Oregon Music News

December 17, 2014 I met Art Levine when he was on summer break from Johns Hopkins University. We were roommates in 1970 in the two floor apartment leased by the Baltimore Underground paper of record, HARRY. I was a gritty city hippie with hair down to my ass and crabs and he was....he had an air conditioner. Nevertheless we became friends and remain so today. He became one of the top investigative reporters in America, still a Contributing Editor to the Washington Monthly. He is also a life-long music journalist and has contributed many splendid pieces to Oregon Music News. He was on Skype from Washington, D.C. and I was in the cupping room of Word Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan in Portland, which is where do these things. His new book (2017) is called "Mental Health, Inc.: How Corruption, Lax Oversight, and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens," which we did not discuss when this was recorded. Listen to Art Levine and me:

December 11, 2014 It’s another episode of Coffeeshop Conversations. We’re in World Cup Coffee and Tea at Northwest 18th and Glisan, where we do all of these. This episode with Noah Mickens the impresario of Wanderlust Circus whom I have known since 1997. One thing I’ve never really asked him about is the period of time when he would publicly hang from hooks as part of his performance. Stay tuned for that! Let’s talk with Noah Mickens!

December 4, 2014 Spend an hour with one of the busiest, most versatile saxophonists in Oregon. You know her from the Quaraphonnes, Soul Vaccination and many other bands, but you've never heard her like this. So much of our lives seem to center around our favorite coffeeshop, that when I wanted to start a series of hour-long interviews with some of the most interesting people in Oregon, I thought, "Why not a a coffeeshop?" So here's the first, recorded, as they all are, in the "cupping room" at World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW. 18th and Glison. And before we go any further, yes I know that "coffeeshop" is usually two words. Well, I decided to change that. So there you have it. Mary-Sue Tobin is no stranger to OMN. You've seen our shorter video interviews, read about her with the Quadraphonnes and as a huge part of the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. You know her from her years with Soul Vaccination and with countless Jazz bands including Andrew Oliver's bands and the Paxselin Quartet, even with the Oregon Symph