I bought three guitars and a banjo from Artichoke when Kate Power and Steve Einhorn were the owners. I love the Martin D1 I picked up there about 15 years ago and play it almost every day.

That's awful news! I took ukulele lessons there - it is a beautiful space. :(

Artichoke always reminded me of this place, which has weathered the storms much better it seems -- a vigorous online sales dept., a happy music community (and in a much smaller city). Maybe they could work out a deal to become "Elderly Instruments West."

http://www.elderly.com/welcome.htm

Sad story. I don't play an instrument, so haven't had the chance to shop there for myself, but I did buy my daughter a ukulele for her 3rd birthday. It's her "guitar." Since this is Portland, the most likely new tenants for the building would be: yoga studio, Thai restaurant, or a bank, which seems to be the fashionable new tenant to put into a retail spot these days.

Terrible news!
Still no way I'm buying anything — not a single pick or string — from Portland Music Co.

Very sad news... I bought my first stringed instruments (mt. dulcimer, irish bouzouki, guitar) from Steve way back in the olden times. Steve, if you're reading this I still play the crap out of that Sobel 'zouk you sold me, with a pick always at the ready in that Artichoke keychain / pickholder you gave me gratis one day long ago. Thanks for many great musical memories.

With "It's a Beautiful Pizza" shut now too on Belmont, Portland has lost 2 great places where Portland musicians played live.
I'm on the Artichoke email list so I've been tracking this with a bad feeling. It still was quite a shock.

My favorite memories are when I used to stop by and clown around with Steve. He's very funny you know. One day we kicked around the idea of an expedition to the summit of Mt. Tabor complete with Sherpa guides and a base camp by the tennis courts.

Then one day I was there when Kate and Steve were performing and I must admit, I was floored. I still think of their song about Travis Baradach-Nall as the definitive song of the Iraq War. One of the defintive songs of all wars.

The new guys were great too. I filmed Will Hobbs in there a couple of times - one time his mother and daughter were in the crowd and it was community folk-singing magic. The sound was great and the room looked so interesting - like a deliberate movie set.

This is a huge bummer as was losing Carl's soulful presence on Belmont. Remember when he was on the Oregonian front page after the city stuck him with a ridiculous tax bill for crossing the street?
After all the times I played there and the old place, I never even got a chance to say good-bye. At least Artichoke is going out with some warning, and they mention that they want everyone to drop by on the way out.
This is epic. Somebody's got to write a song!

This is epic. Somebody's got to write a song!

True that.

All 'Choked Up.

I agree with none...Somebody has GOT to write a song. Artichoke deserves that.

Indeed, I'd think there'd be a whole raft of sad ballads about this incident.

Yeah...I'm all 'Choked up, too.

Actually, I was seconding Bill McDonald's suggestion.

But, yeah, somebody ought to write a song.

Come to think of it, I bet Kate and Steve probably have a couple.