We arrived in Portland, Oregon last night for the blues festival and for exploring what is said to be an fun urban experience, food, music, easy to get around, etc. We walked off the plane and onto the light rail train, took us to within 2-3 blocks of our hotel. Good start!
Did some blues fest stuff first evening. John Mayall on harmonica with great bass player, doing challenge and answer stuff, real fun. Taj Mahal with his trio ok but not exciting, wandered off to small stage with Porter Davis, blues band trio from Austin, none of whom are named Porter or Davis, percussion, harmonica and slide guitar. Percussion guy interesting, he sat on a chair over top of the bass drum beating it with this and that and hitting other stuff with feet. however, real interesting part was "Blues Dancing", some terrific dancers on the grass in front of the stage, doing what apparently is a craze in this part of the woods, sort of modern dance swing, fascinating to watch. Check it out on YouTube. Knocked Georgia's socks clean off, but then she wasn't wearing any.
After hours jam in nearby hotel was Trombone Shorty and his band, if you are not familiar check him out, this was a must-see on my list. New Orleans Jazz/funk/blues fusion? He did not disappoint, although room was packed with enthusiastic drunks, some quite rude, but hey, goes with the territory. Shorty played trombone and trumpet and did vocals, band had lead guitar and bass, both electric, plus tenor and baritone sax, AND two percussionists, one with traditional trap set and another on congas. Some times the conga man would wander over to the trap set and they would both do stuff with same gear, very entertaining.
Food: instead of standup festival food, we opted for a pre-revelry meal at Jake's Famous Crawfish, indeed famous and therefore pricey but indeed good. I posted a yelp review. Would like to try their happy hour bar food, everyone says it is a wonderful deal. Have targeted an oyster bar nearby that sounds great. Lots of food, so little time.
Weather: cool and rainy when we arrived last night, but rain had stopped, now we are on warming trend for remainder of week with no rain in site!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment