Attitude in Blues, male and female, compare and contrast.
Photo by John Rudoff
It’s a little unfair because the girls don’t get as much exposure. But the collection of females on the main stage at 3 p.m. didn’t seem particularly daunted.
Sonny Hess brought her band of sisters back to Waterfront and it was heavy this year with big singers, both Lady Kat and Tahoe Jackson. Janice Scroggins began the set with one of her patented solos, fusing gospel and barrelhouse
A major addition was guitarist Nicole Fournier, guitarist and composer from Washington State. Tahoe Jackson, tilting back and forth, brought it up from the basement with Scroggins’ hammering backup.
Tahoe Jackson Photo by John Rudoff
Lady Kat then stepped up with a Motown sounding lyic (the tunes were not announced) all about toleration and responsibility, which may speak to the question posed at the top.
But maybe not, because the rest of the program was roaring insistence. Tahoe returned with “Don’t Make Me Cry”? and it was certainly not a request.
A Fournier rocker followed, it may have been titled “I’m Going to Make You Mine,” featuring a strong female tenor player. A Hess original (“Try’n”?), was given the less than delicate Lady Kat treatment and it didn’t immediately slow down because
Ms. Jackson was joined by Lisa Mann for some shaking it to the left and to the right.
The dynamics finally change with a poignant Fournier song about a loser (“Man on the Corner”?), which featured a very mournful guitar solo.
This set up the contrast for a furious finale, something about Lady Kat and a broken heart, which actually didn’t sound all that tragic. The wrap up was plenty bombastic and, strangely, used the six not ascending figure from the HBO series on New Orleans, “Treme.”
I don’t think we should rush to any conclusions about the difference between the male and female attitude in blues. Both deal with a very rarified conception of love and loss and are pretty sparing with the nuance.
Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the 2010 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival. Visit our booth in the Delta Music Experience Louisiana Pavilion near the Oregonian Stage…free Clear Wi-fi and CTL computers to use.
Mississippi Studios celebrated their first birthday with a grand Swellebration–a night that saw eleven Oregon bands take the stage performing 20 to 30 minute sets ranging from acoustic folk to indie rock to a rowdy diva set from Tahoe Jackson.
Inside Mississippi Studios
The bands started playing at 8 PM and North Portland patrons were hungry for the music with a one-in, one-out policy already in place before 9 PM and a line queuing south down Mississippi Ave. The night began with subdued singer-songwriter offerings from Run On Sentence, Sean Flinn & The Royal We, Holcombe Waller, Adam Shearer (Weinland), Justin Power, and Laura Gibson while slowly building into something more potent and rockier.
Here’s a rundown of the second half of the evening (read about the first half here) starting with Matt Sheehy & The Menders who began his set looping his vocals and letting his drummer slug the digital drum pads, adding a pleasant, inorganic flavor to his otherwise straightforward sound. Sheehy shone through his opener but fell back upon his genuine but formulaic acoustic roots with his backing band that included Sean Flinn and Andy Parker. He announced that he’s recording a new album, and to close his set, his last tune dawdled quietly competing with the din of chatter.
Eugene and Portland-based Yeltsin finally brought some rocking instrumentalism to the Studios with their grinding indie rhythms as drummer Jivan Valpey’s rolling storm rumbled on, sparking every time you thought it might stop. Happy to be in Portland supporting the release of their new record Rhinestone Glow, bassist Dana Axon beamed a giddy, head bobbing smile as guitarist/singer Jake Pavlak ripped through derivative electric riffs that kept the songs lively. Steady and sunny pop, the band slowed it down with the surf-inspired “I’m Afraid I’ve Lost My Way In This World” (below) off their new album and fuzzed up some guitars with hints of distortion and echoes before heading back to the bar.
Tahoe Jackson may have been the oldest performer to grace Mississippi Studios’ stage on Saturday night but her funky moves and exuberant soul disclosed little about her age as she got down with the audience coaxing her sax and trombone players to follow suit. Bluesy soul from her boys on brass and a funky electric organ matched her range from gruff, grumbling lows to bleating, passionate highs.
Asking, “Are you ready to get the fuck down?” Tahoe shed her specs (they “got too steamy”), flipped the bird, and heedlessly threw her powerful voice to the rafters and directly into the audience’s ears, jiving and strutting amongst the dancing mass. “I wanna be part of the audience,” she announced while belting out in her canary blouse, “Keep that shit funky / Shake what your momma gave ya.” Making it over halfway to the bar before heading back to the stage, she exclaimed to Mississippi Studios, “I’m as good as you are!”
Dirty Mittens eased into their spot with front woman Chelsea Morrisey moaning in her nymph-like warble but she quickly refashioned the band around her into a frolicking indie-pop machine bursting with sax energy and keys that would make a preschooler dimple. Charming and coy but definitely the chief, she led her boys and their arsenal of instruments: unbuttoned bass lines, animated bongos, machine claps, and weary piano notes.
Chelsea could not hit the same pitches that her predecessor Tahoe Jackson did, but she did hit everything with passion, her voice ranging from placid peeps to the cusp of beautifully harsh. Dirty Mittens wowed first time listeners and indulged friends by defining or redefining poppy, indie rock… whatever that means, but it’s meant to be complimentary.
Closers Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside rounded out the swelling night of music with Sallie returning to the stage to show off her Carolina vox and two-step, big beat, blues bop with her men backing. Hearing her voice, you’d feel as though you were transported to a 50’s lounge and this was Etta James not a skinny white girl. But alas, Sallie Ford has that classic sound that’s immediately enjoyable and catchy. Infused with jazz and rockabilly, Sallie’s piddling but charming banter contrasted her hypnotizing, soulful singing.
It was a feat to see eleven amazing bands in one place–a crowed but jovial venue. But with so many acts, the sets were so short that many groups just built up steam to be cast off after their 20 minutes and four or five songs. Regardless, it was a great night for Oregonians and our music. Kudos to the heart and soul of Mississippi Studios and thanks for a nice night, Jim and Alicia.
Unorthodox, revolutionary, bizarre rock’n'roll has always been a part of life on Mississippi Ave. But until Jim Brunberg and Alicia Rose came along, North Portland’s indie rockers, folk strummers, roots whiskey guzzlers, electro-dance party-goers, and neo-bohemian, post-vaudvillian eccentrics didn’t have a proper home in the neighborhood–a suitable space for the cornucopia of talent that graces our city.
Alicia Rose
The guitarist, songwriter, record producer, entrepeneur Brunberg had an idea to create such a home, and he enlisted the talent booker, photographer, accordion-extraordinare Rose. And on Saturday evening, this home–to artists and concert-goers alike–turns one year old… with a celebration of course!
Actually, a Swellebration… as the line up swells with some of Portland’s and Oregon’s best indie, folky, rocky, soulful talent. “We wanted to thank PDX for supporting us and the local music scene through one hell of a recession year by offering a pileup of some of our favorite artists,” says Rose.
“We did the math and in this past year we were home to over 1,000 bands and performances over 365 days serving thousands of you the best local/national/international music, art and performance has to offer!”
Starting at 8 PM, the one-year-old renovated and reinvigorated Mississippi Studios hosts a full night of FREE anniversary entertainment on Saturday, March 6th featuring:
Amongst the bloated mass of Oregon talent, OMN grabbed some time with Yeltsin, Dirty Mittens, and Holcombe Waller before they have their cake, and eat it too, on Saturday night.
On the phone from Eugene, Yeltsin’s Jake Pavlak gave OMN a listen to “I’m Afraid I’ve Lost My Way In This World” from their new album, Rhinestone Glow, as well as a few words.
Who are you?
I’m Jake Pavlak and the band is Dana Axon and Jivan Valpey. And that’s it.
What instruments do you play?
We play guitar, bass and drums.
And what’s your sound?
It’s kinda indie rock, sorta poppy. Sometimes it’s a little loud, but you know, it’s not metal.
Where have you been?
We’ve almost been together for 7 years. We’ve put out an EP, two CDs and now we’re putting out our first record. And we’ve mainly just played in the Northwest–Seattle, Portland… Oregon, you know.
Where are you going?
We’re hoping to do some serious California shows. We’re trying to book a tour right now because we’ve never been down there. We have friends in San Francisco and LA. Basically we’re gonna try and book the tour around some pretty good shows in LA and flesh it out from there. We’ve also been trying to work on getting some better shows in Seattle and Portland.
How many dates do you think you’ll play?
Hopefully like six shows.
Have you ever played Mississippi Studios before?
We’ve never played there.
Are you excited to play Mississippi Studios?
Yeah, I’m excited to play there… it seems like a pretty sweet venue from what I’ve heard.
I take it you’ve never been to Mississippi Studios then.
No, that wouldn’t be a good thing to ask [laughs]. I shouldn’t come in there totally clueless about the place.
Okay, finish this sentence then: Mississippi Studios is…
Like a second home to me.
What can we expect from this Saturday’s gig?
We’re bringing the record to Portland for the first time, but there are a lot of bands on the bill so we’re just gonna try and put out heads down and play as many tunes as we can in the time that we have. You know, we kinda waste a lot of time in between songs [laughs] so we’re gonna try to avoid that and focus on just playing a solid set.
Anything else you’d like to add…
It’s kinda cool that we got to make a record because we’ve never made one before. We wound up recording with this friend of ours, Justin Higgins, and without his help, we wouldn’t have been able to do this at all. We wouldn’t have anything right now if it weren’t for him. Also we got some help from Jerry Garcia’s daughter, but if you put that in there then people are gonna think that we’re hippies. She’s not a hippie really at all. Her favorite band is the Wipers. [Laughs]
Next, the saccharine lead singer of Dirty Mittens, Chelsea Morrisey, briefly wove their story for OMN.
Who are you?
Dirty Mittens is Chelsea, Ben, Patrick, Noah, Reed, and David.
What’s your sound?
I once overheard someone say that we sound like “a cute pop band getting mauled by the soul train.” That sort of stuck with me.
Where have you been?
We started as a trio playing mostly house shows around three years ago. We met a bunch of talented people during that time; artists, musicians, performers, etc., and just started building our “family” from there. The vision has always been somewhat old school, that is, to do as much with live instrumentation as possible. People have come and gone, but over this last winter we really seemed to settle into something great.
Where are you going?
Actually, we are currently finishing up our debut record with Jim Brunberg who owns Mississippi Studios.
What does Mississippi Studios mean to you?
This is a pretty loaded question. If you had asked me this a year ago I would of said that Mississippi Studios is an amazing sounding venue that puts on great shows and really supports local bands. All of this remains true, but at the start of this last winter Jim and the MS family have been more than just a venue to us. When Jim stepped in and took our album recording under his wing we had a number of songs (we’d been sitting on for quite some time) but no money to record them. He has donated his VALUABLE time to us like an angel. I’m not sure if there is any other way I can put it.
What can we expect from this Saturday’s gig?
You can expect to see us in top form with high spirits.
Anything else you’d like to add…
You can get the full list of our upcoming shows on our MySpace page.
And finally…
Who are you?
Holcombe Waller.
What’s your sound? What instruments do you play?
I play folk music which incorporates a small classical ensemble and sometimes ecstatic percussion and drums. On Saturday, I’ll play solo with guitar, or maybe my friend Ben Landsverk will play with me.
Where have you been?
I’m from San Francisco and moved to Portland five years ago. I play mainly here, SF, New York, and LA a bit. I collaborate with dance (Joe Goode Performance Group and Zoe | Juniper) and create and tour interdisciplinary work that combines music, theater and film (PICA presented it last March). I love dolphins.
Where are you going?
I’m always working on new music and have a new album coming out this year. I’m still touring the aforementioned PICA-presented work (Into the Dark Unknown: The Hope Chest), going to Europe in May with it. I’m developing a new theatrical music performance that will heavily incorporate aspects of silent film. I’m also working with a team of developers and a business partner to create a new service that helps musicians release threads of music one song at a time–”The album is dead, now it’s a thread.” I am doing a lot of different things–my love of dolphins, therefore, comes in handy.
What does Mississippi Studios mean to you?
Mississippi Studios is simply the rad venue that my wonderful friends Alicia Rose and Jim Brunberg run–it means home-style, it means intimate-yet-expansive, it means Portland does it best when it does it itself.
What can we expect from this Saturday’s gig?
Mmmm… my parents are in town, maybe they’ll come!
Anything else you’d like to add…
I’m currently fan-funding my new album with an online campaign. Folks can pre-order the album and read more on my website–that’d be nice.
The two Ettas could hardly be more different. James the singer of deep soul and wild living. Jones the straight-ahead Jazz singer and longtime collaborator with Houston Person.
How do you fit them into one show? Singer Mitzi Zilka, as part of her Portland Jazz Singers showcase, joined by Tahoe Jackson, and Lisa Mann can handle it. Also in the band will be Mark Simon, Leah Hinchcliff and the stellar Ward Griffiths.
Jones is the easy part. She is less well-known and will draw less comparison than James who has one of the most unmistakable voices on earth. It took decades, for instance, for the American public to realize that Janis Joplin was more doing James than she was herself. Dozens, if not thousands of female blues singers use James’ style.
The easy part of doing James here is that nobody is going to accuse any of the singers of trying to sound like her. That’s the point.
January 13th Tony Starlight’s (37th and NE Sandy), 7:30 to 10:00pm. Minors are welcome until 9pm. Cover $7
Tahoe Jackson
Next, the saccharine lead singer of Dirty Mittens, Chelsea Morrisey, briefly wove their story for OMN.
And finally…
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