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Merry
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Christmas!
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•^community service
Honoring
Rosa Parks
First signs go up
See story, Metro section
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‘City
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-^*4
Established in 1970
Volume XXXVI. N um ber 51
.W eek ¡n
The Review
w w w .p o rtla n d o b s e rv e r.c o m
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Wednesday • D ecem ber 20. 2 0 0 6
Liv Warfield’s Straight Up Soul
On the brink of fame, Portland singer revives local R&B
Mt. Hood Search Dims
Photos found
with the body
o f a clim ber
fo u n d
on
M ount Hood
have
in
by S arah B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
ortland soul singer Liv W artield. who
firs, graced the stage o f Jim m y M ak's
in 2003, has com e full circle in the
renow ned jazz venue.
The tiny dow ntow n club w ith colossal
soul took a chance on the young singer
while she still collaborated with other bands,
including her debut at Jim m y M ak 's with
keyboardist Joey Porter’s ja zz ensem ble
“Silky”.
Three years later W arfield, 27, takes cen
ter stage with her ow n band, the W arfield
Project. Just a few m inutes into her set and
devotees have anticipated a Liv favorite,
"B rother M an” after a ju st couple o f notes.
The hollers die dow n, and with her multi-
octave range she serves up a dose o f sultry
love notes that slide over bass lines. Having
already built a reputation for her improm ptu
live perform ances, the crescendo dips be
fore the tem po bui Ids again. W arfield quickly
abandons her syrupy lyrics for a biting
expose aim ed at the now ex-lover.
All fluid m ovem ent in a silky black dress
against a backdrop o f red velvet, W arfield’s
chant o f “why do you lie?” taunts an un
lucky ex w ho squandered her love. Her
lyrical adoration-tum ed-anger brings the
sold-out crow d to their feet.
H er stage is a pulpit and the m essage is
clear - this g irl’s got soul and she’s no
longer afraid to use it.
T h e e v e n in g is a tu rn in g p o in t in
W a rfie ld ’s m usical jo u rn e y . T h e classic
soul, rhythm and blues sin g e r/so n g w riter
says she kept h er voice a secret for 20
years, but th is ev e n in g she n ot o n ly c e l
eb ra tes her new alb u m , but also p erfo rm s
fo r a live tap in g on B E T J, the ja z z cable
channel b elo n g in g to the B lack E n te rta in
m ent N etw ork.
W a r f ie ld h a s g a in e d tr e m e n d o u s
ground sin ce first tak in g th at stag e; a
m om ent she rec alls w as an ey e o p en in g
experience.
"The thing is, 1 hadn’t even found my voice
yet", Warfield explains from acom er booth of
the em pty club, sipping chamomile tea with
honey. In a few hours there will be a standing
room-only crowd, including as many fans as
friends and supporters, gathered to watch
albumcut, practically bleeding intothe micro
phone. This version ends in a crescendo of
unyielding need to show her affection before
an explosion of horn and drums.
W artield complements her suspiciously
diva-like behavior with a humble question for
the audience. "Is my hair still a mess?"
P
creased w orries about how long
his tw o m issing com p an io n s
could survive in the brutal envi
ronment. “Looking what they had
with them, I’m pretty concerned
about how long som ebody can
last o u t th e re ,” H ood R iv er
County Sheri ff Joe W am pler said
T uesday.
More Troops Opposed
Former Secre
tary o f State
Colin Powell
is
c a s tin g
d o u b t on a
p la n u n d e r
consideration
by President Bush that would
increase troops in Iraq, calling
the U.S. A rm y overextended and
"about broken."
Brawl Brings Suspensions
N BA scoring leader C arm elo
Anthony was suspended for 15
gam es M onday and six other
players were penalized as co m
m issio n er D av id S tern cam e
dow n hard on both team s after
the N uggets and K nicks braw led
S a tu rd a y n ig h t at M a d iso n
Square G arden.
Draft Obama Campaign
Local backers
o f D em ocratic
U .S .
S en .
Barack Obama,
w ho's m ulling
a presidential
b id ,
have
launched an Internet cam paign
to get people to sign a petition at
d raftobam a.o rg . Jason O w ens
said the goal is to get thousands
o f O regonians to join people in
other states w ho are urging the
Illinois senator to run.
Wholesale Prices Surge
Inflation at the w ho lesale level
surged by the larg est am ount
in m ore than three d ecad es in
N o v em b er, re fle c tin g h ig h e r
p rices fo r g aso lin e and a host
o f o th e r item s.
Universal Healthcare Plan
Oregon Demo
cra t
R on
W yden is pre
paring a pro
posal to pro
vide heath care
coverage to al I
A m e ric a n s
through a pool o f private insur
ance plans.
<x>
It all started with karaoke
photo by
S ean O ’C onnor /T he P ortland O bserver
Portland’s Liv Warfield performs for a live taping on BET J, the jazz cable channel
belonging to the Black Entertainment Network.
Warfield com plete another milestone in her
rise to fame.
The gig com es fresn on the heels o f her
debut album “Embrace Me”, released in Sep
tember on B&M Records. The collection o f 11
uplifting yet sexy songs ends with "Brother
M an" recorded live at the Doug Fir.
It is the same song she works the crowd
with at Jimmy M ak's. but thesimilaritiescea.se
when she decides where she wants the lyrics
to take her audience.
“L-I-V talks from hersoul.” she sings on the
Actually it all started w ith an ironically non
musical upbringing in Peoria, III. But the story
of how she injected a much-needed dose of
pure soul into our rainy and guitar-addled city
starts six years ago. It begins with a micro
phone and a very large book o f song titles.
When her strong legs carried her here from
the midwest (through a track and field schol
arship at Portland State University) Warfield
arrived in a city dominated by indie rock
darlings - the Pacific Northwest music scene
had landed on the w orld's radar, and aspiring
rock stars stood nearly as much chance of
incubating lame and success as any musician
in New York or Los Angeles.
At that time W artield flirted with karaoke
but balanced academic pursuits. Gigsat Jimmy
M ak's, an opening spot for mega-group Dave
Matthews Band and hours o f boot cam p
rehearsals - these were not yet her top priori
ties.
Her musical infancy was spent channeling
the greats-1 i ke Bi I ly Hoi 1 iday and Tina Tumer
- on the small platforms o f the Galaxy Baron
Hawthorne and the Ambassador Lounge on
Sandy Boulevard.
Perhaps it was a preview of what Portland
would come to recognize as the tow n’s hard
est working R&B soulstress, hut W arfield's
fondness for karaoke eclipsed any other
lounge chanteuse you only thought was dedi
cated.
"At school, I went to the Galaxy from 8 p.m.
to 4 a.m. on M onday, W ednesday, Thursday,
Saturday and Sunday,” she said. “I’m talking
about for two or three months straight, I was
like a sponge.”
C lo ck in g that m any hours at a bar m ight
spell tro u b le fo r m ost, but for W arfield,
sin g in g , d ressin g the part and em u latin g
jazz heroes was her way o f coming into her
own.
"Before, I couldn't get up in front o f people
continued
on page A3
■ IM W a m N W tM M N K IM l
‘Tis the Season
Post holiday is
when most
dangers lurk
by
C harity P rater
T he P ortland O bserver
‘T is the season for parties, festivities,
family gatherings and also for depression.
W hile television relentlessly echoes C hrist
mas melodies and the sm ells o f sm oked ham
concentrate am ongst chilled w inter neigh
borhoods, many people aren ’t feeling the
joys o f the holiday season.
From dealing with com plicated relation-
Depression
Vincent hospitals, says that there are basi
cally tw o kinds o f holiday depression. There
are people that experience a mi Id depression
during the holidays and there are people
w ho experience a more severe and danger
ous depression.
"The holidays bring about many mixed
em otions," says Ozer, "W hile the holidays
em phasize feelings o f loneliness and d e
pression they also bring out a tem porary
feeling o f renew ed hope through television
ads and the Ne w Y ear celebration. However,
once the New Year is over. January loom s,t
bringing on the most w orrisom e sym ptom s
o f post-holiday depression."
As people struggle to keep up with shop
ping, cooking, fam ily get-togethers and fi
nancial obligations, they are experiencing
the p ressu re to
deli verduring the
holidays.
P o st-h o lid a y
sadness is co m
m on a f te r th e
New Year when
p e o p le r e a liz e
that the resolu
tions they made
- Harris S. Matarazzo, mental health expert and attorney
the previous year
w e r e n 't
suc
ships within mixed fam ilies to w orking D e ceeded, coupled with the disappointm ent o f
cem ber budgets to exhaustion, thousands
the holiday season.
o f people struggle with depression and
During the m onth o f January, as the holi
stress during the most festive tim e o f year
days com e to an end and many people
Herbert Ozer, the director o f operations
expectations are not met. depression sky-
for Behavioral and M ental Health Services
continued
on page A3
a, Providence Portland and Providence Saint
Adding a depressant or a
stimulant into a depressive
equation only makes the
symptoms increase.
~ r-
photo by
C harity P rater /T hf . P ortland O bserver
/ f ’s not always easy to feel the joys o f the holiday season. Experts say celebra
tions during Christmas and the New Year can bring renewed hope, but can also
be exhausting and stressful.
1