Upcoming Shows | Past Shows | Tour Diaries: 2002/2003

Dates: July 9 - 18, 2002
Subject: Tour of Oregon (and Washington)
By: Margaret Davis

"Breakfast of champions" pg. 1 / pg. 2

We left bright and early on July 9th, the four of us in two cars, connected by cell phone. Stoph and Kris drove, Karl and I rode. Around 5:00 we pulled into lovely little Ashland, OR, home of the famed Shakespeare Festival. We had dinner at the Black Sheep Pub, complete with very convincing tapestry reproductions and fine micro-brewed beer, and then happily watched the Green Show for "A Winter's Tale" -- a markedly Spanish production featuring 5 athletic young dancers and 5 virtuosic musicians.

We then drove on to Ashland's tiny suburb, the aptly named Talent, and to the home of Olof and Seeta Soderbach. Olof (pictured here) is Swedish and Seeta is Brazilian, and they have transformed their property into an oasis of Buddhist and East Indian calm, complete with two koi ponds, gazebo, devotional statues and architectural bits. We stayed in the Barn itself, a two-story structure in which they stage mostly East Indian concerts. Before retiring, Olof regaled us with unusual Swedish fiddle tunes played on a tiny Swedish folk fiddle, Kristoph struggled to produce sound out of a bizarre Indian double-reed instrument, and Seeta showed us her paintings and doll collection.

Next morning - breakfast in Ashland and postering around town. Then, on the road to Corvallis for our first gig. Upon arriving, we stopped in to visit Karl's friend Henry , who had gotten us our next gig. Henry operates Paradise Lost, a small Grateful Deadish shop full of tye-dyes, jewelry, and paraphernalia, and also stocks our CDs (good man!). He took us out to dinner at an all-vegetarian, all-organic, all-whole food restaurant, which was wonderful. Corvallis is an extraordinarily hippie-ish town. We met our hosts Kathy and Brian, a free-wheeling and friendly pagan couple with a teenage son, Andrew. Our show was at the Fox & Firkin Pub, subject of much speculation as to the meaning of "firkin" (a small ale-cask, we eventually learned). We played valiantly to an appreciative audience of one (Henry). We put on a good show nevertheless and enjoyed some of the finest amplified sound we've ever had. After the show we retired to Kathy and Brian's, where conversation turned to conspiracy theories and continued late into the night.

Next morning - breakfast with Henry in Corvallis, and on to investigate the local music store, where Kris tried out every instrument and eventually purchased a didgeridu. The trip to Portland was peaceful and bucolic until we actually reached the city, where Kristoph and Karl missed the exit and drove blithely away, map-free and phoneless, as Kris and I watched in horror. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at the Mount Tabor Pub 30 minutes later to find that they had beaten us to it! We examined the Pub, found it acceptable, and set off for our hosts' home, only to find that Kris's transmission was apparently shot. There followed many tense minutes until we located a transmission shop able and willing to work on Kris's car, for an ungodly sum. Kris rented a car and met us at our lodging for the night, home of Anne Marie Adams and Vikram. Anne Marie is a visual artist and had decorated their house imaginatively and colorfully; their weiner dog and spaniel greeted us at the door.

Dinner that night was at "Fusion" -- a new gustatory hotspot that combines restaurant with antique store. A vintage teapot was nearly purchased. After dinner, we pressed on to our gig at the Mt. Tabor Pub. It's a curious spot -- two converted theatres across the hall from each other. We were in the acoustic room, and three rock bands were in the main "loud" hall. Once again, we had amazing sound, provided by the pub sound person. 6 people came specifically to see us, mostly fans from the Portland filk circles. Others wandered in and out, as audiences from the two halls intermingled. We determined that the majority of the rock bands' apparently larger audience was in fact made up of the other band members. Out of our intrepid audience of 6, we sold 6 CDs. The pub was pleased with us, and asked us to return, some time when the students would be in school.

Next morning, up bright and early to -- RETURN TO CORVALLIS! But first, we explored Artichoke Music, the wonderful local folk music store/venue, and determined that that's where we should play next time. Miraculously, Kris's car had healed itself overnight, and the rental car was joyfully returned. Lunch at a fabulous Portland diner, and shopping in the Hawthorne area. Time passed. We played our first Borders gig -- Corvallis Borders! The staff carefully warned us that we would have no audience, but we surprised them by pulling in about 40 people, due to newspaper promotion, a radio mention, and curious Borders shoppers. Right there in the front row was -- Henry!! our friend from before. The gig went fabulously well, we sold lots of CDs, and got a bunch more venue suggestions from attending folk musicians, wandering Frenchmen, and the like. Lodging that night was kindly provided again by Kathy and Brian. Kristoph and Karl stayed up late into the night initiating Andrew into the wonders of 12-string guitar.

Next morning, Kathy, Brian, Andrew, Henry, and the 4 of us descended upon the Sunnyside Up Cafe again for breakfast, followed by tearful goodbyes. Now for the really long drive, into unknown territory -- WASHINGTON! On the drive we passed many glorious mountains, culminating in the beautiful Mt. Rainier. We barely made it in time to Doug's dock, site of our concert. Doug is a long-time theatre friend of Kris's and lives with a bunch of other houseboaters on a dock in Lake Union. This year the houseboaters held their 6th annual "Bach on the Dock;" our concert was promoted locally as "Broc on the Dock." Performing on the gently moving timbers, two feet from the briny main, was indeed a memorable experience. Attendance was high and included houseboaters, Kristoph's college roommate and best man Dave Lawson, and the entire Wilson-Weiberg family, our hosts for the night. CDs were sold, money was made, hors-d'oeuvres were eaten. Dinner that night was at the Siam Thai restaurant, with Dave accompanying us. Kris opted to spend the night on the dock, and the remaining three of us drove up to the Wilson-Weiberg's, whose children had made a delightful sign saying "Welcome, Brocelïande!"

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Email Margaret

For information about shows, call Margaret at
(510) 569-0437.