Dharma Bums Family Joins Together to Benefit Local Musician Sean Croghan & JWF Musician’s Healthcare Fund
Friday April 6th, 2012
Dharma Bums, The Needful Longings, Ugly Flowers and DJ HWY 7
Dante’s – 350 West Burnside St. Portland, OR 97209 (503) 226-6630
$10.00 in advance cascadetickets.com $13.00 day of show
Doors 8 pm Show 9 pm
Friday April 6th, Portland, Or – The Jeremy Wilson Foundation (JWF) proudly presents a night of high energy rock’n’roll featuring a cast of Portland native sons including Dharma Bums, The Needful Longings, Ugly Flowers and DJ HWY 7. The concert’s proceeds will help relieve longtime Portland musician Sean Croghan (Crackerbash, Jr. High, The Needful Longings) of expensive medical bills he accumulated from an emergency hospital stay late last year, and The JWF Musician’s Healthcare Fund, which assists musicians in times of medical crisis.
It promises to be a special night of music uniting old (and new) friends together, not only for a worthy cause, but also as a true testament of what the spirit of the Portland music and arts culture is all about. The relationship that has manifested over the years between the collective members of Dharma Bums and The Needful Longings can easily be described as a close-knit “family.”
Inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame last November, the members of Dharma Bums grew up
together in the Willamette Valley playing in bands since their very early teens. They found regional
fame around the valley, partially because they could play hundreds of songs at concert level from such
young ages. In 1986, when the Dharma Bums moved to Portland from the Silverton area, they played
many of their earliest Portland gigs with Sean Croghan’s first band Crackerbash. It was during this
exciting time that both bands honed their sonic crafts and garnered stellar reputations as ferocious
live and touring acts. For several years together, before most of the members were even of legal age,
the Bums and Crackerbash played area clubs such as The Pine Street Theater, The Long Goodbye,
Blue Gallery, and the legendary Satyricon. Croghan and Dharma Bums bassist, Jim Talstra, originally
conceived of a Wipers Tribute “flip 45” single to be released as a dual effort between both Crackerbash
and the Bums. This project quickly blossomed into a compilation vinyl 45 box set tribute to Greg Sage
& The Wipers, including tracks from Poison Idea, Hole, and Nirvana. The release of this box set and the
expanded CD that followed helped put then powerhouse indie Portland label T/K Records on the map; a
label that launched the biggest Portland acts of the 90s.
In all aspects of life, these guys have been brothers for one another onstage and off as they came of
age. From helping each other move apartments to painting and creating art on front porches to playing
on each other’s records over the years, these guys became lifelong buddies and collaborators. Heck,
Sean Croghan even appeared as “The Face”, on the front cover of the Dharma Bums third album,
Welcome, back in 1993. Twenty years later the members of these bands still play with the same vitality
and emotion that sparked their mutual admiration back in the day. From the 2010 triumphant reunion
shows of the Dharma Bums’ foursome to Sean’s latest and greatest group, The Needful Longings, these
dedicated musicians are making the best music of their careers as they continue to collaborate on each
other’s projects and adventures. For instance, Dharma Bums’ bassist Jim Talstra plays for The Needful
Longings, whose guitar player, Chris Slusarenko, also plays in Boston Spaceships with Bum’s drummer,
John Moen (now in the grammy nominated Decemberists) and singer Robert Pollard (Guided by Voices).
Guitarist, Eric Lovre of the Bums produced records for both John Moen as well as Talstra’s bands,
Perhapst and Minus 5. Lovre, Moen, and Talstra all appear on Dharma Bum’s frontman, Jeremy Wilson’s
upcoming solo album, Empty Through Empty Space—and the list goes on. As this close-knit circle has
done in the past, they will reunite once again to raise revenue for The Jeremy Wilson Foundation to
assist their fellow musicians in times of emergency.
It is no question that the “family” would come together now when Sean Croghan needs some
assistance. A stint in the emergency room last September was no small setback for the hard working
Sean when he passed a kidney stone and found himself uninsured due to a recent job change. But
Croghan’s situation is, unfortunately, not unique. Like millions of people throughout the United States,
even some of the biggest names in music are hit hard by medical emergency, which can quickly turn
into financial disaster. Jeremy Wilson’s struggle from his own stressful medical condition prompted
him to form The JWF Musician’s Healthcare Fund to benefit the well-being of the entire Northwest
music community. The Jeremy Wilson Foundation is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit that recognizes that many
musicians do not have individual access to healthcare and functions as a resource center whose revenue
funds musicians like Sean Croghan in their time of medical crisis. Those who wish to contribute to JWF
Musician’s Healthcare Fund and support the well-being of area musicians are encouraged to donate
online at www.thejwf.org. Donors can also contribute directly to Sean Croghan’s Relief Fund at http://
thejwf.org/donate Donations are 100% tax deductible.
The Jeremy Wilson Foundation Presents – Friday April 6th 2012 – Dharma Bums, The Needful Longings,
Ugly Flowers, DJ HWY7 @ Dantes – 350 West Burnside St. Portland, OR 97209 (503) 226-6630 $10.00 in
advance http://www.cascadetickets.com/ $13.00 day of show Doors 8 pm Show 9 pm
MORE ABOUT THE JEREMY WILSON FOUNDATION
There is an absence of relief organizations which assist uninsured and under-insured musicians who, as
members of the creative class, are at high risk of serious financial harm in times of medical crisis.
The mission of The Jeremy Wilson Foundation (JWF) is to support uninsured and underinsured musicians
and their families in times of medical crisis. Sixteen months since its inception, The JWF has generated
$52.000.00, and granted $20,000 in assistance in 2011 alone. The JWF has started JWF Studio and
Learning Center’s program, Blue Room Music Lessons, which provides secure jobs for music educators
while granting access to affordable, discounted or free music lessons to children of low-income families.
In its ninth month of operation, Blue Room’s educators have taught over 90 students. The JWF’s
November 2011 fundraising concert, The Next Waltz, rallied over 60 area musicians and 20 volunteers
for a sold out recreation of The Band’s The Last Waltz, held at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland,
Oregon. The JWF’s survey results have provided valuable insight for the Local 99 Musician’s Union, the Health
Association of Austin Musicians (HAMM), and at hearings regarding the cost of insurance for small
business owners in the Oregon State Senate.
Musicians are twice as likely as the general public to be uninsured. They are considered self-employed
and do not receive employee benefits from the record companies they serve. The artists individually
absorb 100% of the costs (from paying the doorman to releasing the album), while the record
companies receive up to 90% of revenues. Although demand for music is increasing, the advent of
the 360° record deal has drastically decreased the artist’s profits through the label’s appropriation of
each and every revenue stream. Due to a lack of fundamental financial security, stability, and business
structure, many artists simply cannot afford basic health insurance.
The JWF, in its second year, is trying to build and expand its non-profit 501 (c)3 organization dedicated
to assisting uninsured and under-insured musicians and their families. It is developing multiple streams
of revenue to subsidize a musician’s medical crisis fund. JWF is developing programs to provide
incentives and financial fitness education specific to this unique industry to help individuals proactively
establish and maintain adequate health care coverage. By developing and implementing a new music
licensing model the JWF empowers the artist’s own enterprise and contributes to the well-being of
other musicians. They are trying to provide an essential safety-net and proactive training to vital
members of the creative economy, and by doing so hope to enrich and sustain our community’s cultural
identity.
The Foundation’s namesake, musician Jeremy Wilson (The Dharma Bums, Pilot) formed the foundation
because of his personal experiences since being diagnosed with a serious congenital heart condition
called Wolf-Parkinson-White. He has learned, by what Wilson calls “his education by fire,” all about the
need for adequate health care for our community of musicians. And because of the great outpouring of
goodwill he experienced from those that have helped him through his own trial these last many years,
he wants to pay forward the same goodwill to others.
With the help of an incredible cast of friends, well-wishers, music fans, industry professionals and
others, Wilson has formed this Foundation. Let’s raise the quality of life for all by helping those that
make the sound tracks of our lives be healthy and happy!
His name is Monti Amundson but most people call him Big Monti. Not just because of the man’s physical appearance, but because of his larger than life voice, guitar virtuosity, and sheer presence. When Big Monti takes the stage, it’s clear that there’s more going on than the usual extended guitar solos – the man plays and sings larger than life.
