August 2025 Check-In's

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First Friday 3-Course Meal At
Burnt Bridge Cellars, Vancouver, Washington
Friday, August 1, 2025

Join us for Indian food First Friday made by Emilee Mahan & Erica Jolly! We'll start with papadam (chickpea) cracker with mixed chutneys. The Main Course will be Tandoori chicken, cabbage, and Chana dal (Chickpea lentils) with tumeric and cumin seeds, Veggie Samosa (fied dough filled with with curried potatoes) finishing with a cardamom spiced rice pudding along with cashews.

Music: Story & Tune are a dynamic Portland-based music duo known for their soulful harmonies, heartfelt originials, and clever genre blending covers. With a knack for storytelling and infectious energy, they turn every performance into a warm, unforgettable experience.

Art: We're featuring some of our favorite artists from our very own community!

10 PM Late Set with FunkSwiTch At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Friday, August 1, 2025, 10:15 PM

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An electrifying eight-member band led by multi-instrumentalist Gabe "Gravy" Hartman, is making waves with its dynamic fusion of classic funk and modern, genre-bending grooves. Featuring a powerhouse rhythm section and a full horn lineup, FunkSwiTch delivers high-energy performances that keep audiences moving from start to finish.

Known for their deep-pocket grooves and retro-futuristic sound, FunkSwiTch is redefining the funk experience for a new generation. Whether lighting up a packed venue or throwing down in an intimate setting, their unmistakable energy sets them apart in Portland's thriving music scene.

Whiskey & Beer Pairing Class
Westward Whiskey, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, August 2, 2025

We weren't expecting a distillery tour which we've done many times at Westward Whiskey, but our pairing class started with another distillery tour, as well as doing some of the first beer pairings in the distillery itself rather than in the tasting room. Some of the whiskey was pulled from a barrel in the distillery room. Also, we weren't expecting Jonathan to be giving the class who is the staff member that has given all the prior whiskey classes we've taken here. Jonathan himself hadn't expected to be giving this class as he transferred from the education project to the private barrel project.

"TOUR THE DISTILLERY: Experience what makes Westward the pinnacle of American whiskey. Meet our skilled team, explore the distillery floor, and see our whiskey-making process up close. Conclude your visit with a guided tasting of our award-winning whiskeys, including exclusive distillery-only expressions."

Westward Whiskey is right next to the railroad tracks of the Amtrak Cascades and Union Pacific freight trains through Portland. I think this is the same tracks used by the Amtrak Coast Starlight. A freight train and an Amtrak Cascades train went by that I could see outside the windows while in the tasting room, but I could not get my mobile phone out in time to take a photo of either of them.

Cameo Lounge
Vancouver, Washington
Saturday, August 2, 2025

I was hoping the Cameo Lounge might be like The Fling Cocktail Lounge in Southern California as it has live classic rock bands, though only 2 or 3 times a week, dancing, and seemed to have a devoted number of followers. However, we knew the minute we pulled into the parking lot that it was nothing like The Fling. The parking lot was HUGE and filled with cars, far bigger than any other bar or restaurant we ever go to in this area. The Cameo Lounge is divided into 3 sections, a restaurant, a bar and an outdoor patio. The live music is on the outdoor patio, but the patio itself was HUGE! Only a few tables are close enough to the stage to be able to see the band. The rest of the tables stretched pretty far back away from the stage. As far as we could tell, every table was occupied. This definitely wasn't our kind of place. We just walked through to get a feel for the place and then went right back to our car. It is possible that it was more crowded than usual as it was a special Birthday Party Bash and was a Saturday evening. Maybe it isn't so crowded when they have live music on Thursdays and it isn't a Birthday Party Bash. Maybe we'll come back and see on some Thursday.

Suberban Slims Blues Band At
Slims PDX (Est. 1911), Portland, Oregon
Sunday, August 3, 2025, The FIRST SUNDAY Of Every Month

I love this place, except for the "No Elon" sticker. Those stickers were pretty popular in this area when Elon Musk was running D.O.G.E. and was close to President Trump, but the animosity towards Elon has pretty much died down after he became almost an arch enemy to President Trump. Maybe it is the most similar to The Fling in Southern California, but at the moment it only has a live band the first Sunday of each month plus Open Mic every Tuesday. No bands on the weekends or any other evening. But different and better than The Fling is it has several craft brews on tap and open bottles of decent wine. Plus, it has a HUGE MENU of food that is served from breakfast time until they close! Just like almost every pub in the Portland area, they have pool tables. However, the layout is pretty bad for live music. They have no stage and the band plays in a corner with only a few tables having a good view, but they do have a dance floor area. If they had live music every night like The Fling, they would definitely have to remodel the room to give a lot more tables a better view of the band. The people playing pool have a better view of the band than most of the people that are there for the band.

The George Dickel Rye Whisky is pretty good. (What happended to the "e" in Whiskey? Usually only Scotland leaves the "e" out of the word "Whiskey.") Barbara and I tend to like Rye more than Bourbon as Bourbon is made from more than 50% corn and is sweeter while Rye is made from more than 50% Rye which is more spicey than sweet.

Above is Slims PDX Menus. As you can see, they have a very extensive menu, not just junk fried bar food, and they serve food from breakfast time to closing time. When they run out of something, the cook will often come to your table and apologize for having run out and ask what they can get you as an alternative of what they ran out of.

Slims is located in a very odd locaction, St. Johns, only about 10 miles from our Vancouvr home, closer than The Fling from our Anaheim house. However, my Tesla Navigation sends me down a lot of roads with 20 and 30 MPH speed limits with speed bumps in the roads. Google Maps shows that Highway 308 could take me there, maybe faster with less speed bumps even if a bit longer drive. The St. Johns area is a peninsula that is separated from Downtown Portland bordered by both the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Blue Note Mondays: Ryan Meagher Quartet
Covers Bill Charlap Trio's "Street of Dreams"
Jo Bar & Rotisserie, Portland, Oregon
Monday, August 4, 2025

A wonderful night of live jazz sitting by a wide open window on a warm summer night overlooking the Nob Hill section of Portland. We ordered the same as the last time we were here. We started off with the Fondue (fontina & gorgonzola fondue, asparagus, apples, ken's artisan baguette) for a starter, and then for our meal had the "Salmon Nicoise Salad" (seared king salmon, butter lettuce, cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, green beans, fingerling potatoes, hard boiled egg, capers, sherry vinaigrette). They split the salmon salad for us and I almost can't believe what we are each served only comes to $12 each. It is definitely a filling meal. We don't normally ever order dessert, but with my birthday just 3 days away, we orderd and split the Cafe au Chocolate (cappuccino brownie, milk chocolate espresso mouse, valrhona croquants, dark chocolate espresso ganache). Even splitting it, we couldn't finish it and brought some of it home.

The great thing about Jo Bar is that they have Blue Note live jazz on Mondays from 7pm to 10pm. There is a lot of live jazz in Portland / Vancouver all week, but Monday has some but very few places with any kind of live music. So Jo Bar is our "go to" place when we want to listen to some live jazz on Mondays.

The reason for the above Scotch photo is that I always immediately notice if a bar has any Islay Scotch available, especially if they have anything more than just the standard common Islay Scotch. The Ardbeg bottle on the right is the standard TEN YEAR Ardbeg. I don't know what the Ardbeg bottle to the left of that is, but I'll have to ask them next time. It is extremely rare for any bar to carry anything other than the standard Ten Year Ardbeg Islay Scotch. I'm a HUGE fan of Islay Scotch as almost all of them are very peaty and smokey. At my Anaheim house I have multiple bottles of almost every type of Scotch from EVERY Islay distillery. It is extremely rare to find any bar with any Islay Scotch, and if they have Islay Scotch, it is usually just the most common and popular of the Islay Scotch. So I'm always curious when any bar has anything beyond the most common Islay Scotch.

The Big Easy Band At
Conway's House of Jazz, Clackamas, Oregon
Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Pocket Funk At
The Blue Diamond, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Sonny Hess - Guitar, Leah Hinchcliff - Bass, Johnny Morrow - Sax, Ward Griffiths - Drums, Get your groove on.

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Henry Fields and The Electric Yes at
The Alberta Street Pub, Portland, Oregon
Shelli, Barbara & Me On My Birthday
Thursday, August 7, 2025, 6:30PM

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Cyrus Nabipoor Quartet At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Shelli, Barbara & Me On My Birthday
Thursday, August 7, 2025, 8:30PM

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A distinctive voice both on the horn and in his songwriting, Cyrus' singular sound has garnered him international acclaim. He has been a featured festival artist at PDX Jazz, Cathedral Park, Montavilla Jazz, New Orleans French Quarter, and Chicago Instigation. To date, he has released 2 albums under his own name, and collaborated on numerous more. In addition to his self-titled work, Cyrus runs the Puddletown Stompers, is a member of Reb & The Good News, and remains active as a sideman.

An in-demand composer/arranger, Cyrus has had several works commissioned by Portland Jazz Composer's Ensemble. Cyrus has produced horn tracks for major artists including Nicky Youre, Grace Enger, Maggie Koerner, Peach Tree Rascals, and David Hugo. He has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with a wide variety of artists including Jamison Ross, Elle King, Tarriona "Tank" Ball, Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, James Singleton, Jason Marsalis, Steve Masakowski, Mike Dillon, Stanton Moore, Amina Scott & Nicole McCabe. Cyrus has served on faculty at Loyola University New Orleans. He is an artist-in-residence at multiple Portland Public Schools, and runs a private trumpet studio.

Born and raised in Portland OR, Cyrus began his studies with Derek Sims & Alan Jones. He holds a B.M. from Loyola University New Orleans, where he graduated magna cum laude and was awarded outstanding undergraduate in both Jazz and Brass. While at Loyola, he studied with Nick Volz, Tony Dagradi and Jimbo Walsh. In 2015, Cyrus was awarded the International Trumpet Guild Jazz Scholarship.

Cool Breeze Band At
Clyde's Prime Rib, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, August 9, 2025

Too Many Dancers To Get A Photo Of The Band

Eric Rabe (Sax) & Sunday Night Fun Jam
Every Sunday 8pm - 11pm At
M&M Restaurant & Lounge, Gresham, Oregon
Sunday, August 10, 2025

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Rarely do you find a bar in the Portland / Vancouver area without pool tables.
M&M has 5 pool tables. Many bars also feature slot machines including M&M.

Lunch and Free Daily Member Wine Flights At
Maryhill Winery, Vancouver Waterfront, Washington
Monday, August 11, 2025

Blue Note Mondays:
Christopher Woitach (guitar), David Evans (sax), George Mitchell (organ) and Timothy Rap (drums) At
Jo Bar & Rotisserie, Portland, Oregon
Monday, August 11, 2025, 7-10pm

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The bluesy jazz of Lou Donaldson's "Here 'Tis", plus some other classics related to the players on the album. It's cool and comfortable inside, with great drinks, great food, the best staff in Portland, and some swinging tunes as part of Jo Bar's Blue Note Monday series. Please join us! Jo Bar has been committed to providing high quality jazz music of all kinds, I consider it my favorite club and home away from home. This'll be a fun night! No cover, either.

A Late Lunch, Live Music & Free Daily Member Wine Flights At
Maryhill Winery, Vancouver Waterfront, Washington
Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Lisa Mann & Sony Hess Blues At
The Blue Diamond, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, August 13, 2025

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Rum Experience At
Black Angus, Vancouver, Washington
Thursday, Aug 14, 2025

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They had a drawing and I won a rum T-Shirt.

Kareem Kandi Quartet with Special Guest Ali Jackson At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, August 16, 2025, 8:30PM

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Ali Jackson - drums, George Colligan - piano, Kareem Kandi - sax, Greg Feingold - bass

A native of the Pacific Northwest, saxophonist Kareem Kandi is a performer, composer, and educator, in high demand for his talents both on and off the stage.

Kareem is a versatile saxophonist and composer with strong roots in the traditions of Jazz, Blues, Classical and Funk, and has been performing throughout the U.S. and abroad for years, gaining attention from critics and audiences alike. While staying true to musical styles of the past, he also keeps an eye towards the future by composing original music as well as new arrangements of timeless songs from the great American songbook.

Award-winning musician, composer, arranger, educator, and percussionist Ali Jackson developed his talent at an early age. A virtuoso, Ali has contributed significant musical works as a composer and arranger and he holds the distinction of being the first percussionist to perform and create music across the entire spectrum of musical styles.

Ali has performed and recorded with a multitude of artists including Wynton Marsalis, Jon Batiste, Willie Nelson, Tony Bennett, Faith Hill, Bobby McFerrin, Buster Williams, Norah Jones, Eric Clapton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Harry Connick, Jr., KRS-1, Marcus Roberts, Kenny Garrett, Joshua Redman, Vinx, Seito Kinen, Seiji Ozawa, Diana Krall, Gerald Albright, Michael Heise, Russell Gunn, James Morrison, Craig Handy, Jacky Terrasson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and the New York City Ballet.

10 PM Show with River City Riot At
The 1905, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, August 16, 2025, 10:15 PM

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Tristan Weitkamp - tenor saxophone, Mike Meskel - baritone saxophone, Dave Keckes-Chartrey - trumpet, Tim Wells - trumpet, Bryce Robertson - trumpet, Luke Brockman - trombone, David Conditt - trombone, Tim Heichelheim - sousaphone, Ian Fuller - drums/percussion, Amy DeVall - percussion

Located in Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA, River City Riot! Brass Band formed in 2016. In addition to being performers, most of River City Riot's members are music educators in the Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA area.

River City Riot has performed around the Portland metro area to include Portland Mardi Gras events, annual performances at Portland's Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland Winter Light Festival, performances at Portland's premier jazz club The 1905, the Mississippi Street Fair, the Portland Rose Festival, and various other private events.

Eric Rabe (Sax) & Sunday Night Fun Jam
Every Sunday 8pm - 11pm At
M&M Restaurant & Lounge, Gresham, Oregon
Sunday, August 17, 2025

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The Big Easy Band At
Conway's House of Jazz, Clackamas, Oregon
Tuesday, August 19, 2025

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Breakfast At
Cameo Cafe - Lounge/Bar, Vancouver, Washington
Tuesday, August 20, 2025

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Blues Jam Every Wednesday with The Fabulous Bad Cats At
The Dublin Pub, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, August 20, 2025

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