By Ed Casey Rock and roll is a means of salvation. like Patti Smith says, but can someone make a living out of the most popular art form in Portland? Twenty years ago Bob Jeniker plunged headfirst into The Rock. While he was killing off another afternoon in the mining town of Butte. Montana. 13-year-old Bob sat on the edge of his seat in the movie theater to watch Chuck Berry. Richie Valens, and the Platters drive the older generation crazy in “ Go-Johnny-Go.” Those cats could really move and play. This was certainly the start of something. Bob thought. A few years later Beatlemania erupted, and surf music smoked with rhythm and blues peaked in the Pacific Northwest. Bob sneaked into taverns to see the bands he loved—the Wallers. Sonics, Kingsmen—who captured the sounds Bob felt were the now beat. Today Bob still frequents the Paramount and local clubs to listen to rock and roll, but now he makes a living out of it. After buying and selling records for 20 years, Bob opened Park Avenue Records with co-manager Lauren Sonik three years ago. Through some musical intuition and business experience. Bob has taken his music interest one step further: he will release records by new local bands and reissue sounds of the Northwest through his own independent label. In the last few months. Bob has squared a deal with Portland’s Wipers to record, press and distribute the group’s music. The Neo Boys, Everything's Jake, The Parasites and a compilation of Portland bands have also planned future records, which makes it seem as if the city is in the grip of a musical explosion. It is all relatively unknown, but was Gene Vincent a household word when Neil Sedaka sang about his “Calendar Girl"? Music fans such as Bob realize that the best music, whether it’s jazz or rock, comes from the street. It’s not what big music interests dictate, but it's the original songs played in the clubs, taverns and garages that will be the sounds for tomorrow. Clearly, all it took was someone with enthusiasm and faith in Portland’s musical groups to break a band to some wide recognition. He wore a Sleezy Pieces T-shirt when we met. Bob and I walked up 10th Avenue to hunt for a coffee shop while he described how, at a recent Seattle record convention, Bruce Springsteen memorabilia sold like bicycles in China. After we sat down. Bob was eager to speak about how he gets his juice out of life. “ I’m a record nut and I know record nuts all over the world. We have a way of finding each other out. “ People are always surprised at the number of stores and the interest in rock and roll here. They think of the Northwest as backwoods and find out they’re surprised. The Northwest is well represented by jazz artists with national attention. Since the days of the Kingsmen, there hasn’t been much rock material on record. I’m interested in seeing those groups on record,” Bob said. Through his personal contacts in the mail and record collectors’ magazines, Bob noticed an interest in Northwest music from people outside the area. Since there was only a finite amount of that material available, he actively pursued the copyrights to reissue some of the classic white rhythm and blues bands that he enjoyed while he was growing up. “All of this has limited market appeal, but it’s real rich musically. Good music is good music. I don’t tend to call it oldies. Part of the reason I can monkey around is there is a demand for that kind of specialized music.” Bob originally got interested in rock and roll through independent labels that took chances on the likes of Bo Diddley and other artists whom the majors wouldn’t touch. Rock's subterranean culture redeemed musicians such as Blondie, Elvis Costello, and Patti Smith, who recorded their first four chords on independent labels. Ideally, Bob’s label will allow' artists greater control than the majors permit. He hopes to give exposure to music that is not “commercially viable” by releasing records on a smaller scale than the supermarket approach of the big companies. “There’s no mystique to get a record pressed. All it takes is the recording and the finances for the pressing plant,” Bob said. The record label has two distinctly different operating procedures. In reissuing older material. Bob expects to sell proven talent to the worldwide market of record collectors. In releasing new talent, four major areas of responsibility need coordination: recording, mixing, record mastering and packaging, and sales distribution. Initially, Bob arranged to record and distribute the Wipers as his first talent. “My interest is more than reissues. With the Wipers, I felt their material is particularly unique and interesting. I also viewed the Wipers as a project. The Wipers had decided they would rather work with an independent label that attempt different avenues. From their point of view, they had artistic and graphic control that they may not have had in other circumstances.” In selecting a studio. Bob was able to cut costs and preserve the Wipers’ sound by recording in the Northwest. “On a shoestring budget you can’t go to Los Angeles for a $250/hour recording fee. Between Portland and Seattle there’s adequate studios for a lot of things. What it means is adapting to particular needs of the sound. Most of the local studios are easy to work with—in terms of what they can do oh their end to get the sound. For some types of music they’re extremely well equipped; for other types, there’s certain limitations. “The type of sound you’re looking for is an important consideration. One studio may be good for jazz, but not good for high-energy rock. In this case, the artist wanted to keep the music down to 16 minutes per side to keep a high-energy level. “Translating the sound a band wants to get on to the tape is where the art is in recording. In the process, you may find a need for a particular amplification or one type of bass sound. You get to see the bugs in the songs, so you get the right modification. It does come down to the technical end of things, even if the expertise is to make it crude. One also finds that nothing ever goes completely smoothly with sessions. That’s why the production and engineering are so important. “ In this particular project, we recorded all the instruments at once to get a live sound. We used a 16-track recording, which allows for 16 different sound possibilities. This enables a band to do something like mike the drums in a few different ways. 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