Artichoke Music celebrates its 50th year with a week of performances starting June 4, 2023. The final gala is on June 11, at the Alberta Rose Theater. Please join us. Tickets for all events are on the Artichoke Music website: https://artichokemusic.org/LiveMusic.html • Monday, June 5, 7 pm: Richard Colombo - Acoustic Village Open Mic • Tuesday, June 6 7 pm: Avery Hill - Ukestra Extravaganza • Wednesday, June 7, 7 pm: Teacher Showcase - Adrian Martin, Steve Cheseboro, Tim Dawdy, Tracey Rose Brown; curated by Sarah Wolff (Pretty Gritty) • Thursday, June 7, 7 pm: Kate Power and Steve Einhorn “On ..read more

Ever wonder what a music publicist does all day? Or even what one is? With me in the Artichoke Music Café is Nicole Lane who has much experience doing that. I know publicists. I get a hundred emails a day from them. I chose Nicole because she’s so good at it, as you will see. She works for Chamber Music Northwest but she’s done work for multiple genres of music. The job stays the same no matter what. And what is the job? Meet Nicole Lane. Oregon Music News · NIcole Lane: What does a music publicist really do? CC#387 ..read more

Mr. Bungle with The Melvins and Spotlights at The Crystal Ballroom on 05/21/23 - Photos ..read more

Ryan Meagher is in the Artichoke Café with me today. He is a very busy man. Besides his career as guitarist and composer, he is also the Artistic Director of the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble where he also runs their PJCE label. He also programs the Montavilla Jazz Festival, does a lot of teaching and I will run out of intro time if I continued to list what else he does. He’s here to talk about his latest project, a combination of his music and Tina Granzo’s art called AftEarth. It was written and recorded during the Covid lockdown. It’s one of the most unusual, compelling and evocative doc ..read more

Skinny Puppy at the Crystal Ballroom on 05/07/2023 - Photos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rP7GPl929M ..read more

Shinedown at the Moda Center  on 05/09/2023 - Photos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALZOOQ_QYd8 ..read more

This is the three hundred and eighty-fifth episode of Coffeeshop Conversations. That’s a lot of talking and not all of it by me. Next week KMHD’s head honcho Matt Fleeger will be here and the following week Nicole Lane, ace publicist will visit the Café. Today writer Larry Colton is sitting across from me. He has authored six books, was the founder of Wordstock, now known as the Portland Book Festival. He was also a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and the beloved Portland Mavericks. What? No music? What me worry? By the time we’re finished that will not be an issue. Welcome back Larry Co ..read more

As a 2022 collaboration between Cadence Weapon and Hot Chip, the track “The Evil That Men Do” deliciously takes aim at the politicians and tech-billionaires of our time. First, Alexis Taylor’s (Hot Chip) serene voice is speaking right to these representatives of our humanity, suggesting they atone for their sins: “Beg for forgiveness, bear witness, be humble.” Later in the track, Rollie Pemberton (Cadence Weapon) testifies poetically of his own experience living under those to which we entrust our government and economy: “World on fire been hoping for better things. Electing the ones pandering ..read more

Donovan Woods was in on the joke when he named his latest release. Riffing on a lyric from a Martin Simpson song (“Never Any Good”), Big Hurt Boy is a six-song exploration of how our failures — and our fixations on them — not only shape but enlighten us. “I write about them again and again, just hoping people will still be interested,” the acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter says. “So the title is poking fun of myself, that I’m theoretically this big sad guy who keeps getting dumped and writing fucking songs about it.” Or you could think of it this way: Woods’ de ..read more

Last November, when she was a guest on OMN's Coffeeshop Conversations, Darka expressed an interest in doing a podcast combining her gift for conversation with Miri Stebivka's artful photography. She was heavily involved in fund raising for aid to Ukraine but the idea simmered until it came to full boil  right here. She told me she wanted to have me on as her first guest and since I like to talk about myself, I said yes. I will make no further appearances after this, the birth of Light and Limn. Happy birthday Darka and Miri! --- Tom D'Antoni - - - - - - - - - - - -  Welcome ..read more