UPEPO, was a large
latin/rock/disco/funk/jazz
group that hailed from Portland, yet ruled Seattle for many years (esp.
Bombay Bicycle Shop) and was the band that really brought on the first
Fat Tuesday Celebration with Ed Neff and the Pioneer Square
entertainment
mob.
UPEPO also
ruled
Eugene, Corvallis and Ashland and eventually took Chico and Santa Cruz
before folding the tent in 1983.
UPEPO released
two
singles and a very popular LP, International Ties, which contained a
real
hit, CONDO CONDO.
The band size
ranged
from 6 to 13 members over the years and was immensely popular.
J. Michael
Kearsey,
UPEPO bass player / producer, November 2003
I had a
bar in Seattle “The Bombay Bicycle Shop” from 1974 until 1979. I
think it was in late 1974 or sometime in 1975 I was hoping to run into
a sound that was different from everyone else. At that time Disco, copy
bands and Rock where strong. One Day Upepo walked through the bar
door and “The Bombay” sound changed from that day on. Upepo was great
and
everyone loved them at that time they had 12 or 13 members. Upepo was
instrumental
in creating a music that was enjoyed by any type of music lover The
Bombay
was the place for all walks of life to come together and just plain
have
fun. The guys in the band where smart, fun and had great imagination
when
it came to making sounds that feel good together. It was a fun
time.
Ed Neff,
August
2006
"Joanna
Grammon,
Upepo vocalist, has a remarkable vocal flexibility and is at home just
as much in the jazz-related work as in the Latin and Middle East
music."
March, 1974 - The Oregonian A review of the multi-media show, "Chi'en
the
Creative II," at the Portland Art Museum.
Joanna joined
an
experimental band including a Portland drummer/percussionist, Buzz
Rhea.
It was an "art group" exploring improvisation; she played harmonium and
electric bass and sang. Rhea invited her to a jazz workshop, which
later
became known as Upepo, a 9- to 11-piece band that played an eclectic
mix,
including improvisational jazz and Latin and Middle Eastern sounds that
would now be described as world music. She sang with the Portland-based
group for three and one-half years, performing from British Columbia to
Northern California. The band opened shows for Charles Lloyd and Larry
Coryell, and played at one Portland club every Friday night for more
than
a year for an entourage of sweaty dancers.
They
self-produced
a multi-media show with dancer troupes, lights, mimes and special
effects
staged in a 1,500 seat auditorium at the Portland Art Museum. The show,
"Chi'en the Creative," sold out multiple performances two years in a
row.
They took the show to Western Washington State University and
elsewhere.
Upepo did a 25-year reunion concert at Laurelhurst Park in 1997. They
didn't
rehearse a note, but it sounded like they'd never stopped playing
together.
from
www.joannagrammon.com,
March 2007
