OREGON STUDIO/MASTERING - Two Louies Magazine

Have you ever wondered what the
“Portland sound” is? Could it be this
papers namesake, the cornerstone of
rock itself “Louie Louie”? Maybe. Could it be
Quaterflash? How about Dan Reed? Billy Rancher?,
Johnny Koonce is a good choice? How about newer
bands like “Cherry Poppin Daddies” “ Sweaty
Nipples” “Gravelpit?” or now bands like “Craving
Theo”? These are all good choices and you can see
how we could go on forever with out determining
one band or song that well defines our unique, diverse
and often challenging music environment.
These days more than a brief glimpse of stardom
is rare indeed and now that pop music is a world wide enterprise consisting of thousands of record
companies and millions of new entries almost every
day, who knows if one song, band or entertainer
will ever mark Portland with a signature sound or
style. It may be that not having a label (no pun
intended) means we have no limits as well. Does
New York have a sound? Does Los Angeles? It may
be that Seattle is now limited in terms of immediate
national acceptance for new music because of
the now historic “Grunge” tag and has San Francisco
ever been recognized for any sound that had
more impact than what happened in the sixties and
seventies?
To me the best vibe to create in is one that
has a very soft border, a dimly lit room with blurry
creatures moving in uncertain directions, the feeling
that mistakes made as a result of experimentation
are better than pecking out a pre determined
result that becomes tedious and repetitious on
command just to kiss trendy pop culture butt. We
still have this scene in Portland and we probably
always will.
There is one entertainer that stands above the
rest in my opinion. Curtis Salgado.
Even though blues has some limits they can
always be pushed. Portland is recognized, as a blues
town to many people around the country and Curt
is probably one of the reasons, as he seems to tour
quite often and represents us well all over the world.
Rock and roll was born from blues and blues is
born from Jazz which is probably the only art form
born in America.
Blues is also a “melting pot” music, a common
denominator easily felt by most humans with
ears and, if that is our main tag it could mean that
we still have an open playing field with good pitching
and fielding, we just need some band to smack
Curtis Salgado 2001.
the ball hard enough heard around the world.
Page 10 - TWO LOUIES, January 2002
KINK fm102 hosted a great event for the food
bank on December 8 th at the Roseland featuring
Joshua Joplin, Curtis “All World” Salgado, Taj
Mahal and Robert Cray. I arrived early enough to
enjoy a ballsy sound check from Curtis and chat
with his keyboardist D.K. Stewart whom I’ve tantalized
(begged!) with an invitation to help in a
band I’ve started with the Cray bands first drummer
Tom Murphy, based around a New Orleans
style of blues called “second line”. My main mission
for the evening however was to talk to Robert
about an upcoming event for the Oregon Music
Hall of Fame that could involve the Portland premier
of Sue Turner Cray’s (Roberts Wife) movie
inspired by the bright yet tragic life of Portland
musician Richard Burdell.
After waiting several hours in the green room,
my first contact with Roberts band was when
drummer Kevin Hayes slogged by me mumbling
something about being well beyond tired, I found
out later that they had just finished a hundred and
one show tour and were headed home for a well
deserved rest, they then proceeded to play one of
the best sets the I have ever heard this band play
including a fresh sounding version of Smoking
Gun and several other older tunes that the band
offered as a special treat to his loyal Cray-o-holic
fan base.
Long Live the Denny Beatle!
It was George Harrison that first inspired me
to stand in the middle to “play my fiddle”
So I thought it would be cool to mention some
of the guitars George used while he was in the
Beatles.
A Dutch-made Edgemond, a Hofner President,
a Hofner Club 40 electric, a 1961 Czech made
Futurama, a Zenith, a 1957 Gretch Duo-Jet model
6128, a Gibson ES-335, a Gibson J-160E, a Gretch
Chet Adkins Country Gentleman, a Rickenbacker
425, a Maton MS-500 Mastersound, a 1963 Gretch
Tennessean, a 1963 Rickenbacker 360-12, a Ramirez
Classical guitar, a Gretch electric 12-string, a Sonic
Blue Fender strat, a Framus Hootenanny, another
Rickenbacker 360-12 (1965), a Gibson ES-345, a
1965 Gibson SG Standard, a Gretch 6120, a Burns
Nu-Sonic bass, an Epiphone Casino, a Vox
Kensington, a Coral Electric Sitar, a Gibson J-200,
a Gibson 57 Gold Top earlier owned by and refinished
for Rick Derringer then given to George by
Eric Clapton, a Fender Bass VI, and a heavy but
killer all Rosewood custom Fender telecaster (a
similar model can be seen at Portland Music’s MLK
store!)
Long Live the Denny Beatle!
LL