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H
e was there with a
group of musicians
playing a tribute when
the Arlene Schnitzer
Concert Hall reopened in 1984.
He played the first Waterfront
Blues Festival in 1987, back when it
was called the Rose City Blues Fes-
tival.
He opened for B.B. King in 1987
and ‘91. He was inducted into the
OregonMusic Hall of Fame in 2011.
Norman Sylves-
ter, “The Boogie
Cat,” is a fixture on
the Portland music
scene.
“He knows the
scene and he wears
many great hats. He
pulls off some of the greatest suits,
and I really love him for it,” says
Don Campbell, a member of the
Cascade Blues Association and fel-
low Portland blues scene musician
since the early 1980s.
Sylvester came from a family of
singers and developed a passion
for the blues, starting his own band
in 1985. There are not too many
harder-workingmusicians around,
as Sylvester plays gigs around
town nearly every weekend.
These days, his passion extends
to people in need, including his
own musical brethren.
Sylvester says he has been
blessed to have had access to
health care his whole career,
but there are others who
are not so lucky. Sylvester
puts in hours of his time
contributing to benefits
and causes to help out his
fellow musicians who are
suffering from illnesses,
folks who can’t afford to
receive care due to lack of
insurance.
On Saturday, April 13,
Sylvester will perform for
the second annual “Heal-
ing the Healthcare Blues”
Inner City Blues Festival: “In
the Groove of Love,” at theMel-
ody Ballroom. The festival bene-
fits the organization Healthcare
for All-Oregon. The Norman Syl-
vester Band, with Ben Rice, will
perform songs from its album re-
leased last year, “Blues Stains on
My Hands.”
Doors open at 6 p.m., the music
starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and
THE SHORT LIST
STAGE
‘subUrbia’
The Portland Actors Conserva-
tory show is about a group of
20-somethings desperately seeking
meaning and direction in a conve-
nience store parking lot. Based on
an Eric Bogosian story, it reflects
the angst, inertia and anger of ma-
ny suburban young people. The per-
formance features second-year PAC
students, as well as professional ac-
tors and alumni.
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2
p.m. Sundays, through April 28,
Firehouse Theatre, 1436 S.W. Mont-
gomery St., actorsconservatory.
com, $5-$25
‘The Aliens’
The Third Rail Repertory The-
atre show and story by Annie Bak-
er, directed by Tim True, is about
two men (KJ and Jasper) hanging
out by a Dumpster behind the cof-
fee shop in the town of Shirley, Vt.,
meditating on music, philosophy,
‘shrooms and Charles Bukowski.
They are interrupted by the new
17-year-old barista Evan Shelmer-
dine.
7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays,
2 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays, April 12-
May 4, CoHo Theatre, 2257 N.W. Ra-
leigh St., 503-235-1101, $25
‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’
It’s a world premiere production
by Tears of Joy Theatre, with two
very enthusiastic Jules Verne fans
telling the story with puppets, like
it’s never been told before — a fun,
rollicking, family-friendly adapta-
tion. It’s written by Jon Ludwig, ar-
tistic director of the Center for Pup-
petry Arts in Atlanta, and directed
by Nancy Aldrich, Tears of Joy ar-
tistic director.
Various times and days, April 12-
21, Winningstad Theatre, 1111 S.W.
Broadway, 503-248-0557, $21, $17
children
Live Wire! Radio
Humorist Simon Rich, actor
James Urbaniak, musician John
Roderick, author Amanda Coplin
and musical acts Black Prairie and
Rose Cousins are part of the radio/
stage variety show.
7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, Alberta
Rose Theatre, 3000 N.E. Alberta St.,
livewireradio.org, $20, $25 day of
show, $35 reserved
Justin Brill
“An Evening with Justin Brill”
features the star who played Boq on
the first national tour of “Wicked,”
as he sings and tells stories tracing
his path from his home in Annapo-
lis, Md., to Broadway and beyond.
He’ll sing and tell stories from “All
Shook Up,” “Rent,” “High Fidelity,”
“Mamma Mia” and “Spamalot,” as
well as songs by Irving Berlin and
George Gershwin.
7 p.m. Monday, April 15, Lake-
wood Center for the Arts, 368 S.
State St., Lake Oswego, 503-635-
3901, $20
‘American Music Festival’
The Oregon Ballet Theatre show
brings us three newdance works by
Pontus Lidberg, Trey McIntyre and
Matthew Neenan, in an ambitious
program that spans a wide spec-
trum of the country’s musical
genres. It’s McIntyre’s first OBT
commission since “Just” in 2006;
he’ll be leading “Robust American
Love.” Neenan (“At The Border”)
and Lidberg (“Stream”) will get
their Portland introductions.
7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, sev-
en other performances (2 p.m. or
7:30 p.m.) through April 27, New-
mark Theatre, 1111 S.W. Broadway,
obt.org, starting at $23
Bridgetown Comedy Festival
The sixth annual event will be
held at various venues around Haw-
thorne Boulevard, and will include
“The Simpsons” writer/producer
Dana Gould, musician/comedian
Reggie Watts and Peter Serafinow-
icz and Robert Popper of BBC cult
comedy hit “Look Around You.” In
addition, comics Greg Behrendt
and Dave Anthony bring their pop-
ular podcast “Walking the Room”
to Bridgetown for the first time.
Several other noted comedians are
scheduled to appear.
Thursday-Sunday, April 18-21,
various venues around Hawthorne
Boulevard, bridgetowncomedy.com
(see for complete info), $79 weekend
passes
MUSIC
Dark Star Orchestra
Endorsed by the Grateful Dead
themselves, the tribute band has
performed with five Dead mem-
bers, including Phil Lesh. It’s been
on tour for 15 years and 2,150 shows,
giving Dead fans a unique live expe-
rience for the young and older. The
band plays songs from Dead re-
cords, as well as live shows, recreat-
ing set lists and intermittently
crafting their own.
8 p.m. Thursday-Friday, April 18-
19, Crystal Ballroom, 1332 W. Burn-
side St., mcmenamins.com, $25, $27
day of show
Chris Tomlin
With 10 No. 1 radio singles, three
Grammy nominations, 18 Dove
Awards, one platinum and three
gold albums to his credit, you could
say contemporary Christian singer-
guitarist Chris Tomlin’s career has
been heaven on Earth.
7 p.m. Friday, April 19, Rose Gar-
den, rosequarter.com, $25, $35
‘A Concert for Sandy Relief’
Forward Edge International pres-
ents the benefit concert featuring
Aaron Neville, Curtis Salgado and
Michael Allen Harrison.
7 p.m. Saturday, April 20, Keller
Auditorium, 222 S.W. Clay St., pcpa.
com, $35-$61
Sparks
One of the most influential and
intelligent rock-pop-disco-you-
name-it outfits of the past four de-
cades, Sparks, is back on the road.
8 p.m. Sunday, April 21, Aladdin
Theater, 3017 S.E. Milwaukie Ave.,
503-234-9694, $27.50, $30 at the door
Fleetwood Mac
Heads up: Fleetwood Mac’s cur-
rent lineup includes Mick Fleet-
wood and John McVie — both
original members since 1967 —
and Lindsey Buckingham and Ste-
vie Nicks, who joined the band in
1975.
8 p.m. Sunday, June 30, Rose Gar-
den, rosequarter.com, $29.50-$149.50
MISC.
Pets fair
The Northwest Pet and Compan-
ion Fair is the largest pet expo and
adoption event in the Northwest,
bringing thousands of attendees
and exhibitors from all aspects of
the pet industry. It’s free for the first
time.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, April 13,
10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday, April 14,
Expo Center, 2060 N. Marine Drive,
free
National Poetry Month
As part of themonthlong celebra-
tion of poetry, Annie Bloom’s Books
is playing host to readings by six
Portland poets: Carl Adamshick,
Sarah Bartlett, Emily Kendall Frey,
James Gendron, Jay Ponteri and
Coleman Stevenson.
7 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, An-
nie Bloom’s Books, 7834 S.W. Capi-
tol Highway, annieblooms.com, free
COURTESY OF DARK STAR ORCHESTRA
They aren’t Jerry Garcia and his Grateful Dead bandmates, but Dark Star
Orchestra has garnered much acclaim for their spot-on rendition of Dead songs
and concerts. They’ll play the Crystal Ballroom April 18-19.
Portland!
Life
SECTION B
THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2013
Portland
Actors
Conservatory
examines
youthful angst,
inertia and
anger in
“subUrbia,”
through April
28 at Firehouse
Theatre.
COURTESY OF
OWEN CAREY/PAC
Portland writer grew
up with a love of
good stories, films
Williams
drives
Soesbe’s
‘Boulevard’
By JASON VONDERSMITH
The Tribune
For 35 years, Portland na-
tive Douglas Soesbe has
toiled at NBCUniversal in
Los Angeles, reading and
evaluating scripts and writ-
ing some cable television
movies.
Movies have been the love of
his life since
the days
when his fa-
ther project-
ed a picture
onto the
neighbor’s
house. He
was hooked.
So consid-
ering his re-
cent good for-
tune, you can
just imagine Soesbe’s excite-
ment. His script for “Boule-
vard” will be made into an in-
dependent movie with Robin
Williams.
Filming begins in late May in
Nashville, and Soesbe will be
there for part of the shoot. The
movie will be directed by Dito
Montiel, who won an award at
the Sundance Film Festival for
“A Guide to Recognizing Your
Saints.”
He hopes the film will debut
at Sundance 2014, be picked up
for distribution, and play in the-
aters in April 2014.
Clearly busy with a full-time
job, Soesbe has dabbled in per-
sonal writing. He penned “Bou-
levard” eight years ago, and it
was optioned a couple of times.
Through contacts, Williams
came across the script, and
liked it. Actually trained in dra-
ma, the comic genius was look-
ing for something small and
dramatic to work on, Soesbe
says.
“We did a rewrite a couple
months ago,” Soesbe says, and
Montiel started putting his cre-
ative vision to the project. “We
didn’t change it radically. Ev-
erything (Montiel) told me was
good.”
The story of a man going
through a mid-life crisis isn’t a
new one, and there isn’t a spe-
cial inspiration behind it.
But, “it’s a new take on it,”
See SOESBE / Page 2
See SYLVESTER / Page 2
SOESBE
■
Norman Sylvester lends his blues
licks to cause of universal health care
Norman Sylvester
has always given his
time to worthy
causes, such as
RAD Rock Day at
West Linn’s
Rosemont Ridge
Middle School (left).
Sylvester has been
a hard-working
musician known for
his dashing clothing
(right).
PAMPLIN MEDIA
GROUP FILE PHOTO:
LORI HALL
COURTESY OF
NORMAN SYLVESTER
STORY BY
KYLIE
WRAY
BOOGIE CAT’S
HEALTHY PASSION