multi instrumentalist of RLLRBLL. Portland Oregon.under the influence of everything.

Ron Mason Gassaway is a songwriter, film & theatre composer, live performer, video and installation artist, art director, illustrator and designer based in Portland, Oregon.

He is a founding member of the provocative improvisational group Party Killer, summarized by esteemed musicologist and recording artist Julian Cope as "colossal." He is also a founding member of the dance music ensemble Muscle Beach, which recently contributed a track to the "Let It Rain” album release, a celebration of Oregon music curated by PDX Pop Now and the Oregon Historical Society. 

His new solo endeavor using the moniker “Masonique” is scheduled for release later this year. This album will include eight new recordings, produced with the symphonic pop sound he has been refining for several years, plus “Red, Blonde & Blue” an anthemic disco track that boldly addresses the perils of white privilege, which is currently available on iTunes (under Ron Mason Gassaway).

Additionally, he has written and produced compositions for several renowned film and theatre directors, writers and companies, including Grace Carter, Holly Andres, Sue Mach, Philip Cuomo, Karl Lind, Defunkt Theatre and Coho Theatre Productions, where he recently completed the score and sound design for The Yellow Wallpaper, a critically acclaimed production which opened in Portland earlier this year.

As a visual artist specializing in video and installation art, Ron has exhibited work at a variety of galleries, museums and events, such as the Artists' Television Access, PLACE, the Portland Art Museum, the Taipei Biennial, EFFPortland, the NW Film Forum, Nofest and the PDX Film Festival. His video work has also been archived in the American University Shorts Filmography Collection.

As a commercial artist Ron has contributed art direction, illustration and design to local businesses, non-profit organizations and international corporations such as Adidas, Nike, Dark Horse Comics, U.S. Bank, Intel, Microsoft, Adobe Systems, the Children’s Television Workshop, and Tower Records, where he began his music and artistic career as a store artist for the legendary chain, helping to coordinate and promote in-stores for Devo, Adam Ant and Arrested Development, amongst others.

1994 to infinity. art rock portland oregon

nightmare musicians
from the one the many dreams

         Soloing for a couple decades on his own, in late 2012 Asante and his wife Sylvia recently joined their music together, forming their band "Lotus Unfolding," Asante and Sylvia Riverwind play original sacred Earth-Spirit songs. Both are accomplished musicians proficient on a wide range of musical instruments and vocal styles.  Several of the songs featured on Asante's sound cloud page are written by his wife Sylvia Rodrigo Riverwind, while others Asante wrote - see the individual songs themselves for details. Most of the songs here are performed by their band "Lotus Unfolding", with Sylvia playing vocals and cello, and Asante vocals and guitar. Asante plays electric, acoustic, classical, and bass guitar, Native American and Bolivian flutes, chimes, gongs and other percussion, congas, electric sitar, Celtic harp, and a range of other instruments.
           Asante Riverwind is a life-long artist, musician, poet, and activist, blending a range of artistic traditions and cultures. An ardent explorer of nature's wild wonders and spirit's limitless dimensions, Asante's artistic and musical creations are inspired and guided by adventures in wild nature, dreams, visions, and spirit. Creating images and music infused with life's magic, in this "interesting times" era, his art illuminates places of harmony, compassion, healing change and the inherent connection of all beings beyond time. 
            Asante began composing, playing and performing music in about 1966, starting off on an inexpensive Silvertone sunburst acoustic guitar. At the ripe age of 15 he was gifted an electric blue Gibson Melody Maker guitar by his maternal Grandmother, launching his teenage 60's rock band 'career', first forming a band called "Love Lights" followed by a more acid rock band called "Restrained Gravity" that - despite the difference in meaning - most often was referred to as simply "Gravity." In those wild times music was an exploratory adventure fueled in part by psychedelic journeys and the era's rather intense revolutionary activism. As the intensity of the 60's waned into the mid 70's, focusing more on visual arts (in multiple universities), in particular painting, drawing, and sculpture as well as raising his three sons, music took a prolonged side route for a number of years. In the mid 1980's Asante began composing and performing frequently again, primarily soloing his original activist alternative folk-rock songs on his Gretsch acoustic guitar, native flutes, and world instruments of his own creation in various venues across the western US.
           Asante lived for over 16 years in tipi’s, a yurt, an earth lodge, and a strawbale home – from an island in Puget Sound, to the forests of the Cascades and Blue Mountains, and Arizona’s Sonoran desert—part of a commitment to ecological and simple living.  He has three grown sons, and a number of grandchildren, who help inspire his efforts. Since the 80's Asante has performed music and shown art throughout the western US. His art and music continues to appear at events and locations across the country. 
           This life's paths have been filled with many unpredictable twists and turns of adventures. While Asante's original musical instruments are now long gone with the unexpected dances of time (including a forest fire), new beautifully resonant instruments continue the inspired flow of musical creation. Asante and his wife Sylvia currently reside in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, helping care for his elderly father while creating art, composing and performing music, writing, and exploring the region's wild mountain wonderlands.  He may be contacted at: Asante Riverwind Arts, PO Box 971, Clyde, North Carolina 28721. Email:  ariverwindarts.@gmail.com  Website: www.asanteriverwindarts.com    ...and Asante & Sylvia's band Lotus Unfolding may be found at: https://myspace.com/lotus.unfolding as well as: https://www.facebook.com/LotusUnfolding and the soundcloud page of their own: https://soundcloud.com/lotus-unfolding 

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