PRESS RELEASE
March 1, 2005

Contact
Joseph Beaulieu, Senior Vice President, Marketing
(360) 412 -2119

Venture Bank to Present Legendary Instrumental Rock Band
“The Ventures” In Seattle Concert

 

Olympia, Wash., March 1, 2005 - Venture Bank, in association with KBSG 97.3 FM Radio, will present a special Rock & Roll Hall of Fame kick-off concert featuring legendary instrumental rock band The Ventures on Saturday, March 12. The concert, at the Premier Club, 1700 First Avenue South in Seattle at 8:00 p.m., will help to gather fan signatures petitioning the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland to induct the band.

 

When the Hall announces its 2005 list of inductees on Monday, March 14th, Seattle natives The Ventures will once again be conspicuously missing from the list. “If The Ventures don’t belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, nobody does,” said Ken Parsons, Chairman and CEO of Venture Bank. “I’m not a professional musician, but I’m pretty good with numbers. 250 albums. Ninety million albums sold. Over 1,000 songs written. More than 3,000 recorded. And still together after 38 years, rockin’ millions of their fans all over the world—The Ventures are the greatest instrumental Rock band in history. You can take that to the bank,” Parsons added.

 

Ventures fans worldwide, curious about the Hall of Fame’s process and procedures, have worked tirelessly to nominate the band for induction—and they’re not giving up.

 

The Ventures’ legendary hits include Walk, Don't Run, Wipeout, and the theme song to the smash-hit 70’s TV series, Hawaii Five-O. “I’d be surprised if there’s a person who was old enough to watch TV in the 70’s who can’t hum the theme song to that show,” said Joseph Beaulieu, Senior Vice President Marketing for Venture Bank. “Yet, many of them probably don’t realize that The Ventures were, literally and figuratively, instrumental to its success.”

 

So popular was Walk, Don’t Run, first released in 1960, that, to this day, it is the only song ever to be reissued in a different version by the same group to hit the Top 10 in the charts again – the second time in 1964. In 1993, Walk, Don’t Run was named one of the 20 most essential rock albums for guitarists by Guitar Player Magazine.

 

37 of The Ventures’ albums have hit the U.S. music charts, but even that remarkable achievement is eclipsed by the group’s phenomenal popularity in Japan, where the group has release over 150 albums. In the 1960’s, The Ventures sold twice as many records as The Beatles in Japan.

 

Artists who have publicly acknowledged their musical debt to the Ventures include John Fogarty, Jimmy Page, Stanley Clarke, Steve Miller, George Harrison, the Ramones, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, Larry Carleton, Dire Straits, Davie Allan, Aerosmith, Marshall Crenshaw, and many more.

 

Venture Bank and KBSG, 97.3, are making tickets for the concert available for only $9.73 in advance, or $15 at the door. They may be purchased from Tickets West at www.ticketswest.com or by calling 1-800-325-SEAT.

 

Venture Bank has 14 Financial Centers in four Western Washington counties and offers a full spectrum of financial services including commercial, construction, residential and consumer lending, deposit products and other banking services. The bank also provides a broad range of investment services through its subsidiary Venture Wealth Management, Inc. Further information about the bank may be found on the Internet at www.venture-bank.com.

 

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