Oregon Music News

January 22, 2016 In the coffeeshop with me today is guitarist, composer…and a lot more…Ryan Meagher. The coffeeshop, as usual is World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. Ryan has just gotten back from New York and I’ll be asking about what he did there. He’s working on a new album, he’s one of the leaders of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble as well as its label PJCE Records, he’s one of the founders of the Montavilla Jazz Festival and he recently was named Editor of the Jazz Society of Oregon’s JazzScene Magazine. Although, over the years, our conversations always turn to baseball (he’s a Giants fan), I’m going to try to keep this one on music. I don’t think I’ll be completely successful but I’ll try. He’s been in Portland just a few years, but he has truly made his mark since he arrived and it’s safe to say he’s a major player these days.

We're at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation…now in our second year. Today Pete Krebs is in the coffeeshop with me. Maybe you knew him as a Rock Star with the band Hazel and with Elliot Smith. Or maybe when he did a one-eighty and founded a Gypsy Jazz band in the late 1990s. The delicious Swing of Stolen Sweets followed that, followed by Honky-Tonk and country. His band the Earnest Lovers is tearing it up currently…Earnest as in Ernest Tubb, you know. Along with Pete Krebs and his Portland Playboys. He’s one of the most interesting people on earth and that’s not a beer commercial. It’s been quite a trip for Mr. Krebs. Let’s meet him.

January 7, 2016 It's time for another OMN coffeeshop conversation. And the coffeeshop is World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan. With me in the coffeeshop is Josh Malm Tree leader of Redwood Son. Sometimes he IS Redwood Son…he’ll explain. But I have something else to explain. After checking out the recording gear before we started and making sure it worked, I went ahead like I always do. My conversation with Josh was amazing, and certainly one-of-a-kind, not to be duplicated. When I played it back after we were finished I found audio problems which are not fixable. I was going to cancel using it but then I thought, hell…Josh was too good not to use it. So here it is...listen closely because the audio truly sucks. It’s worth the trouble.

December 17, 2015 Back in World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan today for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. I’m Tom D’Antoni and with me today is Darka Dusty who is singer, songwriter, pianist, accordionist, producer and with her husband Miri Stebivka run Mirifoto, a commercial photography company known for their photos of musicians. She was previously one half of Darka & Slavko (in Ukrainian Дарка й Славко), which was a duo known for performing Ukrainian music. She was one of the founders of the Vulva Underground, known around here for their name, first of all…and for their all-female musical tributes to people like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Simon and Garfunkel. She’s brash and funny and talented. Before we started rolling she did an impression of both Rocky and Bullwinkle, at which point I turned on the recorder.

December 11, 2015 As usual, we’re at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. With me today is someone you’ve probably been reading for…well, decades. He’s best known as a Jazz Journalist but he’s also known for recording pieces he’s written to the accompaniment of some of our greatest Jazz musicians. He’s Lynn Darroch, he’s also a KMHD stablemate of mine, and for a while we were both in the hunt for assignments at the Oregonian. He has a new book on the way, it’s called Rhythm in the Rain - Jazz in the Pacific Northwest." We’ll hear him read from it.

December 2, 2015 Welcome back to World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. That's where we do these Coffeeshop Conversations. With me today is Blues/Soul/Gospel singer LaRhonda Steele. She’s one of our best, having come up in Norman Sylvester’s band…as have so many singers…sung backup behind the best and now taken her place in the spotlight with a new album with keyboardist Louis (King Louie) Pain. They have a new album out called Rock Me Baby…we’ll hear some of that. We’ll also hear about the part of her career that keeps her the busiest, and one side of the Oregon music scene we hear about the least….Gospel music.

November 19, 2015 We are at World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation, constantly raining edition. This time we’ve got singer Monica Nelson here. She was in the historic 80’s punk band The Obituaries here in Portland. She left Portland destroyed and in ruins and moved to New York where she lived for twenty years. She returned a few years ago and now leads Monica Nelson and the Highgates. I’m pretty sure we’re going to find out what she means by a “Punk Rock frame of mind.”

November 12, 2015 Hi there welcome back to World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan for another Oregon Music News Coffeeshop Conversation. With me today is photojournalist John Rudoff. You have seen his work in Oregon Music News pretty much since we started in 2009. He’s not only a music photojournalist, having come back recently from covering the Syrian refugee tragedy on the Isle of Lesbos. You have seen his photos of Storm Large. Everyone has. He has probably taken more shots of Storm than anyone else on earth. You’ve also probably seen him shooting photos at a concert you have attended. He did all this while maintaining a parallel career as a cardiologist. It’s fun to let you meet our OMN family once in a while.

November 4, 2015 We're back in the coffeeshop this week. That coffeeshop being World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. With me is Blues singer Karen Lovely who has a new album called Ten Miles of Bad Road…which sounds like the title of a Blues song because it is. A lot of people are saying this is her best album yet…and I’m one of them. We’ll play a little bit from it at some point. It’s up on the charts, very gratifying for her because it was long in the making…long and hard. We’ll hear all about it.

October 21, 2015 After a week off while we ramped up for the new site, we’re back at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portand for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. With me is bassist/composer Jaime Leopold. You may know him from his current group Short Stories. If you’re real good, you know him from the legendary Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. Jaime was on the scene in San Francisco for all those hippie hijinks…he knew Neal Cassady, Kesey, and nearly all of the other luminaries. It was Cassady who once said, "“We are actually fourth dimensional beings in a third dimensional body inhabiting a second dimensional world!” Jaime even spent a little time in the pokey back then for helping distribute what we in Oregon can now buy in stores. He quit music for a long time, but is back on the scene. Stories? He’s got them.

October 8, 2015 Hi there, we’re back in the coffeeshop this week…that being World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. This time…in the days before he will be inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame…drummer Brian Foxworth is with us. A member of the Curtis Salgado band for the past five years, also a member of the Roseland Hunters where he shows off his vocal skills…he plays with a lot of people and constantly. He also plays in church…a lot. And he’s helping put together a reunited, rejuvenated version of the famed Portland Soul band Pleasure. And that isn’t half of it.

October 2, 2015 We're not actually in the coffeeshop this week, we're on Skype with David Vest who after he left Portland for Victoria, B.C. became the best Blues pianist in Canada, winning the coveted Maple Blues Award in that category two out of the past three years. Before he moved to Canada, and even after, he was the piano player in Paul deLay’s band. David is not only a Blues and boogie woogie player, he can play just about anything including Sun Ra and Thelonious Monk. In fact he did an all Monk show in Canada not long ago. He’s a political writer too. Most of the time, when we talk, the subect is baseball, but not today. He’s working on a new album…we’ll find out what we can about that. So now from all points south, including Alabama, where he was born, and Houston, where he spent many years, here’s the king of the Blues piano in Canada and probably the whole world….David Vest

September 24, 2015 Welcome back to World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland, Oregon. This time, not long back from two lengthy tours, one with Jill Scott and one with Bootsy Collins, with a new album out, one ready to go and one in production, one of the busiest musicians in Oregon, trumpeter/composer Farnell Newton. Or "Neutron Newton" as we will find out. He’s one of those musicians who is comfortable in any genre but who is focusing on Soul and Funk and Jazz and various versions and combinations of them. His new album is called Ready to Roll and we’ll hear some of it.

September 17, 2015 You are in the coffeeshop with me and Tuvan throat singer Enrique Ugalde who you may know as Soriah. Once again we’re at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. You may not know what Tuvan throat singing is. You may not know where the hell Tuva is. If you don’t you sure as hell don’t know why Enrique, originally from California, now splitting his time between Portland an Tuva where he has won singing competions. Soriah is his performing name. This is going to be good.

September 10, 2015 Chance Hayden plays guitar in nearly every genre you can think of. The coffeeshop is World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland, You knew that. Chance recently got back from an extensive tour of Europe as part of Jarrod Lawson’s band. It was not their first tour and Jarrod is so hot over there that they played major festivals and large halls. But Chance is much more than a Soul guitarist. He’s a Jazz artist, was in an early version of Redwood Son in which he played Americana…face it, he can play anything. He’s married to singer/composer Shelly Rudolph and they have a little son.

September 3, 2105 Thanks for coming back to Oregon Music News’ Coffeeshop Conversations at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. With me is Kate Power...singer, guitarist, ukulele-ist or is it ukulele-ian…well she’s known for her ukulele playing too. Kate and husband Steve Einhorn came back to Portland in January. They had been gone for four and a half years. For decades they were the owners of Artichoke Music, a store and teaching center, but more importantly, the hub of stringed instruments and song in Portland. It was a welcoming place to visit. There was always someone playing an instrument, many times one or both of the proprietors who had a thriving career as a performing/recording duo.They still do! They gave up the store in 2006. The rest, we’ll find out about.

August 27, 2015 Welcome back to the coffeeshop, World Cup Coffee and Tea to be specific at northwest 18th and Glisan in Portland. Joining me today here in the cupping room is the owner of the Alberta Rose Theatre, Joe Cawley. The Alberta Rose has been an important part of Oregon’s music scene since Thursday, June 24, 2010 when he opened what had been a church, a couple of different movie theaters, but mostly had been abandoned for a long time before he bought it. Known for it’s Americana, Acoustic and Blues shows, it is also home to many of the Wanderlust Circus events. It’s a friendly place, very aware and a great part of the Alberta Arts district. Matter of fact, it’s turned out to be its anchor.

August 20, 2015 It's another Coffeeshop Conversation from World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan. With us in the cupping room is the founder of The Slants, Simon Tam also known as Simon Young…don’t worry, I’ll ask him about that… the purveyors of “Chinatown Rock” a combination of punk, synth-pop, rock and their own special sauce. Yes their name is a key factor, Simon chose it because it is a band made up of all Asian Americans, hence the joke, the slants, but which has much deeper meaning. And we’ll get into that. You may have read about their ongoing legal dispute with the federal government over the trademarking of their name. The feds say it’s disparaging to Asian-Americans, the band says, well, you know, we ARE Asian-Americans. Of course we’ll get into THAT.

August 13, 2015 We’ve got a saxophone playing tap dancer on this episode of Oregon Music News’ Coffeeshop Conversations. His is known as Shoehorn. His real name is Michael Conley. I'm with him in the cupping room at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan which is where we do all of these things. Sometimes baristas come in and have to grind coffee, but you know, we’re in a coffeeshop. Glad you decided to spend some time with us again this week. You have seen Shoehorn, I betcha. Yes, he plays clubs and concerts, but you also might find him busking on the street, something he’s done all over the world. He has a new album and dvd out called Wingin’ It. It’s got some of Oregon’s best Jazz musicians on it, plus one of his daughters. His other daughter did the album jacket design.

August 6, 2015 The coffeeshop gets funky today. Joining me at World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th & Glisan Michael Quinby who is the leader, guitarist and vocalist of the Roseland Hunters who have been blasting out funk for over a year on a regular basis and are about to release This Time, their first album, produced by Steve Berlin. It drops on August 21. The Hunters have some of Oregon’s best musicians including Damian Erskine on bass, Reinhardt Melz on drums, and the newest inductee into the Oregon Music Hall of fame Brian Foxworth, moving off the the drum kit to play percussion and sing.