September 1988:

   After a twisted summer of last minute decisions, WOSC students Clint Sargent, Dan Palodichuk and Mr. Dodge settle into their mutual destinies and move into the Landers Hall Dormitory at Monmouth, Oregon.

   While Mr. Palodichuk & Mr. Dodge occupy the same floor, Mr. Sargent lodges in the bottom floor along with the enigmatic Dennis Moist. 

SUMMER 1988:

  Dilemma Sect breaks up.  Clint Sargent  joins first band as guitarist for PILL BOX.  Mr. Sargent wore beads.  Pill Box was originally a band that Matt Ham and Paul Montone formed after Dilemma Sect, but after a falling out between Paul and Matt, Mr. Montone abandoned the project.  Sargent and Ham continued to use the name prior to Mr. Sargent's enrollment at Western Oregon State College.

   Meanwhile, Dodge begins solo experiments on Steven Cebula's 4-Track technology.

January 27th, 1988

   Pink Milk is officially banned from performing at all CCHS sporting events.  Dodge resigns from the Stage Band in protest.  Tom Lenz joins Dodge in solidarity (only to return that afternoon, along with Cebula, to finish out the term and receive 'Letters').

   Dodge seeks solace in his old band, The Middle Fingers.  Inspired by their own story, Dodge and Nims begin a documentary video project with CCHS Drama student, Dan Palodichuk.  Cast as narrator / host, Palodichuk interviews a number of students and faculty to determine 'whatever became of Jeff Dodge and Tom Nims...

   Shortly thereafter, the master videotapes vanish (victims of the ol' Beta vs. VHS argument).

1987

    Deep in the bowels of the CCHS music room, Instructor Davis Monroe leads a rigorous course of practice and organized competitions for his ostracized students known as the Band Geeks.  Despite a wide breadth of jazz standards under study, the music always seem to eventually morph into a disjointed cover of 'Smoke On The Water'.

  Replacing the former CCHS Stage Band deposed guitarist, Thomas Nims (due to a dramatic political scandal in which Nims is 'asked' to leave the school and the Middle Fingers are also disqualified from the talent show because of their controversial name), Dodge chooses to organize the rock-n-roll power-house trio, PINK MILK, which include fellow Stage Band members, Steven 'Luce' Cebula on a newly acquired bass and young Thomas 'Flip' Lenz on the skins.    Yearning to break into the Portland music scene, they are mostly relegated to 30 second snippets of Zeppelin & Rush covers between time-outs at sporting events.

  In the fall of 1987, Thaddeus Dennison joins Dodge in a duet entitled, "You and Me and A Boy Named Ray".  Shortly thereafter, Dennison (also a stage band guitarist) drafts a few other classmate musicians into local act, 'THE FLIES'.

   Meanwhile, on the West side of town, Sunset High School students Clint Sargent and Derek Ecklund make their presence known in the night life and dance clubs of downtown Portland by way of Ecklund's Urban Gorilla Assault Vehicle.   Mr. Ecklund, along with Matt Ham and Paul Montone found local band, DILEMMA SECT.

1986: 4-Tracking Begins

   As the Middle Fingers progress (or digress depending on your point of view), Mr. Nims's older brother, Steven, composes the opus magnum, "We Are the Middle Fingers" with Tom on drums and Mr. Dodge on vocals.  The sessions mark both Nims and Dodge's first exposure to 4-Track recording technology (one of those old Tascam models).

SUMMER 1985: Jeff Learns Guitar

    Central Catholic High School freshmen Thomas A. Nims and Jeff S. Dodge launch their first musical venture, THE MIDDLE FINGERS.  Early recordings by the awkward and iconoclastic teens include Brian Adams, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin covers.

     With a pole barn, miles of desolation, his father's Gibson SG and a Fender Twin Reverb amp, Dodge and Nims are able to explore the depths of puberty in a loud, amplified and graphic manner.  It would ultimately become known as their 'Pauly Road' phase which would elicit such hits as I Am The Grimace and The Papa Smurf Song...

1970 : Year of the Dog

   Clint Sargent and Jeff Dodge are born...

  In the Spring of 1989, Clint Sargent met Jeff Dodge at a small college in Western Oregon.  

With Dodge’s roommate, Dan Palodichuk, always nearby, an assorted cadre of talented freaks, musicians, nerds, techies and artists would galvanize the collaboratively creative impulse known as  Darge Productions.

The Mission Statement was simple:

    Darge was designed as  an artistic and musical outlet to examine the ridiculous, contradictory and absurd policies of cultural icons, national leaders and extremism in general.  By 1995, Darge had realized its’ Mission Statement and transformed itself into a Motion Picture entity with the screening of their debut film, “The Harlequin” on Portland Cable Access...