2 Years and Running Pt. 3 -Artichoke

I realized last year that I needed to try harder to get connected in the music community.
Knowing that what I do is probably the closest match to Portland's historic music center -Artichoke Music, I began offering to volunteer for shows and auctions.
Artichoke Music

It turns out that Kate and Steve (the owners for most of the 30 years the place has been open) were selling, and the new owners Richard and Jim are a couple of the coolest people on the planet. Now everything but the retail shop is operating as a non-profit.

So I've been spending a lot of my time (and money) over there. Which has been a great way to get to know a lot of great people. It's become one of my favorite places to play. Last night I sat in on one of Richard's and helped run the soundboard, and I'm playing a half hour set this coming Friday.

You never quite know what's going to happen when you're there.
A couple of weeks back we had a Japanese television crew come in who are working on a 'travel America' series. So we grabbed some ukes and sang 'Come to Oregon, come to Oregon.' They said they'd get us copies of the edited footage whenever it's broadcast.
Then on Saturday this trashed guy calling himself 'The Chief' came in saying he was close personal friends of Merle Haggard, George Straight, and Willie Nelson...