Greg Johnson / CBA President

Sometimes change comes about when you least expect it. It may not always be what you wanted at the time, but there is always the chance that it works out for the better in the long run. We’ll see.

The Cascade Blues Association had some hard times a few years back when the Market plunged and a lot of small businesses went under. We came close to being one of those, but thanks to our members with two fundraisers at the time and the quick thinking of the CBA Board of Directors, we were able to avert that disaster. One of the key events that took place at the time was when former Board Member John Etten was able to secure storage space and a place to hold our board meetings rent-free. He worked out a deal with his friends at the United Food and Commercial Workers Union building in Tigard where we have been since. Recently we received word from UFCW that with changes happening within their building we would no longer be able to continue to use their space. The CBA wishes to thank the UFCW for their kindness and generosity over these last few years.

But that leaves us in a position as to where do we go now? First things first, we will most likely move our office equipment and merchandise into storage space until we are able to locate something more permanent that meets our needs to avoid excessive expenses. The search is on, and we are open to anybody who may be able to offer us some assistance in locating something a little more centralized, preferably somewhere close to The Melody Ballroom or that general area of Portland.

The other major change we have had is probably something you may already be aware of. Our web host for the Cascade Blues Association’s website had been cyber-attacked which caused our site to be unstable, slow and absolutely unresponsive at times. We heard you complain about the difficulties and had been planning on creating a new site altogether which had been in the works for several months. But recent attacks on our host continued to worsen to the point that they could not guarantee us the site would stay up for too lengthy a time and that it could be quite a bit of time before it would be resolved – if ever. With this news we decided to put the new site out there for everybody. We had not planned on doing so for a couple of months, but the latest developments from the original host made it necessary to do so right away. So, visit us at www.cascadebluesassociation.org and check out the new look website. Let us know what you think. It is still a work in progress, but we’re getting closer so please be patient. We think you’ll love the new look calendar. A huge thanks to our webmaster Bruce Gifford and Vice President Wendy Schumer, your IT committee members.

It is summer by the way, so hope you get your blues grooves going. Start at the Waterfront Blues Festival in July and work your way through as much music with local artists and travelin’ bands as you can. That is, after all, what makes Portland so great in the summer time!