How Zydeco came to Portland

by Dick Brainard (June 30, 2009)

Most of you do not know how zydeco came to be here. Marc Green & Mary McLeod were playing it on a boom box and dancing to it once many years ago when the Burnside Bridge was closed for an event. Numerous folks wanted to know about it. Marc & Mary had learned the dance on a visit to LA. At the time--about 16 years ago, the contra dance community held a dance camp the first weekend of Oct each year at Suttle Lake in the Cascades.

Zydeco was introduced to the contra group, and as I understand, soon it became the main event at the camp. Marc, Mary, Debra Seeck, Dennis Myers, Donna Birkey, & maybe a couple others began organizing the zydeco camp & brought in a live band. Debra says Mary McLeo coined the term "Cascade Zydeco." Dennis took charge of the finances, and money that the camp made each year paid for a few live dances in Portland. The idea was to have a fun time, and end up at each dance camp time with no left over funds.

A couple years later, Ralph Olson leased a former Masonic lodge on SE 26th. just off Powell, with the idea to create a "Living Dance Center." It included tango, salsa, west coast swing, lindy hop, country dance, & zydeco. Dennis was putting on live dances there and at the PPAA as funds allowed. After a year, Ralph lost his lease, and zydeco appeared to die along with it. Dennis was ready to stop promoting dances.

I stepped in and, along with Adam Grimshaw, found a place to have zydeco classes each week. Dennis passed his checking account with $200 to me, plus his mailing list. Still, the community almost died. About that time, Rick Obbink was trying to promote Cajun music in Portland. He suggested we join forces and bring a zydeco band to town. His friend, Thomas "Big Hat" Field was planning to be on the West Coast soon. I could not find a place to hold the dance that was reasonable. Rick suggested I contact John Malloy who ran the music hall at St. John's Pub. John gave me free use of the hall for the dance, and for twice monthly lessons & cd dancing. The live dance went over well. The checkbook swelled to $400-$500!

Fred Obermann was helping me with the mailing list, then composed an email list, and a Cascade Zydeco website. Deb Gasster agreed to teach classes for free, we had free dj's, Rick's fledgling band played a short practice session once a month for free, and the community began to grow. Bob Harper, "Motorcycle Bob," began showing up, and helped me set up each week. Roland & Janine hit the scene around that time, as did Craig Schultz.

After 2-3 years scraping by alone, an organizational meeting was held at Deb Gasster's home. It took awhile, but finally a Cascade Zydeco committee was formed to promote zydeco music & dance. Our mantra was to create an environment to have fun, with whatever money we made at dance camp going back into dance events during the year.

A year or so later, we were asked to leave St. John's Pub, as it was to become a movie venue. David MacKenzie, who had recently joined the community had an Irish friend who had extra space at his new pub--so we moved to Alberta Street Public House. A formal CZ committee was formed, and Nancy Matela did the paperwork to obtain 501c3 non-profit status. For a period of time when I was working a lot out of the country, Ron Slatin took over hiring bands. I began doing it again, until a couple years ago, when the torch was passed to a bands committee.

We outgrew the pub, and I had a connection at the PPAA, so got us a great deal there for once a week lessons & dancing. The goal has been to have a live band once a month as funds permit. It has worked well, and perhaps better than ever today. My feeling is we still need to constantly remind ourselves the purpose is to use the money we make having fun and promoting this great music and culture from Louisiana through live dances, picnics, dance camps, special events, supporting zydeco at the Blues Festival, etc. It's always nice to have money in the bank, but important not to loose sight of our main purpose.

PS: At a later time, I'll tell you how I got involved with the Oregon Food Bank and the Waterfront Blues Fest (originally the Portland Blues Assn. Festival).lly the Portland Blues Assn. Festival).

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