1
Your locally owned newspaper, serving North Bend and Snoqualmie, Washington
KingCo title eludes Mount Si Page 6
May 14, 2015
‘Juke Box Hero’ of the ’70s comes to Snoqualmie Casino By Sam Kenyon skenyon@snovalleystar.com
By Greg Farrar
Roy Malmassari, Evergreen Ford fleet manager, celebrating his 50th year working with Ford, where he started as a mechanic upon receiving his diploma, kneels beside the distinctive Ford logo on the grill of an Explorer in 1997.
MOTOR MAN Evergreen Ford’s Roy Malmassari retires after 70 years in car business By Dan Aznoff The name Roy Malmassari has been associated with Ford motorcars since before the Edsel. The 86-year-old native of Hobart hung up his Kelly Blue Book and his dealer license plates for the last time April 30 after being in the car business for almost seven decades. He has been associated with the Ford dealership in Issaquah since 1981.
Malmassari’s first job in the car business was just after World War II, when he was hired to pump gas at Sorenson Motors in Snoqualmie. One year later, the industrious young man moved across town to become the service manager at the Golden Dale Dealership in North Bend. He transitioned from the service department to the front office in 1978, when he became part owner of the dealership.
Ray Malmassari His life has been customer service and test drives ever since. See RETIRING, Page 3
Star publication date to change to Fridays The publication dates of the Issaquah Press Inc. newspapers — The Issaquah Press, Sammamish Review and SnoValley Star — are changing. The Press and the Review, which currently come out on Wednesdays, will be delivered on Thursdays beginning next
week. The Star, which currently comes out on Thursdays, will be delivered on Fridays beginning next week. Deadlines for letters to the editor, community news and calendar items for all three weekly newspapers will remain
at noon Friday. The classified advertising and camera-ready advertising deadline for The Press and the Review will move to 11 a.m. Mondays. The classified advertising and camera-ready advertising deadline for the Star will move to 11 a.m. Tuesdays.
A veteran rock ‘n’ roll professional is bringing his iconic voice to the Snoqualmie Valley and giving concertgoers a night to relish some classic rock hits. Lou Gramm: The Voice of Foreigner is playing one night at the Snoqualmie Casino. At 8 p.m. May 21, the Casino Ballroom is going to get “Hot Blooded.” Gramm, along with British rockers Mick Jones and Ian McDonald, created the band Foreigner in 1976 and became one of the world’s best selling bands of all time with more than 80 million records sold worldwide. Gramm sang numerous top-40 hits like “Cold as Ice,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “I Don’t Want to Live Without You” and “Midnight Blue.” “Looking back on it, we appreciate the body of work that we accumulated,” Gramm said. He plans to reignite those songs for his performance at the casino. “We shoot right from the hip and run through all [the hits] from Foreigner and the ones from my solo albums,” he said. Gramm tours regularly with his group of musicians, most of whom are based in Rochester, New York, and who were not members of Foreigner. After the Snoqualmie Casino, Gramm will hit California, and then Ontario. “We get our fly miles, I’ll tell you,” he said. Touring like crazy is nothing new for Gramm. During his peak Foreigner years, he lived on the road. “We were touring fools in those days,” he said. When the band’s fourth album “4” came out in 1981, Gramm went on a tour that lasted 18 months. “That’s way too much,” he said. “It took us months to recover from that.” He toured so much that his body literally became acclimated to it.
Lou Gramm If you go Lou Gramm: The Voice of Foreigner q 8 p.m. May 21 q Snoqualmie Casino Ballroom q Tickets: $22-$42 q http://bit.ly/1K4JRlp
“I remember when the tour was over and I started living at home again,” Gramm said. “Come 8:30 or 9 o’clock, I started getting nervous and getting the sweats, because that was the time we usually went on. My body clock was telling me to get ready.” Foreigner’s songs are ubiquitous and help characterize a moment in pop music. Gramm said the group worked tirelessly in the studio, perfecting the hits that would go on to help define an era. “They were fun to record and so exciting when you were able to hear them for the first time on See GRAMM, Page 3 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER