Congratulations to the 2016 OMHOF Inductees: BRIAN BERG, DUFFY BISHOP, FERNANDO VICICONTE, PETE KREBS, SLEATER KINNEYPAUL BRAINARD, TIM ELLIS, DAVE CUTTER and BART DAY.

ARTISTS

BRIAN BERG: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Brian berg spent his formative years playing in bands in Salem and working in a record store. He became a mentor to many area musicians along the way, including OMHOF Inductee, the Dharma Bums. In the mid-90’s Brian fronted his band 44 Long, The band released “Collect Them All” in 1997 and “Inside The Horses Head” to critical acclaim, including press in Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine. The band’s reputation live made them one of the top live acts around. After the band dissolved, Brian continued writing songs and playing solo but in 2006 released a new 44 Long album. In 2012, the songs intended to be the 3rd album was released digitally. Brian passed away in Fall of 2015.

 

DUFFY BISHOP: Vocalist Duffy Bishop has been performing professionally since her teens. While building a reputation as one of the best rock and blues performers in the state of Washington, Duffy played Janis Joplin in a Seattle production and ended up touring with Big Brother & the Holding Company. She released 2 albums with the Rhythm Dogs before putting together the Duffy Bishop Band releasing 6 albums. In 1995, Duffy moved to Portland. She is in the Cascade Blues Association and Washington Blues Society Hall of Fame, and a recipient of both organizations’ Lifetime Achievement Award. The Cascade Blues association renamed the Female Vocalist Award the Duffy Bishop Award due to her winning the award so many years in a row,

 

FERNANDO VICICONTE: Argentinian born Fernando got his major musical start in LA, fronting a hard rock band. In 1994 he moved to Portland and released “Season In Hell” in 1996 a county flavored rock record and built a reputation as a solid performer in the clubs of Portland. He followed this up with the harder edged “Widows” and 2 years late with a Spanish language album “Pacoima”, exploring Tex-Mex, border rock and Mexican R&B. 5 albums have followed including “”Old Man Motel” (1999) “Dreams Of The Sun and Sky” (2001), “Enter To Exit” (2006), “True Instigator” (2010) and “Leave The Radio On” in 2015. Magnet Magazine named Fernando one of the best new artists of 2006 and “Enter To Exit” received critical acclaim in Billboard, Paste, and No Depression among others.

 

PETE KREBS: Pete Krebs ended up in Portland in the 80’s and has been a music fixture ever since. There was HairBedPeace and Grind. Grind turned into Thillhammer, a regular at the Satyricon. Then came Hazel, who released 2 albums on Sub Pop and one for Caroline Records. Their live shows were legendary. Taking a left turn from the loud post-punk sound of Hazel, Pete has played numerous styles of music. He started the bluegrass based Golden Delicious, fronted the folk band Gossamer Wings, played Django Reinhardt inspired music with the Kung Pao Chickens and started the band The Stolen Sweets based on the music of the Boswell Sisters. He’s also slipped in a couple solo recordings and is now playing honky-town with his band the Earnest Lovers.

 

SLEATER KINNEY: Originally formed in Olympia, WA in 1994, Sleater-Kinney members Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals) and Corin Tucker (guitar and vocals) moved to Portland and took on their 4th drummer Janet Weiss in time to have her play on “Dig Me Out”, their 3rd release following their self titled debut in 1995 and the follow up Call The Doctor in 1996. This solidified the band and they went on to release The Hot Rock (1999), All Hands on the Bad One (2000, One Beat (2002) and The Woods (2006). Their fan base grew around the world with each release. Rolling Stone Critic Greil Marcus named them best American Rock Band in 2001. In 2006, Sleater-Kinney took a 7-year hiatus before returning with “No Cities to Love in 2015. That year Stereogum’s Tom Breihan called them the greatest rock band of the past two decades.

 

                                                                 SIDE PLAYERS

 

PAUL BRAINARD: Paul Brainard has been the go to guy for the past couple of decades if you needed a steel guitar player. He also had the talents on guitar, dobro and trumpet and was known for his instrumental arrangements of horns and strings and production skills. His recording and stage credits read like a who’s who including many Oregon artists like The Decemberists, Dandy Warhols, Fernando, Blitzen Trapper, and Richmond Fontaine to artists like Kim Ritchey, The Sadies and even Kenny Rogers. Most of the time he is a regular guest with many local artists as well as fronts multiple bands of his own including a jazz organ trio, the Hawaiian-influenced Pu Pu Platters and his Fun Machine Orchestra.

 

TIM ELLIS: The music bug bit Tim Ellis early. By the age of 15, LA based Tim Ellis was giving guitar lessons and playing in bands. In the mid-80’s, he moved to Portland. He was an amazing guitarist and worked for 20 years as a teacher at the Portland Adventist Academy with both guitar and production classes. He also worked for a local recording studio, which inspired him to start one of his own, Kung Fu Bakery. It became one of the premiere places in the Northwest to record. Artists such as the Decemberists, Pink Martini, the Shins, Wayne Newton and Steve Martin recorded at the studio. And along the way, Tim played guitar on many recording sessions that happened there. Tim passed on due to cancer in March of this year.

 

 

INDUSTRY PEOPLE

 

DAVE CUTTER: Dave Cutter has been part of the local music landscape since 1962. He has touched millions of people’s ears though his sound company Sundown Sound that debuted in 1971 at a Fleetwood Mac/Jacob’s Ladder show at the Paramount Theater. Sundown did 12 show that year and by 1989 they doing sound for 300 shows a year from San Diego, California to Palmer, Alaska. Sundown put sound systems in many venues in Oregon as well as did sound for almost all the major promoters over the years. The Roseland Theater still has one of Dave Cutter’s sound system in place, a system the late Prince stated “He had never heard such a stereophonic system like it before.” Dave also donated his time and services to many musical events in this city.

 

BART DAY: One of Portland’s best entertainment lawyers, Bart Day has been an intricate part of the Oregon music community. He has extensive legal experience with music royalty matters and drafting, licensing for television and film, digital media, publishing and rights clearance issues. He has worked with hundreds of local artists in the Oregon music community. He served as a board member for the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the National Academy of the Recording Arts from 2000 to 2004. He has served as a board member since 2010 for Painted Sky, a non-profit organization founded to provide music, dance training and find performance opportunities for Native American Youth. He also has volunteered his time to many musical causes and events in the Oregon music community.