We’re looking forward to a night out this week; Small Potatoes return to Talkeetna. It’s been about 6 years since they were here, they played a house concert at Fireweed Station. Yep, that’s right, Small Potatoes right here in our timber-frame Studio - I’m so gald they’re playing over at Whole Wheat Radio this time! We can relax and enjoy the show - I’m sure it’s going to be an energizing performance, I can’t reccommend it enough…
Tom & I hosted a few house concerts over the years, we loved having the musicians in our home and have made some close friends. House concerts are an up-close & personal way to experience live music, sometimes you feel that they’re playing just for you - oh yes, I s’pose there were a few times when they were playing just for us…!
Thankfully, things have changed - enter Whole Wheat Radio. An online radio station created by Jim Kloss and his many listeners. Of course there’s much more to it than that, so you should go to the website www.wholewheatradio.org They’re dedicated to supporting independent musicians and have probably been working to organize the Small Potatoes concert long before you & I will think about putting the date on our calendar. (Actually there’s no need for a calendar ‘cause Jim has even trained his dog to call you with a friendly reminder). Of course if you’re too lazy to get off the couch, or too far away, you can tune in online www.wholewheatradio.org
For me, Whole Wheat Radio (WWR) has much more fibre, not just an interactive webpage, you can actually take a bite and chew! Jim and his partner, Esther, have gone through the same kind of restoration project with the Whole Wheat Palace as we did with our old log house. They have created a kind of community centre, in the centre of our communities, not just in hip “downtown Talkeetna”. People you might never meet elsewhere go to WWR for all kinds of reasons/activities/live music/computer help, but the main reason seems to be because it feels to be a non-judgemental, welcoming place. Now, I think I know Jim well enough to mention that he can be an opinionated old fart, so it’s even more amazing that he opens up his world to the unwashed and unenlightened. Maybe his experiment in human sharing will bring the rest of us around to the idea of a harmonius existence - we should thank Jim for his patience; we’re all still learning.
So what can we give back to Jim, Esther & WWR?
IT’S SIMPLE - GO TO THE SHOW, SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MUSICIANS, AND DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE SOMETHING IN THE TOILET FOR THE CONTINUATION OF A TRUE COMMUNITY RESOURCE!!
