Northwest Dance & Music Venues

Turkey Run - Cascade Club, Springfield, OR, December 1974 - Photo Courtesy of Linda Jiler-Adler
Cascade Club
AKA:  Springfield Auditorium
32nd and Jasper Road
Springfield, Oregon

Some of the bands that this place during those great years of NW music were:

 

Bobby Bare Leon Smith and the Basics Donny Brooks James Brown and the Famous  Johnny Brown The Champs The Checkers Flames Del Rays Dick and Dee Dee Dorsey Burnett Johnny Burnett The Cascades The Gems Joe Hinton The Jademen Jan and Dean Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Merritt and The Crowns

The Kingsmen Paul and Paula Paul Revere and the Raiders Ricky Nelson Roy Orbison Little Junion Parker The Pentatones The Satans The Shirelles Chris and the Sundowners Johnny Tillitson Turkey Run Ike & Tina Turner Review Bobby Vee The Ventures The Versatiles Wailers Jerry Wallace Wheel of Fortune

Turkey Run at The Cascade Club, 1 March 1975

The Cascade Club out on Jasper Rd. in Springfield was owned and operated by Pat Mason, a major N.W. agent and promoter.  Pat booked dozens of national acts and N.W. local bands on a weekly basis.  The Cascade was mostly closed during the week serving as a recoding studio, or layover for traveling bands Pat was booking.  It was usually packed on weekends with the combined music of regional bands or national chart makers.

    Here are only some of those N.W. bands:
        The Gems (from Walla Walla, the preferred back-up band of most national acts)
        Jerry Merritt and The Crowns (out of Portland; Jerry Merritt played for about 3 years as Gene Vincent's guitar player 1958-61.)
        The Wailers (white soul out of Seattle)
        Chris and the Sundowners (folksingers out of Portland on Pat Mason's label, Lavender Records and later Dolton Records, Hollywood.)
        Leon Smith and the Basics (out of Springfield/Eugene area; had some play on their single "Little 40 Ford")

If a recording artist had a record being played on top 40 radio in the 60's they probably performed at The Cascade Club.

Jim Christiansen, May 2007

Courtesy of Bob Stoutenburg

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Courtesy of Bob Stoutenburg

We also backed 'Jan and Dean' , and Bobby Bare in 1963, on their Northewest tours.  Jan and Dean were kinda sad without their reverb and echo.  Bobby Bare had '500 Miles'  and 'Detroit City' around that time.  Under the pseudonym Bill Parsons, he recorded "All-American Boy".  The crowds really loved that song.

We would play at the Division Street Corral one night, then the Cascade Club, the next.or vice-versa.

Duane Gusse, 'The Gems', May 2007

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As The Checkers, we played at the Cascade Club almost every weekend and backed many of those same artists booked by Pat Mason

Dick Dahl, The Checkers, January 2014

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Last Update:  24 March 2015
Credits: Dick Browne, Cliff Rehwoldt, Jim Christiansen, Duane Gusse, Marshall Adams, Linda Jiler, Bob Adler, Bob Stoutenburg, Dick Dahl, Bob Stoutenburg