Making room for an Aberdeen star

A three-person crew from the Aberdeen Department of Public Works began demolishing a small patch of sidewalk Wednesday morning outside the Music Project for a special purpose.

The shallow hole that Aberdeen City Chief Carpenter Jeff Stevens and laborers Max Acosta and Connor Reed dug was made so that the new Aberdeen Walk of Fame star would fit snugly into this patch of West Wishkah Street sidewalk in front of “The Green Room” sign. Music photographer Darrell Westmoreland, a lifelong Harborite, will receive the star. Westmoreland is the 92nd recipient.

Westmoreland has enjoyed a career in music photography spanning more than 50 years. His career, which he says really began at the Satsop River Fair and Tin Cup Races, a four-day music festival in early September 1971, has seen him and his trusty cameras photograph some of the biggest stars in music, including Elton John, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Dolly Parton, Nirvana and countless others.

“I was the guy who would literally block out the entire Seattle market and go to Portland to film,” Westmoreland said. “Once we were ready, we would go to radio stations and try to get the artist’s new record or album played. And then all of a sudden, I had a connection with the radio stations.”

Westmoreland photographed all genres of music, not just rock.

“The cool thing about it is I got to experience all the different genres of music, I got exposed to it,” Westmoreland said. “And then when I was working with the labels, like I say, I would meet the record company rep and we would jump in the limousine. We would pick up the artist or the band and we would run around with them, taking them to radio stations and taking them to record stores.”

Deb Blecha, a graphic designer familiar with the music scene and who helped create the blue banners for World Music Day, spoke about Westmoreland and how happy she was to see him recognized in this way.

“He’s more of a shadowy guy who comes from our area,” Blecha said. “He’s well known to a lot of famous people outside our area. He wrote his book, which I think is incredible.”

Blecha loves that Westmoreland is active in Aberdeen. She also loves that he is still so humble.

“He’s involved here,” Blecha said. “You would never guess that he’s friends with all these famous people. He’s nice, he’s friendly, and he works with us. He has this whole other life where he goes out and he’s behind the scenes and he knows a lot of famous people personally. I think that’s an unusual talent and trait, and I’m really happy to see it recognized.”

The Westmoreland star will be installed Friday at 9 a.m., Stevens said. And Saturday at 1 p.m., the city will immortalize the words “Darrell Westmoreland Music Photographer To The Stars” on that little stretch of sidewalk.

In style, Westmoreland posted photos of his work on his Facebook account. One of the photos shows his star, which will be accompanied by a ceremony at 1 p.m. as part of the city’s Founder’s Day celebration.

Contact reporter Matthew N. Wells at [email protected].