It was 96 degrees here in Lake Oswego today, so let’s look forward to some fall house concerts!

Celtinalia brings together two performers with many years of diverse musical experience. Jennifer Pratt-Walter, of the Celtic Muse duo, provides Celtic harp, recorder, tin whistle, percussion and vocals. Carl Thor, of Talisman, adds hammered dulcimer, keyboard, mandolin and vocals. Jennifer and Carl have known each other for years, but only recently began performing together outside of their church community. Together, they create music to lighten the spirit and feed the soul. Audiences are loving the transcendent quality of their music — and clamoring for a recording!

Available for performance at festivals, wineries, cafes, church services, retirement communities, weddings and other special occasions, Celtinalia weaves a varied and satisfying program of music ranging from the 14th century to the present day.

Whether from the concert stage or at the bedside of the dying, Jennifer communicates her reverence for life, her instrument, and music with her hands, searching to define and transcend human experience. Her musical background includes band, choir, and madrigal performance, study of harp, piano and fretted dulcimer, and 20 years performing with Valerie Blessley in the Celtic Muse duo. Her repertoire includes Celtic, Early, contemporary, original, and light classic pieces, and she shares her love of the Celtic harp through her teaching studio in Vancouver, WA.

Carl paints evocative images in sound on the hammered dulcimer and recalls an earlier era with his songs and piano compositions. Involved in music since childhood, during the past 20 years he has performed with Talisman, Cascade Crossing, Hands4, the Portland Megaband, and in collaboration with a variety of other musicians. Though his repertoire centers in the Celtic traditions, he has performed in marching bands and choirs, played music from jazz to Scandinavian, and produced electronic music. He teaches hammered dulcimer, piano, and electronic music.

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 2:00-3:00pm. Please bring a DRINK to share – lemonade, tea, wine (is always a hit!), beer – whatever you fancy. Because someone is having a birthday the next day, we will provide light snacks and a cake! If you would like to bring along any finger foods to share, go for it, but it is not required.

CONCERT: 3:00pm

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20 per person. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

DIRTY CELLO

From China to Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before. From down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ bluegrass, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!

“When lead guitar is replaced by the sound of hot licks on a cello, blues, rock and bluegrass rise to a new dimension. Dirty Cello — a four-piece band from San Francisco — makes its style of string music to inspire audiences to swing, sway and dance.” Nick Diamantides, Ashland Daily Tidings.

“Dirty Cello’s music is all over the map: funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic, and textured, and only occasionally classical.” Lou Fancher, Oakland Magazine.

“The group seamlessly careens from blues to bluegrass and rock in a way that really shouldn’t make sense but somehow does.” LA Times

Devil Went Down To Georgia

Head over Heels

I’m Going Home

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:00pm. If attending, please bring enough food and drink to share with at least 4 people.

CONCERT: 7:00pm

Weather-permitting, concert will be outdoors. We can comfortably seat 30 people on the back deck. Pssst – reserve early!

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20 per person. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 

The Musers – Saturday, July 27, 2019

The Musers foot-stomping, high energy performances are punctuated by laughter, dancing feet, and infectious grooves.  Their sister-like blend of soaring harmonies, multi-instrumental arrangements, and sassy cover tunes set The Musers apart from other groups.  Their original “Free Range Folk” spans a variety of acoustic styles including Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Gospel, Irish, and Appalachian, all served up with verve and heart.

**Concert will be outdoors on the back deck. We will provide chairs.**

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm 

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20 per person. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

DIRTY CELLO

From China to Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before. From down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ bluegrass, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!

“When lead guitar is replaced by the sound of hot licks on a cello, blues, rock and bluegrass rise to a new dimension. Dirty Cello — a four-piece band from San Francisco — makes its style of string music to inspire audiences to swing, sway and dance.” Nick Diamantides, Ashland Daily Tidings.

“Dirty Cello’s music is all over the map: funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic, and textured, and only occasionally classical.” Lou Fancher, Oakland Magazine.

“The group seamlessly careens from blues to bluegrass and rock in a way that really shouldn’t make sense but somehow does.” LA Times

Devil Went Down To Georgia

Head over Heels

I’m Going Home

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm 

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 

Hello Everyone,

After a few big hiccups this summer (i.e. – “you are going to surgery NOW”), we are up and running again. I absolutely deplore having to postpone or cancel a concert, but sometimes, ya just have to. If I am wearing dark glasses and moving slowly at the next concerts, it’s medically necessitated to keep my retinas in place! (Or, I’m just trying to look cool 🙂

The Musers foot-stomping, high energy performances are punctuated by laughter, dancing feet, and infectious grooves.  Their sister-like blend of soaring harmonies, multi-instrumental arrangements, and sassy cover tunes set The Musers apart from other groups.  Their original “Free Range Folk” spans a variety of acoustic styles including Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Gospel, Irish, and Appalachian, all served up with verve and heart.

Concert will be outdoors on the back deck. We will provide chairs.

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm 

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20 per person. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap.

Ken Emerson is one of the world’s most highly regarded traditional Hawaiian slack key & steel guitarists living today. He is a monster player of both and he switches easily between them during his performances, laying his guitar on his lap and picking up a steel bar for an instrumental interlude. Emerson is famous for his one-of-a-kind slack/steel style playing of vintage acoustic steel bodied National Resonator guitars.

Emerson’s unique playing style reflects the Hawaiian guitar’s grassroots origins of over a century ago. He has developed his unique style through many musical genres, and has played his special blend of Blues/Jazz Hawaiian guitar for 45+ years. Born into a musical family, Emerson grew up with his fathers’ extensive record collection of jazz, swing, Hawaiian and world music styles.

Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Emerson played the folk and blues songs of the early ‘60s, a lefty learning right hand finger-style techniques that led to his development as a finger-style picker. With the explosion of the San Francisco sound of the mid-later ‘60’s Ken also immersed himself into rock and electric blues styles. He was particularly drawn to bottleneck and slide guitar.

In 1968 Ken’s family moved to Hawaii. Absorbing the Hawaiian culture, Ken and his brother Phil began studying Hawaiian language and music emulating the players of the 1920’s and ‘30s era by listening to vintage Hawaiian 78 rpm records, zeroing in on the jazz and blues styles of Sol Ho’opi’i and Sol K. Bright. Ken and Phil recorded a landmark album in 1978 featuring their vintage instruments, and brought back the early Hawaiian acoustic sounds and styles that had been missing for over 50 years.

Soon the Emerson Brothers were playing alongside such legendary performers as Sol K. Bright, Gabby Pahinui, Genoa Keawe, Raymond Kane, Moe Keale and Auntie Alice Namakelua. Phil went on to deal in vintage musical instruments and Ken donated all his time to becoming a full time musician, touring Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia.

Emerson won the prestigious Kahili Award for perpetuating Hawaiian culture, and was a featured artist and composer on the first-ever National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences Grammy Award winning Best Hawaiian Album. ‘Slack Key Guitar Vol 2’. Emerson is also an accomplished blues and jazz guitarist, his playing has been featured on Donald Fagen’s (Steely Dan) Grammy Award winning Morph the Cat. He has many additional touring/recording credits including Todd Rundgren, Jackson Brown, Boz Scaggs, Charlie Musselwhite, Taj Mahal, and Elvin Bishop.

 

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

Hello You All. Let’s get this party started! It’s been way too long.

For a quick overview of the lineup for the summer, please click on the following link: Upcoming Concerts

 

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Slack Key and Steel Guitar Master, KEN EMERSON –

with special guest, Phil Emerson

MORE DETAILS SOON

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

Friday, June 21, 2019

ALAN GERBER

Alan Gerber was a founding member of Elektra Records recording group, “Rhinoceros”. A multi-instrumentalist: Piano, guitars (acoustic and electric slide), fiddle, button accordion, vocalist and composer. Appeared with Bob Dylan, BB King, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry/Brownie McGee and many others. Live show has a blues/folk feel to it. Check website: www.alangerbersongs.com for reviews of shows.

“The synergy of Alan Gerber is a complex concoction difficult to explain. Without question, Alan is greater than the sum of his parts, and when combined and on display for a mesmerized and awestruck audience, you can fully understand Alan Gerber in the flesh! Alan is a seasoned pro, a master-class of how to take years of honing your craft and a million plus miles of live performances to reach this level. Within the first 30 seconds of a live Alan Gerber show the audience is hooked, completely! As a songwriter, storyteller, musician, performer and personality, it is a marvel of engineering, the perfect storm. Alan has produced an impressive catalog of musical gems, which I encourage you to acquire but I beg you to experience a live performance….then you will know the synergy of Alan Gerber!”
-Terry Whalen, Artistic Director of Whalen’s Barn Concert Series, Miramichi, NB

Four Riders, a song from Alan’s new CD, “somewhere in between”, has been chosen by Steve Van Zandt ( Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist, actor, known for roles in The Sopranos & Lilyhammer, host of syndicated radio show, Little Steven’s Underground Garage) as”Coolest Song In The World” and will be playing in heavy rotation all summer. Here is a link to the new video of the song:

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

Sunday, June 30, 2019

CELTINALIA – Jennifer Pratt-Walter and Carl Thor

Whether from the concert stage or at the bedside of the dying, Jennifer communicates her reverence for life, her instrument, and music with her hands, searching to define and transcend human experience. Her musical background includes band, choir, and madrigal performance, study of harp, piano and fretted dulcimer, and 20 years performing with Valerie Blessley in the Celtic Muse duo. Her repertoire includes Celtic, Early, contemporary, original, and light classic pieces, and she shares her love of the Celtic harp through her teaching studio in Vancouver, WA.

Carl paints evocative images in sound on the hammered dulcimer and recalls an earlier era with his songs and piano compositions. Involved in music since childhood, during the past 20 years he has performed with Talisman, Cascade Crossing, Hands4, the Portland Megaband, and in collaboration with a variety of other musicians. Though his repertoire centers in the Celtic traditions, he has performed in marching bands and choirs, played music from jazz to Scandinavian, and produced electronic music. He teaches hammered dulcimer, piano, and electronic music.

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 2:00-3:00pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged. *Given that this is an afternoon event, please feel free to bring finger foods.*

CONCERT: 3:00pm onwards

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

Saturday, July 13, 2019

HEART AND HAMMER (Julianna Waters and Barry Cranell)

with special guest, Kerry Williams

Hey everyone! We’re back and ready to do a real live house concert after an elongated vacation. Julianna has since graduated with her MFA in Creative Writing and managed to slip in some songwriting – because she can. I’ve been working on my banjo technique/repertoire for the past couple years, and we’ve added some banjo friendly covers to change up our repertoire a little. We are lucky enough (once again) to have Kerry Williams in our midst playing mandolin, guitar, and adding general frivolity and mayhem to the show. Somehow, I think we’ll manage to have a great time. Between the beautifully executed songs and fiddle tunes, to the never expected train wrecks. We’ll all come out unscathed.

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

Saturday, July 27, 2019

THE MUSERS

The Musers foot-stomping, high energy performances are punctuated by laughter, dancing feet, and infectious grooves.  Their sister-like blend of soaring harmonies, multi-instrumental arrangements, and sassy cover tunes set The Musers apart from other groups.  Their original “Free Range Folk” spans a variety of acoustic styles including Bluegrass, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Gospel, Irish, and Appalachian, all served up with verve and heart.

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

 

 

 

Thursday, August 8, 2019

DIRTY CELLO

From China to Italy, and all over the U.S., Dirty Cello brings the world a high energy and unique spin on blues and bluegrass. Led by vivacious cross-over cellist, Rebecca Roudman, Dirty Cello is cello like you’ve never heard before. From down home blues with a wailing cello to virtuosic stompin’ bluegrass, Dirty Cello is a band that gets your heart thumping and your toes tapping!

“When lead guitar is replaced by the sound of hot licks on a cello, blues, rock and bluegrass rise to a new dimension. Dirty Cello — a four-piece band from San Francisco — makes its style of string music to inspire audiences to swing, sway and dance.” Nick Diamantides, Ashland Daily Tidings.

“Dirty Cello’s music is all over the map: funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic, and textured, and only occasionally classical.” Lou Fancher, Oakland Magazine.

“The group seamlessly careens from blues to bluegrass and rock in a way that really shouldn’t make sense but somehow does.” LA Times

Devil Went Down To Georgia

Head over Heels

I’m Going Home

OPTIONAL POTLUCK: 6:30-7:30pm. We put the “luck” in potluck. Please bring a DRINK and a DISH (enough to feed at least 4) to share. Joining the potluck is optional but highly encouraged.

CONCERT: 7:30pm onwards.

SUGGESTED DONATION: – $15-$20. ALL proceeds go to the musicians. Thank you for supporting LIVE music.

RESERVATIONS: – Please email, text or call:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668

mariannedecher@comcast.net

Location info in Lake Oswego will be given when you make a reservation. We like to keep a head count so no one ends sitting in your lap 🙂

 

 

Dear Faithful Audience and Prospective Musicians,

After Mom passed away, it took awhile to get Dad stabilized. He is doing great at the moment. So – House Concerts in LO is ready to slowly start moving again. For the many musicians who contacted us during our rough time, apologies for not getting back to you or booking you.

We can start booking again for MID APRIL, 2019, onwards.

Thank you all for your patience. Let’s DO this. Bring on those tunes and those dancing feet!!

The Untold Stories of Zimbabwe’s Musical Arts in Performance – a Pop Up House Concert/Workshop with Master Musician, Patience Musandirire

WHAT: A pop up house concert/workshop means that a Master Musician from Zimbabwe happens to be in town and it is TOO good an opportunity to pass up for the musician and the audience. This is a somewhat spontaneous gathering. Don’t miss it!!

WHY: Patience has most recently taught at Zimfest 2018 at WOU. While House Concerts in LO has typically featured local musicians, it is rare to have a different music genre from a native Zimbabwean.

FOR WHOM:  – “I’m not musically inclined, I don’t know anything about Zimbabwean music, I don’t have any instruments – certainly this workshop is not for me”. Not true!! No instruments required. If you have an mbira, please bring it. If you have an open mind and would enjoy learning something new, kindly know that you are more than welcome! All Ages!

WHEN: Sunday, August 26^th

Optional potluck meal from 12:30 – 2:00pm. Bring a (generous serving) dish and some drinks to share if you are attending. Heads up that alcohol will be present at the meal.

**CONCERT/WORKSHOP: 2:00-4:00pm**

WHERE: – location provided when you make a reservation.

COST: – *Suggested* donation of $15-$20 per person at the door. No one turned away. All proceeds go to the teacher. Please be as generous as possible.

 

Contact:

Marianne Decher

503-348-2668   mariannedecher@comcast.net

www.houseconcertslo.com

 

*The Untold Stories of Zimbabwe’s Musical Arts in Performance*

 

Description of Workshop:

A journey to understanding and discovering the fundamental elements that sustains develops and preserves musical arts in Zimbabwe through the influence of mbira, marimba, hosho, drumming and story-telling.

Instructor/Performer Info:

Patience is an African Musical Arts Education Consultant for issues focusing on the development and preservation of Zimbabwe’s musical arts dialogues in performance and theory! A University of Pretoria post-graduate holder of Music Education, Patience specializes in musical arts education, curriculum development and learning programs in the attainment of theoretical and practical musicianship skills that have consequences for life today and tomorrow.

Patience uses various musical arts teaching and learning media to sustain the development and preservation of multicultural education as a means to promote socialization, tolerance and the appreciation of cultural arts diversity in the world. Patience has worked with universities and colleges in the US, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana as a musical arts education consultant and presenter.

Dear Prospective Performers and Audience Members,

It with great sadness that I announce that a family member has been diagnosed with a cancer in February of this year. Most of  my time is devoted to her care (and to a great amount of travel across the country). Please forgive me if I have not responded to your inquiries. As SOON as it is possible, we will resume the concert series, but for now, they are on hold. My apologies and thank you for your understanding and patience.

Update: Sadly, dear mom passed away mid September. We will resume concerts, as soon as I am able, in 2018. Let’s make some joyful sounds in her honor!