PRESIDENT
This coming December, the Cascade Blues Association will reach its 30th anniversary. I began my role on the board of directors during the tenth anniversary celebration and have been holding the role of president for the past fourteen years. Over that time I have chaired and participated in numerous programs, with leadership behind events such as the Journey To Memphis since its inception and the Muddy Awards. I have also been the primary writer and staff photographer for the BluesNotes, spending endless hours each month in its preparation. I have also started to bring CBA merchandise to various venues and festivals this past year, something that had been done quite a bit in past years, but had fallen out of practice the past few.

Outside of the CBA I have been a strong piece of The Blues Foundation’s teams for the International Blues Challenge and the Blues Music Awards, both of which I work as part of the stage management team for these world-renowned events. During this past year I also released my first book that I co-authored with a friend from Baton Rouge titled Blues On Beale Street, Memoirs of the International Blues Challenge.

No matter what my role or where my travels may take me, I promote and talk about the blues talent in the Northwest. This has been my goal since I first became involved with the CBA board, to gain more recognition for our regional blues community and artists. It still remains my goal as does making our organization more secure and higher visibility within our local media and music audience.

Please consider me when selecting your next president of the Cascade Blues Association.

Thank you,
Greg Johnson

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VICE PRESIDENT
It’s time for the 2016 CBA Board Officer elections. I would like to continue serving as the Vice President of this great organization.  As many of you know, this is a role I have held for 4 years and have worked hard during that time to promote blues activity in the Portland area, as well as beyond.  Wherever I go I talk about our CBA activities and I promote our amazing blues community, venues, and artists.  Being your Vice President has been hard work but also very rewarding and I hope I have lived up to the membership expectations.  I continue to do the CBA Calendar monthly and solicit input monthly from talent so that our calendar can have the most up to date content. I post “what’s happening” on our Facebook page regularly, and in September of 2015 I implemented an email blast which highlights the coming month activities and links to our website.  My travels bring me to a variety of festivals around the country, as well as sailing on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise — and I always make sure to promote CBA while I am attending these events.

Please consider me for the position of Vice President for the 2016 calendar year.

Wendy Schumer

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SECRETARY
I am excited to introduce myself as a candidate for the position of Secretary for the 2016 year. I have been involved with the Cascade Blues Association for more than three years. During my time with the association I have provided many hours of service.

I have experience working with volunteer organizations serving as President, Treasurer, and Secretary for PTA, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and Educational organizations. I have much education and training in the area of law, organizational structure, and education that will support my ability to provide guidance and leadership.

I look forward to providing support to the association and helping to continue to build positive relationships within the community.

Please consider me for the position of Secretary for the 2016 calendar year.

Sincerely,
Brenda Docken

Every December, the Cascade Blues Association asks its members to attend the monthly membership meeting to cast their votes for the people who they would like to run the organization for the coming year. All five officer positions (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Membership Secretary) are open for anyone who would like to seek the positions. We do request, however, that for the Membership Secretary position that you have knowledge of spreadsheets and mailing, and for Treasurer you have a firm grasp of accounting and filing taxes.

If you would like to place your name on the ballot for any of the CBA positions, please submit a letter stating your intent to run and outlining your qualifications no later than Friday, November 27. If you would like your letter published in the December BluesNotes, please submit the letter by November 15. You may mail your letter of intent to Cascade Blues Association, PO Box 6566, Portland, OR 97228-6566.

Final ballots are out with the choices made by our members in the nomination round. The top three vote-getters (or more in the event of ties) are on the ballot for you to choose from. Please make your selections from those on the ballot only. Write-ins will not be counted.

In order for us to be able to count the votes and to place orders for the trophies for the winners, we need to receive your ballots back to us post-marked no later than Monday, October 12. You can turn them in directly to us at the October General membership Meeting.

Don’t delay, send them back as soon as you can!

If you would like to have your CD considered by the Cascade Blues Association for submission in The Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD competition, please send your disc to BSPCD c/o Cascade Blues Association, PO Box 6566, Portland, Oregon 97228-6566. You may also turn your submission in at the October Cascade Blues Association General Membership Meetings. No discs will be accepted later than October 7.

All discs submitted must have been released after November 1, 2014. A committee set up by the Cascade Blues Association’s Board of Directors will listen to each submission and like the Journey To Memphis will rate each on a series of catagories (blues content, instrumentation, vocals, art work and liner notes). Entries are only accepted by acts within the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Idaho and Washington). We must receive your entry no later than October 7. Please note, the entry that we submit to The Blues Foundation will require that we send them four copies of the disc for their judges. We will notify the appropriate act for  the extra copies needed to send.

Well, you know that this past summer has been extremely hot with a record number of days 90 degrees and more. So it’s no surprise that we had more of the same type of weather on Saturday, September 12 for our fifth annual Cascade Blues Association Rummage Sale.

Once again we returned to the parking lot of The Bomber Restaurant, 13515 SE McLoughlin Boulevard in Milwaukie. From early in the morning until late in the afternoon, we offered some great bargains and entertainment. And none of it could’ve taken place without the support of our members for their kind donations and patronage of the event. Perhaps the most successful and popular items this year were the musical instruments donated generously by Tracey Fordice, Randy Yearout and Geoffrey Reece.

Even more, a huge tip of the hat to all of our volunteers throughout the day for their hard work setting up, running and breaking down the event. Thanks to The Bomber Restaurant for allowing us to use their parking lot and also to the musicians who volunteered their time to perform: James Clem, Sam Jimenez, Missi & Mr Baker, and Kivett Bednar.

Kudos to our volunteer team (please forgive me if I leave anybody out): Angelo Suran, Brenda Docken, Debby Espinor, Gary Jaskowiak, Judith Ellis, John Fromwiller, Lynn Wymore, Margaret Wise, Patricia Bowman, Patty Kadel, Randy Wright, Rhonda Graham, Shirley Sanders and Todd Ommert.

Thanks to Cascade Blues Association Board Members Greg Johnson and Barry Blackwell for their tireless efforts all day.

And most of all, our biggest thanks goes out to the Rummage Sale Team that brought everything together: Rae Gordon for chairing and collecting & storing items for the sale, Cherie Robbins for putting together the musical line-up (plus both Rae & Cherie worked the entire day at the event non-stop), and Richard LaChapelle though he could not make it himself due to family concerns still put together the volunteer base to make everything run smooth.

Thank you everybody for making this yet another successful year!

BLUES & BARGAINS ANNUAL RUMMAGE SALE FOR CBA

Imagine making a big difference to your blues association while cleaning your closet of your unneeded items?  And imagine having fun while you are making that difference!  The annual rummage sale is coming up where you can donate your good used items and turn it into cash for the CBA and offer just a little bit of your time helping to run the sale and introduce new people to the CBA .  The CBA is a 5013c and your donation is tax deductible!

WHAT:  BLUES & BARGAINS Rummage Sale for Cascade Blues Association (501c3)
BLUES:  BAND NAMES…….
BARGAINS:  Furniture, tools, kids items, household, collectibles, antiques, musical instruments and more!
WHEN: September 12, 2015, 9am-3pm
WHERE: The Bomber Restaurant, 13515 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Portland, Oregon 97222
WHY: To help fund programs of the Cascade Blues Association and offer live blues music and bargains while educating the public on all that the CBA does and grow membership and awareness of the organization.

To make this year’s rummage sale a success, we need you and your stuff!  You need to clean your house, garage and tool shed anyway, now is the perfect time to do it, don’t wait until Spring1

DONATIONS NEEDED:  Furniture (dressers, shelves, small desks, coffee tables, etc, SORRY NO couches, futons ok), tools, kids items, pet supplies, collectibles, and musical instruments highly desired (no full size pianos, but consoles welcome).

DONATION DROP OFFS:  Please bring your good used items to the Bomber Restaurant parking lot before 9am on September 12th, before sale.   If you will not be in town that weekend, but feel you have items would sell well, please contact Rae Gordon to arrange a pick up at 503-452-0440.

DONATION SEPTEMBER CBA MEMBERSHIP MEETING:
A passenger van (no seats) will be at the September CBA meeting to load smaller items in boxes.  This has worked in the past, but no large furniture an be picked up.   Rae Gordon will be at 6:45pm outside the meeting to help load.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED (more hands make for quick work, but more bodies make for more fun!):
Volunteers needed all day, but most important times.
7AM – Oregon City Public Storage Location – load moving truck
8AM – The Bomber Restaurant Parking Lot, lots of help needed to unload truck as quickly as possible
9AM-3PM – Helpers needed to work with customers, help load customer vehicles and make thing like pretty!
3PM – Loading truck to donate to charity Thrift Store & clean up restaurant parking lot

ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS (PRE-SALE)
Please email blues_rae@msn.com to donate your time leading up to the sale to pick up donated items.
There are more people wanting to donate items, then people who can drop off themselves the day of the sale.  If you can donate a couple hours to pick up some great items that will help make a big difference the sale, please let Rae know.

If you would like to have the Cascade Blues Association consider your CD for submission in The Blues Foundation’s Best Self-Produced CD competition, please send your disc to BSPCD c/o Cascade Blues Association, PO Box 6566, Portland, Oregon 97228-6566. You may also turn your submission in at the September or October Cascade Blues Association General Membership Meetings. No discs will be accepted later than October 7.

All discs submitted must have been released after November 1, 2014. A committee set up by the Cascade Blues Association’s Board of Directors will listen to each submission and like the Journey To Memphis will rate each on a series of categories (blues content, instrumentation, vocals, art work and liner notes). Entries are only accepted by acts within the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Idaho and Washington). We must receive your entry no later than October 7. Please note, the entry that we submit to The Blues Foundation will require that we send them four copies of the disc for their judges. We will notify the appropriate act for the extra copies needed to send.

1 – Do not select a person who has already been awarded a lifetime achievement award for this category. You can only win this once as you only have one life. Check the back of the ballot for the list.

2 – The categories that have artist names in front of them are honoring those individuals for the number of times they have received the award. In order to have one named after them, they must have received the award no less than 12 times and agree to no longer be eligible for that category. So, if the category is named after somebody (i.e. the “Duffy Bishop” Female Vocalist) please do not nominate that person.

3 – There is always confusion about Traditional and Contemporary. Traditional applies to acoustic blues or those performing in the classical electric styles of early regional styles like Chicago or Texas (i.e. Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, etc.). Contemporary is modern electric blues that may encompass newer genres like rock, metal, hip hop, etc.

4 – A Performance is recognition of a single artist or band for a gig that they played; this can be a collaboration of musicians for a single performance.

5 – An Event refers to a setting with multiple artists playing individual sets. This would include festivals, fundraisers, benefits, tributes, etc.

6 – A Venue is a location be it a club, store, theater or wherever that holds regular shows. It is not a location that is holding an event or a one-time scheduled show.

7 – Regional acts refers to those artists outside of the Portland metro area within Oregon, Washington or Idaho – if an artist is from Louisiana, California, Europe or anywhere else outside of the described region they are not eligible for this category.

8 – If an act was previously nominated for New Act then they’re not really a new act, are they?

9 – Albums to be counted for the ballot, whether Northwest or National, must have been released during the time period between September 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015. We will check on release dates.

10 – Do not enter an act more than once in a category, it will still only count as one nomination. (Yes, we do have people send in their ballots like this).

11 – If you enter more than three nominations in any one category, all will be voided and not counted for that category.

12 – Do not write in comments or complaints on the ballots. They are not going to be considered or read, so don’t waste your time with them here. We’re only interested in who your selections are.

13 – Please use your best judgement on your selections. If you’re unsure, you’re not required to enter all categories or all three permitted spaces. If you don’t know the artists in the categories, don’t just look back on past nominees, we want everybody deserving to have a chance, which means many newer acts or long-time acts who have been overlooked deserve the opportunity, too.

14 – Please fill out your own ballot. This is a benefit of being a member, only members are supposed to be voting. Do not give them to a friend or team up with others to “stuff” the ballots. Let’s make them meaningful as they’re meant to be. And don’t ask us, we have no intention of telling you who you should nominate. Make it open and fair to all.

15 – Consider everybody. Please go out and check out different performers along with your favorites when you decide to spend time listening to music. There are a lot of musicians, recordings, venues out there that are deserving, but we’re limited to who we can place on a ballot. Remember, the final selections come from our members. This is your choices. If you do not take the time to nominate, or if you’re not a member, you cannot complain about the outcome.

Imagine making a big difference to your blues association while cleaning your closet of your unneeded items, and imagine having fun while you are making that difference!  The annual rummage sale is coming up where you can donate your good used items and turn it into cash for the CBA and offer just a little bit of your time helping to run the sale and introduce new people to the CBA . The CBA is a 5013c and your donation is tax deductible!

WHAT:  BLUES & BARGAINS Rummage Sale for Cascade Blues Association (501c3)
BLUES:  BAND NAMES…….
BARGAINS:  Furniture, tools, kids items, household, collectibles, antiques, musical instruments and more!
WHEN: September 12, 2015, 9am-3pm
WHERE: The Bomber Restaurant, 13515 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Portland, Oregon 97222
WHY: To help fund programs of the Cascade Blues Association and offer live blues music and bargains while educating the public on all that the CBA does and grow membership and awareness of the organization.

To make this year’s rummage sale a success, we need you and your stuff!  You need to clean your house, garage and tool shed anyway, now is the perfect time to do it, don’t wait until Spring!

DONATIONS NEEDED:  Furniture (dressers, shelves, small desks, coffee tables, etc, SORRY NO couches, futons ok), tools, kids items, pet supplies, collectibles, and musical instruments highly desired (no full size pianos, but consoles welcome).

DONATION DROP OFFS:  Please bring your good used items to the Bomber Restaurant parking lot before 9am on September 12th, before sale.   If you will not be in town that weekend, but feel you have items would sell well, please contact Rae Gordon to arrange a pick up at 503-452-0440.

DONATION SEPTEMBER CBA MEMBERSHIP MEETING:

A passenger van (no seats) will be at the September CBA meeting to load smaller items in boxes.  This has worked in the past, but no large furniture can be picked up.   Rae Gordon will be at 6:45pm outside the meeting to help load.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED (more hands make for quick work, but more bodies make for more fun!): Volunteers needed all day, but most important times.

7AM – Oregon City Public Storage Location – load moving truck

8AM – The Bomber Restaurant Parking Lot, lots of help needed to unload truck as quickly as possible

9AM-3PM – Helpers needed to work with customers, help load customer vehicles and make thing like pretty!

3PM – Loading truck to donate to charity Thrift Store & clean up restaurant parking lot

ADDITIONAL VOLUNTEERS (PRE-SALE)

Please email blues_rae@msn.com to donate your time leading up to the sale to pick up donated items.

There are more people wanting to donate items, then people who can drop off themselves the day of the sale.  If you can donate a couple hours to pick up some great items that will help make a big difference the sale, please let Rae know.

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An All Star Showcase on Wednesday July 8th 6:30pm-8:30pm @ Dawson Park (N Williams Ave. & Stanton Street). Portland Parks & Rec. organizers wanted a special Show of appreciation for Janice Scroggins & Linda Hornbuckle. They both were regular favorites at their Concert series and are so very missed.

Performing: Norman Sylvester, LaRhonda Steele, Janice’s daughters Arietta Scroggins-Ward & Nafisaria Scroggins-Thomas, Lenanne Miller-Sylvester, Mary Tucker, Lyndee Mah, MaryEtta Callier, Brian Foxworth, Peter Dammann, Randy Monroe Mark Steele, Peter Moss and Lauren & Sarah Steele.

The concert will include Gospel, Blues, R&B, Soul & Funk to attempt to represent these amazing women’s contribution to every Genre of music. Please join us and bring your families to rejoice these extraordinary Women’s work of Music & Community outreach.