April 2023 Check-In's

Ron Steen Jazz Jam
Including Devin Phillips On Saxophone At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Monday, April 17, 2023

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Ben Rice And The Portland Hussle Blues Band At
Billy Blues, Vancouver, Washington
Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The Wine We Brought From Home


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Christopher Brown Jazz Quartet At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, April 19, 2023

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Christopher Brown on Drums, Garrett Baxter on Bass, Greg Goebel on Piano. It was supposed to be John Nastos on Alto Saxophone but they substituted a Trumpet player.

The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Friday, April 21, 2023

We brought our own wine from home and just paid the corkage fee.


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Mike Lee (NYC) with The George Colligan Trio: Mike Lee (Saxophone), George Colligan (Piano), Garrett Baxter (Base), Chrisopher Brown (Drums).

Brunch At Kitchen Table Cafe
Vancouver, Washington
Saturday, April 22, 2023

Great breakfasts and a huge cup of coffee!

Salmon Creek Greenway Trail
13871 NW 36th Ave, Vancouver, Washington
Saturday, April 22, 2023

We walked 2 miles round-trip starting at the west end of the 3 mile trail.

Pleasant Valley Loop / Pleasant Valley Park At
Pleasant Valley Middle School, 14320 NE 50th Ave, Vancouver, WA
1 Mile Trail
Sunday, April 23, 2023

We looped around part of it a couple of times to make it a 1.5 mile walk

Ron Steen Jazz Jam At
Clyde's Prime Rib Restaurant, Portland, Oregon
Sunday, April 23, 2023

Above: David K. Matthews, piano / keyboard player of Santana


Above: George Mitchell, former piano / keyboard player of Diana Ross Band

Above Left: David K. Matthews, former piano / keyboard player of Santana

Shoehorn - Tapdancing and Saxophone
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Burnt Bridge Creek Greenway
Vancouver, Washington
Monday, April 24, 2023

We walked round-trip 2 miles on this 7.8 mile trail.

Adam Carlson Sextet: A Tribute to Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Monday, April 24, 2023

We brought our own wine from home and paid the corkage fee.


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Cyrus Nabipoor (Trumpet), John Nastos (Saxophone), Chris Shuttleworth (Trombone), Clay Giberson (Piano), Ross Garlow (Bass), Adam Carlson (Drums).

If I had known this was such a special wine, I would have saved it for a more special occassion. I just picked it out at random from my collection of wines. From know on, I'll have to look up the cost of the wine BEFORE selecting it to bring.

Ben Rice & The Portland Hustle Blues Band
Every Tuesday At Billy Blues Bar & Grill, Vancouver, Washington
Tuesday, April 25, 2023

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The "Blues" in Billy Blues Bar & Grill has nothing to do with the blues bands that they frequently feature. Billy and Blue were brothers who planned to open a place like this back in July 1998, but the very next day, Blue was tragically killed in a car accident. It was 15 years later that Billy finally opened the bar & grill that they planned, naming it Billy Blues Bar & Grill. As they had planned, it does feature great food, cutting edge drinks and good times!

Salmon Creek Greenway Trail
800 NE 117th Street, Vancouver, Washington 98665
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Today we walked for 40 minutes on the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail starting closer to the eastern end of the trail at the Vancouver Girls Softball Association fields. There is a free parking lot at this location. The eastern end of the trail actually starts at 1112 NE 117th Street but the parking is a paid lot at that location. We probably won't be starting at this end of the trail very often as much of it is in the open with little shade from trees. Starting this trail at the western end is much more enjoyable as it starts right off and continues as a forest trail for at least the first mile.

Jo Bar & Rotisserie
Dmitri Matheny Jazz Trio
with Steve Christofferson & Eric Gruber
Nob Hill, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, April 26, 2023

We brought the above Cab Franc blend from home and paid the $15 corkage fee.

Burnt Bridge Creek Greenway
Vancouver, Washington
Thursday, April 27, 2023

Doing Our 40 Minute Daily Walk

Just Another Day In The Portland Area
Tualaton, Oregon
Thursday, April 27, 2023

Portland Spirit Wine Tasting Cruise
Portland, Oregon
Thursday, April 27, 2023

For a little more than $50 per person we not only got a 2 hour cruise, but also to try wine from ten different Oregon wineries! They gave each of us 15 coupons to try 15 one once pours from the dozens of wines available. At first we'd use 2 coupons so that each of us would have a one ounce pour to try. But then we noticed that some were pouring 2 or even 3 ounces per ticket as you can see in the top photo above. So, instead of using 2 tickets and getting 2 tastes of each wine, we started using just 1 ticket to get one 1 ounce pour which we would then split between us. Some of the wines we did not like that much so poured the rest of it into a "dump glass". We ended up tasting every red wine from every winery which was about 13 different wines. Most of them were Pinot Noir which Oregon is most known. One that was not a Pinot Noir was an excellent red blend from History Winery. After we had tried all of the red wines, we went back for more of our favorites. But even by the end of the wine tasting, we still had about 6 unused tickets left over! 30 tastes of wine with some being 2 or 3 ounces, even for two people, is quite a bit of wine!

Fenix Rising Blues Band
Every Thursday At The Blue Diamond
Portland, Oregon
Thursday, April 27, 2023

There seemed to be only two servers here tonight who were manning the bar as well bringing food to the tables. We didn't recognize either of them. Usually the servers recognize us and just ask if we want our usual drinks. They have finally added a couple of different IPAs on tap other than just Lagunitas. They added Boneyard IPA which I really like. With so many great local brews around Portland I always had wondered why they only featured a California IPA. I'm glad they switched as Lagunitas is one of the few IPAs that I never liked. Fenix has been playing here every week for probably at least twenty years.

Glass Of Hearts - The NW Blondie Experience
Billy Blues Bar & Grill, Vancouver, Washington
Friday, April 28, 2023

Above is a photo of an opening band, not the Blondie tribute band. We didn't know there was going to be an opening band or we might have come later. At first we were confused as this did not look like the Blondi tribute band and I didn't recognize any of their songs. But I did spot a gal with a gold hat in at a table near the stage who I thought looked like the Blondie in a tribute band that we had seen four years ago. It turned out that was the Blondie tribute band singer and they came up after the opening band finished.

This was the same Blondie tribute band that we saw on a Portland Spirit river cruise that we were on 4 years ago with Scotty. The last 3 photos above were from that cruise 4 years ago.

The music went from 9 PM until about 11:45 PM. There were a good number of people there with all the front tables taken when we arrived around 9:30 PM but we were able to get a decent table right by the entrance. But it was not packed and there were many less desireable tables open. The $15 cover charge per person may have discouraged many. Surprisingly a number of people left when the opening band completed there performance. Maybe many were there just for the opening band. Some people moved up to better tables by the stage as others left. I counted about a total of 50 people attending the Blondie tribute band performance. We thought the tribute band put on a great show. Click on each of the above play buttons to see for yourself.

A huge group of people came in at about 11:30 PM when they stopped collecting a cover charge. They all immediately headed to the back of the bar where the pool tables are located. Billy Blues Bar & Grill remains open until 2 AM on Fridays and Saturdays even though the music ends a bit before midnight. Sunday they close at 10 PM and all other nights at 11 PM. There are a lot of restaurants open late around our Vancouver home whereas the number of restaurants open late near our Anaheim house is pretty limited. There are also a great number of live music venues near our Vancouver home, many that feature live music late into the night every day of the week, while the live music venues near our Anaheim house is pretty limited, especially late night music.

Louis "King Louie" Pain Performing At
Giatti's Speakeasy at Salud! Italian Restaurant
Camus (near Vancouver), Washington Saturday, April 29, 2023

We were here a year ago but we forgot how to get into Giatti's Speakeasy that is at the rear of the restaurant. We had to walk through the wine locker room, then step into the phone booth, pick up the telephone handset, and say the secret word "Bazooka" to the person that answered. Then a secret door would open up at the rear of the phone booth and we could walk into Giatti's Speakeasy!

We talked with Louis Paine and his wife for about 30 minutes after his perfomance ended. He performs at many of the jazz clubs that we frequent. He and his wife are close friends with David K. Mathews, piano / keyboard player of Santana. David K. Mathews used to stay at their house whenever he was in town but recently bought his own place in Samon Creek, just a short way from where we live in Vancouver.

Karaoke Sunday Through Thursday 9 PM - 1 AM
Cascades Bar & Grill, Vancouver, Washington
Sunday, April 30, 2023

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