The 16th Annual Oregon Music Hall of Fame (OMHOF) Induction Ceremony and Concert will be held again this year at the Aladdin Theater on Saturday, October 12 at 7pm. The event will be sponsored by long me OMHOF supporter Elliot Powell Baden & Baker Insurance Company.
The event will honor Oregonians who significantly influenced the world of music from here in Oregon. The event is benefit for music education in the state of Oregon.
To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, an artist must have been born in Oregon and worked professionally in the music industry for at least 20 years – or have worked professionally in the music industry for 20 years after moving to Oregon.
Awards will also be presented for Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. Portland supper club owner and entertainer, Tony Starlight, will once again preside as Master of Ceremonies.
Musical performances will include the Delines, who formed in Portland in 2014 with Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin, Sean Oldham and Freddy Trujillo along with amazing vocalist Amy Boone from Austin’s The Damnations. Their success in Europe has been exceptional including their album Imperial topping the Americana chart and their album Sea Drift became 11th best record by UNCUT in 2022 and #17 by Rolling Stone France. Inductee Luther Russell will sing a song backed by the Delines as well. New Inductees Team Dresch, who formed in 1993 with the intent of creating an “all-dyke band” combining brazenness of the Riot Grrrl/Punk sound with the dirge of grunge and a window into the LGBTQ+. Andy Stokes, a two-time inductee, with Cool’R and as a solo artist, will also perform. Andy is known as “The Northwest King of Soul”. The event will feature a live auction with autographed guitars by the likes of Patti Smith, Fleet Foxes and Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age and more. Proceeds will help support OMHOF’s music in the schools’ program as well as the scholarship programs.
Available now, tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door. A Special VIP ticket is available for $100 and includes prime seating, a hand signed and numbered silk-screened Gary Houston poster and admission to the after-show VIP catered party. Tickets are available at ckely.com and at the Aladdin box office, or aladdin-theater.com. For up-to-date information, check omhof.org
Artist Inductees:
Fred Chalenor
Bass Player/Composer
Inducted 2023
Portland based musician Fred Chalenor was a master musical chameleon whose career began here in 1978 playing bass in Zanzibar and Wank. He followed a path that covered progressive jazz, acid jazz, avant-garde pop and a mashup of all of the above. On a local level he was heard with the Wandering Gurus, Tone Dogs, Caveman Shoestore and Face Ditch. He worked with drummer Henry Franzoni in many bands for 40 years. Together, they formed Face Ditch in 1979, based in the Portland area, moving to Seattle in 1981 and then to NYC in 1983, releasing three albums along the way. In the following years he toured the world playing festivals with many groups. In 2000, the original Face Ditch line-up reunited and digitally released their first official album in 2004. He wrote and played funky and complicated instrumental music with the likes of Fred Frith, Robert Fripp, Wayne Horvitz (Zony Mash and Pig Pen) as well as So Machine’s Hugh Hopper (Caveman HughStore), Henry Kaiser and Peter Buck (REM). He performed and recorded with Buck, Bill Rieflin, Fripp, Mat Chamberlain, and Hector Zazou as the Slow Music Project in 2005 and 2006. Fred Chalenor passed away on June 28, 2018, aged 62.
David Kahl
Electric and Acoustic Bass /Community Activist
Inducted 2023
David Kahl was 13 years old when he discovered the bass guitar and found his outlet for musical expression. Within two years, David was traveling the Pacific Northwest, opening for regional headliners, like the Wailers and Don and the Goodies. His interest in American Blues became his passion. The list of artists he’s worked with is long, a testament to a career dedicated to supporting other people’s stories. That list includes Lloyd Jones, Paul deLay, Terry Robb, Curs Salgado, Duffy Bishop, Pinetop Perkins, Ty Curs and Foghat’s Rod Price. He won the Cascade Blues Association’s Muddy Award for Best Bass Player award in 2007 and 2016 and a CBA Lifetime Achievement Award. Off stage, he has been active in curating the Waterfront Blues Festival, serves on the CBA Musicians Council and is a board member of the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival. Through his company, MyGigNet, he has created the Musician Medical Relief fund. He also co-founded the Community Cooperative Project, a non-profit that advocates for working-class artists of all sorts to provide a resource for educational, economic, and social benefit.
Gordon Lee
Composer/Pianist/Educator
Inducted 2023
Gordon Lee was born in New York and after a music degree at University of Indiana headed west to Portland in 1976. He quickly connected with Nave American tenor saxophonist Jim Pepper, a relationship that lasted until Pepper’s death in 1992, playing club gigs and top festivals all over the world. After a stint in New York City backing the likes of Don Cherry, Bill Frisell and Gladys Knight, he returned to Portland and in 1986 forged a relationship with veteran drummer Mel Brown. In 1989 the Mel Brown Sextet, playing Lee’s compositions and arrangements, won the international Hennessy Jazz Search beating out over 700 bands from around the world. In 1990 his album Gordon Bleu won Best Jazz Recording from the Northwest Music Association. He followed up with 1990s with Land Whales in New York, featuring Jim Pepper, On the Shoulders of Giants with Leroy Vinnegar and 1997’s Rough Jazz featuring saxophonist John Gross. He has taught extensively at PSU, PCC and at Western Oregon University from 1999 to 2019 where he was the Executive Director at W.O.U./Mel Brown Summer Jazz Camp and conducted the jazz ensembles at Reed College from 2009 to 2017. His recent release, How Can It Be?, is his seventh album as a leader and features compositions he created during the pandemic.
The Miracle Workers
Band
Inducted 2023
The Miracle Workers were formed in January 1982 by Gerry Mohr (vocals), and Joel Barnet (bass guitar). Mat Rogers became the guitarist and Dan Demiankow joined on guitar and organ. Drummers joined and left the group including Ron Sheridan, Gene Trautmann, Jeff Grassi and Aaron Sperske. Barnet left the band and The Miracle Workers lineup by 1987 became Gerry Mohr (vocals), Mat Rogers (guitar), Robert Butler (bass), and Gene Trautmann (drums). This group recorded three songs produced by Dead Moon’s Fred Cole. Signing with Greg Shaw’s Bomp/Voxx, the band recorded an LP in Los Angeles over the Thanksgiving weekend of 1984. The record, Inside Out, was released in June 1985. In the spring of 1986, the band moved to Los Angeles and toured Europe several times. Three more albums followed: Overdose (1987), Primary Domain (1989) and Roll Out the Red Carpet (1991). They came together back in Portland to record Anatomy of a Creep a year later. This recording would be their last, produced by Thee Slayer Hippie (Steve Hanford/Drummer Poison Idea) and involved original drummer Gene Trautmann.
Luther Russell
Songwriter/Producer
Inducted 2023
Luther Russell is a songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who was born in Los Angeles and moved to Portland in 1995. He started playing drums at five and piano, bass and guitar by fourteen. At 17, Russell formed his first band called the Bootheels with Jakob Dylan and followed by fronting roots band, the Freewheelers and recording two albums for Geffen and American labels. In 1997 he released his first solo record, Lowdown World, recorded on a 4-track cassette recorder. It was his follow-up, Down At Kit’s (1999), that brought him production work with Fernando, Richmond Fontaine and Mel Brown. After releasing another quiet acoustic album, Spare Change (2001), he relocated to L.A. Since then, released an eclectic series of solo albums including Repair (2007), The Invisible Audience (2011) and Medium Cool (2019). As a producer Luther has worked with acclaimed artists like Fabiano Do Nascimento, Sarabeth Tucek, Jagari Chanda of Witch, Liam Hayes of Plush and Robyn Hitchcock. He has co-written songs featured on albums by Weezer (2016) and Larkin Poe’s Blood Harmony (2022). Luther is probably best known these days as one half of Those Pretty Wrongs with Jody Stephens of the legendary group Big Star. Their latest album Holiday Camp was just released this year to rave reviews.
The Shins
Alternative Rock Band
Inducted 2023
The Shins are an Indie band formed by James Mercer in Albuquerque in 1996 that soon moved to Portland. Mercer, born in Hawaii, was an Air Force kid who grew up all over the world. He formed the band Flake Music in Albuquerque, which morphed into the Shins (named after the family in The Music Man, his dad’s favorite musical). After Sub Pop’s Jonathan Poneman heard the band opening for Modest Mouse, he signed them. Their debut full length, Oh, Inverted World was released in 2001, with the single New Slang, used in the movie Garden State and the 2002 Olympics. Sub Pop had hoped the record would sell 10,000 copies but it would sell over 100,000 units. The band would later sign with Columbia Records The Shins were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, Wincing the Night Away, in 2008. With six full length albums released to date, the band continues to redefine indie and alternative music. Rolling Stone credited the band with bringing “the pop traditions of 1960s pop bands—groups like the Zombies, and the Beach Boys—to a new generation of music fans.”
SMEGMA
Band
Inducted 2023
In 1973 the band Smegma was formed in Pasadena, California. They had only one rule: No Musicians! After moving to Portland a few years later, under the co-leadership of Mike Lastra and Eric Stewart, they became part of the New Wave/Punk Scene of 1978 that included the Neo Boys, The Wipers, and Fred Cole (Dead Moon). Starting from scratch, they were inspired by outsider musical artists of the time such as John Cage, Sun Ra and Captain Beefheart. Over the next forty years dozens of locals were welcomed, absorbed, and set loose in studios and on stage. They became a lynchpin in Portland’s alternative community, routinely requested as openers by The Butthole Surfers and the Dead Kennedys and were also invited to play the Portland Mayor’s Ball. Performances included a drummer playing trombone simultaneously, untuned guitars, thumping bass, a percussionist who worked an ancient turntable playing speeches of President Dwight Eisenhower at varying speeds and a man playing the Vibraband, made from rubber dental dam.
Lastra constantly recorded the group at his studio and released much of the material on the label, Pigface Records, with over thirty releases. Like the Art Ensemble of Chicago plays Jazz, Smegma plays improvisational punk rock on a wide-open free form musical landscape.
Team Dresch
Band
Inducted 2023
Team Dresch formed in 1993 with Donna Dresch on bass and s, Jody Bleyle and Kaia Wilson on guitars Marcéo Martinez on drums with the intent of creating an “all-dyke band,” combining the brazenness of the Riot Grrrl/Punk sound with the dirge of grunge and a window into the LGBTQ+ movement. After a one-song appearance (Seven) on the Kill Rock Stars label, they self-released an album titled Personal Best in 1995. Mellissa York replaced Martinez and recorded the album Captain My Captain in 1996. Touring festivals and clubs in the nineties, they broke up in 1998 to pursue personal projects but in 2004, reunited to headline the Olympia queercore festival Homo-a-Go-Go and have been rocking together ever since. The band has toured the East and West coasts as well as Brazil for the Ladyfest concerts. In March 2019, Team Dresch announced they would be reissuing their entire catalogue via Jealous Butcher Records in honor of the band’s 25th anniversary: a collection titled Choices, Chances, Changes. Most recently, Team Dresch released the single Story of the Earth in July 2020 with all proceeds from the single would be donated to the Trans Jusco Funding Project.
Industry Inductees:
Cavity Search Records
Record Label
Inducted 2023
Cavity Search Records was established in 1992 by Denny Swofford and Christopher Cooper to “amplify the music of their friends.” Those friends included Elliott Smith, Danny Barnes, Heatmiser, Pete Krebs and Richmond Fontaine among many others. The label accepted, distributed and promoted material from many genres from folk to alternative to rock to jazz to metal.
Hazel’s J. Hell b/w Day-Glo/Joe Louis Punchout was the first single the label released in 1992. To date there are nearly 200 releases. Christopher Cooper died on September 24, 2018. The label was recognized on its 26th anniversary by the city of Portland and September 21, 2018, proclaimed to be Cavity Search Records Day for the label’s contribution to the city’s art and creative industry, and its commitment to uncovering and supporting local artistry. Newest records include a three by Jesse Daniel Edwards and a red vinyl LP by King Black Acid.
Tony Lash
Drummer/Engineer/Producer
Inducted 2023
Tony Lash rose to prominence in the Portland rock scene of the late 1980s / early 1990s as a producer and engineer, as well as drummer for the bands Neros Rome, Heatmiser and Sunset Valley. Interested in music and recording from an early age, his teen years were spent on a four-track home recorder (including an early collaboration with high school friend Elliot Smith). Tony began professional studio work after graduating in 1986, with artists such as Neros Rome, Poison Idea, Dan Balmer, Heatmiser, Cardinal, and The Dandy Warhols. In the 1990s his work gained national and international notice, expanding stylistically into arrangement-rich work with singer-songwriters Kaitlyn ni Donovan, James Angell, and Nicole Campbell. After the birth of his son in 2006, Tony chose to spend less me in the studio and instead focus on mixing, for a wide range of pop, ambient, hip-hop, electronic jazz, and chamber pop artists but continued to work selectively as a producer, helming records by Stars of Track and Field, The High Violets, Tahiti 80, and Ages and Ages. Tony returned to school in 2014 to study psychology and counselor education. He retired from studio work in 2021 and now works as a therapist in private practice.
Thor Lindsay
Record Label Executive
Inducted 2023
Thor Lindsay moved to Portland from Minnesota in the late ’70s, where he opened a record store, Singles Going Steady, a hub for the developing punk community in the storefront now occupied by Sizzle Pie. In the ’80s, Lindsay co-founded Tim/Kerr Records with his friend, Tim Kerr, initially to release a set of spoken word pieces by William Burroughs featuring accompaniment by Gus Van Sant titled The Elvis of Letters. Other releases include the debut albums by Dandy Warhols and Everclear, and albums by Poison Idea, the Wipers, Dharma Bums, Smegma and Pere Ubu. The label showed off other genres with records by John Fahey and Koerner, Ray & Glover. Perhaps its most famous release was another Burroughs collaboration, this me with Kurt Cobain on guitar, titled The ‘Priest’ They Called Him. It became the best-selling item in the T/K catalog, and led to a deal with Geffen to reissue T/K albums by the Posies and the Raincoats. Lindsay was very close to Cobain and Tim/Kerr also released an early single by Courtney Love’s group, Hole. Thor Lindsay passed away on July 17, 2017 at age 59.
George Page
Broadcaster/DJ/News Director/Community Activist
Inducted 2023
George Page was a legendary radio host on KBOO-FM, the community radio station founded in 1968 to play all the music not heard on commercial radio. For many years Saturday’s anchor was George Page. He did a jazz show but included all sorts of African American music. His nickname was the ‘Master Blaster’ and, if you were in Northeast Portland, you could hear George’s broadcast blasting from open car windows. Then he’d sometimes shift over into the blues, and he’d just be shouting on the air, singing along to the tunes. His shows included Jazz Rap and Third World Soul Serenade and he was KBOO’s news director forming the first all black news team in Oregon. He mentored Yugen Rashad, and after Page’s death nearly 30 years ago, Rashad took over his program and continues to present jazz from an African-American perspective — a vital and often lonely mission in Portland.
Artist of the Year: The Delines
The Delines were formed in 2014 in Portland with Richmond Fontaine’s Willy Vlautin, Sean Oldham and Freddy Trujillo along with vocalist Amy Boone from Austin’s The Damnations. Their first album, Colfax, was an instant hit in Europe. The band added keyboardist and trumpeter Cory Gray and had their next album, The Imperial ready for release in 2016 when Amy was tragically struck by a car. The band was sidelined for three years while she recuperated. In addition to being a songwriter, Willy is an acclaimed novelist. Two of his six novels, Lean On Pete and The Motel Life have been adapted into feature films. Along with Value’s story telling lyrics and a great band, it is the voice of Amy Boone that really makes The Delines a very special band. She brings Vlautin’s characters to life, imbues them with tragedy and compassion. The ‘retro country soul’ music of The Delines is clearly rooted in the past, as Willy and Amy have bonded over their shared love of soul and country songwriters from the 60s like Tony Joe White and Bobbie Gentry. With sold out touring in the US, Europe, Australia the band still found me to record its newest project, The Sea Drift, to five star reviews.
Album of the Year: The Sea Drift by the Delines
The cinematic feel and Willy Vlautin’s lyrical prowess showcased on The Sea Drift is bolstered by the rich, warm instrumentation throughout the album. Cory Gray’s keyboard, string, and horn arrangements serve as a central musical core while being backed by soulful bass player Freddy Trujillo and jazz drummer Sean Oldham. On The Sea Drift, The Delines once again partnered with John Morgan Askew who produced their 2014 debut Colfax and 2019’s The Imperial. Amy Boone’s vocals tie it all together in a song cycle of the tougher side of life along rural America’s south coast. The Sea Drift is another compelling chapter in The Delines’ ever-growing songbook.
Oregon Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Saturday October 12 • 7pm
Aladdin Theater
3017 SE Milwaukie Ave.
Portland, OR 97202