News Release  

World-class festival helps fight hunger 

Join blues fans from throughout the world
at the 22nd Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival,
July 2-5, 2009 

* Keb’ Mo’ * Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings
* Ryan Shaw * Johnny Winter * Magic Slim and the Teardrops
 * Sonny Landreth * Robben Ford * Rick Estrin & the Nightcats
* Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe  ... and more

PORTLAND, Ore. (June 30, 2009) – Get ready for the music! The 2009 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is only days away.

Join blues fans from throughout the world at the 22nd annual Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, presented by First Tech Credit Union, July 2 to 5, 2009, on the grassy banks of the Willamette River, in Portland, Ore.

Gates open at 2 p.m. and music starts at 3 p.m., July 2. Gates open at 11 a.m. and music starts at noon on July 3, 4 and 5.

Four days. Four stages. More than 100 stellar performances.  Plus workshops, Delta Music Experience Blues Cruises, activities for kids, dances, Wildhorse Resort and Casino Super Jams, Wildhorse Fireworks and more!

Now in its 22nd year, the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is the largest blues festival west of the Mississippi and the second-largest blues festival in the nation. The festival annually attracts more than 100,000 blues fans from throughout the world and this year was selected as one of the Greatest Outdoor Music Festivals in North America by Outside magazine.

Touted as one of the best-run festivals anywhere, the Waterfront Blues Festival remains a grassroots festival, produced by Oregon Food Bank – a nonprofit, charitable organization – with the help of more than a thousand volunteers. The festival raises food and funds to help people who are hungry throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

Entry is a suggested donation of $10 plus two cans of food per person – making this festival one of the great entertainment bargains of the summer. This year, the festival also offers four levels of passes with fabulous perks and special access: Individual Sponsor, Blues Benefactor, Four-Day Festival Pass and Blues Buddy Pass.

Festival passes and any remaining DME Blues Cruise tickets are available on site at the gate or the Louisiana Pavilion (near the A&E Front Porch Stage). For details, visit www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.

Here are a few festival highlights:

Thursday, July 2, 2009, At Last: (first performance at 3 p.m.):

• Triple Grammy Award-winning bluesman Keb’ Mo’, who steps in to replace the ailing Etta James;
• Grammy-nominated blues-rock guitar virtuoso Robben Ford;
• Soul Vaccination;
• Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real (Willie’s son), presented by Karolyn H. March;
• Zydeco Dance with Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie;
• Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas;
• Swingin’ to the Blues dance with Johnnie Ward’s Sharkskin Revue;  
• Ken DeRouchie Band, featuring LaRhonda Steele;
• “King” Louie & Baby James.

Also:

• DME Hoodoo Moon late-night cruise SOLD OUT;
• Marriott Afterhours Allstars Northwest Pianorama with David Vest, DK Stewart, Janice Scroggins and Steve Kerin;
•  Encore! Festival Afterhours at University Place Hotel, 310 S.W. Lincoln;
•  Hotel Fifty Afterhours at 50 S.W. Morrison.

 
Friday, July 3, 2009: Gulf Coast Guitars/Crescent City Groove (first performance at noon)

• Texas blues-rock legend Johnny Winter, headlining a tribute to Gulf Coast blues, soul and funk, presented by iQ Credit Union;
• Sonny Landreth, Louisiana-based slide-guitar wizard;
• Malford Milligan, acclaimed blues-belter from Austin with his new band, Nation Sack;
• Bluesy soul-jazz from saxophonist Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe;
• Rattlesnake soul with Dave Gonzalez, Mike Barfield and the Stone River Boys from Austin;
• Florida sacred steel group, The Lee Boys, a surprise hit at the Waterfront Blues Festival four years ago, who will return with special guest Aubrey Ghent and a rousing repertoire of gospel, blues and funk;
• Dallas, Tex., guitar-slinger Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat;
• Between Friends with Linda Hornbuckle, Duffy Bishop, Ellen Whyte, LaRhonda Steele, Lady Kat, Janice Scroggins and Myrtle Brown; 
• Ex-patriate New Orleans saxophonist Reggie Houston debuts his new band;
• Zydeco Swamp Romp, presented by Cascade Zydeco Association, a day-long musical hybrid of Cajun blues with Geno Delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers, and dance classes with Roland and Janine Jemerson.

Also:

• DME Blue Bayou afternoon cruise SOLD OUT;
• DME Rock the Boat late-night dance cruise SOLD OUT;
• Wildhorse Resort and Casino Super Jam with The Lee Boys with special guest Aubrey Ghent, and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe;
• Encore! Festival Afterhours at University Place Hotel, 310 S.W. Lincoln;
• Hotel Fifty Afterhours at 50 S.W. Morrison.

      Saturday, July 4, 2009: Brass Explosion (first performance at noon)

• Harmonica ace Rick Estrin and the Nightcats debuts his new CD and his searing new band, assembled since the departure of longtime guitarist Little Charlie Baty;
• Blues-belter Candye Kane;
• Southern soul-blues shouter Terry Evans;
• New Orleans’ five-trombone, blues-funk assault Bonerama;
• Award-winning roots-rocker Kevin Gordon, presented by The Boeing Company;
• Big-band blues with Storm Large and the Pete Peterson Big Band;
• Seattle-based blues rock group Too Slim and the Taildraggers;
• The annual Journey to Memphis Competition, presented by Cascade Blues Association, of up-and-coming regional acts as well as featured performances by the winners of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis including J.P. Soars & the Red Hots from Florida, Little Joe McLerran from Tulsa, Okla.; Ty Curtis Band from Salem, Ore., (Ty finished second and earned invitations to play festivals in Canada, Europe and the Caribbean);
• Bill Rhoades’ annual Harmonica Blow-Off;
• March Fourth Marching Band;
• The National Anthem by Linda Hornbuckle;
• Wildhorse Resort and Casino Fireworks Show.

Also:

• DME Driftin’ Blues afternoon cruise SOLD OUT
• Wildhorse Resort and Casino Super Jam: Battle of the ‘Bones with New Orleans’ deep-grooving Big Sam’s Funky Nation, led by former trombonist for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and Bonerama, the Crescent City’s acclaimed four-trombone frontline rock/funk squad;
• Encore! Festival Afterhours at University Place Hotel, 310 S.W. Lincoln;
• Hotel Fifty Afterhours at 50 S.W. Morrison.

Sunday, July 5, 2009: Deep Soul, New Soul

• New soul with retro-soul queen Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings;
• 27-year-old break-out soul shouter Ryan Shaw;
• Magic Slim and the Teardrops, one of the greatest Chicago blues bands touring today;
• Big Sam’s Funky Nation;
• Mississippi Delta Spotlight, featuring award-winning bluesmen Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Terry “Harmonica” Bean;
• Patrick Lamb and the Mississippi Horns with special guests G.C. Cameron (former Temptations vocalist) and Liv Warfield (on loan from Prince’s band);
• Old-Time Gospel Hour: Linda Hornbuckle and Janice Scroggins with special guest Terry Evans;
• Swingin’ to the Blues Dance with The Insomniacs, DK Stewart & the Soul Survivor Horns, and Bay Area’s saxophone legend Terry Hanck with J.P. Soars and the Red Hots;
• Lady “A” and the Baby Blues Funk Band.

Also:

• DME Backwater Juke Blues Cruise with Ryan Shaw, Kevin Gordon and Terry Robb and Lauren Sheehan;
• Marriott Afterhours Allstars with Magic Slim, Tim “Too Slim” Langford, and Terry Hanck with Dave Gonzalez, Mike Barfield and the Stone River Boys;
• Encore! Festival Afterhours at University Place Hotel, 310 S.W. Lincoln;
• Hotel Fifty Afterhours at 50 S.W. Morrison.

Festival proceeds benefit Oregon Food Bank’s mission: to eliminate hunger and its root causes ... because no one should be hungry.

“We’re seeing thousands of new families walking in the doors of local food pantries ... people who have never asked for help before ... people who just a few months ago had family-wage jobs and have been laid off,” said Rachel Bristol, executive director and CEO of Oregon Food Bank. “At the same time, the struggle just gets worse for our senior citizens on declining incomes, the disabled and the poor.”

A $10 donation enables OFB to collect and distribute enough food to fill an emergency food box – a three-to-five day supply of food for a family. Food and fund donations are critical this year as requests for emergency food climb to record levels throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

About Oregon Food Bank: Oregon Food Bank is a nonprofit, charitable organization. It is the hub of a the Oregon Food Bank Network, a statewide network of 20 regional food banks and 915 hunger-relief agencies serving Oregon and Clark County, Wash.

About festival sponsors: The Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival is presented by First Tech Credit Union.  

Major sponsors include FedEx Corporation, iQ Credit Union, The Oregonian A&E, KINK.fm, Good Neighbor Pharmacy, Wildhorse Resort and Casino, and Travel Portland.

Supporting sponsors include Mission Foods, Deschutes Brewery, Henry’s, Beringer Wine, Snapple, Earth2o Water, Pepsi, Frito Lay Snacks, Yoshida Sauce, Dave’s Killer Bread, Eggland’s Best, Dreyer’s Ice Cream, Burt’s Bees, NW Natural, The Boeing Company, PacificSource Health Plans, OregonLive.com, Blues Revue, Music Millennium, True Tone Audio, Karolyn March, Lions Foundation, Cascade Blues Association, Winthrop Music Association, Oregon State Fair, Oregon Potters Association, Cascade Zydeco Association, Delta Music Experience, University Place Hotel, Marriott Hotel, RiverPlace Hotel, Hotel Fifty, travelportland.com.

For more information, visit www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.

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Note to reporters and editors: A Blues Blog, music samples by festival artists on our Jukebox, video links and downloadable, high-resolution photos are available at www.waterfrontbluesfest.com.