Doug Westberg

Doug Westberg’s music has been an under-the-radar part of the Portland/Vancouver music scene for over 30 years. His projects have ranged from theatrical productions like the original cabaret musical comedy The Almost Has-Been And The Nearly Never-Was (with Carol Holden) to classical organ concerts to his two-hour Easter Vigil cantata for organ, piano, cantor, and choir. In 2004, he earned Songwriter Of The Year honors in the Portland Songwriters Association Showcase Series, and his song “You’re All The Woman I Need,” won Best Country Song in the PSA International Song Contest. His commissions have included pieces for the inaugurations of the Marylhurst University Pipe Organ and the Church of the Resurrection in Tualatin, Oregon.

Westberg’s current project, a solo cabaret show entitled Nicky DeVries And His Magical Keys, is an eclectic stew that includes equal parts Randy Newman, Tin Pan Alley, the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Scott Joplin, anchored by his body of brilliant originals. Featuring wickedly funny satire and virtuosic musicianship in a range of styles as versatile as his cover repertoire, Doug’s original songs draw from ragtime, blues, boogie rock, piano jazz, modern jazz-pop, and the Great American Songbook as it suits his purpose. Wildly inventive, brilliantly crafted, and scathingly funny, his lyrics skewer politicians on both sides of the fence, our inept educational system, TV evangelists, the perils of modern technology, and the vanity and vainglory of American popular culture in all its manifestations. He has also published a volume of poetry; his web site is www.dougwestberg.com.

A sampling of Westberg’s lyrical brilliance:

(from “You’re In The Palm Of My Hand”)
The DNA evidence is still at the lab, but I think you’re worth taking a chance for.
I pulled up your rap sheet on my wireless modem, and, yeah, I’ll meet you on the dance floor.
The Meyers-Briggs rating can wait ‘til the break.
You can fill out the quiz on my Palm.
And if you’re like me, an ESTP,
We’ll dance the Lambada ‘til dawn.

(from “The Big Lie”)
Sparky sat on a high bridge rail and dangled his feet over Chesapeake Bay.
He said, ‘I’ll come down when you can promise me the world I learned about in seventh grade,
Where spelling matters and music’s musical, matter is solid and light’s a wave,
And I before E except after C, and sounding like ay as in neighbor and weigh.
There’s caffeine, codeine, lutein and protein,
Surfeit, forfeit—counterfeit, isn’t it?....