Blues on the water

Lucinda Williams

Every three years or so, it seems, we're able to make things work in our schedule and head down to the Waterfront Blues Festival. Yesterday was our day in the sun (literally) and even a few hours spent there made we realize anew why it's one of Portland's signature events and also one of my favorites.

Start with the location. Tens of thousands of people are sardined into a grassy bowl sloping down to the west bank of the Willamette River. While you focus on whomever is performing on the featured stage, you're also able to look down at several boats bobbing in the water and across two bridges to the east side, with Mount Hood looming behind everything.

Consider the vibe. Though people are packed in tightly, with low-back chairs, blankets and coolers, there isn't a single person with attitude -- unlike what you often see at carnivals and amusement parks. Some folks are dancing (by themselves, with a partner or sometimes a group), reading, talking, eating or just people-watching.

Factor in the humans. This is one of those events that attracts people of all ages. Yes, you've got the grizzled graybeards and old hippie mamas, but you've also got twentysomethings and everyone in between, drawn by four days of music on four stages, tons of tasty food and drink, and several booths with clothing, jewelry, Mardi Gras beads and other merchandise. One of the memorable sights: A tall, thin dude in his 50s with purple hair to match his purple shorts and flip-flops. If only he'd borrowed the sunglasses with purple frames I spotted on a guy half his age.

Hawthorne Bridge rising behind a rotating screen

Add in the music. For $10 and two cans of food per person, you're treated to a lineup of more than 100 performers that this year included nightly headliners Robert Cray, Lucinda Williams and Buddy Guy. We saw Lucinda Saturday night and she was quite good. I often think of her as the female Bob Dylan -- great lyricist, one-of-a-kind voice (raw, bluesy, inflected with a Louisiana accent) -- and a Keith Richards lookalike (spiky hair, dressed all in black). 

TIME magazine once called Lucinda "America's best songwriter" and she made my list of favorite performers in May's A to Z music challenge. In many ways, she and her band are the opposite of Alison Krauss and Union Station, whom we saw earlier in the week. While AKUS is all about melodious music, harmonious vocals and friendly banter with the audience, Lucinda Williams is all business. No chit-chat for her.

The Oregonian's pop music critic, Ryan White, said it well in his Day Two wrap of the festival:

"Lucinda -- and she's a one-namer, isn't she? -- brings a different kind of party, a different brand of blues. It's the kind of party that involves sitting around by yourself drinking whiskey. It's not 12-bars and guitar face, but tell me a song called "Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings" isn't the blues?"

Chris and Deb Ehlers

Toss in a little serendipity. A day before the festival began, we realized our longtime friends from Salem, Bob and Deb, also were going to be there on Saturday. They arrived before us, saved us enough space to lay in two more chairs and we enjoyed each other's company on a gorgeous summer night. Bonus: Their son Chris, who was born the same week as our Nathan, had arrived home a few days earlier from Vietnam, where he's been teaching English for several years, and he met his parents there. So that was a nice surprise, to see him all grown up at 31, when our earliest memories of him go back to diaper-changing when both of our families were in the same babysitting co-op.

Finish with a feel-good payoff. The largest blues festival west of the Mississippi and the second-largest festival in the nation also provides the Oregon Food Bank with its largest fundraiser of the year. One hundred percent of gate donations go to feed hungry people  The first day alone raised 13,500 pounds of food and $76,806, White reported.

With all these positives, I'm left to wonder: Why attend only once every three years? I may have to reconsider.

Photo of Lucinda Williams by Ross William Hamilton, The Oregonian