Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder St., Portland
Wednesday, January 4, 7:00 pm
Members always Free – Non-members $5.00
Opening Acoustic Set – Tevis Hodge Jr.
Second Electric Set – The Lightning Kings

As we step into the New Year we need to look at a few changes. One is an increase to attend our monthly membership meetings for non-members. This is the first time in many years that we have made any changes in fees, including memberships which we will continue at $25.00 a year for a single membership at this time. It is a small step, but we need to do this to meet our monthly business expenses — one step at a time.

But at the same time we intend on bringing you quality blues entertainment each month at these meetings. Whether they’re artists with whom you’re familiar or new, emerging talent, there will always be two great sets each month.

Tevis Hodge Jr will open the evening with a solo performance on acoustic guitar. He was exposed to blues music at an early age and due to his African-American heritage and his love for the music, he is compelled to continue the traditions of his people. He’s inspired to keep true to the traditions and techniques of the musicians of yesterday for an authentic experience, while at the same time accenting his own original flare and interpretations, placing himself among the many original blues musicians of the past 80 years. His songwriting coincides with those traditions of yesterday, which keeps an authentic flow from song to song, whether it be his own material, or an old traditional tune. This is where he shines as an artist, being more than a re-creator of the old, he is a contributor to the new in the vein of yesterday.

Hodge works in various band configurations and as a solo act. He is a regular performer at the Inner City Blues Festival the past few years and represented the Cascade Blues Association at the International Blues Challenge. Aside from local artists he has also performed on stage with vaudeville legend Baby Gramps and folk giant Peter Yarrow. Hodge can also be caught the first Sunday of every month at The Spare Room and he is currently working on his second CD to be released this coming spring.

The second set of the night will feature a newer band to the area that have been picking up a lot of steam with performances at venues such as Billy’s Blues, Duff’s Garage, and The Heavy Metal Brewing Company, The Lightning Kings. This four piece outfit are described as bluesy rock with a funky beat. They have hosted a few fundraising events lately for the American Cancer Society and the Doernbecher’s Childrens Hospital Toy Drive. The band is made up of guitarist Thomas Andersen, bassist Matt Lind, keyboardist Rich Petko, and drummer Seth Troublefield, and they’re letting you know that this will be “rockin’ blues and a funky ass shakin’ good time, so wear you’ dancin’ shoes!”

Pick up your free drawing ticket as you enter the venue for a chance to win prizes and don’t forget that we’ll also have the multi-CD package drawing tickets for sale at a $1.00 each. Buy as many as you’d like for this winner take-all collection. Looking forward to seeing everybody there, to kick the new year off right!

Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder Street, Portland
Wednesday, October 5 – 7:00 pm
Members always Free – Non-members $3.00
Opening Acoustic Set – The Tracey Fordice Band
Second Electric Set – The Beacon Street Titans

As the Cascade Blues Association’s thirtieth anniversary gets nearer, it is often fun to think back on many of the memories that the organization has put together to promote our local musicians. Many of those happen each month with our General Membership Meetings where we have introduced new artists that have since become some of the region’s and nation’s top performers as well as bringing familiar friends who just want to play for our members and say thanks. The October General Membership Meeting is shaping up to be one that you’re not going to want to miss. We’ll be bringing two of our favorite bands performing in a new format that is sure to offer excitement, fun and a reason to get up and dance.

Opening the night will be The Tracey Fordice Band. In their previous incarnation as a Tracey Fordice & The 8-Balls, they received the 2014 Muddy Award for Best New Act as well as represented the Ashland Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. For the meeting the band will be performing in a special acoustic setting, with Tracey helming the piano and vocals, Randy Yearout on guitar, Todd Ommert on bass, Johnnie Corrie on congas and percussion, plus special guests George Discant on harmonica and James Toussaint on fiddle. Tracey and the boys will be acoustically performing selections from their latest recording, Out Of The Blues. Always a fun time to be had whenever the Tracey Fordice Band performs with their catchy and often humorous tunes

The second set of the night also is sure to get the room jumping. Fresh off their appearance at the Waterfront Blues Festival as a Journey To Memphis finalist and the CBA Picnic, we will welcome the return of The Beacon Street Titans. The band that delivers the feel of the jump blues sound from Kansas City along with a bit of West Coast swing always get the audience dancing. The group will be a little smaller than you may have seen them before, as they’ll be working as a quartet for the meeting with Howard McClung on vocals, harmonica and saxophone, Daryl Boggs on guitar, Bill McNamera on drums and Steve Malski holding down the bass. The band has described their sound as Roomful of Blues meets the Squirrel Nut Zippers — now that’s a tasty combination.

We’ll keep you up to speed on what’s going on and coming up in our local blues scene for the month and hold our popular free ticket drawings for prizes (don’t forget to pick up a ticket as you enter the venue). This is the place to get your monthly kick-off for blues and to meet up with good friends. This is always a fun night, and we’ll see you there!

Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder St., Portland
Wednesday, September 7, 7:00 pm
Members always Free – Non-members $3.00
Opening Acoustic Set – Steve Kerin
Second Electric Set – Julie Amici

The summer of 2016 may be coming to a close on the calendar, but we’re still not ready to let go of all the great musical happenings around our area. One look at the event’s calendar page lets you know right off that September is going to be a hotbed of blues goings-on and we know that the Cascade Blues Association General Membership Meeting is one of those dates you’re not going to want to miss.

Opening the night we have something really special going on as one of the best piano players in the region. Steve Kerin will be bringing his authentic Louisiana boogie to The Melody Ballroom that is certain to have the dance floor break out with happy feet.

Steve Kerin was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, the heart of Cajun Country. He first discovered the piano at the age of four and by time he was a teenager knew that music would be his life. He has immersed himself in the piano styles of Louisiana’s legendary artists like James Booker, Fats Domino, Dr John, and Professor Longhair. Since moving to the Portland area he has brought those sounds to the front of several bands including Berthaline, Atomic Gumbo, Too Loose Cajun Band, and the Rose City Kings. Aside from playing with a wealth of bands, he has also held a long-running gig as a solo musician Thursday nights at McMenamin’s Chapel Pub where he plays the venue’s pipe organ covering a wide range of music from pop and heavy metal to jazz and movie themes. Steve and his wife Jane-Clair were also at the core of founding the Mysti Krewe of Nimbus, Portland’s own Mardi Gras Krewe. For the flavor of New Orleans and Louisiana, there’s nobody more bona fide than Steve Kerin.

For the second set of the night we will be presenting Julie Amici, last year’s nominee for the “Best New Act” Muddy Award. Known for their spacious, intimate, and open sound, Dean and Julie have teamed up with Dan Gildea on guitar and Alan Jones on drums for their 2016 festival shows this summer. The addition of these two master performers have taken the band in a decidedly more powerful dimension suitable for the big stage. Alan Jones is also working as their producer for a new recording project coming out this fall.

“Julie Amici” is the collaboration between Julie and Dean Mueller that started in late 2014. Much like the name is a melding of the two, the music is much the same, combining Julie’s country roots and childhood dreams of singing jazz, with Dean’s deeply rooted blues foundation.

Julie’s strong yet sweet voice is reminiscent of the 50’s when female singers ruled the world of music, a time when jazz and blues co-mingled at the height of popular culture. Her repertoire combines the jazz of Billie Holiday with the soul of Nina Simone and the sophisticated country of Patsy Cline. Dean’s bass playing is rooted in the blues chops he earned playing with some of the finest blues legends in America and touring with the award winning international act, The Insomniacs. Over the last couple years the pair has performed as a duo as well as collaborated onstage with some of the finest musicians in the Northwest including Curtis Salgado, Chris Carlson, Alan Hager, Dave Fleschner, Henry Cooper, Carlton Jackson, Mark Shark, and many others.

Guitarist Dan Gildea teaches jazz guitar at Portland State University and has a lengthy list of acts he has performed with in the area aside from Julie Amici, including recent collaborations and tours with Earl Thomas and Dave Fleschner. Alan Jones is one of the premier jazz artists in Portland with a long resume of places he has studied, taught and performed with, including the late Portland great Leroy Vinegar as well as leading his own sextet. The addition of Gildea and Jones to Julie Amici makes this a powerful line-up that surely speaks for itself.

Between sets we will tell you about the up-coming happenings in our blues community. And we’ll hold the ever-popular free ticket drawing for CDs and tickets, plus the $1.00 winner-take-all drawing for a collection of discs put together just for the meeting.

September is chock-full of great goings-on, don’t miss out on one of the best each month at the Cascade Blues Association’s membership meeting. Like every month, this is always going to be the place to hear the best in blues and catch up with good friends. Plan on being there!

On an overcast, humid afternoon at the Waterfront Blues Festival, the Cascade Blues Association held its 17^th annual Journey To Memphis finals.

In early June, eighteen bands began the competition to select the Cascade Blues Association’s representative for the International Blues Challenge next January in Memphis. The Rose Room hosted two hard-fought evenings of music where CBA judges determined the four finalists to perform during the Waterfront Festival.

One thing was certain, all four finalists were prepared to amaze our judges and delivered some of the very best performances ever seen in our competition. The Thunder Brothers started things out with exactly that — a thunderous set that set the pace for the day’s entire festival. Then the Beacon Street Titans brought a swinging show that had the dance floor moving. Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers then mesmerized the crowd with her soaring voice and muscular big band. Closing the competition was the Ben Rice Band showcasing his guitar prowess and vocals with a knife-sharp performance. This was an unbelievable combination of acts, and each band had the talent and musical ability to represent CBA in Memphis and make us proud.

Given this incredible collection of talented musicians to evaluate, the judges definitely had the toughest job of the day. Scoring each act separately on blues content, vocals, instrumentation, originality, and stage presence had to be tough as all four acts brought the goods. Huge kudos to our trio of judges, entertainment attorneys Bart Day and Peter Vaughan Shaver and Reno Blues Society board member Sherrie Clay, for taking on this role. Many thanks!

When the dust cleared and all acts were finished, the scores came back hailing Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers as the winners of the day. This will be Rae’s second time representing the CBA in Memphis and her third trip overall. Her last trip found her reaching the semi-finals, let’s hope to see her go even further if not all the way to the top this time!

Joining Rae in Memphis will be this year’s solo/duo winner David Pinsky, making his second appearance for the CBA, having represented the organization with Phil Newton two years ago. Also, young guitarist Timothy James will head back and participate in the Youth Showcase. We’d love to see a large grouping of CBA members and local blues fans head back to the International Blues Challenge to cheer our performers on. It’s well worth the experience if you can to see the future of the blues today.

Good luck to Rae Gordon & The Backseat Drivers and David Pinsky!

Melody Ballroom, 615 SE Alder St., Portland
Wednesday, July  6 – 7:00 pm
Members always Free – Non-members $3.00
Opening Set – Timothy James
Second Electric Set – Ty Curtis Band

Yes, it’s July and the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival has occupied a lot of our time already. While we will hold our monthly membership meeting just a couple days after that grand event, make no mistake, this is still a meeting that you’re going to want to attend. The Northwest blues scene has long held a reputation as a jumping-off point for young musicians. So this month we’re going to present one whose career promises to take him to greater achievements, and one who is just beginning to gain attention in our local blues community and with good reason.

For those who have been in attendance since Rae Gordon began doing her weekend all ages jams a few months back at the Trails End Saloon you will have noted one young guitarist of note, Timothy James. This fourteen-year-old triple threat (guitarist, singer, and songwriter) has an incredible feel for the guitar with adeptness that belies his age. He recently competed in the Cascade Blues Association’s Journey To Memphis competition against the adult musicians and clearly held his own.

From Mulino, Oregon, Tim just completed 8^th grade at Molalla River Middle School, active in both choir and band where he plays the saxophone and guitar. His first performance was at the 2011 Mulino Blues Festival. He was a finalist in both the Dustbowl Records singer/songwriter contest finishing second and the Clackamas County Fair talent show. You just know that he is going to be a sensational talent that we will be following for years, progressing through the same path that we have witnessed with past young musicians who have led successful musical careers such as Ben Rice, Mac Potts and our second act of the night ….

Ty Curtis was barely out of high school in 2006 when he released his first recording, Stubborn Mind. So impressive that the Cascade Blues Association entered it into The Blues Foundation’s Best Self Produced CD competition that year. A mere three years later, Ty had already won the CBA’s Journey To Memphis competition and took off for Tennessee where he competed against 100 or so other bands and took home second place overall at the International Blues Challenge.

With multiple Muddy Awards, five discs under his belt that have charted with numerous radio stations around the world and appearances across the country, Ty now splits his time between Oregon and his second home of Austin, Texas where he has been establishing himself quite nicely in that city’s renowned blues scene. He often makes trips home to Oregon and when he does his performances are almost always sold out. He has developed into a gifted songwriter, a vocalist of note and an innovative guitarist. It has been a while since he last played for a Cascade Blues Association meeting so we expect a full house as he brings his band of Jerry Jacques on drums and its newest member, Tony Valdez on bass.

Yes, it’s a going to be a showcase of young guitar slingers at the CBA meeting in July. More fun than one can resist after a long festival weekend, so don’t miss out. There will be a lot coming up during the summer and we’re going to let you know about many of those future shows for July. Plus we hold our popular free ticket drawing for your chance to win CDs and concert tickets. See you there!