BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Local musician Robert Sarazin Blake has had his hands in the Bellingham music scene since the 1990s. The work he has done to foster a community for musicians through the organization of events and music series has impacted the local community for decades.
Subdued Stringband Jamboree takes place every year in early August at the Deming Logging Grounds, providing a local intersection of rockabilly, bluegrass, folk and other Americana music for people near and far. Blake started the music festival to bring different parts of the Bellingham music scene into conversation with one another. A few touring musicians from outside the Pacific Northwest take the stage over the course of four days, but it largely offers a platform for Bellingham-based musicians.
“I always knew what I wanted to do, and I’ve been lucky to do some version of it [which is] make up songs and find people to sing those songs to,” Blake said. “But early on, I felt like if I wanted people to come to my shows, if I wanted people to set up shows for me, I wanted to play a role. I felt a duty to play a role in presenting the music.”
Blake’s philosophy of participating in the production as much as the performance is central to the Jamboree, where over 300 volunteers create sets, serve food, and keep the community in the woods safe.
“[There is a] huge amount of infrastructure to get everybody together and make sure everything works smoothly, and everyone has a good time. And it’s critical that everyone has a good time,” Blake said.
Blake said he has seen children come to the Jamboree every year of their lives, which is something he finds meaningful.
“That’s pretty amazing, that we’ve become an institution, a place where people can depend on us being there and this happening,” he said. “They can calculate their year by how they were doing at various Jamborees.”
The Jamboree will be holding its 25th anniversary later this year, and planning for the festival is currently underway.
“Concerts are what moved me the most. I think everybody probably has an art form that moves them the most, be it painting or dance. For me, sitting and listening to music is what brings me to be a deeper version of myself, and I understand myself more when I hear stories sung.”
Blake would tour the country and spent time in Germany when he wasn’t preparing for the Jamboree, but since the COVID-19 pandemic and becoming a father several years ago, he’s slowed down on his travels.
Blake spent his formative years in Bellingham instigating shows at unlikely spots, such as Tony’s coffeeshop and Boundary Bay’s BBQ happy hour on Thursdays. He also performed at the Underground Coffeeshop at Western Washington University in the early 2000s.
Blake was a stagehand for many years at the Mount Baker Theatre. He shared that his first job at the theatre was pushing boxes for the Indigo Girls.
Despite years as a musician in town, Blake will take to the stage at the Mount Baker Theatre for the first time this year. He will be featured as part of the Lookout Sessions on April 4, which will be a lounge show in the Harold and Irene Walton Theatre.
Blake put out an album on Feb. 7 titled “Let the Longing Run Wild and Free.” It’s his second album with his band that he spent the last decade touring and collaborating with, though he won’t be performing with them at the Mount Baker Theatre.
“I’m really excited to do a solo acoustic show, and that’s what I’m going to do there at the Lookout Session. And I’m sort of both celebrating the record, but also, I took this show at Mount Baker theater to reflect on 30 years of performing music in Bellingham, technically 29 and a half.” – Robert Sarazin Blake
His collaboration with Boundary Bay for those Thursday happy hour events led Blake to create the Garden Twilight Series in Boundary Bay’s Beer Garden. He doesn’t perform in that series but instead hosts the evening music shows. When asked about how it feels to know that Boundary Bay is closing at the end of the summer, Blake is both saddened and hopeful.
“It’s a big hole in my heart, big hole in my life. I’m not sure if Bellingham can be Bellingham without Boundary Bay Brewery, Bellingham’s backyard,” he said. “Then the next thing I say is, well, it’s up to all of us to keep making Bellingham a wonderful place to live, to be creative, to figure out how we can present art, to figure out how we can gather for food, drink, music, art. We need the community to gather.”
Blake has expanded his series of performances in Bellingham since the Odd Fellows Temple Room opened in the back of The Orion Bar. During February and March, Blake and other local acts take the stage as part of the Jamboree’s Winter Starlight Series.
“What makes Bellingham a special place is that we have places to gather, and people do gather, and we see ourselves reflected in other people. That’s community. Not everywhere has that,” Blake said. “Losing such a cornerstone in the Bellingham community is a big blow, but life is a circle, and it keeps coming around.”
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