Oregon Music Hall of Fame has 70 guitars swiped from NE Portland storage unit
Oregon Music Hall of Fame has 70 guitars swiped from NE Portland storage unit
By Drew Marine
PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV) – Terry Currier wears many hats. He’s the owner of Music Millennium and the president of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, to name a few.
Since they started inducting musicians and industry professionals in the late 2000s, he’s been collecting signed guitars.
“At that time, we were auctioning off about 15 guitars per year,” Currier said. “I needed to get at least 15 guitars, but I always wanted to have a reserve. Those guitars I would go get signed by artists when they came through town.”
Each year they auction off these guitars to give four college-bound students a scholarship for music education and bring music to schools that don’t offer those programs.
Their biggest fundraiser is their induction ceremony, which is slated for Oct. 8 at the Aladdin Theater.
“The scholarship program has probably been our most rewarding program,” Currier said. “Being a board member (and) going through the applications each year.”
But over a week ago, all 70 guitars he had collected were taken from their storage unit in northeast Portland. Those missing range from Fender Stratocasters and Fender Squiers to Gibsons. They had signatures including from The Monkees, Lucinda Williams, Dave Mason and actor Tim Robbins.
“I had a gut ache,” he said. “It’ll probably cost $30,000-$40,000 to replace those guitars.”
The loss is more than just the dollar amount.
“Those are irreplaceable,” Currier said. “I can get another ‘Portugal. The Man’ guitar. I can get other artists to sign guitars, but a lot of the inductees are no longer with us anymore so there’s no way to retrieve those signatures.”
If you know where these guitars are, or if you spot any, Currier said you’re in for a hefty reward.
“We’re going to give somebody one of the guitars we retrieve,” he said. “And we’ll give them tickets to our induction ceremony in October.”
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