Page 12 - portland-tribune

The Portland Tribune Thursday, April 11, 2013 B2 LIFE Portland!Life
Soesbe says. “It’s just a general
thing people go through, going
through their life and wanting
to make changes. It’s not a plot
piece, it’s a character piece.”
Movie parties
The 64-year-old Soesbe hasn’t
wanted to make many changes
in his life. It’s been about mov-
ies, movies and more movies.
Growing up in Northeast Port-
land, he frequented the Laurel-
hurst and Avalon theaters, and
some days he would stand at the
back door of the Laurelhurst
just listening to dialogue. His
father actually built a home the-
ater — and the young Soesbe
charged admission for movies,
many of which had been shown
at lunchtime at the old Wash-
ington High School, where he
attended and volunteered to be
in charge of the films.
“I’d pick them up on Friday
night, show kids on Saturday,
and return them Monday,” he
says, chuckling. “I can tell that
story now.”
There would be popcorn,
cookies and Kool-Aid for sale.
The movie parties continued
through college to today. “I
don’t charge anymore,” he says.
Soesbe graduated from Port-
land State University in 1971
and earned a graduate degree
in playwriting in 1976. A year
later, he moved to Los Angeles.
to pursue his career.
He has written four TV mov-
ies: “The Wrong Woman” for
CBS, “Till Dad Do Us Part” for
Fox Family, and “Blind Terror”
and “Look Again” for Lifetime.
For NBCUniversal, he helped
shape “Les Miserables” and
“The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
And, he wrote scripts in his
off time.
“I was never able to crack the
spec market,” says Soesbe, who
lives in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Now, his time has come —
and with Robin Williams.
“I’m a great fan of his,” Soes-
be says. “I never dreamed he
would do one of my films. I still
can’t believe it.”
April 12, 13, 14
Up around the Bender
It’s that time of year again,
when REAL rock ‘n’ roll bands,
from the garage to the grungy,
descend on Portland for the
Bender Festival. This year’s
lineup features nearly 40 acts,
including Cheater Slicks, The
Missing Monuments, Tim Kerr,
Glitz, Suicide Notes, The Blood-
types, Monoshock, The Satin
Chaps and Rhett & Dean.
Among the highlights: ga-
rage-punk legends The Cynics
of Get Hip Recordings, from
Pittsburgh, are still going
strong and will play Saturday
night. One of those bands that
understands the best rock is
simple, riff-driven and explo-
sive, The Cynics are, paradoxi-
cally, exactly who you need to
hear if you want to believe in
rock ‘n’ roll again.
Also, consider checking out
psychedelic-electro-metallic-
bluesy Black Bananas on Sun-
day night. Formerly known as
RTX, BB is the latest music
project by singer-songwriter,
model and artist Jennifer Her-
rema. She’s released more than
20 albums, and has played with
such acts as Artimus Pyle and
MGMT, and, of course, Royal
Trux with her past partner Neil
Michael Hagerty. Black Banan-
as is basically what life sounds
like if you’re on various illegal
substances, or, in certain cases,
like to play various stations on
different radios simultaneously.
The Bender, 5:30 p.m. Friday-
Sunday, April 12-14, Star The-
ater, 13 N.W. Sixth Ave. Tickets
for individual nights range
from $12 to $14, or you can buy
a $30 wristband for the week-
end. At noon Saturday, you can
catch a free matinee show,
headlined by M.O.T.O. Info:
thebenderbenderbender.tumblr.
com or startheaterportland.
com.
April 18
Dancing on a pinhead
Zowie! Angel Olsen has a
voice! The folk singer hails
from Chicago but sounds like
she grew up in some coal
country holler, with a lovely
alto-soprano set of pipes that
immediately compels your at-
tention. We’d like to tell you
more, but she apparently
doesn’t believe in posting sub-
stantial bios on her website
(note to her publicist, “eats
sandwiches in the morning” is
not a unique quality) but from
what we’ve heard, she sounds
like she’s worth the price of
admission. She’s touring to
promote her latest record
“Half Way Home.”
Angel Olsen, Villages, 9 p.m.
Thursday, April 18, Bunk Bar,
1028 S.E. Water Ave. $10. Info:
503-894-9708, bunkbar.com.
‘Round town
■ Portland’s Floating
Pointe is a sometimes dreamy,
ethereal alternative folk rock
act that sometime plays as an
acoustic trio with vocals, gui-
tars and a viola, or as a guitar
heavy six-piece band. Leaders
Bill James and Jason Mockley
have played music in Portland
and the West since the early
‘90s in such bands as Sylvias
Ghost, The Wayne Gacy Trio,
Sweet Juice and others.
They’re marking the release
of their latest CD with this
show. 3-6 p.m. Saturday, April
13, Ringler’s Pub, Crystal Ball-
room, 1332 W. Burnside St.
Free. All ages. Info: 503-225-
0047, mcmenamins.com.
■ L.A. folk, pop, Americana
rockers The Far Country put
out a very fine five-song CD
called “Morning Light,” in De-
cember, which ranges from
foot-stompers to heart-break-
ers. The band will join Lydian
Gray, Here Come Dots and
Stop Motion Poetry for a show
at 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, at
Backspace, 115 N.W. Fifth Ave.
$6. All ages. Info: 503-248-2900,
backspace.bz.
If n obody knows wh at ’s goin g on,
nob ody can do any thing about it.
That ’s why we keep saying your l ocal and s tate government shou ld keep
publishing their public notices in the news paper.
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LiveMusic!
By ROB CULLIVAN
Pamplin Media Group
Chicago’s Angel
Olsen is touring
with her alto-
soprano voice in
support of “Half
Way Home.”
She’ll be at Bunk
Bar on April 18.
COURTESY OF
SABRINA RUSH
can be purchased through tick-
ettomato.com.
“Health care is a human
right,” says Sylvester, 67.
The current health system
has forced him into attending
more and more funerals of fel-
lowmusicians as the number of
illnesses and deaths rise from
lack of health care resources.
On Feb. 4, sporting a red zoot
suit on the steps of the Oregon
Capitol, backed by a crowd of
demonstrators, Sylvester
played his song, “Healing the
Healthcare Blues,” the perfor-
mance a part of a rally put on by
Healthcare for All-Oregon for
the opening of the Legislature’s
session. At the same time, the
song contributed to the new
name of the Inner City Blues
Festival.
His words: “I don’t care what
party you’re in, Democratic or
Republican ... heal the health
care blues, it’s the only way we
can win.”
His cause has deep meaning.
Isaac Scott, a Seattle blues-
man and Sylvester’s best friend
(he credits Scott with teaching
him the blues), was a full-blown
diabetic for many years and
wasn’t able to find out because
of his lack of health care and ac-
cess to preventive checkups.
Scott died in 2001 at age 56 from
complications of his condition.
Messenger of peace
Sylvester grew up in a musi-
cal environment, although the
need to provide good health
care for his family prevented
him from being a full-time musi-
cian.
From Bonita, La., Sylvester
came to music through his fam-
ily. His father, Mack Sylvester,
was a spiritual singer who per-
formed in a quartet. Sylvester
says that singing was not a
choice in his family. “My grand-
mother didn’t askme if I wanted
to sing in the choir,” he says.
“She told me I was singing in
the choir.”
After he came to Portland
with his family in 1957, Sylvester
began expanding his knowledge
of music. His first guitar was an
acoustic that his father bought
for $11.95. A year later, after
learning three songs, his father,
as promised, bought him a mail-
order electric guitar and a small
amplifier for $99.
In 1965, Sylvester went to see
Buddy Guy at Reed College
Commons, and worked his way
backstage with a friend. After
being told that Sylvester could
play, Guy handed him his guitar
and told him to go out and open
up the set for him. From then
on, Sylvester was “hooked on
the blues.”
Despite his love of playing
music, when Sylvester was a
young man it was never an op-
tion for him to be a full-time mu-
sician — as he calls it a “mes-
senger of peace and happiness.”
Because of his need to pro-
vide health care for his five chil-
dren, Sylvester worked in truck-
ing for 25 years, playing music
on the side when possible.
After the bankruptcy of his
employer, and the fact that his
children were grown, Sylvester
decided to follow his love of mu-
sic. The first Norman Sylvester
Band started in 1985.
In trying to come up with a
logo and name for his label, Syl-
vester’s name was connected to
Sylvester J. Pussycat of “Looney
Tunes”; after putting together a
logo of a zoot suit-wearing cat
with Sylvester’s nose and chin,
Boogie Cat Productions and
“The Boogie Cat” were born.
After being remarried in 1994,
Sylvester’s family grew to eight
children. Later, he would have
his own medical issues. In 2000,
Sylvester was told that both his
hips were being worn down.
That year, he had two hip sur-
geries. Luckily, Sylvester had
insurance at the time, a luxury
that cost his family $640 a
month, a figure that would later
skyrocket to $1,200 a month.
Sylvester went on to have two
more hip surgeries, one in 2006
and one in 2008. Since his hips
have now been completely re-
placed, Sylvester calls himself
“a bionic blues man.”
Campbell also has had hip re-
placement surgery. “It’s weird,”
Campbell says. “We used to
know each other as the young
guys, and nowwe’ve turned into
the old guys.”
Campbell says that since ma-
ny musicians cannot afford
health insurance, a lot of them
take the chance that nothing’s
going to happen to them and go
without it.
“When a fellow musician
goes down,” Campbell says.
“We all try to pitch in.”
“The community is really
strong,” says Sylvester, who par-
ticipates regularly in benefits
for musicians who have fallen to
various illnesses, includingmost
recently a benefit for Linda
Hornbuckle in November 2012.
“If there’s a benefit of some
kind, Norman’s one of the first
people to sign up,” Campbell
says.
After a short hiatus, the Inner
City Blues Festival, formed in
1988, started up again last year
with its new cause. Last year,
“Healing the Healthcare Blues”
pulled in more than 900 people
and volunteers, and raised
$10,000.
The beat goes on, thanks to
people such as Sylvester.
“It is a big business, there’s a
lot of money in the medical field,
and it’s not trickling down,” Syl-
vester says. “It’s time in 2013 for
the government to look at it.”
Sylvester:
Bluesman
put his
family first
Soesbe: Movies play big part in writer’s life
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■ From page 1