Inner City Blues Festival- Getting “In The Groove Of Love” supports single payer health care!

Update 4/15/13– We brought back a few pix from the show this weekend.  Apologies for the poor quality of the cellphone used to take them!  Do you have better pictures?  Please send them to us; we’d love to share them!

And now back to our regularly scheduled article…

Are you singing the Health Care blues?  You’re not alone.  Millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans have been singing for years.  But other people are singing as well… Norman Sylvester is singing, and so is the DK Stewart Band.  LaRhonda Steel, Chata Addy, and Steve Cheseborough are all singing, and for just one night it might be a good thing.  The Inner City Blues Festival “In The Groove Of Love” show, benefitting Health Care for All Oregon, (www.hcao.org) is coming to the Melody Ballroom on Saturday, April 13^th, and you can be there too…

Click here for our radio spot for the show!

The Inner City Blues Festival has deep roots in Portland.  It started as the “Jam for Jesse”, a fundraiser for Jesse Jackson’s 1988 run for president.  The first venue was the Royal Esquire Club on NE Alberta, and for the next 15 years the Festival hit the hottest blues venues in Portland… Texas II, Shango’s, Crystal Ballroom, Melody Ballroom and more.  And the players!  Blues enthusiasts could savor the sounds of Jim Mesi, Lloyd Jones, Norman Sylvester, Paulette Davis, Linda Hornbuckle, Duffy Bishop, Lilly Wilde, Janice Scroggins… the royalty of Northwest Blues turned out year after year to support a range of community causes.  But time takes its toll on even the best events, and the Inner City Blues Festival closed its doors in 2003.  Last year, after a 9-year hiatus, the Inner City Blues Fest returned as a benefit for Single Payer Healthcare in Oregon with over 800 people enjoying the show.   The 2013 Inner City Blues Festival “Healing The Healthcare Blues”–(In The Groove Of Love) will continue the fun and benefit Health Care for All-Oregon.

Need Tickets? Just click here!

If there’s a bright side to the national health care debate it’s that it has inspired people to take action on behalf of single payer health care.  It certainly struck a chord with the blues community in Portland.  Writing for the Jazz Society of Oregon, Lynn Darroch explains “Musicians are used to playing benefits for colleagues with medical needs and no health insurance. But this time, they’re being proactive — they’re playing a benefit concert for a movement that’s designed to get them all covered. If the campaign for single payer health care in Oregon succeeds, musicians should never have to play a fund-raiser for an ailing colleague again.” Norman Sylvester, also speaking to the Jazz Society, said “It’s a humanitarian movement to advocate for change. Musicians basically try to stay neutral as far as politics go, but health care is a humanitarian thing. Everybody has to have a health care program.  Where is the money for health care going to come from for a musician who has to haul his equipment across town, play four hours, and gets $300 for the whole band? Health care is this astronomical iceberg, and we’re on the Titanic now.”  Norman’s putting his music where his mouth is with a theme song he wrote for the movement called “HealthCare Blues”, and of course he’ll be headlining the show in April.

Norman Sylvester has carried many a show by himself, but he’d not alone in supporting Single Payer and he’s not alone in this show.  You can also enjoy:

• Richard Arnold “Tribute to the Crooners”
• LaRhonda Steele & Andy Stokes “Motown Songbook”
• Norman Sylvester Band with Ben Rice  “Blues Stains on my Hands”
• DK Stewart Band “Tribute to Etta James”
• Lloyd Allen Band “Portland Blues Legend”
• Chata Addy &  Friends African Drum Procession “Honoring the late Obo Addy”
• Shoehorn “Tap Dancing Sax Man”
• Mad as Hell Doctors “Mad Minutes”
• Steve Cheseborough “Acoustic Blues”

Celebrity Masters of Ceremonies for the evening are Paul Knauls, a NE Portland businessman and former owner of legendary blues/jazz clubs Geneva’s and the Cotton Club & Renee Mitchell, former columnist for the Oregonian.

“In The Groove Of Love”, a 21-and-over event, hits the stage Saturday, April 13, from 7:00pm to midnight at the Melody Ballroom. Aside from the best music you’ll hear anywhere, there’ll be food and drink for sale with a no-host bar.  There’ll also be a Community Village with raffles, and where you can meet the people who are bringing the Groove Of Love to you. Proceeds from your $15 ticket will go to Health Care for All Oregon, and you can pick up tickets for you and all your friends at TicketTomato, Music Millennium, Geneva’s Shear Perfection, and Musicians Union Local 99.

Single payer benefits everyone, and it needs everyone’s help to work.  The people and companies have stepped up to bring you an unforgettable night of blues… what will you do?

Cascade Blues Association

KBOO Community Radio 90.7 FM

Portland Jobs with Justice

American Federation of Musicians Local 99

Northwest Labor Press

Hollywood Impress Printing

Music Millennium, Geneva’s Shear Perfection

Portland Observer, Positively Entertainment

Tom Dwyer Automotive Services

Hollywood Burger Bar

Main Street Alliance

Hawthorne Auto Clinic

Michael Munk

Clear Path Hypnotherapy

Rebecca Evans Photography

Backs on Broadway

Art Heads Custom Framing

Beaterville Café & Bar

North Portland Acupuncture Clinic

Trade Roots

Our United Villages

Show Dogs Grooming & Boutique

Tee Bee Enterprises

Nicholas Lebanese Restaurant

Backs on Broadway Chiropractic & Massage

Glisan Burger Barn and Grill

Alice Muccio and Bob Gross

Bart Day, Bipartisan Café

Christopher Hamann

Dave Goldman

Gorgeous Deserts

Khalsa Pain Clinic

Lewis Hess at Atlas Tattoo

Mad as Hell Doctors

Mirador Community Store

Mississippi Pizza

Neil Kelly Company

No Limits Stickers

Paloma Clothing

Snyder Equity Foundation

Working Class Acupuncture

Geneva’s Shear Perfection

Nurses for Single Payer

Porque No? Taqueria

May Wallace Design

…and many more!