Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current, July 21, 2017, Page 4A, Image 4

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    4A • July 21, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Memphis man comes to
study Lunceford mystery
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Celia’s Gourmet Foods participates in the Seaside Farm-
ers Market.
Finding friends
at the Seaside
Farmers Market
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Ron Herd in downtown Seaside near the site of the Bungalow, the dance hall where Lunceford was to play his last concert.
M
eet Ron Herd, a Memphis,
Tennessee, native and
founder of the Jimmie
Lunceford Jamboree
Festival in 2007. Herd, 37, of course
never knew Lunceford — along with
Count Basie and Duke Ellington, among
the most renowned and bestselling jazz
musicians of the 1930s and ’40s.
But as a student at Washington Uni-
versity in St. Louis, Herd was turned on
to jazz and jazz history.
After reading a journalist’s account
of the music scene known as the “Chit-
lin’ Circuit” in 2007, Herd wondered
why Lunceford wasn’t better remem-
bered. “I thought something should be
done about honoring this guy.”
He did just that. Herd founded the
“Offi cial Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree”
website with salutes to Lunceford,
memorials and events, including a June
jam session and wreath-laying, this
year in honor of what would have been
Lunceford’s 115th birthday.
Herd plans on using the informa-
tion and footage gathered for a fea-
ture-length documentary about Lunce-
ford, which will be available 2018. The
Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival
returns Oct. 23-29.
especially in those days.”
On the other hand, Porter said,
Wilder, who had a very sharp memory,
confi rmed that the Seaside venue tried
to exclude blacks from that evening’s
concert.
Determeyer, contacted in 2015 at his
home in Holland, acknowledged there
was little hard evidence of poisoning.
“Let’s hope there will be an after-
math, and hopefully some new clues,”
Determeyer said.
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
Seaside connection
REBECCA HERREN/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Ron Herd pays a visit to the Signal
offi ces.
Lunceford’s legacy
As an athletics instructor at Manas-
sas High School in Memphis, Lunc-
eford organized a student band, the
Chickasaw Syncopators, whose name
was changed to the Jimmie Lunceford
Orchestra. Under the new name, the
band started its professional career in
1929, and made its fi rst recordings in
1930.
Manassas was the fi rst black public
high school in Shelby County, and
Lunceford was the fi rst public high
school band director in Memphis, Herd
said.
In 1934, Lunceford and his orchestra
took over the prestigious role as the
house band at the Cotton Club in New
York City’s Harlem, following in the
footsteps of Duke Ellington and Cab
Calloway. While Lunceford was the
most popular bandleader among black
audiences — selling more records than
Ellington and Count Basie —his hits
like “Margie,” “Rhythm is Our Busi-
ness” and “My Blue Heaven” crossed
all racial barriers.
A commitment to education contin-
ued even as his popularity grew.
“No matter how big he got he was
always starting education programs,”
Herd said. “Wherever he went, he used
to come back from Memphis, he always
gave free concerts to Manassas High
School students and gave lessons to
young musicians who wanted to learn
more about their instruments.”
Under the baton of Lunceford pro-
tegé Emerson Able Jr., Manassas High
School trained countless musicians,
including Motown star Isaac Hayes.
Death in Seaside
Lunceford’s death at age 45 was a
shock to bandmates and friends. Lunce-
ford collapsed while signing records for
fans at Seaside Radio and Record Shop
on Broadway.
Lunceford, a teetotaler, was “a per-
fectly healthy man who had boxed, run
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
David F. Pero
R.J. Marx
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Jimmie Lunceford
track and played softball,” according to
trumpeter Joe Wilder in a 2012 biog-
raphy of Lunceford. “It was one of the
saddest days of my life.”
In “Rhythm is My Business,” author
Eddie Determeyer posits that Lunceford
may have been poisoned by tainted
meat deliberately served by a racist
restaurant owner in Seaside.
The Clatsop County Coroner
declared Lunceford died of “coronary
occlusion, due to thrombosis of anterior
coronary artery due to arteriosclerosis”
— in other words, a heart attack caused
by a blockage.
Jazz historian Lewis Porter suggests
that Joe Wilder — a member of the
Lunceford band — remembers the racist
restaurant owner as having been in
Portland, not in Seaside.
“Further, Wilder was present when
Lunceford collapsed and he remembers
nothing about bad food beforehand,”
Porter said.
Botulism is not a poison and cannot
be “manufactured” or “planted,” Porter
said. “It’s simply a severe form of food
poisoning that can occur in, for exam-
ple, rotten meal. But he (Lunceford)
died from a heart attack — nothing to
do with the food! He’s not the fi rst guy
to die suddenly at a relatively young
age from unsuspected heart trouble,
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
Jeremy Feldman
John D. Bruijn
ADVERTISING
SALES
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Brandy Stewart
Carl Earl
Herd was in Seaside this month to
expand his research, replete with visits
to the Signal, the Seaside Historical
Society and interviews with jazz fans
and folks who remember the days when
the city was a hub of big bands and jazz
music.
“Engaging strangers on the 70th
anniversary of his tragic death at the
key spots that played a pivotal role in
his last moments was emotionally and
spiritually moving,” Herd said.
During his visit, Herd revisited the
sites of the landmarks of the past: 10
Downing Street, the restaurant Lunce-
ford ate; the Bungalow, the venue where
Lunceford’s band played on, even after
their leader’s death; and Seaside Radio
and Record Shop.
Herd met with Tita Montero and
other representatives of the Seaside Mu-
seum and Historical Society, and talked
with Gloria Linkey, author of “A Town
Called Seaside.”
“I could tell in her voice that she
had a lot of respect and admiration for
Jimmie Lunceford and his music,” Herd
said of Linkey. “I always appreciate
when I meet someone who is really a
fan of Jimmie Lunceford because they
can never hide their enthusiasm for this
particular unsung music genius. It was
very insightful, entertaining and helpful.
All were very grateful for the food for
thought I provided.”
He met jazz lovers from near and
far, including fans Kazakhstan and a
bar owner who “photo-bombed” the
presentation.
Herd played his trumpet near the site
of Lunceford’s death, and fi lmed a short
commentary about the signifi cance on
“why people should never forget the
man or his music.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed Seaside in
particular and Oregon in general,” Herd
wrote me upon his return to Memphis.
“I really did not know what to expect.
Being a black man from the American
South I am no stranger to racism, both
covert and overt.
“The Pacifi c Northwest has a repu-
tation for being a home and breeding
ground for white supremacists,” he
continued. “Oregon’s actual history as
a Jim Crow state did not help either.
Given that perception, I could easily
see a scenario where Jimmie Lunceford
might have been killed by a devout
white supremacist in Seaside due to the
fact he was a proud and confi dent black
man who did not settle for second-class
treatment by anyone, regardless of
color.”
Seventy years after his death, Lunce-
ford’s death in Seaside remains clouded.
“To paraphrase William Faulkner,
“The past is never past,” Herd wrote.
STAFF WRITER
Brenna Visser
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Rebecca Herren
Katherine Lacaze
Eve Marx
Esther Moberg
Jon Rahl
didn’t make it to the fi rst two weeks of the Seaside
Farmers Market. This was unusual for me, because I
fi nd it hard to pass up a farmers market. I go to the one
in Astoria. I’ve been to the one in Cannon Beach. I hear
there’s a very good one in Manzanita, which makes sense
since Manzanita is so much closer to Nehalem which is
where the farmers work and live. So I was very excited
to learn this
season’s Seaside
Farmer’s Market
VIEW FROM
would be located
THE PORCH
just a 15 minute
EVE MARX
walk away, right
by the Broadway
Elementary
School. And hey, the parking is easy.
It’s still a little early in the season for locally grown
fruits and veg, although I picked up a small carton of tasty
raspberries and another of strawberries we made short
work of. I also got some nice looking snap peas. What
I really wanted was fudge. I won’t even let myself try a
sample because I’m afraid what might happen. A Gearhart
friend relayed to me that visiting family members always
buy some and then they eat a tiny bit and leave rest at her
house and she always eats it. That would be me.
I cruised the aisles, ogling the fi ne goods on display
from Se Me Family Food and Grater Foods and the Naked
Winery. I learned the guy from Buddha Kat Winery lives
right on my street. How cool is that? He offered to make
a home delivery. I waved to Margot Nye from Sea Star
Gelato. It’s great to see them at the market. My husband
bought two bars of soap from the gentleman at Golden-
wood. For a couple of years now, he’s had a love for a
scented soap called pikake, made from the oil of Hawaiian
jasmine. It’s the same fl ower they use to make leis. The
name “pikake” is derived from the Hawaiian word for
“peacock,” the favored scent of the Hawaiian princess
Ka’iulani, who was fond of both the fl owers and the birds,
or so the legend goes. The guy who sells the Goldenwood
products allowed that he had to change the name of the
soap because the name “pikake” didn’t go over so well.
Maybe nobody knew how to pronounce it, is my guess. In
any case, he changed the name of the soap to “Hawaiian
Jasmine” and now it sells great.
Since I’ve developed quite the muffi n top, I passed by
the kettle corn and the aforementioned fudge, although not
without sorrow and regret because I love that stuff. Nuts
are a healthier choice. I’ll buy them next week.
As we made yet another lap around the market, greet-
ing the friendly Seaside police offi cers who were keeping
watch, we saw our friends, the two Kathleens, neither of
whom know each other, but who are both Seaside resi-
dents.
Before we left, purchases in hand, we stopped to listen
for awhile to the band Pacifi c Fire. Who doesn’t love live
music at a farmers market? I remarked to my husband that
next week we should hang around longer and partake of
the food truck, which offers an easy dinner. (Any excuse
not to cook.) We could have some of that affogato from
Sea Star afterwards, which is gelato fl oating in a bath of
espresso. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it?
I
LETTERS
Gearhart needs to get facts right
In reviewing the June 7, 2017 Gearhart City Council
minutes, I found some inaccurate information being given
out by City Manager Chad Sweet in regard to voter regis-
tration.
In response to a question asked by Gearhart resident,
Susan Spring, regarding the procedure for changing one’s
voter registration, Mr.
Sweet stated “there are some tests done such as how
long you have been registered, where the title of your car is
mailed and where you receive your taxes.”
When attempting to open the Pacifi c Way Cafe, John
Allen was faced with the same issue from the city. Judge
Thomas Edison ruled against the city, costing Gearhart a
great deal of money. The sooner the fl ow of foggy and mis-
leading information being fed to the residents of
Gearhart from its city hall is stopped, the better.
See Letters, Page 5A
Seaside Signal
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