Terry Currier grew up in Seattle and took a liking to music in school, playing the flute-o-phone in 4th Grade. The following summer he took up the violin with the Suzuki method.
Three months into the 5th grade his father Lando, noticed a slide in the enthusiasm about the instrument while he did his daily practicing. “Are you not happy with the violin?’ Terry said “the sound the other violins make hurt my ears. They screech.” After a serious conversation, his father found out Terry would rather play the clarinet and woke him up a month later and presented him with a new clarinet. To make up for being 4 months behind on the instrument, he took private lessons to catch up.
By junior high it was apparent that Terry would go to college after high school and pursue music.
Between music and his participation in Boy Scouts, that pretty much took up most of his free time as a youth. When he was 16 he decided to get a motorcycle versus a car and he learned to drive in the yard. At 16 ½, he realized a motorcycle was not the best mode of transportation in the Northwest, where it rained and snowed in the winter, so he bought a ‘66 Mustang. It had a radio in it and he discovered recorded music for the first time. A week after he turned 17, he went to his first concert. He saw Nitzinger opening up for Leon Russell and the Shelter People. 2 weeks later he applied for a job in a record store (DJ’s Sound City). He was hired solely on his enthusiasm and not for his musical knowledge, which was close to nil.
HISTORIC MOMENTS IN CARRER.
- Pioneered live music in a Record Store. In 1989, while deciding what to do for Music Millennium’s 20th Anniversary, he turned to his then partner, Don MacLeod and stated “Let’s have 20 straight days of live music in the store,” After looking at renting a system, they decided to buy a system and put a permanent stage in the store. Since then Music Millennium has hosted over 4000 live performances including Soundgarden, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper with the only ever instore performances of Randy Newman, Joe Strummer and Keith Emerson.
- Currier and Music Millennium dubbed “modern day folk heroes” for their role in the brilliantly effective crusade against used CD policies. Discontent with policies instituted by 4 of the 6 major distribution companies, Terry fought to overturn the policies. After Garth Brooks announced his new album would not be available in stores that sold used product, Currier immediately responded with a “West Coast Bar-B-Q For Retail Freedom” tour – actually roasting Brooks CDs, VHS, Posters and cassettes to dramatize the retailer’ plight. The tour started in Bellingham, WA and hit 9 stores between there and San Diego, CA. The protest captured the attention of TNN, CNN, Forbes and People magazine, and resulted in a repeal of the restrictive polices.
- In the aftermath of the Bar-B-Q For Retail Freedom, Terry realized the common concerns and interests in the 9 stores on the tour as well as stores that reached out about the issue from around the country. He presented a proposal to Mark Cope, Retail Editor of Album Network and arranged for a meeting at the NARM convention in Florida. The idea was to create a group of retailers who could work records together and make a difference as well as act as a support team. This germinated into a meeting in San Francisco at the NAIRD convention in May 1995, with 25 retailers from across the country meeting in a room for a day to see if they could find commonality to work together. CIMS was born.
- After a several year germination of an idea to support local unique businesses and talking multiple times to John Kunz of Waterloo Records about a new slogan in his city, “Keep Austin Weird”, Currier created “Keep Portland Weird.’ at the suggestion of Kunz. It has organically become the city of Portland’s motto and most used phase.
All production by Cody Maxwell.
Artwork by Cody Maxwell.
Opening graphic assets by UlyanaStudio and Grandphic.
