CEG of All Trades

With today’s power to create and connect on various platforms, it is a beautiful time for consuming art and media. Now is the time when strong female artists are empowering others by sharing their new visions and discoveries, more than ever before.

CEG (pronounced like “sage”) is a rising artist from Portland, Oregon, capturing the eyes and ears of her city. CEG, which stands for “Claire Elizabeth Grace, just released her official music video for her single, “Yellow Line” and it is clear that she is gaining momentum in the music scene.

CEG’s new song “Yellow Line” features R&B, Soul, and Melodic sounds with themes of peace and inner stability, while the aesthetic of the single’s music video is filled with trippy elements and lots of yellow. CEG’s ability to mix genres and send a message in her music makes us all excited to hear more. Keep an ear out for CEG, as she will be touring in your city very soon.

When did you start creating music?

I’ve been singing since I could talk. My mom was a music and theater major in college so I have always been exposed to music and performing. I also performed in various musicals in high school I have always been obsessed with singing harmonies, but it wasn't until about two years ago until I started writing my own music.

What inspired you to be a professional musician?

There is nothing better I can be doing than pursuing my passion. To me, there is no other high like the high you get from creating music.

Tell us about your upcoming EP “Rose Woman”. Why the title?

I would describe the sound of Rose Woman” as “Neo-Millenial-Jazz.” A mixture of R&B, Jazz, and Spoken Word. I chose the title because I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and Portland is known as “Rose City.” I am carrying the city on my back. I am “Rose Woman.”

What is your dream collaboration?

My dream collaboration would definitely be with Kehlani. It is kind of crazy because Kehlani’s booking manager actually invited me to open for DJ Noodles, so it’s like she’s just one step away from me.

Tell us about your new single “Yellow Line.”

“Yellow Line” was made to listen to when you smoke and chill. The song is about slowing down.

Anything that stands out to you in your life is meant to be a message. To me, yellow means caution but also happiness.

How was the process of creating the music video for “Yellow Line”?

The process of creating the music video for “Yellow Line” was very organic. I played a big role in writing with the script, but the video evolved as it was produced.

Rainee Roberts of Last Portral put the video together, and she is fucking fantabulous. We spent a lot of time together through the process. She even designed some of the outfits for the video, including my yellow top. She is very talented.

When is the release of your new EP, “Rose Woman”?

The release of “Rose Woman” is on my 25th birthday, June 28th. I am having a private release party to celebrate. It’s actually at the location where we filmed the music video for “Yellow Line.”

We have amazing sponsors for the event. I’m working on a collaboration re:stash. They printed Fronto Shorty logos on mason jars for us and they will be featured at the event. Compound, a unique sneaker and streetwear company, is also a sponsor. Mental Minorities, Swiggle Mandela, and La Familia are also going to be performing.

What can your fans expect from you in 2019?

On 4/20, I will be releasing my new song, “Fronto Shorty.” “Fronto Shorty” is a 4/20 appreciation song and also the name of my brand. You can also expect to hear collaborations with La Bretto, Mental Minorities, Zenith, and Mental Minorities. This year, I will be traveling constantly because I am trying to perform as much as possible.

What can your fans expect from you in 2019?

On 4/20, I will be releasing my new song, “Fronto Shorty.” “Fronto Shorty” is a 4/20 appreciation song and also the name of my brand. You can also expect to hear collaborations with Libretto, Zenith, and Mental Minorities. This year, I will be traveling constantly because I am trying to perform as much as possible. - Contagion Media

Elmer Yarborough has no illusions. He was banging with the best of 'em when he was 18, and he still has a clear view of the streets.

"The gangsters are getting more violent," he said Sunday. "If you're involved, people are less forgiving. That has taken retaliation to a whole new level. Children are getting shot. Pregnant women are being murdered."

Yarborough, 44, is standing in the sun outside Rosemary Anderson High School. Forty-eight hours after the shooting one half block away, students are swinging by, along with parents, counselors and other somber realists.

"We deal with gangs every day," says Yarborough, a long-time counselor for Portland OIC. "These kids are looking for role models, and most of the role models they see are in gangs. It's where they live. It's where they play basketball. It's where they wake up and go to sleep. It's in their families."

And on Friday, the mayhem hit Rosemary Anderson like a gut punch.

"For our children to be shot here on campus," Yarborough says, "takes it to another level."

Just after noon Friday, a gunman fired multiple shots 200 feet from the school's door, injuring four students: Taylor Michelle Zimmers, Labraye Quavon Franklin, David Joshua Jackson-Liday, and Olyvia Lynn Batson, all of whom sought refuge in the school.

By Sunday morning, Portland police had arrested two suspects in connection with the shooting: Lonzo Murphy, 22, and Marquel Dugas, 18.

Yarborough -- who spends most of his time at Rosemary Anderson's Gresham campus -- has no illusions. For the first time in memory, he believes, gangsters came looking for a student at the school.

"A lot of (our students) have never seen what took place here on Friday," Yarborough says. "They haven't been that close to gunfire, that kind of chaos. Their lives are forever changed."

But Rosemary Anderson High?

"We educate kids that other schools refuse to educate," Yarborough says. "It's our policy to take kids off the street, and we won't stop that just because someone is involved in a gang.

"We have gang members at this school. We have students on drugs and alcohol. We have students involved in prostitution.

"Our mission is to give these kids an alternative. And that mission will never change."

* * *

Let's be honest, Carol Heacock says: "This wasn't my dream school for my daughter."

Not even close. When Claire arrived in the spring of 2011, it was her fourth high school, and neither mother nor daughter believed it would be the last. Rosemary Anderson, for all they knew, was a stopgap, a hiding place, a sullen timeout.

"People don't get it. They've never heard about it," says Claire Heacock, 20, who graduated in 2012, and now attends Portland Community College. "And when they hear about it, all they hear is 'alternative school.'

"You can't fully understand it unless you're here, and you've experienced it. To this day, the staff here has been a family to me."

That can be a raucous family at times. Rosemary Anderson doesn't offer safe haven to the most docile kids. As John Stillwell, the former Grant High basketball coach who now serves as the board chair for POIC, said Sunday, "The easy thing to do would be to exclude everyone who is a problem.

"But that's not our mission."

The mission? Confront the problems. Challenge the troublemakers. Deal with the chaos, one day at a time. "I tell them stories about how I grew up," Yarborough says. He shares the eulogy he delivered in 2011 when the gangsters finally caught up to Marcus Miller, his best friend back in the day.

"I also tell them about the consequences. Jail. Severe injuries. Eventually, death."

"You walk in here," Claire Heacock says, "and you have a list of rules. Structure is good. And structure is enforced."

And part of that structure, everyone has long understood, is that you left the gang ties at the door.

"I was never nervous coming here," Claire says. "Among the students in gangs while I was attending school, it was an unspoken rule that you didn't mess with anyone here."

And the primary enforcement mechanism for that? Metal detectors? Counselor sidearms?

"They show people they care," Claire says. "A lot of students have never gotten that anywhere else."

"Why are they in gangs in the first place? They're seeking affiliation in any way, shape or form," says Bob Brandts, the high school's director of operations.

"What you try to show them here is they can be affiliated with something that doesn't end your life. We offer a sense of belonging, sanctuary and safety, and to something bigger than they are. We have their back."

On the office wall at his back are a gallery of photographs of students who have found sanctuary at Rosemary Anderson over the years. When you ask Brandts what happened to a few of the students who look the happiest in the photographs, all the news isn't good.

The chaos is relentless. The temptations are less forgiving. The structure that's enforced inside the building can't follow everyone home.

The very reasons, I might add, that the door at Rosemary Anderson will never close, and the mission will never change.

-- Steve Duin - Oregon Live