The Hudson Rocket Band

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2001 Hudson Rocket Update
by Mickie Will

THE HUDSON ROCKET BAND 2001

2000 has been a very trying, but wonderful year for The Hudson Rocket Band. Hudson's guidance has taken the band to many wonderful festivals and performances. (International Blues Talent Competition in Memphis, Waterfront Blues Festival, Blues By The Sea, Outer City Blues Festival, and countless local clubs and venues.) As it goes with bands, there has been many personnel changes over this last year. The band would like to thank all those that helped to keep The Rocket flying. (Tommy Lister, Art Viloria, Leon Holder, Richie Bean, Steve Burleson, Laura Tallenarr, Mark Lum, Mike Taylor, Ron Solomon, Kirk "The Corn Dog" Nelson, Steve Solomon, Gordon Hermeston, Jeff Barnes, Chris Carlson, Robin Gibson, Franco Paletta, and special guest member, Robbie Laws) Hudson (Always our missing member.) finds a way to get the message to just the right people when it's time. Through his uncanny and extraordinary efforts, some of Portland's finest talent has come together in The Hudson Rocket Band. The new band is:

KEN JOHNSON Vocals & Drums

Buzz, as Hudson calls him, has been a popular face in the Northwest Blues scene for many years. He has backed some of the great artists of our time, and is a founding member of The Hudson Rocket Band. Ken was nominated for the Cascade Blues Associations' Muddy Award for Best Drummer 1999. Buzz also won a Muddy for producing the Muddy Hall of Fame CD. He produces Blues By The Sea, a music festival on the Oregon coast, and The Outer City Blues Festival in Portland. Ken spent a few years on the board of directors for the C.B.A., and helped in the development of The Christopher Mesi Scholarship Fund. Buzz' thought on Hudson: "I really don't know if we want to find him...it's been so much fun looking for the boy."

CLIFF ASHMON Vocals & Harmonica

A Portland native, "Cordless" Cliff (a moniker given to him by the great Paul deLay) started his musical career in Classical, Jazz, and Dixieland as a trumpet player. In the late sixties, Cliff found his love in the harmonica, and the Blues. While pursuing a degree in music at Mt. Hood Community College, The Cliff Ashmon Blues Band brought Cordless to center stage. He has opened for such greats as: Louis Armstrong, Doc Severinsen, Junior Wells, Charlie Musselwhite, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Tab Benoit, Roomful of Blues, and many more. Cliff has also performed with Mel Solomon and The Nightlighters (Muddy Award Winner, Best New Blues Act 1991), Sheila Wilcoxson's Backwater Blues (Muddy Award Winner, Best New Acoustic Act 1996, W.C. Handy Award nominee, Female Vocalist), Chuck Adkins and The Easy Money Band, and of course The Hudson Rocket Band. (Hudson and Cliff go way back!)

CORY WHEELER Guitar

Cory arrived on the NW Blues scene in 1986. Here his great talent and guitar prowess helped Mel Solomon & The Night Lighters (where he met Cordless Cliff) win a Cascade Blues Association Muddy Award for best new band of 1991. A short time later, Cory joined one of Portland's hottest blues acts, The Terraplanes. The Terraplanes are CBA Muddy Hall of Fame winners, due in no small part to Cory's captivating performances. They were the backing band for Guitar Shorty, and opened for Jimmy Rogers, J J Malone, and Troyce Keys. With the Terraplanes behind him, Cory toured with Muddy Hall of Fame winner D. K. Stewart, leaving a trail of enthusiastic fans wherever he went. Always a soul of the sun, Cory moved to Florida. While there he joined Wendy and The Soul Shakers, a very popular and upbeat local act. Cory then found an old love, and renewed his passion for surf and hot rod music by starting The Hodads. A Pacific North Westerner at heart, and homesick, Cory returned to Portland. Home once again and filled with drive, he started The Ape Hangers, a surf & hot rod band. Quite the lively act. Guaranteed to get your toes tappin'. Cory is a three time CBA Muddy nominee for best electric guitarist. He has even built his own tube amplifier. (He calls it a "Cory". Imagine that!) The tale we hear is that Cory loaned Hudson money. And after some effort to get his money back, Cory and Hudson became friends. (Anyway, so the story goes!)

MICKIE WILL Vocals & Bass

Mickie has been paying his dues in many fields of music since age 6. From singing in church and marching down Main Street in Disneyland (as a horn player), to backing Ben E. King (Stand By Me), and opening for such great acts as Uriah Heep and The Average White Band. Mickie came to Portland a few years ago, and has been working the local Blues circuit with: The Roseland Blues Band, Bent Edsel, The Benders, and Jeff Barnes' Bad Boys. A couple of years ago, Hudson and Mickie became friends, so it seemed natural that Mickie, holds down the bottom end for The Hudson Rocket Band.

The band is looking forward to seeing all your smiling faces this year, and remember what Hudson says, "We play the blues, so you don't have to."