July 3 at 4:10 PM on Front Porch Stage
July 4 at 3:00 PM on the Rollin’ on the River Blues Cruise

RJ Mischo is considered by critics and fans worldwide to be in the upper echelon of today’s great blues harmonica players. He performs worldwide as frontman with his Red Hot Blues Band and also his ‘Goodtime, One-Man Blues Party Show.’ He plays guitar and harmonica with an undeniable foot-stomping groove. Mischo’s music is drenched in the grease of the juke joint shuffles that have stayed in style since before they called it rock n’ roll. “Mischo’s magnificent tone, formidable chops, and affable, self-assured vocals…” make him a top entertainer; the kind of entertainer that only 30 years of touring experience will bring to the stage. 

RJ started playing harmonica at the age of 10. With a deep passion and commitment to blues music, by age 19 he was working as a full-time professional musician. Mischo cut his teeth in the early ‘80s with the legends of the Twin Cities blues scene Percy Strother, Mojo Buford, Sonny Rogers, and Lazy Bill Lucas. He then formed “Blues Deluxe” quoted by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as “Minnesota’s hardest working blues band.”  It was in 1992 that RJ caught the attention of blues fans worldwide with the release of Ready to Go – this album is now of cult status amongst collectors.  

Born in Paris in 1960, Franck Goldwasser studied fine arts before moving to California in 1983. A self-taught blues guitarist and vocalist, it was in Oakland that Goldwasser honed his craft alongside masters of the genre, including Lowell Fulson, Percy Mayfield and Jimmy McCracklin. With write-ups in the East Bay Express and the San Francisco Chronicle and appearances at local venues and blues festivals, Goldwasser, known as “Paris Slim” to Bay Area blues fans (a moniker Eli Mile Hi Club owner Troyce Key gave him), is recognized as a vital contributor to the local blues scene.

Through the ’90s Paris Slim released several albums and appeared at festivals in the U.S. and in Europe, under his name and as a sideman for Phillip Walker, Sunnyland Slim, James Harman, Jerry McCain, A.C. Reed and Big Jack Johnson. His album Bluju on Crosscut Records help solidify his status as a household name on the international blues scene. While in Los Angeles, Goldwasser helped form the Mannish Boys, while appearing at local venues with the likes of Kim Wilson, Mitch Kashmar, Roy Gaines and Arthur Adams. Having moved to Portland in 2005, Goldwasser joined Curtis Salgado’s band and appeared on the Alligator release “Soul Shot,” which received a Blues Music Award, while the Mannish Boys were voted “Best Traditional Blues Band of the Year” the same year.