Siete Semanas -7 Weeks

7 weeks before The Mudds' Central American Adventure begins. 5 chances to hear me play in Portland before I leave. Matt Meighan hooked me up with a couple of shows at Albina Green. ~8pm or so 'till whenever.



I also got some more videos cut and on the web, I think I'll be able to get 8 or 9 total. There have been a few audio difficulties so I'm having to re-upload a couple things, but I'm not complaining, this stuff isn't meant for prime time...

The Wind

Here's a new version of 'The Wind.' It's still a living-room recording, but I added sound effects to get an idea of how it might sound when it's done. It sounds like I'll be able to take some gear to Artichoke and record in the 'Back Gate' which has great acoustics and is further away from traffic than my stupid living room.
The Wind

Saturday at Artichoke -John's Tune

I captured a recording of John Sabestinas on banjo and myself on the tenor uke at Artichoke yesterday. It's a tune of his called 'Stealin' Apples off the Tree.' He wasn't warmed up so he didn't want to sing the words.

Stealin' Apples

Albina Green

I hosted an open mic at a very cool cafe/restaurant tonight. Played a few tunes and met some nice people. I'll be back there again. If you're in north Portland (No-Po as it's often called) check it out. Live music most nights of the week, and I found out that Matt Meighan, a friend from Artichoke Music plays every Thursday night...(http://www.mattmeighan.com/).

I've got several Recycleman gigs this week. Pete, the shows creator, wants to make an addition to the water-show script to encourage eating less meat. HOw can we save water by eating less meat? It takes 2500 gallons of water to make 1 pound of beef, and only takes 250 gallons to make 1 pound of grain...

I've also been getting a lot of response about the deaths of the boys. Maybe an investigative journalist will want to jump on the case.

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...