Ken Berry

Ken Berry Interview Transcript
Interviewed by Asia
Recorded by Arlie Sommer
Time: 01:06:45

**Miscellaneous talk while adjusting sound and preparing for interview**

00:00:54.9

Asia: My name is Asia, I'm 12 and today is April 27, 2011. For the record could you please state your name, your birth date and where you were born?

Ken: Kenneth Wayne Berry, born May 15, 1949 in Coffeyville, Kansas. That's Coffey-ville Kansas

Asia: Thank you

00:01:17.1

Asia: Um, so my first question for you is when and why did your family come to Portland?

Ken: Well, one of the things that uh, thanks to my uncle, who was on the railroad, he persuaded my family back in about 1954 to come to Portland for better opportunities and more opportunities as it relates to employment. Uh, in Coffeyville, Kansas uh jobs were particularly limited because of the--the--the limited amount of opportunities for males and females to work. So my parents decided there to maybe perhaps expand or look at another location, in hopes of raising the family. At that time I was the only uh child and I was 4 years old when I came to Portland from Coffeyville, Kansas. So my Uncle Harold William H. Woods uh basically worked for the railroad and got my mom and my dad to come here and uh fortunately uh he was able to claim one family member for a free ride from uh Coffeyville to Portland. And I was 4 years old so I was able to ride on my father's lap and he was the only one who really paid. And so I came out here in 1954 from Coffeyville, Kansas.

00:02:28

Asia: Can you describe your father a little bit?

Ken: Oh my father was a very strong humble man. A matter of fact uh he worked in this neighborhood just about uh 10 blocks from here, uh at a place called Transmission Exchange for more than 48 years. A matter of fact uh--uh when he came here from Portland the--the--the--the business was located over on Sandy Blvd. about 12th and then they moved over here to uh off of uh Broadway and MLK. And but he worked the same job all 48 years uh while he was here uh on this earth. And uh well a matter of fact the day he passed away he was working--still working part time. He was a very strong humble man um very quiet um had a lot of passion for his family, uh really promoted to family and--and--and--and--and--and collective you know working together as a whole. We um were raised in pretty much in the church mostly. Uh we--we visited various churches at different phase and different backgrounds, um he really kind of set the tone for me as a--as a young man growing up to--to make sure that I paid my bills and always be a man. And that was his model (motto??). He stayed with his family, he sacrificed for his family, he struggled very hard to--to make sure that--that we had the--the very best we possibly could. Um I came from a very uh limited um--um--I say limited to kind of a poor background. However I didn't think I was poor at the time because uh the--the--the--the--the way that my mother and father treated myself and my brother, who was born in 1961 I believe, uh they treated both of us like we were royalty, and uh so we were really very fortunate in having any and everything we needed as far as um--uh--um--um--uh survival is concerned. Not only food on the table and clothes on our backs but also the encouragement to--to do the right thing. The encouragement to go to school and get an education to better ourselves in the future

00:04:23.2

Asia: That's really awesome. Um can you describe your mother?

Ken: My mother, a very very strong woman who provided service. Her model (motto??) was helping others. Uh she did a lot of work in this community in regards to working with different families, working with different individuals. She was a writer, she wrote poetry. And so she spent a lot of her time writing poetry to uplift um--um people, to uplift uh the community and particularly with a--during the--during the civil rights era. She did a lot of work in the area of helping to--to raise awareness. A matter of fact um when a situation had occurred about a year or 2 ago uh here in Portland, uh I just happened to be watching the news, they went back to about 1968 and there was my mother going into the city hall um--uh for a group of folks to actually kind of speak to the uh--the city council about some concerns about this community. So she was a uh community activist. She was a musician, she taught me how to play the piano, she taught me how to sing. She taught me how to--to provide public service and one of the things that we do today as a result of her um indoctrines in--in myself and my brother, we've uh--um been working on what we call the Martin Luther King Annual Tribute, uh for the past 26 years with Portland public schools but actually we started in 1978. Uh with Herb Cawthorne, Michael "Chappie" Grice and myself um we--we--we were able to put together a program called From the Pulpit to the People. Which involved this community, my church choir at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, um various people throughout the community. Willa Dorsey who is also a world renowned uh gospel singer on the same level as Mahalia Jackson. Um--um my mother basically kind of led the path for us to--to--to--to do those kind of community programs that would embrace and bring people together who might not otherwise come together. And using music as a vehicle to--to bridge differences and understanding, particularly in the area of culture and--and uh class.

**Arlie suggests a follow up question on his mother**

00:06:36.9

Arlie: Do you remember a specific thing, do you remember something your mother did specifically **Ken talks over Arlie, can't quite make out the last part of her question**

Ken: Yes, um what specifically she um--um--did a lot of community programs, in various churches. And also with various organizations, such as Loaves and Fishes, um she did things for the park bureau uh as far as special programs. Probably one of the main things is that when I was working at KGW television from when I graduated from Jefferson High School in 1968, um since my mother was into writing poetry, doing music, and organizing programs, um thanks to Bob Jackson who was the public service director of KGW at the time, allowed me to bring my mother on board and we started doing what we call public service programming. Particularly in the area of gospel or recognizing for example Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, we would do specials where--where Bob Jackson as public service director would allow myself to coordinate with my mother a program and bring people from the community into the studio. Actually that's when public service programming at that time the community was really involved in public service broadcasting--or programming, and the--the tv station--the community would actually come into the studio and do particular programs and that was part of the uh main um focus that the--the station would--would aim at us bringing the community into the studio and making sure that they were a part of the station itself. So that's one of the main things was that we did that for about 3 to 4 years and also we expanded that to uh radio because my background in broadcasting as well uh we had a station here back in 1976 called KQIV, which was 107 FM so my mom also was instrumental in doing um a program, a gospel program on Sunday mornings on that particular um--uh station, KQIV. I still have those tapes right now. They're not on a reel to reel, they're not on CD or DVD, they're on what's called 8 track tapes, old fashioned way of recording. Um--um--of--of soundtracks at that time are--are basically air takes(??) at that time

Asia: That's awesome, um--

Ken: I'll tell you one more thing too my mother was--it was very instrumental for me. Since I was a--a person who um--uh loved to play the piano, I was around 12 or 13 years old, and I got kind of lazy, and I'd say "I'm not sure I want to play this piano or not". So my mom had taught me how to play the piano, and she was paying money for me to take lessons every--every--every week, and so I got a--I got a little sluffed in my--in my practicing, my priorities were a little bit--mm--not stagnated but a little bit vague at the time, so my mom said to me "Well Ken, if you don't start practicing that piano, son I'm not wasting my money to put--to play the piano, or to give you lessons, I'm going to get rid of that piano". And so I thought she was kidding, so uh that was on a Thursday, and then on Saturday morning I woke up and I heard some people downstairs and they took away my piano. It was a beautiful acoustic upright uh piano. And that hurt me so bad that I said "I will never stop playing the piano" after that. So af--after she did that she wanted to--to basically give me the point that you know there are consequences if you don't do what you need to do. And also she--she--she--she did that in--in knowing that--that you know--that--that I would respond, which I did because after that, we--after we moved to another location, another house, we had 2 pianos, one in the kitchen and one in the diningroom. So needless to say that's one of the things that always sticks with me in regards to my mom wanting me to learn how to play, but also wanted me to make sure I was serious about playing. And so that's been a lifesaver ever since. As a result of that I--I've had the opportunity to play with various, various groups, various bands, um helped them open up shows like with James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, just to name a few, as a result of my music--you know abilities, as a result of my mother indoctrining and training thru the years

00:10:36.4

Asia: What other bands did you play with?

Ken: I played with a whole lot of different bands. A matter of fact, on May 15th this um next month um as a result of a friend of mine who his name is Nick Christmas. Nick Christmas is a graduate from Grant High School who was a drum major, and during that time when the Rose Festival was at it's prime in really involving uh Portland public school student bands, he was the highlight of the band when he was coming down the street as a drum major, he would just--just showcase and he would scream and holler. There was a competition between Grant High School's drum major, and Jefferson High School's drum major, and I was at Jeff's at the time. Anyway, Nick Christmas was a person that basically was very instrumental in this community, who had a lot of history, his family, the Christmas family. He passed away back in um February and at his home going ceremony uh I was fortunate to be able to plan the music for that and so many musicians came together. And people like Patrick Lamb, (unclear), James uh--I'm sorry, Janice Scroggins, Danny Ossborne (?? couldn't locate on internet to verify), a whole host of professionals came together and talking about a very powerful celebration, it was one of the best uh--I shouldn't say best--but one of the most uplifting um--uh programs or services that I have ever attended in my life. So as a result of that people were saying what we need to do something special and not have a funeral and have to bring all these folks together. So since uh Nick's uh home going uh back in uh February, on the 26th of February, we have planned a total city wide appreciation for artists. That means musicians, vocalists, radio and telelvision personalities--personalities uh, spoken word, poetry, all of--all those individuals we are going to honor on May 15th, because our goal is we need to come together and celebrate each other without someone passing or--or home going ceremony. So Nick Christmas was a very powerful individual who basically uh--uh--um gave a lot to this community. His family gave a lot to this community, and he was our photographer for our Martin Luther King program for over 26 years and so his legacy is still on facebook right now, his legacy is still with a World Arts Foundation, Inc. because we have a lot of documentation that--that he provided for this community as well, so--

Asia: That's beautiful

**Arlie suggests a question for Asia to ask**

00:13:12.3

Asia: Um, can you describe the house you grew up in?

Ken: Yep, the house was um a very peaceful house, very loving house, full of joy, full of music. My mother constantly wrote poetry for various occasions, for various people. Matter of fact she wrote a book, she wrote some uh some original uh songs as well. And so our house was uh a house that--that my parents enjoyed bringing others in, and not just entertaining, but bringing fellowship, you know, but bringing uh togetherness. Because my family, my mother and father was all about bringing folks together. Not only our family, but our immediate family and the community as well. So my house was kind of like a uh community house from time to time. People would come over on Sundays, my mom would cook--well her specialty was--another one of her specialties was cakes, so she was a decorator and people would hire her to make special cakes for weddings, for special occasions, and--and at that time at church, every time we'd go to church on Sunday morning, after church we'd look forward to that because we'd have cake and hotdogs. So that was kind of a delicacy at that point in time. So our house was really kind of a--a community house where we--we--we brought a lot of folks in. My parents brought folks in weekly almost just to--to--to fellowship, did a lot of uh spiritual or--or bible studies. We--we did a lot of praying there. Um it--it also was a house where--where if someone needed a place to stay, my parents would provide that as well, too.

00:14:47

Asia: Were--

Arlie : Are you going to ask another question and move on or maybe you could ask a follow up question

Asia: That's what I was--

Arlie: Ok

00:14:55.1

Asia: Um what I was going to ask was were your neighbors part of the (unclear)

Ken: Yes, yes at that time the neighbors were all--like I see some of my neighbors right now. Everyone in the neighborhood was family. I mean people would sit on the porch and watch and observe uh and take care of each other. I mean the kids, as we were growing up, we played football together, we--we had dinner together sometimes, went to school together. And some of us in the neighborhood went to the same churches or different churches. And--and this is what we would do too, was to visit each's churches, because each church would have it's own style of music and that's how I was able to really develop my own music style, by--by going to different churches that my friends had attended, because uh the styles were different. Some were very slow, or--or kind of relaxed, others were real fast up tempo, others were classical, um and--and so I was able to--to based on my music experience now I think about that was I had a well rounded experience as a result of interacting with so many of my friends growing up, not only in their homes, but in their churches as well.

00:16:06.1

Asia: Is there any--are there any neighbors in particular that you would like to describe?

Ken: Um, well one is--is--is--is--it's funny you would ask that is a good friend, one of my best friends--I have a couple of--3 best friends, actually. One is called the Haims family, Gary Haims. He was um--um--a family who uh--um the whole um group, as far as family is concerned, 3 or 4 families, came here from Tex--from Texas. And I grew up on Roselawn St. and I never will forget one morning I got up and I saw this great big 18 wheeler truck parked on the side of the street, and I have never seen nothing like that. And then out from the cab come a whole bunch of folks, you know. And--and this--this was the Haims family. And they were probably one of the--the--the best families that I--I ever met because of the fact they brought up their entire family packed up from Texas, put everything in the 18 wheeler truck because Gary's father had a um trucking business. And they came here and resettled here in Portland and we've been best friends ever since. Um the Haims family they--they--they were very very um a close fam--knitted family. Then again we shared a lot, not only thru our playing games outside or going to church, but--but very close from the standpoint of a very humble family. And so that's one of the main families that lived on my street. Another um family that lived uh on my street was the uh Noland family. And uh--and the Noland family was in a very good--uh Michael Noland, Brenda Noland. Uh they were--they were a great family that basically inspired everyone else in the community to--to do well because his mother and father were uh--were hard workers. And everybody at that time was like I said, worked hard and communicated effectively and everyone uh tried their best to watch out for each other. And that's one of the things about the neighborhood that--that I grew up in was that we were all family. And when--if someone needed something uh they didn't have to worry about getting it from another family because everyone shared and everyone was very very uh supportive of one another. Not only emotionally, but materials and--and information, so--

00:18:21.9

Asia: Were some of the friends you had in those 2 families, are they employed in the music career with you?

Ken: No, we all have done different things that--that--that uh we've never really uh lost contact. We don't talk as often as I would like, however, when we come together it's like we have never lost a beat, because our hearts are very well connected, and our spirits are very well connected. So that--and that's what our parents instilled within us is that, you know, when you have a friend, you never break that--that--that--that chain. Uh we don't have to see each other, we don't have to give to each other, but you know what we grew up with is--is--is something that--that--that always sticks with us so when we come together it just uh--just continues on as if we've never stopped. Uh the Hunter family is another good family--and I say good family--there are many families I could talk about--Charles Hunter who was another one of my best friends who--who uh--he's uh--a uh security officer and done so much in this community in the area of--of gang prevention in particularly in families that are grieving because of uh--of uh--of uh--of uh stresses that are going on in their lives. He's a minister but also a very powerful advocate for helping um individuals and he's uh unselfishly just gives of his time in the community and to families to help them to uh overcome whatever obstacles they may be going thru, uh that's another one of my best friends is--is Charles Hunter and his family. So the Haims family, the Noland family, the Hunter family, um--uh the Cox family's another family that had a funeral home not too far from here. And Jerry Cox, he was uh--uh--like every friend that I had had a different kind of a personality and I think that's what kind of makes me kind of unique now is because every once in a while I--I think about my friends, I think about my experiences and I kind of call on that kind of background to kind of help balance who I am because I--I many times see that we are audio-visual creatures, we make decisions by what we see, and what we hear, and by our relationships that we have and so I'm a--I'm a composite of many different relationships with my friends. And some are good, some bad--I won't say bad, but more challenging. But--but I've become stronger as a result. And uh but I feel fortunate to have such a vast of--of--of--of friends and friendships over the years that have helped shape me to who I am. And that's again--that's one of the reasons we're doing this--this music appreciation program on May 15th is to bring everyone together from every background, cultural background, uh music background, to celebrate and honor each other. And there's a motto that I use many times uh with uh the Martin Luther King Program that we've produced over the last 26 years is that "We not only stand on the shoulders of those who have passed on before us, we're standing on the shoulders of those who are among us". So it's important that we celebrate and recognize each other now, rather than something happening later on. And as I look around, you know, health issues and unexpectancies that occur, it's important that we celebrate each other now, so that's why we're doing this program on May 15th in Maranatha Church

Asia: That's really--that's awesome. Um me and my group of friends are like that, too

Ken: Mmmhmm

00:21:39.6

Asia: So moving on, my--our next questions were do you have any siblings and what were they like when you were young?

Ken: Ok I have uh one son, he is 30, he'll be 31 in June. And he was a remarkable son, he is a remarkable son. His name is Cedric Berry. Um he brought the entire family so much joy. Um--uh his granddad and grandma, they both spoiled him because they always wanted a grandson and uh they wanted us to have more kids. But we just had one because as an educator uh with--with this Portland public schools for more than 30 years I have a bunch of children I claim, ok? And so I said "We'll just have one at home because I have a bunch of kids" but my son has--has been a really real wonderful wonderful asset to our family. He's going to carry our legacy on. Um he um was a very beautiful young man who uh had a few challenges growing up but, you know, thanks to uh his listening, you know, to his grandparents and listened to his parents and those friends that were around, he has done exceptionally well. He graduated from Reynolds High School and went on to Oregon State University and got his degree um--Reseda's degree in accounting. And since that point in time he has not been without a job, he's worked consistently. He's a manager of--of a car dealership here in Portland, and actually he's been a manager at going on probably 5 different uh dealerships including the one right here in this community as well. So he's uh done exceptionally well. He not only uh is a manager of a car dealership, but he has a production company on the side. He has a music production, so again, music continuing on, you know, from--from the ages. He and uh one of his friends by the name of Giall (??) Hardy, who is Reverand Gale Hardy--Pastor Gale Hardy's, who is Pastor of uh Highland Christain Center, his son and my son are best friends so they've been friends since high school and they're inseparable so they've started a production company, which is doing exceptionally well. Matter of fact they're doing a video that they've put quite a bit of time and--and resources into that will be coming out well, within the next 2 months and uh--uh they're--they're getting national and international recognition as a result of the producing this particular video.

**Arlie suggests asking about the businesses Ken remembers and where did he hang out with his friends when he was younger**

00:24:25.4

Asia: Um, I guess where did you hang out with your friends?

Ken: Well, when I first graduated from Jefferson High School, I--I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do, and so fortunately at Jefferon High School in 1967 I graduated, I had a wonderful music teacher by the name of Mr. Don Wolfe. A matter of fact I live just about a mile away from him now in Happy Valley, and this is like going on 40 almost 50 years since uh you know graduated from high school. Um, he was a very instrumental person who took us to Japan our last year of high school and came back uh thru Hawaii, and uh so as a result of his working with us and raising money to go to Japan, we went to KGW, because I got involved with KGW after high school. And I asked one of the engineers at that time "How do you get involved in broadcasting?" and--and so I didn't know if I wanted to go that route or not, but uh after Mr. Wolfe took us to Japan after we were working on going to different community organizations seeking support to raise money to go to Japan, at KGW I remembered that one comment that the engineer shared with me, he said basically "You um get started at any position you possibly can at the--at the tv station" that's how you get started. And so I remembered that comment, and so after high school I didn't know what I wanted to do, my friends were going different directions. Some of my friends were just kind of wanted to hang out and I said "No, I need to do something with my life" so I went to KGW, not once, not twice, but 10 times and a lady by the name of Lucille Gideon said "Alright Mr. Berry, if you're serious about working at KGW, you are going to have to learn how to type". Well, at that time, typing was a stigma, ok, particularly for males, cause only females typed. I said "Ok", so I went to Portland Community College and instead of hanging out with my friends I said "I'm going to learn how to type", I started going to school and they hired me at KGW. And then while being at KGW I still had opportunity to hang out with my friends but I said "No, I'm going to stay here and try to make something of my life" not knowing what I really wanted to do. So uh that's how I got involved in radio. Fortunately KGW at that time had individuals who would take you on and mentor you. So Dan Foley who was uh one of the #1 DJ's at KGW and KINK, kink at the time, he took me on as his mentee. And he let me come in and--and just sit in, he would interview me, like this interview would be. Uh live on KINK radio back about 1968-69. And after that I decided that maybe perhaps I would try to get my own radio show which I did on KINK and that was in 1969, a program called Soul Train. So I did that from actually '69 till about '70-'71. And still I had opportunity to hang out with my friends but I chose to spend most of my time at KGW and really work on my craft, worked on my skills to find myself, what I really wanted to do. At the same time I should say, I was at my prime, musically. When I say at my prime, I was managing several groups, and--not managing but influential with several groups. One was called Shades of Brown if you ever heard of Thara Memory. He is a person who uh at the age 8 trained as (unclear) who was the most recent grammy award recipient. And Thara was also my instructor at that time and we played at a place over here on MLK called um--um oh I can't remember the name of the club now, but anyway, Thara came thru on his way to Seattle with another group and decided to stay here. And at that time when he came here to play, I just happened to be the one to--to--to fill in for an organ player, and uh I was playing B3 Hammond at the time. So Thara stayed here and--and uh Thara uh started a group--well we started together called Shades of Brown and we became like the #1 group in this town in regards to playing live music. That's when songs like "Shaft" was coming out at that time. "Shaft" was a very hard song to play with all the horn parts and everything. But again, hanging out with my friends and working at KGW. So then the opportunity came at my prime because working with Shades of Brown and also there was another group here called Pleasure--Pleasure, which was a group consisting of students from Jefferson High School, they had Burn family, Grant High School, uh they became one of the #1 bands in--in--in--in this town and had national and international recognition. Why matter of fact, Marlin McLean(??) who is still in this area, he is the co-producer for Charlie Wilson. He's an excellent guitar player, he plays with a jazz band, he's part of Pleasure. And so at that time, this is the late 60's early 70's, I had the opportunity to help books(??), not only Pleasure in different--different locations, but also Shades of Brown, too. And working at KGW. Then the opportunity came for me to go to school, I had to make a decision. Do I hang out with my friends playing music, do I hang out at KGW, or do I go to school? Very difficult decision, but I made the decision to go to school full time. It was on scholarship, cause I realized that I may not always have this opportunity, and that was the best decision in my life that I made. And I had to kind of separate myself from some of my friends, because some of them--Thara love him to death, and now he understands why because he went on to Marylhurst and got his full ride scholarship, to get his orchestra uh--um--um--um certificate--degree, from Marylhurst University. But at that time I remembered some of my friends, including Thara, was "We're at our prime, why are you leaving? Why are you leaving?" well I was pretty much the--the producer or the--the manager of the group, so I did all the managing, and booking and taking care of all the technical stuff that had to be placed, but--but I'm glad that I made that decision because I've been a better person as a result, and I'm still helping Thara right now. For example I'm--I'm working um with the Portland Prime in downtown Portland to help produce the um--the um--the 1st (unclear) Summer Cool Jazz Festival, it's going to take place on June 19th of this year, 2011. And Thara Memory's going to be part of that. So the benefits of what I was able to do back in the 60's and 70's, I'm still reaping those benefits, or trying to share with those others. The--the gifts and the--the services that I've been able and blessed to be able to--to have at my access. So friendship is very important, but sometimes uh I had to make, and I'm glad I did, a separation. What's best for me and what's best for my family. But also I still maintain contact with those friends I grew up with over the years.

00:31:14.3

Asia: Did you like, at that school, like, to get the scholarship, did you--I'm sure you met new people, too

Ken: Yep, well I was very fortunate. It was a program called Teacher Corps and at that time, Dr. Art Pearl, who is about 90 years old, he's at University of Oregon right now. He started--he's the one that provided the--the legislation to get um lending support for this program called Teacher Corps. The Teacher Corps program was a program designed to recruit individuals in the area of teaching, to work in particularly um disadvantaged situations. For example, uh when I went into Teacher Corps in 1972 we had to spend one year in a correctional institution, which I taught at MacLaren School for Boys, and they had to spend the other year in a public institution. And Dr. Art Pearl who wrote that legislation is still--he's uh--he's uh fired up at 90 years old. I have lunch with him every once in a while right now and I--I still consider him as my counselor or as my mentor. And his philosophy is that every child--he wrote a book called "The Atrocity of Education" and in it he talked about the importance that all students must feel useful, competent, and belonging, ok? And he--he emphasized that and he said we as educators have to provide those venues so that students do feel useful, competent, and belonging. And so that has always stuck with me and been kind of like my motto in every particular situation I've been involved with. Most recently um I had the--the unique opportunity to teach music at Irvington Elementary School last year and I taught 30, 30, 30, 30, 30 minute classes, ok? Between Wednesday afternoon, 6 classes 30 minutes. Thursday all day 12 classes, 30 minutes per class. Friday all day 12 classes, 30 minutes apiece. I did that last year, and which was kind of uh--uh I won't say unusual, but it's different because no other teachers do that, ok? But I was determined to make this musical experience for kindergarten thru 5th grade students the most meaningful as possible. And I started off at the beginning of the year and I said to those students "We want to make this a very memorable experience, so this is what I'm going to do. At the end of the school year every student will receive a certificate of appreciation from me personally. Every student will receive a DVD copy of all the music of you singing this year". And believe it or not I was very fortunate to be able to meet that task, meet that goal. So every one of my students, and I had probably close to 350-400 students um received a DVD of all the music that we recorded and a certificate from me, and it cost about $6,000. And it only cost--really the students I always charged them like $5, I was very fortunate to um--to--to--to receive support from Portland Public Schools to be able to make that project work. And--but every student I see him from time to time now, my 1st question "Have you watched your DVD lately?" "Oh yes Mr. Berry, I keep it in a special place" I said "Ok". And one of the most unique things I tried to share with the students was that uh because I didn't have the student a lot of time to teach, I had to really move fast, I had to be energetic. I had to keep them engaged and embraced in--in what I was doing. And I never will forget towards the end of the year and always put--almost put me in tears. One of my students, she was a kindergartner, she raised up her hand, she said "Mr. Berry?" I said "Yes" she said "Why is it--" cause I have all around them all the words of all our songs so when the kids come in they'll be able to see the songs, see the words, and reinforce you know, what we're talking about. So young lady asked "Why is it Mr. Berry that all the songs that--that--that we're singing about have world and peace in it?" I said "I really don't know, can--can somebody help me?" so another student said "I know Mr. Berry!" and I said "Ok, tell us why" and the little boy said "Because Mr. Berry we have to take over the world some day and we have to be prepared" I said "Oh my goodness! They're actually getting it!" because we used songs like "We Are the World", "People Make the World Go 'Round", "Caravan of Love". So the songs that I chose were subliminal in context but at the same time had purpose and meaning. The hope it was helping to build love, awareness, understanding, character building and all the rest of that, so--ok?

00:36:05.5

Asia: Do you have a favorite song to sing?

Ken: Yeah, probably my favorite song is "The Greatest Love of All". That's a song that was written by George Benson for the movie "The Greatest" um--um which talked about the story of--of Muhammad Ali or Cassius Clay, you know that--that uh that--that many years ago. Then Whitney Houston--Whitney Houston rerecorded that particular song. And I remember the song was so powerful that I wanted to learn it and share it with my students that I was in contact with. Because I'd been in Portland Public Schools thankfully for--for over 40 years, I retired 2003 but I haven't stopped teaching. And I still kept on teaching and--and doing my administrative work with Portland Public Schools and--but I used that song as a vehicle to teach kids--and I tried to get kids to learn it as well, so that they can see that they have all the power to do whatever they want to do with their lives, by believing in themselves. Because the greatest gift--the greatest love of all is found inside of me, you know inside yourself. Not anybody else or anything else. But that particular song, when I learned it, probably in the 70's, it really took me about a year to really internalize it. It's like creating your own style, your own flavor. Taking a song that someone else has done, you're singing it the same way but you kind of create your own character, your own feeling within the context of the song. And it took me about a year to really internalize the meaning of that song. But every time I sing it now, for example, whichever audience um I--I--I share that song, I sing it just a little bit differently because I feel the audience and part of poetry, part of music, uh and working with the audience is that you get a feel from--from the people that you're--you're--that you're with in regards to how you're going to uh in--inflate your words, accentuate your--your words. Uh the--the pitch, the sound, the--the--the--the um--kind of the ethos type of approach you're going to use in--in--in--in--in--in delivering the song is different depending upon the audience that I'm in. But that's one of my favorite songs because it tells the story of--of love, it tells the story of--of hope, it tells the story of--of assisting and helping and encouraging students, including myself. Because we all need encouragement. And so that song is the one that sticks with me and I--and I sing it as often as I can, even though it's an older song and--like for example 2 years ago. We were doing the Martin Luther King Program over at the Highland Christain Center, and we were broadcasting live radio and television. And one of the problems in doing that program is that we have over 55-56 acts. And what happens is that many times people go over time, ok. But this particular year I built in what we call pledge times so that we would have extra time so we wouldn't go over time. Well I--I--I was so efficient, not to brag at all, that we put pledge time that created a window of 20 minutes ahead of schedule. So what happened? Rather than allowing to go with dead air and then MC's would have a problem filling in, I took the microphone and guess what I saw, "The Greatest Love of All", ok? Unprepared--not unprepared because it always stays with me, but I had to do something, and I made it into a very--kind of a humorous approach because I forgot the words part way. So, that's ok because I'm supposed to be semi-professiona. I--I still got thru the song and I just kind of had the audience just basically just (unclear) with me, "Help me, I need some--help" you know, old age, you know, time, all those variables contribute sometimes to having what we call "having senior moments", ok? So--

00:40:04.7

Asia: How has the neighborhood changed?

Ken: Oh the neighborhood has changed tremendously. Uh for example right where we're located right here on Williams Ave. Uh the 1st church I ever went to was right across the street here, right next to the Elk's Lodge. And the Elk's Lodge, that's a lot of history right there. Um matter of fact, um I have the uh--the uh--the--the person that--that built that, Billy Webb was his name. Uh he's the one that basically--this is the lodge here--he basically was one--one of the first people to--to build that particular building and--and--and--and--and build the whole concept of the lodge. I--I'm very fortunate, my wife was goddaughter to his niece, and so she inherited his piano, so I have his piano in my possession at--at home. And--and it's an upright beautiful piano. Uh and--but fortunately the Elk's Lodge just most recently they remodeled the entire uh building there. That's a whole history within itself. Uh people including my--my relatives--I have uncles that have come and gone thru that lodge, uh not a large number but I--I know that--that there's so much history and richness um as far as that lodge is concerned. Right next to it was a church um--um--which um was the 1st church I went to when I came to Portland back in 1953-54. And--and--and--and the church is torn down now but--but this history right here in this community have what's called the uh Cotton Club which started right there behind us, where we're sitting right now. Paul Knowles who was a tremendous resource in this town who uh we called him the "Honorable Mayor of Albina" and he's going to also be one of our MC's for our upcoming tribute uh that's going to be taking place on Sunday on the 15th of May because we're doing part of it at the church and part of it at the Cotton Club. Paul Knowles he's a resource thru--um--um--thru--thru his--his work um throughout the community who has provided so much in the area of--of--of a resource (unclear) Paul Knowles often was--was featured in a lot of the Trail Blazer games and the people were on the--on the uh--on the uh--um--um on tv to--Paul Knowles would be sitting in the audience, and he and Geneva Knowles have contributed so much to this community. Paul Knowles and Geneva, his wife, she um--she also was a barber. When I had hair, she cut my hair, ok. But Paul Knowles he's gonna be again one of our MC's. and he's uh--they still have their barbershop which is up on MLK called "Geneva's" now, but Paul Knowles had the Cotton Club directly behind us, and so many people came thru, Etta James, James Brown, uh Stevie Wonder, all kind of folks came thru the Cotton Club which is directly behind us here when he had the club called the Cotton Club. Then he changed it to the uh Table Square and um again, bringing national and international artistis. That was kind of a common um--uh common place where people from all over the city would come and see quality entertainment, quality artists. Matter of fact when I was like 17 or 18 years old, right before I turned to become legal as an 18 year old, Paul would let me come in and just sit in the back and watch the entertainers and that's what kind of motivated me in playing a B3 Hammond organ, thanks to Paul Knowles. So this neighborhood here is so rich, I grew up just about 5 blocks from here, actually 2 blocks from here I first moved from SE Portland uh right here on Tillamook. Um I--I never forget my--we lived upstairs and during that time I remember during the holiday seasons, particularly Christmas, uh Santa Claus came to see me in a fire truck. And so I thought that was common, you know, that's the way Santa Claus travelled. I didn't realize that we were kind of poor and so the--and so the uh fire department was going around helping students, you know--or helping families to--to celebrate Christmas and feel a part of Christmas. So the community's changed a whole lot, I've seen a lot of changes in the buildings, a lot of buildings around here that were uh--um--uh--were right up the street here where Dawson Park is and where Emanuel Hospital is, I grew--I grew up--spent a lot of time with my relatives right across the street from Vancouver Ave. Baptist Church, which uh--is a--is a historical landmark in the city, and right across the street is where my uncle lives. I spent uh many many nights uh spending nights with my relatives over at my uncle's house, and I have a lot of great memories uh from--from--from--from that particular era. Uh but the communitie's changed a whole lot, and it's still changing. I mean it's expanding, I'm glad to see um how the community is--is--is thriving. How--how uh people are still holding on to their property. I'm--I'm fortunate with my father's--father-in-law's support over the years. He--he--he was an enterpreneur who invested in--in property and uh so he--he at one time has many as 15 to 16 properties in this community and so um--I'm glad to see that of those properties he's still--you know he passed away, I'm--I'm maintaining at least 9 of them for him right now for--for--for my mother-in-law to make sure that her standard of living remains the same. So--but this community it's changing a lot and uh--and uh I'm glad to see the changes

**Arlie coaches Asia on which questions would be good next**

00:45:32.6

Asia: So our 2nd to last question I guess would be um what advice would you give to somebody my age?

Ken: Ok, what advice I'd give is to do what my mom used to say to me many times, is visualize where I want to be in the future and realize that anything in life you have to work hard at it, you have to sacrifice. It's not about what you do, but how you do it, to get the kind of results that you want. And that's one of the things my mom always taught me is that, you know, I use music as a vehicle because music does allow you to really focus on you because it takes time away from any distractions because you have to be focused. I never will forget one of the um--um things that my music teacher would--would--would do and I took music right down the street from here. Her name is Ms. Ingram and she remarried and became Mrs. Smith. And I was playing at Bethel AME Church one Sunday afternoon and I realized it finally clicked why she was so hard on me about music. When I say harsh, it really wasn't hard, but she was--had high expectations and that's what I would advise anyone, maintain high expectations, ok. And it may not be the same with--with everybody else, it's not about satisfying anybody else, it's about satisfying what's good for you. But I never will forget Ms. Ingram, she kept a ruler on the side of the piano when I would go to my uh--uh rehearsals on--on--on--on Saturday mornings. And so what happened was that sometimes when I was supposed to rehearse, or practice music during the week, I wouldn't do it like I should. I would wait until Friday night right before it was time to go to music and I'd say "Ok I'm gonna read this, and I'm kinda--I'm not real comfortable with it but I can get thru it". So I'd go Saturday mornings at 10:00 to my music lessons, I was sitting down on another bench, she's sitting next to me, and I'm playing my music and she could see when I was kind of sluffing, she grabbed that ruler and "kapow!" on my hand, "You're not reading, you need to do it right. Do it again, do it until you get it right". So she made sure that before I left that lesson that I had the principles down that she wanted me--in regards to reading that music. And then like I said, one afternoon playing at Bethel AME Church, this is the church she also played at. Vancouver Avenue Church and Bethel AME Church. I realized after I had a hymn book opened up they said "Alright we're going to do this hymn 358". Never seen it before, but I was able to read it. She realized now it finally came to grips, or finally came to reality for me. Looking at the stained glass windows at the church I said "That's why she was hitting my hand" she wanted to make sure that I had disciplined myself well enough to read the music because she realized I have a natural gift of playing by ear. And that has always stuck with me. Every once in a while I remember that about Ms. Ingram, that she wanted to make sure that I disciplined myself. It's what I encouraged everyone to do, young people particularly. Discipline yourself, don't worry about friends, worry about what's best for you. Visualize what you want to make happen and realize that everything that you're doing on a daily basis is leading to what you want to do. For example, I come from a very poor poor poor poor poor family, but my mother and father never let us know, never implied that we were poor. Matter of fact my mother always suggested visualize building yourself a house. I've built 2 houses since then. So, the power of visualization, the power of expectations, high expectations. The power of discipline and saying no to the temptation or the external factors out here that contribute to leading people off track. I used to tell my students this all the time, too. Don't forget, life is sometimes like going down that yellow brick road, ok? Like the Wizard of Oz? And sometimes you're going to run into a storm, sometimes you're going to run into some blockages, you might run into a flood. But don't worry about it, you can go under, around it, or over it and you get to your destination. Set high goals, and don't give up. James Brown once said "If you don't get it the 1st time, you back up and you try it again", that's my advice.

**Arlie informs Asia they're running out of time**

00:49:56.8

Asia: Thank you very much

Ken: Thank you, and I wish you the very best

Asia: You, too

Ken: Thank you

Asia: Thank you

**End of interview. What follows is Arlie asks if someone named Mike can talk to Ken and a conversation ensues about Jefferson and Grant High Schools and football**