Title lyric from the Grateful Dead’s “St. Stephen” SPEAKERS: Shannon McMenamin, Tim Hills, Mike McMenamin, Jon Smart, Brian McMenamin, Poison Waters, Elysia Scholl, and Caitlin Popp With archival audio including James Brown, Lyle Hehn, Kolieha Bush, Poison Waters and Bruce Maccabee I. Historical Pit Stop: A James Brown Story Kind of Explains It All 0:00…
Read More
Tales of Roseburg’s Rich Rail Culture As Told by Those Who Lived It “The human element just isn’t there any more. I mean, where you have a hundred-car train and an engineer and conductor sitting up there in the head end and a red light back on the end of the train . . .…
Read More
SPEAKERS Shannon McMenamin, Mike McMenamin, Jimi Biron, Scott Avett, Dan McMenamin, Tim Hills Shannon McMenamin 00:06 You’re listening to The Red Shed Tapes, and I’m your host Shannon McMenamin. Today we’re talking about music, one of my all-time favorite topics. Music has always played a big part in my life, serving as a backdrop for…
Read More
Throwback to a McMenamins newsletter article in the December 2007/January-February 2008 issue With the flurry of excitement about this weekend’s wintery weather forecast, we thought it was time to take stock of our many fireplaces, and in doing so, we stumbled across an old article! Much of what was written in this 2007-8 piece still…
Read More
When McMenamins Edgefield first opened in 1991, a marching band of bagpipers in kilts played “Amazing Grace” to herald a new era for the former Multnomah County Poor Farm. This pomp and circumstance was an echo of the past, reminiscent of the military band drills that high school cadets practiced at the Bealey Military Academy,…
Read More
Under the reddish glow of a neon ceiling at the Barley Mill Pub back in 1984, Mike McMenamin penned the first installment of the story “The Adventures of Captain Neon.” No stranger to the glorious subtleties of illumination, inspiration struck when Mike considered the pulsing glow of a newly filled neon tube. In a classic…
Read More
SPEAKERS Mike McMenamin, Shannon McMenamin, Thursday Jane, Brian McMenamin, Patrick McNurney Shannon McMenamin 00:00 Hi, I’m Shannon McMenamin, host of The Red Shed Tapes and part of the leadership team running our family owned company. Growing up, my dad always drove a van; my brothers and I spent a lot of time rolling around in…
Read More
I’m Shannon McMenamin, host of The Red Shed Tapes. Growing up, my dad always drove a van; my brothers and I spent a lot of time rolling around in the back of those vans. In the center between the bucket seats, he always had a cassette holder full of bootlegs of Grateful Dead shows. They…
Read More
Music can be a key into another place and time. For No-No Boy, songs contain clues to follow, like a sonic time capsule. Portland-based singer, songwriter, and scholar Julian Saporiti is the mind and heart behind No-No Boy. This music-meets-history project is the manifestation of Julian’s doctorate dissertation at Brown University, from where he holds…
Read More
Hal was always running around like crazy, with a big, warm greeting for everybody. You could hear him from across the restaurant. It wasn’t just that his voice carried throughout the place. You felt him buzzing around! Hal Finkelstein couldn’t make an enemy, even if he tried. Earnest and genuine with a mischievous twinkle in…
Read More