Duffy Bishop

Duffy Bishop
(photo courtesy of David Hofford III)

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Welcome to Duffy Bishop's Palace of Culture

Article Reprint from the January 1998 BluesNotes

    The stage is decorated and colorful, quite different from what you're used to seeing when you go out for live music. The band has played a couple of songs, they sound excellent, but you're wondering about this female singer you've heard so much about. For one thing, where is she? She's not on stage anywhere, then you hear her but you still don't see her. As you scan the room, her voice is already intriguing, strong and powerful with just the right amount of dirt. Out of the corner of your eye you catch what looks like someone who escaped from a mentally challenged ward, straight jacket and all. This person heads for the stage. You think to yourself, this should be interesting, and then, someone helps this person on to the stage and the band seems to welcome her! It is then you realize she's the one singing!

    So begins your journey through Duffy Bishop's Palace of Culture. It's a bright, costume filled, fun adventure with some of the best music you can ever hope to hear. Duffy Bishop is creative, inventive, eclectic, and absolutely charismatic. Her voice and style are unmistakable.

    Duffy won the CBA's "Muddy Award" for best female vocalist three years in a row. This enters her into the CBA "Muddy Award Hall Of Fame" with a select few prestigious local musicians. Duffy's taking it a step further and having the most fun ever.

BluesNotes (BN): What prompted your move from Seattle to Portland three years ago?

Duffy Bishop (DB): I wanted to move to a more supportive art community. Seattle was supportive, don't get me wrong, but it was getting bigger and bigger. I had fallen in love with Seattle because it felt like a smaller city, it seems to have gotten so large.

    We had been coming to Portland to play the Day For Night and the Dandelion Pub. We always really liked the people we met and the musicians here. Portland reminds me a little of Sacramento, where I grew up, because it's more of a river community. I like all the trees, and I like the small town community feeling. It's still very cosmopolitan and artistic, but with a feeling of family. You feel like you belong to something. That's what brought us here.

BN: Now that you're settled here, why is it that you don't play more locally?

DB: We love to play here locally, but we've been booked a lot out of town because we're trying to break through, just like everybody else in the music business. It takes so much of that, going to places you've never been to see where they're receptive. You can only play so much around town. There just aren't a lot of places to perform, and there are quite a few bands competing for those few jobs.

BN: Dave (Jette) and Jon (Goforth) both still live in Seattle. How does that effect the band as far as rehearsing and such?

DB: It makes it a bit impossible to have those once a week rehearsals. We rehearse when we're on the road. We squeeze it in before we play. The band does a lot of that "modular learning" thing. You know, each person takes a chunk home with them to practice. Hopefully the sax players can get together on their own time. Chris (Carlson) will practice with the bass player. We kind of do piece work, I guess we're quilting our music together.

BN: The new band configuration consists of Duffy Bishop, vocals, veteran members Dave Jette on drums and Chris Carlson on lead guitar and vocals. New member& are Willie Barber on bass and saxophone players Jon Goforth and Bryan Dickerson. There are also occasional keyboards thrown in. So, what goals have been set for the new band?

DB: We are trying to tour the United States and Europe. These are some of the same goals I've always had. I want to make it, like everybody wants to make it. Part of that is going places where they play your CD. You hope to make a few bucks, at least enough to cover the cost of traveling and your rent. It is the music business. When they say business, that's probably the most serious part of being a musician.

    What the musicians want is to play great music, maybe make a little money from it and be able to keep making great music. What the industry wants is whatever is popular and selling; pretty and young, all those things. I think the longer you stay in the business, the more these things pressure you. If you're somebody who already has a worldwide career then you can grow old with it and still be taken seriously. You can take the chances and do the things that you, as a musician, want to do. When you're already established it's not going to hurt you to get older. The industry is still very focused on the youth market. The money and promotion are behind it because it's probably the youth that are buying the bulk of the records. There are a lot of young people who really know and like the Blues too. I'm so thankful for that.

    It was interesting over in Japan, (Duffy went over with Big Brother and The Holding Company), I talked with these four 16 year old boys who had their own band. They were totally into Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and they knew their stuff. It shows that music really does transcend so many boundaries! It was great! I was singing a Blues song to an audience of 18 to 20 year old kids. Afterward, this girl comes backstage, says the name of a song, points to her heart and starts crying. You know she didn't understand the words but the feeling came through. Hopefully we can continue to do that. I've always felt that music is my way of contributing to society. To make people feel better, touch them in some way, make them feel a part of what's going on. If I can continue to do that, I'll know I haven't failed. Even if I never make it to the cover of "Rolling Stone", so to speak, I can still feel good about what I've done for people like that sweet Japanese girl. I'm so thankful for our success in the Northwest. In no way am I demeaning that because I feel fortunate to be somebody who's gotten to do what I love doing, even though sometimes it's hard, I know that I'm really very fortunate. There are all these great I people that have helped support me for years here, but like everybody who's an entertainer, I'd like to go that one step further. It takes promotion, monetary backing and business smarts.

BN: You definitely are going in an interesting and very theatrical direction with The Palace of Culture. Is this for your own enjoyment and fulfillment or to throw something' new and different out there?

DB: I was missing the theatrical aspect. With the Rhythm Dogs we did more of that sort of thing. Then I thought I had to narrow in, to focus just on the music in order to get that "push" I felt we needed. The audiences liked what we were doing but they missed the fun we were having before. I was missing it too! I like dressing up in funny clothes and being goofy. I don't feel that it takes anything away from the music because the music is still serious. If anything, it's more complex than it was before because you're adding more musicians to the mix.

BN: Are you doing mostly original material?

DB: We do a lot of our own songs and we're in the process of writing some new stuff. I've also reached into a vault of things that I've always wanted to do.

BN: Such as?

DB: Well, we've been playing a few out and about already. I don't know if we will yet, but I'd like to record "That Old Black Magic" and "I Want To Be Around To Pick Up The Pieces". Things in that vain, as well as what we come up with ourselves. We're talking to Terry Currier at Burnside Records and will hopefully start recording soon.

BN: What recordings do you have available to us now?

DB: "Bottled Oddities" is our first, then "Back To The Bone", both on the Burnside Records label. There's also a Christmas album that I did a couple of years ago, we sometimes sell that. It's a fun one.

BN: Do you feel that the local radio stations help promote the local musicians enough?

DB: Oh yes, I do. Both Seattle and Portland are very supportive of their local musicians. This is good, because they have some fantastic musicians to support! It's so exciting when you hear someone like Gatemouth Brown doing a Lloyd's (Jones) song on the radio. The first time I heard it I was so excited, it was thrilling. Of course, I'd like it even better to hear Lloyd being played on one of the big stations. I think there's some truly remarkable talent in this area.

    I think something is out of whack in this country. it seems that once you've made it, you're worth big bucks. Until then, people don't support their artists enough. They don't realize that often the musicians are working for what's coming through the door. They don't want to pay a cover charge to see live music but those musicians have to eat and pay rent too.

    Clubs that don't have a cover usually pay a small, flat fee to the bands. Maybe there's a tip jar but the musicians aren't really making much money. I think it sends a bad message out to people that they can see the music for free. Having a cover charge helps to get people to take musicians seriously. I don't think it would hurt in some of the smaller clubs that don't currently charge any cover, to charge a minimum cover and give that extra to the bands. Let's face it, if you go to a movie you pay $6.75 or something like that, even at economy hour you still pay $3.00. People pay it all the time for two hours of entertainment. Any event you go to charges a price to get in. Why shouldn't music and musicians be viewed in the same manner?

    It's an expensive proposition being a musician. People think you just show up and get to play. They don't take in to consideration that we have to rehearse long hours for free, we don't get paid vacations or medical and dental coverage and you put out, for the most part, your own promotion. So many musicians have day jobs as well, just to make ends meet. That doesn't do much for your self worth. You're constantly grappling with this thing of "Well this is my job and I'm a musician" instead of proudly saying, "I'm a musician, this is what I do. I do it well and I should be paid well to do it."

    People should never think that a musician is lazy if they don't have that second job, because they're probably doing all of the business like promotion, booking, rehearsing or writing. All of these things are time consuming but they have to be done in order to have music. We're doing something every day that has to do with our business. Sometimes it seems like it never stops. That's part of being self-employed and that's okay. I would just like for people to realize what it takes. I don't know what the answers are and I don't want to sound like I'm totally complaining. I would just like to find a way to make it better. Sometimes it is a matter of attitude, so maybe if we can change some of the attitudes out there, the money will follow.

    Over the last ten years people are drinking less, which is good on one hand, (the laws have really stiffened), but it's harder on the clubs. When people aren't drinking they don't usually stay as late either. Most folks are ready to go home by the time the third set is starting. They have to pay baby-sitters and work the next day, so they want to get out of there earlier. I wish they'd change the whole time frame and start at eight o'clock, you'd be done at midnight.

BN: There were a few clubs who tried that several years back, but they couldn't seem to recondition people to the idea of going early for music. What would you suggest to get this happening?

DB: Start the music right at eight, at least during the week. Do a lot of good publicity. A club would have to be willing to hang in there for awhile 'till people got used to the idea. I think the pay off would be worth it. I'd also like to see people be able to bring kids in for the first set of music. In Japan every show we did started at 7:30 and was over by nine. People brought their kids. It was all ages.

BN: These were nightclubs?

DB: Yes, they were nightclubs. They served alcohol. Some would hang out afterwards and party, the kids would go home to bed. It was very cool and I really enjoyed it. I think it could work here, especially during the week. You want the children to hear the music, but the opportunities for that can be few and far between.

BN: You took some time off this past year because of problems with your throat, how is your throat doing now?

DB: My throat is better than ever! I had polyps develop with a cyst under them. The doctor did a great job fixing me up. Without him and my voice coach, Tom Blaylock, I wouldn't be so far along. Tom is the absolute best. Everyone had told me he was the person to see for voice, period. When I developed problems he helped me tremendously. All is healed it seems. While performing with Big Brother and The Holding Company, I was singing higher parts than I had before. Doing shorter shows is best. Then you can work every night, or every other night without hurting. Three hours, putting as much of myself out there as I do, gets exhausting. If I were the glamorous sort who draped across a piano and stayed there, that would be different. But no, I like to wear funny clothes and hop around. The Palace of Culture is a playful name for that reason. You can cover a lot of different things and have it be your own bent, so to speak.

    The band is having a lot of fun with the new format. As Music Director, it's given Chris a chance to follow his style more. We like to mix it up but it is all Blues based. I'm sure ,the "purists" would have a thing or two to say but there's Blues in everything and in all of us. It permeates all musical forms on some level. I'm sure it all came from the same place.

    Jazz and Blues, all music has bled into one another. You've got Punk Funk, Country Reggae land Country Blues. It's even in show tunes. People are putting stuff together all kinds of ways. It's great and it's good for things to be evolving and changing. Certainly you want to hold on to those old beginnings, preserve them and pay homage to them. However, it's also good for artists in all forms to grow, expand, and continue to make something new. There's not really a whole lot that is new. It's all been done before. You have to recreate and freshen it up. Put your heart and soul into the form and try to express it in your own unique way.

BN: What parting thoughts or comments would you like to leave us with?

DB: I want to express my deepest appreciation to the people who support live music. I want to thank them and hope that they'll continue to come out to see other bands and us. Keep those hearts open, be receptive to new music and have fun with it

BN: I'm confident they will!

    Join Duffy Bishop and The Palace of Culture as they ring in the New Year at Key Largo, located in Portland's historic Old Town district. It promises to be great fun!

Article by Ellen Morris

© 1998 Cascade Blues Association