Wells Band Teacher Wins $10,000 from Barry Manilow

[August 20, 2025]

“I never thought my 15 minutes of fame would come from Barry Manilow,” said Nick Caldwell, band teacher at Ida B. Wells High School.

Last month, Caldwell won $10,000 from the Manilow Music Project, a charitable foundation that supports school music programs. Half the award goes directly to the Wells Band Program. Caldwell gets to keep the other half.

Those “15 minutes” included a private award ceremony backstage before Manilow’s July 16th Portland concert, an appearance on the jumbotron during the show, local TV coverage, and lots of congratulations as Caldwell left the Moda Center carrying a giant check at the end of the evening.

Caldwell has taught at Wells since 2012. Before that, he taught music at Rieke Elementary as well as Jackson and Gray Middle Schools. He has also directed the Southwest Portland Community Band since 2015. Community Band concerts serve as fundraisers for new instruments for the school, as well as providing an opportunity for community members to relive their high school band days.

Caldwell plans to use the award to buy a new marimba for the high school band program. The instrument his students and the community band play now came with the school when it was built in the 1950s, and shows its age, said Caldwell.

The upcoming rebuild of the Wells campus will bring improvements to the band room and improved stage access, but will not replace any of the aging instruments.

The other half of the prize, he said, will go toward “adulting—paying off bills and stuff.”

The Vote

Several weeks before Manilow’s Portland appearance, votes were collected via social media for what was essentially a popularity contest among local high school band teachers.

Caldwell was “somewhat shocked, but obviously very happy” to be declared the winner, but credits the team of supporters—community band members, students and parents—who made it their job to spread the word about the contest. “I wasn’t expecting it,” he said, “but thought we had a good chance because of the great team of people publicizing it.”

Facing a major surgery (since postponed until this Fall), Caldwell said the win came at a good time, giving him a “mental health boost” just when he needed it.

Dressed all in white and wearing a band t-shirt for Danish black metal group Afsky, Caldwell arrived at the Moda Center with nine friends and family, who all received free tickets to the show.

After clearing security, two of Manilow’s staff led the group on a complicated route involving elevators and locker rooms, past “a lot of cool blazer stuff” to a special room bathed in lavender light. “It was crazy, very surreal—like a fever dream,” he said.

After a ten-minute wait, Caldwell heard “Barry walking around the corner, going, ‘where is this Nick guy?’”

Another five minutes of conversation and a few questions from Manilow, the giant check was presented and pictures taken.

Manilow: What kind of music are you into?

Caldwell: Really extreme underground black metal.

Manilow: Cool.

Caldwell described the rest: “His handlers took us to our seats, which were eight rows back from the stage. Halfway through the set, Barry did a little speech about his foundation project and announced me as the winner, put my picture on the big screen and I had to stand up in the spotlight, and that was it.”

While not a big Manilow fan, Caldwell said he was surprised to recognize many of the songs.

“It was a great night, super fun,” Caldwell said. His wife, Erica, business manager at Wells, later told him it was one of the best nights of her life. “The next day when I woke up, it was like, did that really happen?” he said.

—Valeurie Friedman

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What's your favorite Barry Manilow song? Or your favorite Afsky song? Let us know.