The talk of Grays Harbor, and quite possibly the biggest event Aberdeen has ever seen, at least for a long, long time, is World Music Day 2024. You can hear the conversations about it buzz like a waking amplifier throughout many of the venues on the Harbor.

On Friday, World Music Day will welcome massive stars such as Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Roger Fisher — guitarist from Heart who now plays in the Fisher Brothers and the Human Tribe lineup, and Krist Novoselic — former bassist of Nirvana who is playing with The Bona Fide Band. Mark Pickerel — drummer for The Screaming Trees, a well-loved Pacific Northwest band considered to be “pioneers of grunge alongside bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam,” will also play that day as well. Pickerel and Novoselic will play as part of The Bona Fide Band. Both bands will play on the main stage on South K Street.

The headliners don’t stop there as Aberdeen will also feature other out-of-town stars such as Angel Bouchet — a renowned trumpeter who starred in “Portlandia,” and Daniel Walker — a guitarist and songwriter from New Zealand, and many others. In addition to those performances, World Music Day has about 50 other events happening throughout the day, which begins at 8 a.m. on Friday. The schedule, which may update again in the next few days, can be seen on the official Make Music Aberdeen website: www.98520.org.

Fisher said World Music Day will be ‘a historic moment’ for him

“It brings together for the first time a lineup of like-minded people, each a dear friend of mine, to make music,” Fisher said. “The fact this takes place in Aberdeen, Washington is significant because I know the ocean plays a huge part in the spirit of each member’s life. The little logging and fishing town was always a welcome stop to and from the Pacific Ocean since 1955.”

Novoselic, who was raised in Aberdeen, spoke about performing in Aberdeen.

“The band and I are really excited to come and play in Aberdeen,” Novoselic said. “And the people with World Music Day have been a delight to work with.”

With just a few days before the free and family-friendly music celebration begins, Wil Russoul, both the director of the Downtown Aberdeen Association and a musician, is a bit anxious. But, he’s also giddy. In fact, you can almost hear Frank Sinatra sing rewritten lyrics to his track “My Kind of Town,” which are in Russoul’s heart: “My kind of town, Aberdeen is …”

The star-studded day means a lot to Russoul, who has “MUSIC” tattooed on his tricep. Russoul cares a great deal about the city and its residents.

“World Music Day is a chance for Aberdeen to shine,” Russoul said. “From the businesses to the local musicians, to our artists, and just our community in general, we get an opportunity to celebrate in our art form the best of what Aberdeen has to offer to tourists, celebs and everyone else.”

Russoul: World Music Day will ‘demonstrate community spirit’

“It should pull families together,” Russoul said. “It should allow us to be able to experience something greater than we can do by any one person.”

Deb Blecha, who was responsible for making those massive, blue banners you may have seen while walking, cycling, skating, or driving through Aberdeen, described this all coming together through a team effort.

“When people work together, it changes everything,” Blecha said. “It strengthens friendships, builds community, erases the differences between generations and backgrounds.”

Russoul said this iteration of World Music Day, celebrated last year on the same date with many local musicians playing along West Wishkah Street, should help the city a lot.

“I think what it will do is also hopefully spike and promote some opportunity,” Russoul said. “That means people meeting each other.”

Russoul said how that doesn’t just mean musicians getting together to form bands and trying to line up future gigs together, which was one of the ways World Music Day succeeded last year. He said it could mean more, including the thoughts of perhaps opening new businesses, or building a home in Aberdeen.

“We’ve had opportunities to have industry here,” Russoul said. “We’ve had opportunities to hire people who are wanting higher-caliber jobs. We’ve had these opportunities and sometimes they don’t manifest. When you ask why, sometimes it comes down to ‘you can hire the doctor but (their) partner won’t come’ because they want to have a local art scene and stuff like that. The interesting thing is we have it.”

What it means for the area

World Music Day, which will be full of events for all-ages, could also boost the esteem and pride of the younger and future generations.

“This gives my children a chance to brag about Aberdeen,” Russoul said. “It establishes a sense of place. And it’s about our history. Songs are written about your experiences here.”

Russoul said his theory, based on what he’s heard from other people in other cities, is the “average person needs four hours of activity for every hour they drive.”

“So if you come from Olympia, that’s an hour-drive,” Russoul said. “They need to have four hours of activity here, or they might not stop.”

World Music Day, which starts at 8 a.m. with a live radio broadcast on Timber Country 94.7 FM with radio host Johnny Manson, plus Russoul and Bouchet — stream it from www.GoGraysHarbor.com, — will provide more than 13 hours of events.

The festivities throughout the day and into the night not only include the headliners. They offer almost innumerable spaces to local and semi-local artists throughout the local businesses downtown. And there are activities beyond live music, too, including arts and crafts, sing-alongs, an introduction to the harmonica, a guided walk thru Kurt Cobain’s childhood neighborhood, an improv performance, a giveaway of a Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar, and an all-ages open mic night. And again, check back on www.98520.org because as the website states “(the) schedule (is) subject to change. Please check back.”

The Music Project

In addition to all of that, The Music Project building, which is the urban moss green building that sits at the corner of South K and West Wishkah streets, will open up to the public from the door at 121 W. Wishkah St. On Feb. 20, 2023, hundreds from the public got to see a brief preview of The Green Room. It was unfinished at the time. It’s done now, but it’s not the only sight for sore music eyes. For one day only, Lee and Dani Bacon, the building’s owners, will welcome people to preview the Unplugged area of the first floor.

“(The) special feature will be the iconic highway sign made famous by Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic,” states the World Music Day schedule. For a link to the Bacons’ project, head to https://the-music-project.org/

For everyday experiences, Russoul pointed to meeting a person from Olympia who came to Aberdeen to see the Young Street Bridge, which is known for its connection to Cobain.

“They spent 45 minutes or so there, and then I introduced them to the Distrx app, and then they spent another three-and-a-half hours downtown, including buying art,” Russoul said. “So, that formula means if you want someone from Portland coming here, you’ll need about eight hours for them to say ‘I’m gonna drive from Portland to Aberdeen. What can I do for the next eight hours?”

Russoul compared it to trips he’s taken to Leavenworth, which is hours away from Aberdeen. With that long drive, he books a hotel.

“The question is what can we do as a community, all of us, not just World Music Day?” Russoul said. “What can we throw into this that gives people eight hours of something to do? If we can pull that off, then you can start seeing, like maybe this is a market for a hotel. And then if that happens, then you might see a business here who says ‘I rely on hotels here to make my business work.’ And if that happens, whatever that business brings into town, another business of course that corresponds or works with that business comes into town.”

With help from private and public donations, the group of World Music Day organizers is pulling it off. But, it took months of work, plus a little luck. Russoul said World Music Day is about “each of us” doing a part. And they’re all filling their roles with care.

“The thing about art and music is while you can buy it, it’s different when you experience it,” Russoul said. “And so to experience World Music Day, whether you’re down here as a family, or you’re here as a rocker, or you want to meet somebody, or you don’t know what’s going on downtown and you just stop, if that experience is positive, you’re advertising for us every day after you leave here. You’re telling the story of Aberdeen and World Music Day.”

Russoul talked about the exponential growth of World Music Day since it was introduced last year. There were 40-some local performers who played acoustically on the south side sidewalk along West Wishkah Street. This year, he expects way more people.

“Last year, World Music Day was on a whiteboard that we posted out on the street,” Russoul said. “And now it’s in the hands of professional publishing companies making flyers … and commercials. In one year? I don’t even know. That’s unbridled growth, right, for the promotion of this thing.”

Russoul looks to the future

“World Music Day rotates every year, because it’s the first day of summer. Next year it’s on a Saturday. My guess is we’ll want to do it again, possibly a full weekend schedule,” Russoul said. “Can we do it again? All I can say is, at this moment in time, I cannot see past (Friday). But my hope would be that we can do it again and that we can make some really good community decisions about it, that this is a mainstay program and what it’ll look like for the future.”

While there’s a lot of fanfare for the celebrities hanging out in Aberdeen this year, Russoul said it’s still about the musicians who live throughout Grays Harbor.

“It’s still about the father with the daughter coming downtown and playing on the street. It’s still about that,” Russoul said. “It’s still about the young kid who knows two songs and he’s gonna play it all day long. It’s still about the grandpa with his banjo. It’s still about that. Whenever World Music Day hits (in the future) it’s important. And I really think it should be World Music Days.”

A wise move

“I traded a cow for some magic beans,” Russoul said about the people who he is thankful to helping grow the event, which is part of the national alliance Make Music Day. “How would we know? One of them of course is you, as a reporter, reporting out on an event, which led to the national alliance reaching out and accepting (and supporting) us as a charter city in not only the nation but across the world.”

Russoul said the alliance has sent free instruments to Aberdeen, plus “lots of advice and lots of cool stuff.”

“(And then) some chance encounters because we had something to talk about from last year and all that,” Russoul said. “My Kristi meeting (Mark Pickerel) the drummer from The Screaming Trees just randomly, and being able to share some information … meeting a first responder (Jeremy Laier), sharing some information at The Tap Room, and suddenly it’s like ‘hey, let me talk to you about something else,’ and (Laier) turns out to be a relative of Krist Novoselic.”

Russoul said “years of working with Darrell Westmoreland” at the D&R Theatre, and other events, led to working with Roger (Fisher.) Westmoreland has shot the biggest stars in music for the last 50 years. He’s been friends with Fisher since 1976. Fisher called Russoul “a delight in helping bring this all together,” and then Fisher thanked Russoul.

Russoul talked about the seed growth from the new-found relationships this past year.

“And so it’s like, those things, those relationships centered around something we’ve done in the past, have now,” Russoul said. “They now planted some seeds. They’re sprouting faster than we can control it. It’s its own beansprout grown into the heavens. Then I think you’ve got to realize, obviously the work Dani and Lee have put into this building, it’s become a beacon. Just the other day, I saw people stopping and taking pictures of the building. And so, the fact they are timing some of their releases that they’re doing, it turned (the intensity) to an 11. If you’re a Spinal Tap person, you’ll get it.”

Fisher, who called opening for Novoselic “an honor,” said he met the former Nirvana bassist at the opening day of Paul Allen’s Experience Music Project — now MoPOP — in Seattle, “where we were both featured performers.”

And soon, they’ll be featured again on World Music Day. Fisher can’t wait.

“Aberdeen is in for a treat this coming Friday,” Fisher said. “World Music Day; Summer Solstice; Full Moon; and two great bands! I’m excited!”

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.

Darrell Westmoreland Roger Fisher, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist from Heart, will not only be hanging out in Aberdeen on Friday for World Music Day. He’ll be playing as part of his band Fisher Brothers and the Human Tribe. “It brings together for the first time a lineup of like-minded people, each a dear friend of mine, to make music,” Fisher said. “The fact this takes place in Aberdeen, Washington is significant because I know the ocean plays a huge part in the spirit of each member’s life. The little logging and fishing town was always a welcome stop to and from the Pacific Ocean since 1955.”

Mark Pickerel The Bona Fide Band, featuring Krist Novoselic includes a lineup of Kathy Moore on guitar, Jennifer Johnson on vocals, Mark Pickerel on Drums, Novoselic on bass and accordion, and Jillian Raye on vocals. The photo of the band was “released to Wil Russoul by Mark Pickerel — formerly The Screaming Trees — and enhanced by Darrell Westmoreland.”

Matthew N. Wells / The Daily World Wil Russoul, director of Downtown Aberdeen Association, literally has the word “MUSIC” tattooed on his left arm. Russoul, who seemed anxious and eager at the same time for World Music Day, talked about its “unbridled growth”, the people who made it happen, and how he “sold a cow for magic beans,” ahead of World Music Day 2024, which is on Friday. The free, family event welcomes musicians of all skill levels and this year the bill includes Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musicians.

WSDOT The Washington State Department of Transportation removes the guide sign that helps westbound drivers on Highway 8 know how much farther they are from Elma, Montesano and Aberdeen. The late-Kurt Cobain, who founded Nirvana, made the sign famous. Cobain stood on Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic’s hands and covered the 1 and 2 to make the sign read “666.”