 One of the great things about living in Portland, OR is the ability to see live music. Sometimes these shows are things that you plan for, buy tickets, and make an event of it. Other times, you just get lucky and stumble upon something great that’s happening. This last weekend, I was lucky enough to stumble onto a performance with finger style blues guitarist Dorian Michael. Last Saturday, my wife and I drove over to a home-brew shop in Gresham called The Hoppy Brewer to pick up some home-brew supplies (one of our first hobbies outside of playing music was home brewing). While we where there, I noticed a poster for guitarist Dorian Michael - who as it turned out was performing at The Hoppy Brewer that night - starting about 20 minutes from when I saw the poster! We put our plans on hold, and found some front row seats on the patio. I was really excited to hear Dorian play again. The first time I heard him was in 2003 or 2004. He was sharing a concert with my college guitar teacher, Michael Millham. I had been encouraged to check the show out, and have continued to be a fan of Dorian Michael since then. Dorian Michael is a great finger style and blues guitarist - well worth listening to no matter what kind of music you normally listen to. He writes original music, as well as performing his own arrangements of classic blues and jazz songs. Dorian was very friendly and talked to us as he got ready for the show. We quickly found out that we had my teacher Michael Millham as a mutual friend, and went on to talk about guitars, guitar builders, amplifiers, and other gear as Dorian got set up. Before we knew it, Dorian Michael had been playing for an hour and a half - only stopping to change tunings a couple of times. It’s common for finger style guitar players to use altered tunings sometimes, like Drop D and Open D tuning. We heard a great mix of his original music, jazz standards, and plenty of the blues. The arrangements were fantastic, and I really enjoy his original writing. One of my favorite original songs of his is called Arizona Meets The Ocean. Luckily, it was one of the first songs he played that day so I got to hear it in person again. If you ever get the chance to see Dorian Michael perform live, go and see him! It’s a great experience to be able to hear a guitarist of his level up close.
If you are looking for live music in Gresham, OR - check out The Hoppy Brewer. They have a great selection of home-brew supplies, lots of taps, and right now it looks like they have live music every-other Saturday. Want to learn more about the blues, finger style, or even just get started playing guitar? Click here for more information about how I can help you with guitar lessons in Portland Oregon, and Online Guitar Lessons.
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