Night of the Song Birds

St. Mary plays in a band called Blue Lightning.  I’ve been going to her gigs regularly for the last couple of years.  I know all the songs, and the musicians and even had a special thanks in their first CD for “groupie mentality”. YEAH!

So one day they started paying me to take pictures for them.  Perhaps it was a gesture to keep me off the dance floor or an attempt to keep me from head banging to folk rock – but it’s become a regular gig that I enjoy.

They had their second CD release party on Saturday at the Macadam Bar and Grill and so I went with Admiral Fubar to celebrate the release of their Live at the Aladin CD.  What more can you ask for?  Grooving music, thick bass lines and a voice like St. Mary’s that can croon your hips to moving, and an electric violin pulling harmony that makes you want to dance despite the knowledge that you have two left feet.  So, fabulous music and great company, chocolate cake, coffee and  – but wait – it gets better…

As I was sitting there, Reina Collins walks up to me and asks me to take a picture of a group of women at her table who are all well known and loved singer songwriters in the Portland Metro area who had come to celebrate the CD release for Blue Lightning.

So I wander over and realize I’ve just hit the coolest kind of jackpot ever! A picture with all these people in the same spot!

From left to right: Paula Sinclair, Shayla Carpenter, Angie Foster,Beth Willis, Katie Arnold, Pilar French,Reina Collins. , ,, , ,., ,, , ,., ,, , ,.

I saw Pilar French at the Green Room once and loved her songstress vocals. She has a comfortable sexy presence on stage and a love affair with the mic that makes you feel at once like a voyeur and a privileged listener. When I met her before the show, she was friendly and relaxed and easily took away the oddity I had over doing pictures in a crowded bar.

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to Beth Willis sing on several occasions, and each time I’ve heard her sing I’ve lost my mind mid thought and when her songs end, there follows a brief sense of disorientation. Where am I? What was I doing? Beautiful. I love that feeling of being carried far away by sound and story and when I’m returned I can’t remember where the journey started, and for those of you who’ve never met Beth, she’s charming as hell and super friendly.

I also had the joy of meeting John O’Mara who was there with his drummer from the band Fuzz Monkey.  So I got a shot of him too…