Local blues musician dies

Posted by Michael Russell,
The Oregonian March 19, 2009 06:17AM


Kent Henry Plischke, a blues guitarist and singer who recorded with the bands Steppenwolf and Blues Image under the name Kent Henry, died Wednesday in Portland, his caregiver said. He was 60.

He was easy going, and he was a humble man, said Patty J. Hill, 56, who cared for Plischke at her Southeast Portland home. He once gave a gold record away because he didn't want to look like he was bragging.

Plischke was born on April 5, 1948 in Hollywood, Calif., Hill said. He joined his first band, The Lost Souls, when he was 14 years old.

In 1969 he played on the album Lord Sutch and Heavy Friends which featured guitarists Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, bass player Noel Redding and drummer John Bonham.

Plischke provided guitar solos on the Blues Image song Ride Captain Ride, a hit that peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Music Chart in June of 1970.

Plischke joined Steppenwolf in 1971, and toured with the band through 1972, playing lead guitar on hits such as Born to be Wild and Magic Carpet Ride. He also played on their 1971 studio album For Ladies Only.

Plischke moved to Southwest Portland in the early 1980s, Hill said. He replaced local blues musician Jim Mesi in the Paul deLay Blues Band and worked for 15 years as a technician at Apple Music at 225 S.W. First Ave., where he met and briefly dated Hill.

Hill took Plischke in for emergency surgery about 2 a.m. this morning. He was given a sedative but died before surgery could begin.

A public service is planned from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m on Thursday, March 26 at the Omega Funeral Home at 223 S.E. 122nd Avenue in Portland.

-- Michael Russell
michaelrussell@news.oregonian.com

And now - just for the hell of it - let's cleanse the palate with this:

Good Morning Again,

Finally managed to wrest another 8 hours from the God Of Sleep (no pun intended, but hey - certainly claimed as though it were).  Who was the God Of Sleep - Morpheus?  Well, we've got the internet right here - let's check!

No-o, apparently some dude named Somnus was the God Of Sleep.  He was the brother of Morpheus.  (Or his father, depending who you talk to.)  Morpheus was the God of Dreams.

Ah well, hell - you know what they say - a poppy by any other name... I'm just glad to have snagged it.

How bout you?  You get back to sleep after we babbled at each other in the wee hours?  Let's make a pact to use the word "wee" in conversation with others at least once today, okay?  Okay???  You bet your wee willie winkie it's okay!

"Skirlin' like a kenna-what,
 wauk'nin' sleepin' fock."

How true, how true.  Wauk'nin' sleepin' fock, indeed.  I suggest proclaiming that phrase aloud, as though in feigned amazement, in your thickest Scottish brogue, while slapping your forehead or they of those around you.  It's a method that canna fail to evoke response.  I usually pull a joint from under my chin at this point - its yellow wheatstraw a source of wonder undetected all that time in my coal black beard - and perform the celebrated One-Handed Match Trick to the glee of those assembled - while casually blocking Morpheus' wicked slapshot to the goal (for you see I have found that this sleight of hand w*rks best during an especially-challenging game of foosball in a crowded hippie bar at least thirty-five years ago in the wee wee hours of the morning) - (and there! I've used it twice in rapid albeit paranthetical succession: wee wee, bam bam, setting it as free as that sweet smoke curling even now and then toward the exposed rafters of 1973) but I digress.  It's what I do.

The makers of Fantastic Cigarettes ("long in the leaf and short in the can") would like to thank Eric Burdon and the (Original) Animals for their truly sublime time-travelling and dream-inducing version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," calling through the years in a pair of headphones near you.  Wow, look - it was remastered and re-released this year!  

How cool is that.


Seasons Greetings,
Merciful Lee

PS - While we're on the subject, here's a version of "Smokestack Lightnin'" done by my pal Bill Homans aka Watermelon Slim.  It's like a seance, bringing back the ghost of Howlin Wolf.  See for yourself:



 
PPS - If that bit of html didn't make it past Dreams Customs, you can watch it on my Myspace account - http://www.myspace.com/merciful_lee_dickens 

Mention my name at the door for speedy processing of your cover charge.
Excelsior!