This just in from our Portland, OR correspondent, "Uncle" Ray Varner:

“REMEMBER ME” 2010
3rd Annual Paul deLay Scholarship Benefit Concert

Featuring:

The Charlie Musselwhite Band, the Curtis Salgado / Alan Hager Duo, Lloyd Jones, D.K. Stewart, Linda Hornbuckle, Rick Welter, former members of the Paul deLay Band, …and more

Sunday, April 25, 2010


6 - 10 p.m. / doors at 5:30 p.m.


ALADDIN THEATER


3017 SE Milwaukie Ave. • Portland OR • 503.233.1994

A sampling of Portland musical talent joins veteran blues artist and harmonica ace, Charlie Musselwhite and his band, in a benefit concert at the Aladdin Theater, on Sunday, April 25th. All proceeds from “Remember Me” 2010 will go toward the scholarship that has been established in memory of Portland 's late harmonica maestro, Paul deLay , at Ethos Music Center , a nonprofit dedicated to music education for youth in underserved communities. A committee of members from the Portland music community has again organized this annual benefit for music education. Last year’s event filled the Aladdin Theater and increased the growing scholarship fund by several thousand dollars.

Headlining this year’s celebration is a well-known friend of the blues and of Paul deLay – the award-winning bluesman, Charlie Musselwhite. As Rolling Stone Magazine puts it, "With unabashed excellence, Charlie Musselwhite and his tight band set the standard for blues bands everywhere." The Blues Foundation recently released their list of inductees into the Blues Hall of Fame for this year. The list includes this highly esteemed vocalist and harpist. More on Musselwhite follows below.

The concert also features a stellar lineup of local blues talent, including D.K. Stewart, Lloyd Jones, Jim Mesi, Linda Hornbuckle, Jimi Bott, Tahoe Jackson, Rick Welter and Franck "Paris Slim" Goldwasser, Arthur Moore and Tim O'Hare. They will be joined by former members of the Paul deLay Band: organists Louis Pain, and Dover Weinberg; drummer Jeff Minnick; bassists Don Campbell and Dave Kahl; and guitarist Peter Dammann . Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager will also perform together as a duo, which was a highlight of last year’s event. The celebration will be hosted by former tv sports personality and blues fan Ed Whelan.

Paul deLay's friendship with Charlie Musselwhite goes back to the early 1970s, when deLay's band was the backing unit for many of Musselwhite's Northwest tours. Paul and Charlie remained close friends over the years, and performed on many all-star "Harmonica Blow-offs" together, and led a harmonica workshop together, pictured below, at Portland 's Waterfront Blues Festival in 1999. Two of the featured performers in the "Remember Me" concert, Franck Paris Slim" Goldwasser and Rick Welter, who both relocated to Portland in recent years, played in Musselwhite's early bands.

Charles Lewis founded Ethos Music Center in 1998 in response to budget cuts that severely limited arts education in Oregon ’s largest public school district. Located in Northeast Portland , the organization’s name comes from the ancient Greek “Doctrine of Ethos,” which held that music can change your thoughts, moods and actions. Ethos believes every child should have the opportunity to make music. Contributions can be made at any time at www.ethos.org or sending a donation to Ethos Music Center , 10 N. Killingsworth Street , Portland , OR 97217 .

Tickets for this event are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Those under 21 and accompanied by an adult are welcome to attend. Advance tickets are available at the Aladdin Theater Box Office (503.233.1994) or online at www.aladdin-theater.com

Paul deLay wrote the haunting lament “Remember Me,” after his mother and the mothers of three band members passed away in a two-year period in the late 1990s. It was released on the Paul deLay Band’s Heavy Rotation CD (Evidence Music) in 2001. Paul deLay passed away on March 7, 2007 from complications of late-stage leukemia.