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News & Gossip: Jumpin' Joint at deLay Memorial Show II, Beliss Being Bad Girls on the Run
Mon, 04/28
by Tom D'Antoni

While humming Jazzfest in New Orleans (which I'm not)....

Last weekend's (4/20) second annual Paul deLay memorial concert, this one to benefit Ethos, may not have been standing room only, but the big ballroom at the Portland Art Museum was full and the dance floor rocking. Ethos, btw, is the Portland organization that teaches youngsters how to play music.

Speaking of youngsters, Paul's little grandkid was tearing around the ballroom all evening wearing sneaks that had flashing red lights. Paul would have dug that.

KMHD's Jan Mancuso's pasta salad was the hit of the green room. She and husband Ric do The Night on Thursdays, 9:00pm to midnight.

Sights at the concert: Terry Robb with his arm around Linda Hornbuckle talking about her new album, which he's releasing in July. Harmonicats' Bill Rhodes and Hank Shreve hanging out. Bass player Dave Kahl, who was one of the organizers, looking harried. Peter Damman looking cool (he never looks harried, even when he should be). Duffy Bishop joking about her very very red hair color.

Singer Joe McMurrian with harmonica player David Lipkind started things off with a very large bang. The rest of the night was one long happy jam with nearly everyone who ever played with Paul playing. Too bad pianist David Vest couldn't make it down from B.C. His boogie-woogie thunder was missed.

Noah Mickens and Nick the Creature have formally formed Portland Circus Works. They started off at the downstairs room of Rotture and called it the Hippodrome...to be a circus-themed venue. When Mickens left Rotture, he apparently took the concept with him. I hear that the room is going to revert to an all-ages venue again, but that's still up in the air. Mickens will have nothing to do with it.

Instead, they write: "Mssrs. Creature & Mickens will set up shop at 2410 North Mississippi. This former warehouse was brought to notability through the work of Maria Toth (Anonymous-I). Having made their name supporting creative spaces and green building projects for years in Portland, Anonymous-I is opening the 2410 space to showcase a community of performers and craftspeople to which Portland Circus Works is already a major contributor. This will become the the duo's Headquarters, housing the CircusWorks educational operation and offices while their events spread out to cover the whole city."

Their first event is at Mt. Tabor Legacy on Sunday, April 27. It's Wanderlust Circus.

Ever wonder what bands do when they're on the road? This just in from Melissa Underwood of Belliss: In Arizona, "We went to a funny ass bar in Flagstaff on Route 66 where Belinda and I put on fake personas (she was Apache and I was Scarlett) and we were from the Aouth. Not too far-fetched, we're half Tennessee-ean. Fortunately we didn't get into too much trouble...reminded me of college time bars, barfing in the bathroom (not us), chicks falling down stairs (not us), cowboys stripping (not good). Glad we survived those shots of SoCo and tequilla, but man was it good to hear Tone-Loc again! Saguaro cactuses are so beautiful!"

Extremo the Clown's new art car is a van (pictured). If you'd like to refresh your memory, watch my TV story on him here. You may remember the two hand puppets he would wiggle out the window at you while the music blared out of his old art car. He tells me, "Spanky (the chimp) loves it, in fact he has a new primate buddy that has joined the club. Freakensteinn and Daisy have been showing up lately but they don't seem to fit in as comfortably. For months they were out of the picture, but now they have appeared again."

I've missed them, but then I voted for Extremo when he ran for mayor.

Klezmocracy is back! They've managed to round up all the players in their new configuration in the same place at the same time (Saturday, April 26). The place is Mississippi Pizza where they played weekly gigs for a couple of years in with their former lineup. This lineup brings back Joe Janiga on drums, Ralph Huntley on keys and Courtney Von Drehle on sax, and adds Damien Erskine on bass and Jason DuMars on sax. They promise a lot of new material and some old faves, too.