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15 Years of BluesThe Cascade Blues Association Celebrates 15 Years of Supporting, Promoting & Preserving Blues and Blues-Related MusicA look back... by Rose AllenPage 2 of 3 |
Early Years
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"Minutes of the Cascade Blues Association Board Meeting of December 29, 1986: Madeleine Pellum called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. (the meeting was held at The Last Hurrah). Madeleine told us that Miles Ward filed for charter with the State of Oregon. The club will have a Board of Directors. People suggested for the board were Mark Goldfarb, Bill Rhodes (sic) and Miles Ward."
Attempts were made to conduct business during the membership meetings. However, it was not long before it was realized that: "More lively meetings featuring music and educational presentations should help retain and attract new members." Thus, the current meeting format was established. Joey Scruggs provides a description: "Prior to having entertainment and prize giveaways, a CBA meeting was like a school board meeting — unbearable. It was decided that the business be taken care of at board meetings and membership meetings would be fun."
Meetings were initially held at various clubs in town, and it was a surprise to discover that dues were originally $18 for a year (our current rate). Also offered was a half-year membership at $10; although in April of 1987, that option was disbanded. The first elections were held in December 1987. Early efforts focused heavily on increasing membership. Once there was a sufficient number of members on which to draw, the focus of attention went to the organizational structure of committees. Terry Currier recalls: "There were only 60 to 65 members at the time. It grew a few people the next year, but not that much. Dave Clingan and I formed a membership committee with the goal of raising membership to 200 by the end of the festival. We signed over 200 new members at the festival, tripling current membership."
At the February 1987 meeting, there was discussion of the need for a logo design. Entertainment was by the trio of Norman Sylvester, Bill Rhoades and Bob Shoemaker. The Pine Street Theater became the home for meetings for quite some time, as owner Brian Treece was booking shows and got involved in the CBA. Officers during 1988 were: Brian Treece, President; Ardis Hedrick, Vice President; Carole Conner served as Treasurer; and the position of Secretary was filled by Jim Tyson.
BluesNotes
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An original copy of BluesNotes Volume 1 Number 1, January 1987, a single legal-size sheet printed on blue paper, documenting its $.22 postage stamp, included the following statement: "The Cascade Blues Association has been formed to preserve and promote interest in and understanding of Blues and other related forms of roots music in Portland and the Northwest. The Association, headquartered in Portland, is a nonprofit corporation, with Madeline Pellum as President, Sherman Waring as Vice President, and Janet Tyson as Secretary. The CBA will have monthly meetings and intends to sponsor benefit concerts, instrumental workshops, and generally serve as a forum for Blues fans and musicians to meet each other and learn more about their favorite form of music. Several prominent local Blues musicians are founding members and strong supporters of the CBA."
Over the years, there have been many who were instrumental in the development and contribution to what Willamette Week recently referred to as "among the best respected newsletters in the Blues scene." It was Ardis Hedrick who largely contributed to transforming the BluesNotes into what it is today. Ardis was also responsible for the idea of selling ad space. The July 1988 issue became the first edition of the current newspaper-type style, but with eight pages. Still, quite a leap in format and size from the previous edition. In the March 1988 BluesNotes issue, The President's message reads: "New memberships keep arriving in the mail at a slow but steady pace . . . I hope this is only the beginning of an explosion of interest in the CBA and the Blues in general." Little did they realize...
The Personalities
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Bill Rhoades, also known as "The Godfather of Oregon Blues," was recently profiled in a BluesNotes interview in May 2001 (archived at www.cascadeblues.org). As many pioneers do, Bill moved to the area seeking better opportunities. Delmark Goldfarb contacted Bill and asked him to perform during a class. Bill provides a look at what was happening: "There was so much Blues interest at that time. I was one of the founders of the Oregon Blues Society in Eugene, so I had some knowledge of how things were run; how to do things and how not to do things. We kept kicking around the idea of forming an association. Delmark was the one who actually put out the effort to make things happen." Bill recalls that it was the Association that was created first, then there was discussion of having a Blues festival, which Delmark also made a reality.
Miles Ward signed up for the class held at the Cascade Campus in North Portland, after seeing a flyer at Dave Clingan's record shop. Miles was impressed, and recalls that: "When the class ended, everyone sat around realizing how much fun they had and that there should be a way to continue. We realized the importance of discussing the older, traditional acoustic Blues and learning about where the modern Blues came from. We wanted to help support this wonderful community of Blues musicians that we somehow ended up with in Portland. Miles prepared and filed all the original documents and made sure we were legal." He continues, "What means the most to me is that despite having a few rocky patches, 15 years later, this Association is still just incredible. Most small organizations do have to confront personality issues from time to time, just another indicator that we are all human beings. The CBA is bigger, stronger and making tremendous contributions far beyond what any of us thought about 15 years ago. A lot of credit goes to Rick Hall." Miles recalls being at a small Blues museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was reading through some of the huge display of Blues newspapers from all over the country. "The museum curator asked where I was from and when I told him Portland, he said that the CBA newsletter is the best newsletter in the country by far."
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Joey Scruggs, past CBA President, recalls being the 23rd member, joining in June of 1987 as a volunteer for the very first Rose City Blues Festival. Joey also was an early writer for the BluesNotes and contributed numerous profiles. He first served on the Board as Vice President and then President for 1989 and 1990. He was also instrumental in organizing a Blues in Schools program. Joey stepped down due to a conflict of opinion regarding a Musicians' Relief Fund issue.
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Terry Currier is described in the following October 1987 BluesNotes profile (author unknown): "In 1972, Terry Currier owned seven LP's and rarely listened to the radio. In a year he got a job at a record store and amassed a collection of five hundred records. Realizing he was a vinyl junkie, Terry made selling music his life's work. He managed major record stores in Seattle and Hawaii before coming back to this area to become general manager of the popular local music shop Music Millennium."
Terry joined that second month, so he was also instrumental early on. Terry's series of Blues In History articles came out of joining the committee to create a newsletter and come up with content. Terry loved writing the articles and they continued for about 10 years. Terry said: "It was mostly a timing conflict and I simply had to give it up. Greg Johnson was getting very involved with writing and artist profiles, and I had just come to a burnout state. I had done it too long and needed a break." Between his two Music Millennium record stores, the Burnside Records label and Burnside Distribution, Terry is a well-occupied man. He has also contributed details on the Portland Blues scene to Living Blues magazine.
The idea of having door prizes took effect the second year, and Terry has contributed generously over all these years. Up until recently, he had never missed a regular CBA meeting. That's right: He had never missed a regular CBA meeting in over 10 years. Terry looks at the big picture of creating as much community involvement as possible, and to educate and expose the talent pool to the marketplace. "For many of those attending the Waterfront festival, it may be their only touch of Blues for the year, but they get exposed to it."
Dave Clingan was another early member. During a phone conversation, he explains some of the disagreements that went on at the time. However, Dave felt that "We had a good group of people: Ardis Hedrick, Terry Currier, Jim Tyson, Alex Sierra, Joey Scruggs. We wanted a real organization rather than a clique. Brian Treece ran for President and was elected; Clay Fuller was Vice President. We developed committees, bylaws, and a handbook. Many people got involved." Terry Currier provides his own description: "Dave Clingan did a lot of positive things for the CBA — I can't say enough about him. We became very good friends; all of our free time was spent with the CBA. Dave was a real visionary; he took our newsletter up to the next step." Joey Scruggs also comments: "Dave booked talent for the Blues festival for the first few years and finally just got tired of it. He was excellent at organizing."
Alex Sierra is described by Joey Scruggs in the April 1988 BluesNotes issue as " ...a fine example of involvement for CBA members. Alex joined the club after attending his second meeting, and promptly joined the newsletter staff. Shortly thereafter, he started arranging the entertainment for our meetings. Recently appointed to the CBA Board of Directors, Alex is currently head of publicity for the CBA and puts together the monthly music calendar." Alex explains: "Basically I got involved and wrote a couple of articles in the beginning and then took over the calendar for a couple of years." Alex came up with the idea for the current calendar layout and recalls the large number of club listings back then. There were 55 venues listed in the July 1989 calendar, which gives you some idea. Alex continues: "I love the music — I thought it was important to get the word out. We went out and listened to the music. The idea was not so much to promote the big names, but to let the people in Portland know about the talent we have here and to get people out and support the musicians and clubs that were putting the music out there." He has spent nearly a dozen years working stage events; look for him behind the scenes at the Waterfront Festival South Stage. Alex reminisces, "I have really fond memories; people worked hard and worked well together."
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Errol & Bobby Shervey have probably served as the most dedicated CBA couple, serving on the Board for years. They founded a Blues in Schools program, along with clinics, workshops and other presentations by Blues performers. They are advocates of acoustic and traditional Blues. Bobby was the CBA's first Membership Secretary, helped to set up the initial CBA computer membership file, and was diligent in pursuing membership renewals. Few, if any, are more knowledgable about the history of traditional Blues than Errol Shervey. His four-year tenure as CBA President was instrumental in the early '90s in establishing the CBA as a viable and meaningful organization in Portland. Bobby & Errol Shervey are the CBA's only two-time winners of the coveted, Back What You Believe In Muddy Award.
Others who held office in those early years were Kate Fisher as Secretary and Carole Conner as Treasurer. Jim Tyson was remembered for being at every meeting to write checks during his stint as CBA Treasurer. Bonnie Carter also assisted with BluesNotes production in the areas of typesetting and layout. She has edited and published Positively Entertainment for 25 years, making it the longest running entertainment paper in the area.
Many thanks to those who have archived Association records. I find an envelope from John Fletcher containing a complete set of meeting minutes over the course of several years' time. John is described in a March 1988 Member profile by Joey Scruggs as: "One of the most avid fans of the Blues I have ever met and an ambassador of the Blues."
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Valarie Davis chaired nearly every CBA event during her tenure on the Board. Val was able to combine some real organizational skills with great ideas and put them into action on behalf of this Association. Her visibility and photography have been a real contribution. A BluesNotes profile described Val as: "An award-winning photographer, responsible for documentation of many Blues performers at local, regional, national, and international, events." She turned the annual picnic, now in its 13th year, into a 'can't miss' event. "I did it all because I truly fell in love with the Blues and the people. I loved coordinating events because I had a great volunteer base."
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More recent history brings us Rick Hall, who served as President for six years, holding the position of Vice President two years prior to that. Rick's years of devotion have been described in previous BluesNotes issues, as his CBA Board involvement recently ended. Rick's long-standing tenure as President caused him to be an influential part of this organization. He took over as BluesNotes Editor in 1993 and still serves the CBA in that capacity.
Susan Stewart was the woman who filled the shoes of Rick Hall, completing her tenure on the Board with one year as President after serving two years as CBA Vice President. Susan's strengths are in her strong association with the local bands, plus she's always had the best interests of the CBA membership as her focus. Susan joined the CBA Board in 1995.