SOU’WESTER EVENTS!
See what’s happening during your next stay or plan a visit around our free live music, workshops, wellness offerings and more!
Jay Manzanita can easily be described as Portland’s best kept secret. As the front man and vocalist of power trio Bitches of the Sun this singer-songwriter has a knack for melding lyrics with wit and sorrow. With his musical roots stemming from the Chicago jazz scene this saxophonist gone guitar hero produces a refreshing and timeless sound sure to keep you coming back for more.
www.bitchesofthesun.com
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
The International Konsortium of Harmony & Tonality specialists who make up The Plastic Harmony Band have undergone years of rigorous training in the higher, lower & middle paths of enlightenment. The sensory deprivation of years of aestheticism; the sensual overload of multi-dimensional libidinous ecstacies; the ability to vault over the hurdles of Nihilism with effortless grace; the guile & wit necessary for survival in the ever-present, ever-shifting NOW.
All of this is at their disposal, and now it is at yours.
https://plasticharmonyband.bandcamp.com
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The Shelby Foundation Video Presentation
A series of short original films by Portland OR, filmmaker Shelby Menzel ranging from cultural documentary to stop motion adventures.
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
Susannah Weaver, or Little Sue, as she has been affectionately known since she was a teenager, grew up in West Virginia and moved to Portland in 1992. She has been a fixture in the local folk and alt-country scene in Portland for over 25 years and a big part of the Laurelthirst scene. Her quirky lyrical style, solid guitar playing, and bee-stung voice have won over music lovers of every age and stripe. Sue has released 7 CDs including the 2019 20th anniversary re-release of her 1999 album Crow, and her new CD titled Gold. Sue also has sung harmony on over 50 Oregon releases, including Jerry Joseph, The Minus 5, Fernando, Casey Neill, Lynn Conover, and kindie artist Mo Phillips. She has opened with her own music for Roger McGuinn, Loudon Wainwright III, and most memorably for folk hero Bob Dylan. Sue was recently honored as a 2019 inductee to the Oregon Music Hall Of Fame.
www.littlesue.bandcamp.com
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
Walk down any street in Portland, Oregon and you are sure to encounter a mustachioed Brazilian spaghetti western rock and roll troubadour named Johnny Franco. Recently moving from Sao Paulo, Johnny has developed a cult following in Portland for his high energy street performances and stylish music. Signed by music producer Sterling Fox (Lana Del Rey, Elle King) on his label Blanket Fort, Johnny has put together a debut EP that feels instantly timeless. The debut single “Treated Like Grass” combines Dylanesque vocal stylings with a unique jangly Brazilian influenced beat. The EP Experience Report #1 is due out in early 2020.
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4JrSPyzLVPKQlEHHpqt4c3
Photo by Sean May
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
The Blank Tapes is the moniker of Los Angeles & Joshua Tree based multi-instrumentalist, Matt Adams, who has produced over a dozen albums of 1960’s inspired folk-rock-surf-psych-soul-pop on Volcom, Burger Records, Antenna Farm, and others. Their latest ’Super Bloom’ EP features Avid Dancer & Will Halsey (Sugar Candy Mountain) on drums, as well as Jason Cirimele (Guantanamo Baywatch, The Donkeys) on bass and was co-mixed by Nathan Sabatino (Dr. Dog, Jim James). The band has toured throughout the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Brazil, Japan & even Costa Rica. Matt also sometimes plays & records with Sugar Candy Mountain & has produced and/or performed on numerous projects by other artists including The Regrettes, The Pesos & Kath Bloom. Matt is also the artist behind his band’s posters & album covers as well as art for the Grateful Dead, CRB, FolkYeah & more!
“Alternating between dreamy and driving, dappled with delirious solos and seductive harmonies. The Blank Tapes radiated Ultraviolet Californian chords” – Backmatter blog
Photo by Cristian Sigler
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
This show is a part of a Sou’wester Arts Week Benefit Series! Suggested Donation is $5-10, no one turned away for lack of funds, and all proceeds go towards sponsoring an artist in residence at our first annual Arts Week.
BARNA HOWARD was born and raised in a quintessential Midwest town. His youth in Eureka, Missouri was pure Americana – the sort of childhood that inspired E.T.-era Spielberg – baseball cards in his bicycle spokes, flying freely down Main Street and through neighbors’ backyards.
However, much of Barna’s story is not unique to his hometown, and, like most of small town America, Eureka has lost some of that charm over time. Main Street has changed, kids don’t run around quite so carelessly, and in an almost laughably cruel twist, his childhood home was knocked down in favor of a Walmart parking lot.
After high school, Howard moved north to study animation in one cold and windy city and then east for love in another. Years later, he blindly followed two friends to the Northwest, crossing the Rockies for the first time, in search of inspiration, opportunity and a fresh start.
Barna’s self-titled debut chronicled these moves as he struggled with the contrast between his small town upbringing and these big city wanderings. The album was met with critical acclaim and underground success, partly thanks to an opportunely placed song in the hit indie film, Drinking Buddies. One critic even likened him to some “lost genius of the 60s.”
The songs on Barna Howard’s second album, Quite a Feelin’, ruminate on his relationship with home. Now entrenched in Portland, Oregon, many of the album’s tracks immortalize and reflect on the Eureka he once knew, while others focus on the relationships that define his new home out west. Small town life has long been celebrated in country and folk music, but Barna’s knack for capturing his own deeply personal nostalgia resonates in a rarely universal way.
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
This show is a part of a Sou’wester Arts Week Benefit Series! Suggested Donation is $5-10, no one turned away for lack of funds, and all proceeds go towards sponsoring an artist in residence at our first annual Arts Week!
Hot July is a vintage jazz project fronted by Joseph Appel and Kylie LaCour. With a rotating cast of musicians, the band plays mostly standards—from the classics to the more obscure—with a focus on the 1930s and Billie Holiday.
photo by Megan Eleanor Clark
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
This show is a part of a Sou’wester Arts Week Benefit Series! Suggested Donation is $5-10, no one turned away for lack of funds, and all proceeds will go towards sponsoring an artist in residence at our first annual Arts Week!!
“Kassi Valazza has a viscous, light gold voice. It swirls around in your head like whiskey in a snifter; vaporous, and intoxicating. For most of Dear Dead Days pedal steel and electric guitar lope along at half time, the in pocket rhythm section booming from deep in the low end. Its frequencies penetrate your flesh. The songs reverberate off your bones. Her lyrics drip down the inside of your skull. Kassi will be your peyote coyote; a guide through these psychedelic vistas. Here she’s found a way to trap the world of cheaters, drifters, lovers and leavers in amber. Wander from your own woes, and come walk with Valazza’s.” -Sean Jewell American Standard Time
This event is free, all ages, and open to the public!
This show is a part of a Sou’wester Arts Week Benefit Series! Suggested Donation is $5-10, no one turned away for lack of funds, and all proceeds go towards sponsoring an artist in residence at our first annual Arts Week!
ROBIN BACIOR is a multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. Her work has received praise from NPR’s All Songs Considered, Vh1, MTV, NYLON, L Magazine, CBS, Mother Jones Magazine, among other media platforms.
“Robin’s honeyed but vibrant voice hits gentle, bestowing the listener with comfort and calm.” NPR’s All Songs Considered
“Her brand of folk is straightforward at its core, but then nicely fancied up, with piano and strings allowing the intricacies and peculiarities of her massively affecting vocals to shine through.” The L Magazine
“A guitar. A voice. Sometimes that’s all a musician needs to lift the listener to a higher place. Smart lyrics help, too, and Robin Bacior has them.” – Dave Riedel, CBS News
“Carefully woven folk sound and tender vocals, showing that sometimes a quiet power is all you really need.” – Nylon
She is the recipient of a Regional Arts and Culture Council Grant, a nominee for the Independent Music Awards, and a member of the Recording Academy.
Bacior is also an arts & culture writer and has contributed to magazines such as Spin, Under The Radar, Portland Mercury, among others. She is the creator and columnist for “New Eyes”, a series on photographers within music for Berlin-based Majestic Journal, and currently a senior staff writer for Consequence of Sound.
She lives with her husband in Portland, OR.
Photo by Kim Smith
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LORAIN plays woozy American music. Singer Erik Emanuelson’s expressive tenor, which recalls ghosts of Nashville Skyline era Dylan and the late Jason Molina, floats over lush textures and an understated groove.
https://lorainmusic.bandcamp.com/album/through-frames
This show is all ages and open to the public!
SOU’WESTER ARTS WEEK: the Sou’wester will be given over to artists and art collectives for a week of residency work and a weekend of open houses and public performances.
The goal of this event is to highlight the creative process and the experiential nature of the Sou’wester Residency Program. Walking into an active creative process reveals valuable intersections among artists as well as with the public. Experience these living artifacts at the open studios and weekend performances. Visit HERE for more information.