July General Meeting Cancelled

We had hoped for better news this month, but Covid-19 continues to change our plans on a regular basis as of late. With the current postponement of the reopening of Multnomah County, the effects will also alter our chances of holding our monthly meetings until further changes can take place. We once again need to cancel our meeting in July. 

At the beginning of the year, we had originally scheduled our July meeting for July 8 in anticipation of the Waterfront Blues Festival. But even with a week’s delay, we would need to abide by state guidelines. By that direction, we could not use our regular home base at The Eagles Lodge as they would fall under the rulings for fraternal organizations for Phase One of reopening. Unless that organization has a full-time restaurant on-site, they do not fall under the same terms as a restaurant or bar, and must not allow any gatherings greater than 25 people. As stated in last month’s BluesNotes, holding a meeting with that limited number of people would not even allow us to hire our sound people, and the numbers on-site would have to include staff and the band. Phase Two guidelines will need to be explored to determine if that will offer us the opportunity to have our August meeting at The Eagles. But at this time (writing on June 15), with possible Phase One opening on June 19), the earliest that Phase Two would be able to take place would be July 10 with the 21 required days Phase One has to be held. 

Keep your fingers crossed that the pandemic lets up. We want to see all of you again as soon as we can. But until then, we’ll continue with our current wait-and-see-what-comes-next position. 

Stay safe, everyone (wear your masks and practice safe social distancing). Keep watching those online performances and tipping the musicians, buy their music (online, directly or at retail outlets — we suggest longtime CBA sponsor Music Millennium), attend shows where possible, and support everybody in our music community.