Oregon Music News

Kate Power and Steve Einhorn and Modoc, the Oversized Econoline

Seventeen Thousand Miles in a Ford Econoline named Modoc. Two dozen Ukuleles, a gaggle of guitars, and life’s possessions in storage. If that doesn’t sound like the refrain from a folk song, then we’re not talking about Kate Power and Steve Einhorn, well known as the 26-year caretakers of Artichoke Music on Hawthorne.

Power and Einhorn handed the Artichoke keys to Richard Colombo and Jim Morris in 2006 to pursue a full-time career performing music. In October of 2009 they sold their house and moved into an oversized Econoline van (left) to travel the country singing and playing. They recently parked “Modoc” in front of Costello’s Travel Caffe and shared stories from the road.

Leaving Artichoke…

“We don’t miss the store,” says Einhorn. (Kate immediately contradicts with a resounding “YES we miss the store.”) Einhorn continues, “We miss the people. But they are coming to our shows, and we see them on the road. We’re happy the store is in caring hands.”

“It was a blast being there. It was the gateway to a tribe. It was the love of music that we all had. Every day was romantic, and it brought in heritage, culture and kids.”

“We were so accustomed to having a place, but we had to move out of our home. We were going to rent, but we realized that it was just like our old house, and that Kate couldn’t stand up on the second story unless she had a pointy head,” says Einhorn. “So we rented a storage unit, stashed everything, and went on a road trip.”

“There are mornings I wake up terrified, and some I wake up excited,” says Power. “I’m grappling with accepting – enjoying – the part of me that I’ve avoided. All of a sudden, I’m starting to feel like I’m good at this, and I’m happiest when I’m doing it.”

“I’ll tell you – Wednesday, it was pouring rain – and we were headed down to this elementary school. Six years old are intimidating – I didn’t know what to expect. I have to admit feeling kind of depressed, but the minute we started, it was ok – something happens. I find the material, its in there. The next day I woke up feeling so happy. This is what I need to be doing.”

Road trip…

Seventeen thousand miles covers a lot of ground, and the Quality Folk calendar lists events from New York, California, Washington and Oregon.

Powers says, “We were driving up the Avenue of the Giants, admiring the redwood trees. I was just inspired to play a song for them. I have on a funny hat, felted fiber with puppy ears (very warm) and this song just erupted. I’m hoping to go viral.”

“In Wichita Kansas, there was a box turtle crossing the road,” relates Einhorn. “Kate yells STOP. I got out, chatted with it a bit, then moved it off the road. For us, that turtle represented hope and survival. What a joy to pick up a turtle and save its’ life. It reminded me of Old Barbershop.”

Ukalaliens…

Normal musicians travel with a few extra instruments, but carrying 28 Ukuleles seems excessive – possibly compulsive? Actually, the Ukulele agglomeration is part of the show. Along the way, Power and Einhorn have launched a career teaching Ukulele to Ukalaliens – their name for a new Uke player.

“We’ve taught 2,247 new Ukalaliens. All those years in the store when someone would walk in, looking a little bewildered, we’d hand them a Ukulele.” says Power. “Now we teach workshops. Music is good for people and we’re spreading it around.”

Steve Einhorn blindfold testing a Mya-Moe uke

Power and Einhorn transport two kinds of Ukulele’s; Kala and Mya-Moe.

“Kala makes a great working-class Uke,” says Einhorn. “They stay tuned, they are easy to play and they’re inexpensive.”

“We also use Mya-Moe Ukes,” mentions Power. “They’re manufactured in White Salmon, Washington. Steve did a blindfold test – he really liked the way they played.”

Guabi Guabi…

Einhorn and Power relate an interesting story of how their music traveled around the world. It revolves around a South African Zulu song called “Guabi Guabi” …

“This is a very popular song in Zimbabwe, Fritz Richmond performs it a lot, and taught it to Steve, who it turn, taught it to me,” says Power. “We put it in the Ukalaliens song book, and then Steve gets a letter from Peter Vickary, who publishes music in Australia. Turns out that Peter had been raised in Zimbabwae, and was googling for the original song by George Sibanda – but we turned up instead. Peter is considering publishing the Ukalaliens book because of that connection.”

We’re moving to Olympia….

“There’s so much in-between our gigs. Home. Being a parent. Being a daughter,” says Power. “Our community has suddenly expanded, we’ve fell in love with place after place. It was never what we expected. So many people and places that said ‘Live here with us.’”

Power and Einhorn have decided to take up residence in Olympia, Washington to be closer to family. But that doesn’t mean they won’t be back in Portland on a regular basis.

“We’ll be performing on July 7th at the Alberta Rose Theater, and doing a Uke sing-a-long on the 23rd of September. We keep our calendar up to date,” says Einhorn. “Plus, we have a new album out, Brick and Mortar, that has music from the minute we left Artichoke music up to today. We became our own Brick and Mortar.”

As I’m leaving the interview, Kate and Steve are poetically negotiating Modoc into traffic – as poetic as you can be with a double-height Econoline van. But it suits their lifestyle.

“We have gotten to stay in the finest places with the friendliest people,” closes Power. “We’ve been taken very good care of, in ways that all the money of the world couldn’t have done better. We gets lots of emails from people figuring out their transitions – fortunately, we’re doing what we love and that’s working.”