Glad you found another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation once again not at Artichoke Music…yet. Paul K Ward is at the controls again in studioblue…all one word, lower case,and doing a great job of being the real reason why there still are Coffeeshop Conversations Artichoke or not. I’m at my desk in Northwest Portland. With Paul is guitarist, composer and educator Ryan Meagher and we’re going to talk baseball. He’s a Giants fan and I’m an Orioles fan so there are no bitter rivalries between us. Ok, we’...
Jul 08, 2025•29 min
Welcome back to OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations yet again not at Artichoke Music, although we’re getting closer. I’m at my desk in Northwest Portland and Paul K Ward is in his studioblue on the other side of town, at the controls along with our guest making a return appearance, saxophonist, vocalist and educator and once again a resident of Portland…….our friend Reggie Houston. He’s got a new band, something I’m eager to hear about. He has a birthday gig coming up at EAT that combination restaura...
Jun 29, 2025•1 hr
Vocalist/bassist Lisa Mann is coming back strong from a severely broken leg, as only she can. She's gigging again and is full of the fire and energy we've come to know. But that's not all we talk about, as you might expect. You'll like this one.
Jun 16, 2025•42 min
Glad you found us after a couple of weeks off, OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations is back. Paul K Ward is at the control in his Studio Blue Productions headquarters, I am still at my desk on NW Lovejoy Stret because I’m not quitte ready to return to the world. With Paul is today’s guest Nichollas Grier, pianist, a mental health therapist, professor of Practical Theology and counselling at Claremont School of Theology and a councelor at the Bishop Wellness center at Wilamette University. He has a pre...
Jun 05, 2025•33 min
Molly Tentarelli is with Paul K Ward at his studio, I'm at my desk in NW Portland. Molly is as versatile an artist as it gets. Find out how and why.
Apr 22, 2025•49 min
Brady Goss used to be the kid Boogie-Woogie piano player. He isn't a kid anymore but in addition to pounding out the Jerry Lee Lewis sound, he's added other genres and techniques. He's playing with Curtis Salgado and also is a part of an Allman Brothers tribute band. His journey has been an interesting one. Paul K Ward recorded and produced from his studio blue. Brady was there and I was at my desk in NW Portland.
Apr 06, 2025•38 min
After a week off, OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations is back in a big way. Sometimes Coffeeshop Conversations introduces you to new artists or artists you may not have heard of but if you have never heard of Curtis Salgado, God help ya. He’s with Paul K Ward at Paul’s studio blue. Paul is at the controls and I am beating on my laptop as usual. It occurred to me that I have never introduced Curtis in public, not at the Waterfront Blues Festival….nor anywhere else….and I have introduced hundreds of mu...
Mar 22, 2025•1 hr 10 min
Happy Mardi Gras everybody. Things are winding up or winding down to Fat Tuesday on March 4th 2025…Depending on how you look at it. And who better to help us find out all about the big fun here in the Big Rainy is Steve Kerin, keyboardist and co-founder of the Misty Krewe of Nimbus, our own Portland Mardi Gras Krewe, Steve Kerin. The Krewe is throwing their annual Mardi Gras Ball at the Wonder Ballroom on Saturday, March first and then on Mardi Gras day it’ll be time for their big Parade. That’s...
Feb 25, 2025•20 min
Pete Peterson: One Busy Saxophonist -- CC#433 by Oregon Music News
Feb 19, 2025•47 min
Thanks for finding Coffeeshop Conversations again. Today’s logistics include me at my desk in Northwest Portland, and at Paul K Ward’s studio blue…(two words all lower case) …where he is recording and making it sound pretty, Paul himself plus today’s guest, The Boogie Cat, Norman Sylvester who has a major life event coming on Sunday, March 16th at the Alberta Rose Theater…a celebration of his forty years in music. Let’s find out all about it, and how you get there. Mr. Sylvester? Congratulations...
Feb 10, 2025•49 min
Hey now! Back again with Paul K Ward at the controls at studio blue…and that’s supposed to be all lower case. I’m Tom D’Antoni at my desk, not ready to go back to Artichoke Music. Wait, I’m not done. With Paul is famed guitar slinger Terry Robb, so good that the Cascade Blues Association stopped giving him best guitarist award and named the damned thing after him. Plus, at his home in Victoria, British Columbia is former Portlander, winner of a bunch of Blues Maple Awards for best pianist, Paul ...
Jan 27, 2025•38 min
Since Coffeeshop Conversations has returned from health-related hiatus (mine), first of all it’s been fun doing them again and second, I love the guests we’ve had. David Vest and Terry Robb last week in particular. If you missed them, I suggest you listen but not this minute because we’ve got a good one this time. Before we go any further, let’s give a big round of ammunition (as Doctor John used to say) to Paul K Ward who has kindly lent his talents and his studo blue…all lower case…to record, ...
Jan 26, 2025•34 min
We’re not back at Artichoke quite yet but we’re back in podcast production again. And happy to be. A giant thank you to Paul K Ward for recording these things until I am able to get back to Artichoke Music. I am at my desk and Paul is at the controls at studio bLue. Joining him is Chris Doss, the Executive Director of PDX Jazz, with us for his annual visit to talk about the 2025 Bi-Amp Portland Jazz Festival which takes place February 20 to March first, all over town.
Jan 21, 2025•33 min
A poem.
Jan 15, 2025•3 min
It’s the return of OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations! We published the last new one at the end of August, at which time I became a much-to-frequent visitor to various medical facilities, had a number of surgeries and procedures and generally had a bad tme of it. I’m not out of the woods yet and not quite ready to return to Artichoke Music, but in the meantime Paul K Ward, pianist, composer, engineer and all around helpful person is recording these new episodes from his studio blue. I have to tell y...
Jan 13, 2025•1 hr
Sorry that there hasn’t been a new episode of Coffeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music for a few weeks. I’ve been looking at the four walls of a hospital room and then recovery at home, but most of that is behind me and here we go again, just in time for this year’s Montavilla Jazz Festival. With me is guitarist, composer, teacher and PJCE Records honcho Ryan Meagher, no stranger to this podcast. He’ll be performing at the festival but he’s much more than that these days. The festival runs fro...
Aug 28, 2024•30 min
I wonder if you know that Lee Dorsey, the great New Orleans Soul and R&B singer, famous for songs like Ya Ya, Workin In a Coal Mine, and many others, was also known as the best body and fender man in New Orleans. We have an equivalent in Oregon. Kenny Goldstein has been a part of the music scene in Oregon for decades, a bass player in multiple genres and an ace auto mechanic. He has helped keep my last four beaters on the road, to be transparent. But do they have anything to do with each oth...
Jul 23, 2024•41 min
In A Summer full of music festivals, one of the loveliest, happiest of them all is the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. It happens Friday through Sunday, July 19-21. This is the 44th annual festival. It has gone through a lot of changes, some good and some not so good. These days it’s run by the Jazz Society of Oregon and one of the directors is Yvonne Lerch who is in Artichoke Music with me. She’s been on the Oregon music scene, in one form or another for a long time. The festial is free, so even ...
Jul 15, 2024•30 min
Hi. Tom D’Antoni back in The Artichoke for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Next time our guest will be Yvonne Lerch, director of the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival which is coming up soon. Also upcoming right here will be bass player Kenny Goldstein, who is also an ace car mechanic. And you’ll be happy to hear that OMN National Editor Art Levine has completed his mammoth story, not for us…and it turns out his appearance on this podcast is a double- header, half on UFO’s and half on AI. Today,...
Jun 30, 2024•34 min
Hi. Tom D’Antoni back in The Artichoke for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Next time our guest will be Yvonne Lerch, director of the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival which is coming up soon. Also upcoming right here will be bass player Kenny Goldstein, who is also an ace car mechanic. And you’ll be happy to hear that OMN National Editor Art Levine has completed his mammoth story, not for us…and it turns out his appearance on this podcast is a double- header, half on UFO’s and half on AI. Today,...
Jun 29, 2024•34 min
In the coming weeks, Amanda Gresham of United By Music will be here. Yvonne Lerch will stop by to talk about curating the Cathedral Park Festival. Art Levine, our National Editor hasn’t finished his 5 thousand word piece yet…and it isn’t even for us. And you’ll meet Kenny Goldstein a bass player and mobile car mechanic. Today Tim DuRoche pays us another visit. He’s a great hang and a terribly smart guy, a musician and former Jazz journalist. There’s a new Battle Hymns and Gardens album with the ...
Jun 14, 2024•40 min
Springtime at the Artichoke. Coming up soon on Coffeeshop Conversations…Yvonne Lerch will us about curating my favorite music festival of the summer…Cathedral Park. Also, an interesting person who combines the life of a Blues musician with a car mechanic. And I promise our National Editor, Art Levine will finish his five or six thousand word piece on UFO’s in time to make an appearance here. Today Amy Maxwell, founder of Ticket Tomato who is here to fill us in on the Live Nation situation, how w...
Jun 10, 2024•15 min
Hi, Tom D’Antoni, as always, with another Coffeeshop Conversation from Artichoke Music. Coming up soon we’ll have OMN’s National Editor Art Levine with a conversation on UFO’s and music, not that they have anything to do with each other. Also upcoming, Ticket Tomato’s Amy Maxwell on the Live Nation controversy, Yvonne Lerch on booking the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. A new episode every week. Today, Adam East is in the building. He’s been at the Alberta Rose Theatre since it opened in 2010 and ...
Jun 05, 2024•40 min
Six years ago, the last time David Monette was our guest on Coffeeshop Conversations, we called him “Portland’s Stradivari” because the trumpets he designs and builds are the equivalent of a Stradivarius violin…and he makes them for some of the world’s greatest musicians at his shop out near the airport in Portland. He's back because he has a new book called “Calculus of Life: A Practical Guide to Transcendence.” What does that have to do with music? According to David, just about everything. He...
May 18, 2024•55 min
Back in the Artichoke today with singer/actor Lo Steele, daughter of Portland’s LaRhonda and Mark Steele. Coming up soon…trumpet genius David Monette with his new book on transcendence, our National Editor Art Levine on UFO’s and (maybe) music, plus Adam East the talent buyer from the Alberta Rose Theater. But right now Lo Steele is sitting across from me. We’re so lucky in Oregon to have musician families like this one. After you’ve listened to this one, Follow the link to a video episode with ...
May 13, 2024•38 min
I hardly know what to say. Eddie Martinez, one of the best known session guitarists in history just left the Café at Artichoke Music after nearly an hour of inspired conversation. Now look. I don’t mean to disparage the over four hundred other guests we’ve had on in ten years of OMN’s Coffeeshop Conversations but this one is at or near the top. It’s the third time he’s been on the podcast. I asked him to join me because he has a gig at Jack London Revue on Friday May 3rd. He also has a new EP on...
Apr 29, 2024•48 min
Every year at this time, we get together with Peter Dammann, Artistic Director of the Waterfront Blues Festival and ace guitar slinger to find out who’s in the festival lineup. He's joining me in the Artichoke Music Café. Next week Lo Steele will be here and coming up guitarist Eddie Martinez and also OMN’s National Editor Art Levine will be talking to us from Washington D.C. But now lets turn our attention to the fourth of July and the shores of the Willamette where tens of thousands of fans ga...
Apr 26, 2024•46 min
As promised, with me in the Café at Artichoke Music is Jennifer Carrizo, Senior Talent Buyer for the Crystal Ballroom, the Mission Theater and the Spanish Ballroom in Tacoma, all part of McMenamin’s wonderfully funky empire. It’s hard to believe we haven’t had many from the venue management side of de bizz eh nezz. But here we are. What does a talent buyer do? Senior or not. I’ll tell you this, the reason you can go out and hear music is because the talent buyer has made a deal which brought tha...
Apr 18, 2024•38 min
I’m happy we’re back here in the café at Artichoke Music.. Next week, Jennifer Carrizo from McMenamin’s will be here to talk about what’s going on at the Mission Theater…the answer is a lot! But this week a new conversation from a couple of months ago (and I apologize for the delay) with one of our best singers and songwriters, Anandi. She has a lot to say about Jazz singing, especially the Latin variety. At the time we talked she had just released a new album called A Better Way. We’ll hear a t...
Apr 10, 2024•34 min
We’ll be back at the Artichoke Music Café next time but this episode had to be recorded today, before a fund raiser to help complete a documentary on the life and death of one of Oregon’s favorite musicians, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist member of Pink Martini and Lions of Batucada among others; Derek Reith who committed suicide in August of 2014. Today Director Joanie Fox will talk to us about Derek, the film and the fund raiser which is being held at Pink Martini World Headquarters i...
Mar 31, 2024•28 min
