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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2015
PARTING SHOT
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
A red-shafted flicker woodpecker takes flight in Long Beach, Wash., in June after foraging in a yard. The medium-sized woodpecker is of the northern flicker family of birds that
reside throughout North America, and is one of the few woodpecker species that migrate.
DAMIAN MULINIX — EO Media Group
Venue: ‘There’s no stress; everyone’s pretty laid back’
Continued from Page 1C
“We didn’t quite know what
that meant.”
“The dude is the real deal.
What she and her husband
And yet he comes and plays did was create a music pro-
here in a 100-capacity venue gram that gives bands an ex-
for what we can afford to pay perience of hospitality worth
someone, which is not any- returning for. And, after they
where near, I’m sure, what brought Holbrook on board
he’s used to being paid,” he two years ago, word got out
said. “But he loved it here, real quick. Now, almost ev-
and I guarantee you he’ll be ery musical slot is booked
back.”
through December, “which is
crazy,” Holbrook said.
Symbiosis
Last year, the trio set up an
It helps that the Turners are artist-in-residence program,
musicophiles with an abiding mostly for the weeknights.
love of live shows. They un- Bands spend two to four
derstand, Holbrook said, that days on the coast, staying in
the relationship between ven- a two-story, two-bathroom
ue and band works best when apartment with bunk beds, a
it is symbiotic rather than ad- living area and a full kitchen.
versarial — when musicians
“You can basically just
are treated as guests rather hole up in there and do what
WKDQ DV IUHVK PHDW WR ¿OO WKH you will, break out the guitars
stage and make money for the and jam,” Holbrook said.
owners.
And, at night, the bands
“When you’re on tour, play Pickled Fish.
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Brainstorms
you’re eating crappy food,
Once summer is over, the
you feel terrible, you’ve been
playing for 10 or 11 nights in Turners plan to discuss the
a row, and you’ve been in the possibility of setting up a sep-
van all day,” he said.
arate recording studio.
And to come to a place
A studio, should it become
where the staff is grateful to part of the artist-in-residence
have you and the patrons ea- program, will function like
ger to hear you — which isn’t a classic beach bungalow,
always the case — can be a where artists escape from
“breath of fresh air,” he said.
their routine and get down to
Plus, at Pickled Fish, the the business of creation, Hol-
musicians “get to stare at the brook said.
ocean and catch some amaz-
His hope is that, once the
ing sunsets while you play,” artists arrive, “they get it. And
Claborn said. “They also feed then they’re like, ‘I know you
you better than almost any can’t pay me $3,000 to play
place I’ve ever played.”
here on a Wednesday night,
but I don’t care, because I’m
Music program
going to record during the
The Turners purchased the day, and come get some oys-
80-room hotel in 2011, then ters, and then rock out for a
took over the space that was bunch of people who are real-
The Lightship Restaurant in ly appreciative.”
2012, which they renovated
The rockin’ out presents
using a lot of reclaimed wood, yet another possibility: re-
renaming it Pickled Fish.
cording live shows, “at least
“We knew we wanted mu- in a good enough quality that
sic here,” Tiffany Turner said. you could put it online and not
JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian
Luke Ydstie and Kati Claborn perform at Pickled Fish in early June.
be embarrassed,” he said. And
perhaps this could lead to a
compilation album or two, he
added.
But recordings of any sort,
whether in a studio or from
the stage, are still just brain-
storms, Holbrook said. For
now, their plans for Pickled
Fish involve expanding the
nightly musical offerings,
building clientele and grow-
ing a reputation as a retreat
for those who enjoy music
and those who produce it.
“I’ve told a lot of my mu-
sician friends about this place,
and I’ve told them that they
need to stop in here,” Noble
said. “It’s not that far from
Portland, and you can swing
past here on your way back to
Seattle. It’s a cool, easy place
to play. There’s no stress; ev-
eryone’s pretty laid back —
they live on the beach, so why
wouldn’t they be?”
ERICK BENGEL — The Daily Astorian
Blake Noble, left, an Australian musician currently based in Seattle, breaks down the bar-
riers between himself and his audience while performing at Pickled Fish. Clare Sobetski,
center, and Joey Kern, a couple from Seattle, pause to listen to Noble’s tunes.
GE T
Y O U R CO PY
TOD AY !
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