged me not to leave them and I knew I had to stay!


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BOGVILLED MY MIND

One benefit of being late with the blog this week is that I can tell you that the preformance of Bogville at Mt. Tabor Pub was spectular. I didn't need to go to sleep to have a nightmare, the play/musical/performance was a living nightmare. In the good way.

It was set in the town of Bogville, some sort of turn of the 20th Century hamlet of zombies and cruelty. It had elements of what you could only call Victorian, maybe Elizabethan Butoh. The costumes were spectacular, the music discordant and also zombie-like. The song celebrating madness at the end of the first act was enough to set off long dormant drug flashbacks.

Most surprising was the singing of Noah Mickens. I've never heard him sing like that before…almost operatic. Not to say he hasn't before, but it was new to me. His crimson hair I've seen before. He played the cruel (mayor?). I dunno.

Ran into Erick Stern of the handlebar moustache and Vagabond Opera outside during the break between acts. They have a new album coming in May which he promised to get to me so I can play it on the radio. While we were talking, Soraiah, Portland's favorite Tuvan throat singer, walked up to us more as Enrique than Soriah. Always nice to catch up with him.

What's funny is that all these artists who perform dark works are mostly really nice people. I'm not sure they want you to know that, but I hope they do.

I hear that Bogville may come back again. Don't miss it.

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YOU WEREN'T LOSING YOUR MIND, THAT WAS LIV WARFIELD ON LENO SINGING WITH PRINCE

Let's hope this is the big break she deserves.

Watch it:




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BOIDS AND BLUES

This weekend on the coast, there will be the Pacific City Birding and Blues Festival sponsored in part by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Workshops from whale watching to bird photography and guided hikes are part of it.

Lloyd Jones, Rob Richter and the Ty Curtis band are playing.

More here.

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IN CASE YOU NEVER SAW HIM….HERE'S RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK

Just for the hell of it.



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KEEPING UP YOUR RESOLVE DURING THESE TOUGH TIMES

Made me think of an old 50s piece of schtick.
Eddie Lawrence the old philosopher:




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Listen to my KMHD show on Saturday nights 10pm-2am. Jazz till 12 and then The Bar opens at Midnight! Studio line 503-661-8900…call me sometime, it gets lonely out there!

Email me at tvdpdx@gmail.com