(Graphic | Courtesy of Tune Tours Quartet)
A note from Jon Deshler
I am sending this note to inform you all that we will be heading to Baker County this weekend for two performances at the Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, and one at the Geiser Pollman Park in Baker City, Saturday at 5pm.
It has been an interesting and busy summer, and we will be doing two tours east this month. We’ll be headed back on Saturday the 25th as well.
We continue to perform locally, this last Labor Day weekend we had successful and fun performances at Scandals in downtown Portland, and the Oregon Crafters Market in Silverton. For over five years, along with my collaborators we’ve been actively performing all over the Willamette Valley.
Initially, with these two trips east, I had hoped to create connections and synergies that would bring us to more diverse areas in the east, and broad audiences from Dayville to Wallowa and beyond, however, given the COVID situations, broadly and regionally, it appears that normal operations and situations are not forthcoming at this time. For me it is sad that I couldn’t get us any school performances particularly, or community building outdoor events with our unique offering and approach in Joseph, Enterprise, Pendleton, etc. We are a serious collective of sophisticated musicians that perform a broad array of styles and genres of music for diverse audiences, with heart and insight.
Ideally some of the connections that I’ve made this summer, in far reaching parts of our beautiful state, may lead to new performance opportunities next summer, we can only hope that we are collectively moving forward by then.
If you are anywhere out east I encourage you to come check out at least one of our performances. We will be doing our best to create at least one, possibly two, humble self-produced video productions out east to share broadly with our virtual audiences as well, so far on our own and on our own dime. Funding and support has not been forthcoming, despite efforts and conversations in this direction, and in light of the fact that all we do is about building awareness, marketing communications and synaptic connections.
My small dream was that we could get our acoustic American Standards combo to all regions of our state, and create synergy and conduits through the music to diverse communities, and children all over. Imagine a musical bridge. We have made some progress in this mission, but I hope that in the future our efforts can be maximized, and that our tours can be more robust, and particularly in smaller rural communities. It is all about the act of sharing. I imagine an ARTS TRAIL or HIGHWAY in the state of Oregon that supports and nurtures creativity and ingenuity in all of our population, which could as well make it practical for artists to travel broadly and share all over.
For those of you that I had conversations with, and that engaged in the possibility; I say, thank you! Please stay in touch, and please support the love of live music!
Hope to see you soon!
Sincerely,
Jon Deshler