In three-plus years of blogging, I've never hit readers up for money. I don't run paid ads, and except for a few months when I was sponsored by Marqui, I haven't taken a nickel out of this hobby.

That's why I'm going to ask you all to bear with me for the next week or so as I hawk tickets for a charity event. It's a fundraiser, but it's not your average fundraiser -- not by a longshot. It promises to be a unique, artsy, musical, delicious, and very cool evening. It's called Pulse, and there's been a link to the official event website right up near the top of the main page of this blog for a while now.

Here are the bare bones of the story:

Thirty-five Portland artists (mostly visual artists) will converge on a large space called Staver Locomotive in industrial Northwest Portland on Saturday afternoon, October 15. Beginning at 1 p.m., they will each labor for eight hours creating one or more new works of art. Beginning at 5, guests will arrive and eat and drink as they wander around and observe. At that point, "Auditory Sculpture," a.k.a. local music adventurer Keith Schreiner, will begin making his unique brand of music to enhance what the visual artists are doing.

At 7 p.m., a second, larger wave of guests will show up. More food, drink, music. There will be a silent auction, ending at 9 or so, when all the art work created that day will be sold. After the bidding stops, Pepe and the Bottle Blondes will take over, and dancing will begin. Things should stay rolling until around 11.

There will be serious comestibles available. Everything is donated, and the proceeds will benefit a wonderful charity known as the Children’s Heart Foundation, Oregon Chapter. This is a fairly new, local, nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization set up to help fund research into diagnosing, treating, and preventing congenital heart defects. Of course, the prime movers in this effort are parents whose children have these defects. Years ago, these kids would not have had a childhood. Now they do, but there are many difficulties behind the brave smiles, and the future is not assured.

Tickets are not cheap. Guests who arrive at 7 or thereafter will pay $45 apiece. "VIP" types who show up at 5 for the sneak preview will pay $100 apiece. And then some of them will buy some substantial works of art, with all proceeds going to the cause. Did I mention it's a benefit?

I'm sure you get a million of these pitches. But hey, this one's coming from me.

O.k., that's enough for now. Be forewarned, however: I'm not done with my sales campaign just yet.