Live Music Lives Again: Joel Myrene’s Vision for Wenatchee’s Next Generation of Musicians

In this episode of the Exploring Washington State podcast, Scott Cowan sits down with Wenatchee local and music enthusiast Joel Myrene for a lively conversation packed with nostalgia, community spirit, and a love of live music. Recorded in the historic Wenatchee Prosperity Lodge 301, Joel takes us on a journey from his punk rock roots to his mission of reviving Wenatchee’s music scene today.

Joel shares his story of growing up in Wenatchee, discovering punk rock through skateboarding, and organizing his first shows in unlikely venues like the Odd Fellows Hall and the old Fifth Street Armory. With a deep commitment to creating opportunities for younger musicians, Joel reflects on the thriving music culture of the 90s and how he’s bringing that same energy back to Wenatchee with all-ages shows that inspire the next generation.

We also dive into Joel’s role in organizing the Apple Valley Record Expo, a passion project born from the region’s hunger for vinyl and the absence of record stores within 90 miles. Joel recounts the challenges and triumphs of putting on this event, from coordinating vendors to drawing crowds hungry for rare finds.

This episode is a love letter to Wenatchee, its creative spirit, and the power of music to connect generations. Whether you’re a fan of punk rock, an aspiring musician, or someone curious about Wenatchee’s evolving arts scene, this conversation will leave you inspired and itching to attend the next local show.

 Highlights:

• Joel’s early days organizing punk rock shows in Wenatchee in the late 90s
• The return of live music to the historic Odd Fellows Hall
• The Apple Valley Record Expo and its impact on Wenatchee’s music lovers
• Why fostering opportunities for young musicians is Joel’s top priority
• Behind-the-scenes stories of booking big names, like Krist Novoselic of Nirvana

Don’t miss this episode if you’re curious about how music, community, and a touch of punk rock DIY spirit are shaping Wenatchee today. Joel’s story proves that you don’t need a big stage to make a big impact.

Listen now and discover why Wenatchee’s music scene is worth paying attention to!

Joel Myrene Episode Transcript

Scott Cowan [00:00:04]:

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Exploring Washington State podcast. My name is Scott Cowan, and I’m the host of the show. Each episode, I have a conversation with an interesting guest who is living in or from Washington State. These are casual conversations with real and interesting people. I think you’re gonna like the show. So let’s jump right in with today’s guest. Alright. I am sitting here today with Joel Myrene, and we are doing this in the Wenatchee Prosperity Lodge 3 O ones lower level of the, of the Odd Fellows hall.

Scott Cowan [00:00:36]:

I haven’t been in here in a couple of years, Joel. First off, it’s looking a lot better.

Joel Myrene [00:00:39]:

Thank you.

Scott Cowan [00:00:40]:

Thank you. It’s looking great. Joel’s gonna be telling us today. So this is what I’ll set the stage. Joel grew up in win Wenatchee. Like, most of us do, he left the hometown because that’s what I did. Mhmm. And he went to Bellingham.

Scott Cowan [00:00:54]:

He moved back to Wenatchee. But in between then or tying all these together, you played in punk rock shows Mhmm. Right here. Yep. And 30 years later, 25 years later?

Joel Myrene [00:01:09]:

Yeah. About 25, probably.

Scott Cowan [00:01:10]:

25 years later, you’re promoting shows right here. And also the Apple Valley Record Expo. I can never say that without stumbling. You need a new name.

Joel Myrene [00:01:21]:

Can you

Scott Cowan [00:01:21]:

help me? No. And and so I wanna talk to you today about lots of things music related in Wenatchee. Mhmm. You. We’re gonna get some Odd Fellow stuff in here. We’ll probably even talk baseball for a second. So, Joel, welcome.

Joel Myrene [00:01:34]:

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Scott Cowan [00:01:39]:

Let’s get some housekeeping out of the way. We’re recording this in late November. We’re gonna put it out really, really early in December because on December 7th, you’re having a show here. Why don’t you pitch the show first?

Joel Myrene [00:01:51]:

Yeah. So Saturday, December 7th. I’m trying to do maybe about 4 shows each winter, you know, spring type season, when the weather is bad and, people wanna be more indoors. So Saturday, December 7th, it’ll be star Anna from Ellensburg. She’s the headliner, I would say, in name, but she’ll be playing second to last. And then, a younger band, I think they’re about 19, 20 year olds, out of Tri Cities called Deluxe Marble Race. And then, Ron from the Comet Magazine and Sarah, they have a duo, Deep Green Sea, and they’re playing second. And the openers are a group of, like, 10 to 13 year olds from Wenatchee and to Leavenworth area.

Joel Myrene [00:02:36]:

And I kinda got the parents in contact with each other, you know, asking, hey, is there any young musicians out here that wanna play in a band with others, you know. So I got the parents together, you know, 3 or 4 months ago. And they formed a band, and they’ve been kinda practicing as much as they can. It it’s hard geographically and, you know, if you have a family getting all the kids together with them, but, they’re gonna play their first show. And what are they called? They are called Brownie Blooms.

Scott Cowan [00:03:06]:

Do we know why? I have no idea why. I have no idea why. Let’s just put that out there. Okay. And so this is gonna be their first time playing live.

Joel Myrene [00:03:14]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:03:15]:

And they’re in middle school? Probably. Yeah. Maybe late elementary, but middle school?

Joel Myrene [00:03:21]:

Yeah. And there’s kind of a rich history of bands that young in the Wenatchee area. Kind of some sixties garage bands. I think, like, Billy and the Kids, maybe in the sixties. They were middle school age band. Gotcha. There’s a Wenatchee record label called Julian Records in town. And, they put out these younger musicians, the Talsman, Billy and the kids.

Joel Myrene [00:03:46]:

I am completely spacing on, oh, the chargers. The chargers. Yeah. And, so there’s kind of a history of of bands that age. And they all kind of sound they have that jangly garage sound because I think when they were starting, they don’t know how to play very well. And so they’re very, you know, they’re they’re not as fluid. They kinda sound like a just, you know, raw garage band.

Scott Cowan [00:04:13]:

So what they lack in talent, they make up for enthusiasm? Is that kind of the

Joel Myrene [00:04:17]:

It sounds amazing. I love that that type of music. It’s just very raw and kinda primitive. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:04:23]:

So that’s coming up on December 7th. Mhmm. This will be what the how many shows have you put on here

Joel Myrene [00:04:31]:

Recently? Recently. I think this will be the 4th. Okay. Yeah. In about a year. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:04:37]:

Yeah. Yeah. This will be the 4th. How hard is it for you to find musicians? Because I know you’ve had somebody from Bellingham, but you have connections to Bellingham. But Bellingham, we’ve got Tri Cities now. We got Ellensburg, sorry, and his bands. I think a lot of them are in Seattle. Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:04:56]:

You know, there’s not, there’s not a lot of Wenatchee talent that’s currently playing. So how is it for you to find people to come here to Wenatchee and play? And then if we’re being honest, this isn’t a great room. Mhmm. It’s it’s low ceilings. There’s no stage. No stage. No no stage. And but it’s a room.

Scott Cowan [00:05:19]:

Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:05:19]:

And Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:05:20]:

We were lacking rooms in Wenatchee.

Joel Myrene [00:05:21]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:05:22]:

So what’s your process like to how are you how are you identifying, reaching out, and ultimately convincing them to come and play?

Joel Myrene [00:05:31]:

So your out of town band, sometimes it’s it it’s almost a harder sell at first because you’re while I’ve booked shows since I was about 15 years old, so some of them I have rapport with from years ago. So initially, it was a gamble on their part to see, like, hey. What’s the turnout gonna be here? Like, my buddies, Dryland from Bellingham that came over. And you’ve interviewed Brad on a previous podcast. And so they kinda took a gamble. I didn’t know how it was gonna turn out, and, you know, the show went amazing. It was packed. And, so I usually if it’s an out of town band, I try to get somebody that’s pretty established that maybe I have some rapport with from the past, so that helps, mixed with another local band.

Joel Myrene [00:06:17]:

And that’s pretty easy to find usually because bands are probably, they’re always looking to play. The hard part is finding and what I’m the main thing with me, I’m trying to create a space where younger musicians can play, and play in front of their peers. So, you know, when I was in high school and everything like that, there was a 1000000 bands around here of that age. And now, that’s just not the case. So every show, the goal is to have, you know, a middle or high school age band play and help you know, they play to their friends, maybe their friends pick up an instrument and say, hey, this isn’t too hard. And that’s that’s the goal.

Scott Cowan [00:06:54]:

But If Scott can do it, I can do it.

Joel Myrene [00:06:56]:

Yeah. Okay. Well, one of the things I

Scott Cowan [00:06:59]:

like about what you’re doing is that these are all all ages shows. Mhmm. So it’s not because it’s I okay. It’s been a long time since I was underage. Mhmm. But there’s not a lot of things for underage kids to do musically in Wenatchee. Right. So you’re really I think you’re providing a a great service.

Joel Myrene [00:07:17]:

Thank you. And it’s I’m trying to cater the music to stuff that they would be interested in, because the only places that maybe an, under 21 person could see music could be, you know, maybe an outdoor winery. They I think, you know, they allow all ages and families and but they’re not gonna wanna see a singer songwriter play Eagles covers, you know, necessarily. I you know, maybe they do, but, if if they wanna see a rock show, where can they see that? Okay. There’s and it doesn’t have to be rock. They could, you know, but also I try to open that up to them.

Scott Cowan [00:07:57]:

I mean, in my experience, most of the wineries in the North Central Washington area, the bands that are playing are primarily emphasis on on covers. Mhmm. And they mix their own originals in. But they’re the the audience is responding to that seventies eighties rock, you know? Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:08:13]:

That’s where the market is.

Scott Cowan [00:08:14]:

Whether it be the Eagles or John Mellencamp or whatever. They just oh, I I remember my high school years. Okay. We’re gonna grind the gears to go back. So you started when did you how old were you when you played your first gig?

Joel Myrene [00:08:27]:

I think I was probably 19 or 20. I got a bass or no. I got a guitar first, played it for a few months, and then my brother played bass guitar, and he gave me a bass. And then about a week later, my friends had started a band and were driving by the skate park, and, they needed a bass player, and they knew I had a bass guitar. And so I just joined the band, and I think we played our first show, maybe a month later, probably.

Scott Cowan [00:08:56]:

And were you living in Wenatchee at that time?

Joel Myrene [00:08:57]:

Yeah. Okay. I was living in Wenatchee. So I was probably 19 or 20.

Scott Cowan [00:09:00]:

19 or 20. Okay. Going back to that first band, stylistically, what was it?

Joel Myrene [00:09:09]:

Oh, it’s punk rock. Punk rock?

Scott Cowan [00:09:10]:

K.

Joel Myrene [00:09:11]:

Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:12]:

Modeled after, if we will, who who who can we who’d you draw inspiration from back then?

Joel Myrene [00:09:17]:

Oh, boy. I mean, the Ramones are probably always a big one. We’re definitely, like, a street punk type band, so maybe, like, Dropkick Murphy’s, stuff like that.

Scott Cowan [00:09:30]:

Okay. Yeah. Did you do originals?

Joel Myrene [00:09:33]:

Oh, they were all originals.

Scott Cowan [00:09:34]:

They were

Joel Myrene [00:09:34]:

all originals. I mean, we would play the occasional cover. Maybe, like, one, I think we played a Templars cover. But, yeah, I’d say 9 out of 10 songs were originals.

Scott Cowan [00:09:47]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:09:48]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:09:49]:

So how I first became aware of your existence in the world was it was a possibility that a Ramones cover band was gonna play at a baseball game. Yes. And I found out that you were in Ramones cover. But now I have to describe Joel, folks. He’s sitting here wearing a plaid outdoorsy looking shirt with short blonde hair and glasses. He does not look like what you might think of of a punk rocker, no matter what age we are. So I was a little like, really? So which Ramon would you be? Didi. You’d be Didi.

Scott Cowan [00:10:24]:

Mhmm. And how long is this Ramon’s cover band? Because what I what little I’m aware of it is, like, this very loosely held organization. Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:10:34]:

Like, well, we’ll play in 5 years. Yeah. It you know, primarily, it was a once a year thing, for the Halloween show at Wally’s in town. And we didn’t do it this last year. Just most of the people in the band, have kids and multiple kids. The drummer has 4 kids. So, it gets it gets hard for timing wise. And so we didn’t play this last year.

Joel Myrene [00:10:57]:

We we might not play next year. Might not ever play again. I don’t know.

Scott Cowan [00:11:00]:

Why not play here? All ages show you get your kids could see you play.

Joel Myrene [00:11:04]:

They could. I that would be really fun. I I just feel like I need to well, we need an we need a guitar player right now too.

Scott Cowan [00:11:12]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:11:12]:

So it’d be, it would be fun. We’d have to go through the motions in time of getting a guitar player up to speed. But Yeah. It’s The Ramones, man. I know. Take take 2 practices and call it good,

Scott Cowan [00:11:24]:

you know. Sorry. Don’t don’t disrespect to The Ramones. Great music. So as a, as a kid growing up here in Wenatchee, I’d like you to go back to when you were born and raised here from Yeah. Okay. So you you you’ve, you’ve lived your number of years.

Joel Myrene [00:11:41]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:11:41]:

So like those first, first 18 years of your life, I’d like to know what Wenatchee was like then versus today. Mhmm. What’s changed good or bad?

Joel Myrene [00:11:51]:

I mean, I feel like it it was really great growing up here, for sure. I graduated high school in 96, just for a point of reference. K. Was always really into skateboarding, and that’s how I got into music, was watching skate videos, seeing bands. And, Yeah. It I feel like there was always concerts. That was kind of a big thing. You go to concerts and, always bands playing.

Joel Myrene [00:12:17]:

But at the time you graduated high school, a lot of your friends move away. And then it seems like shows were kinda dropping off the map a little bit. There wasn’t as much to do. Mhmm. Not not a not a big music and art scene, around 90 97 or so. And, so then that’s just kinda when I you know, if there’s not something going on, that’s when you start making it happen kinda, you know. And if you wanna see a show, no one’s gonna do it for you, you know. If I mean, somebody might, but if there’s no one doing it, you gotta do it yourself.

Joel Myrene [00:12:53]:

So Okay. Yeah. So I that’s when I started putting on shows was around. I mean, I helped my brother with stuff when I was in high school.

Scott Cowan [00:13:00]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:13:00]:

But when I started doing them all by myself was around 97.

Scott Cowan [00:13:04]:

Where was your first the first show that you put together, where was it held at?

Joel Myrene [00:13:09]:

On entirely on my own. I helped with some at the at Franklin House and stuff like that. But entirely on my own, I mean, it might have been the armory on Fifth Street Really? Which is, you know, the gym in the armory. I don’t know if you could pick a a worse venue acoustically, but that might have I think that was the first one I did on my own. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:13:29]:

Okay. And how did it go?

Joel Myrene [00:13:31]:

I mean, if you look at the lineup, it was it was great. It went well. I mean, the acoustics are not great, but Mora Crux played, the catheters played. They went on to put out albums on Sub Pop. Yeah. There was, I think, 4 or 5 bands that played. It was great.

Scott Cowan [00:13:49]:

Yeah. Alright. And when was the first time you put on a show here in the Oddfellows building?

Joel Myrene [00:13:55]:

I think it was early 98. In 1998. And before that Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:13:59]:

Before you putting a show on here, there was music going on here. Right? You weren’t, like, the first one to knock on the door and go, hey. Can I use the hall?

Joel Myrene [00:14:06]:

Yeah. In the distant past, there was. Okay. I wasn’t aware of anything in that was I think maybe some people had rented it out in the nineties that were maybe 5 or 6 years older than me, and that’s a big chasm in age when you’re that young. So I wasn’t, aware of, like, maybe their shows. But there hadn’t been, I think, concerts there in 5 or 6 years, but somebody had rented out the hall for a rave. And that’s when I was aware that, oh, you can you can this hall could probably be rented for shows. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:14:36]:

And how was the first show here?

Joel Myrene [00:14:38]:

I think it was pretty sparse.

Scott Cowan [00:14:39]:

Okay. Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:14:40]:

I have pictures of it, and, yeah, it was pretty sparse.

Scott Cowan [00:14:42]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:14:43]:

Maybe 35, 40 people.

Scott Cowan [00:14:47]:

Was it upstairs or down? Upstairs. It was upstairs. Mhmm. Yeah. That’d be that that’s a little thin. Yeah. It’s a little thin. Sorry.

Scott Cowan [00:14:54]:

No no disrespect. Good on you to do it, but that’s a little thin. How in okay. You said the armory’s acoustics were suboptimal. Yeah. They’re not great in here

Joel Myrene [00:15:05]:

either, though. Yeah. They’re not. The the beauty

Scott Cowan [00:15:08]:

is I mean, no no disrespect. I mean, look, we’re we’re in a low ceiling box.

Joel Myrene [00:15:11]:

It’s gonna bounce around. Wood floors, the thing we do have in our benefit with the more recent shows is the number of people that come out. So they’ve all they’ve all, you know, reached capacity. So And

Scott Cowan [00:15:26]:

what is the current capacity? 125. Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:15:29]:

So when you get that many bodies in a room, it does help. But when you’re coming to a show here, it’s because you wanna see music. So that lends in the favor, because you’re right. I mean, acoustically, it’s just a an empty room. There’s no stage. You know. It’s you gotta be here to to wanna see music.

Scott Cowan [00:15:50]:

Right. Which I think is actually good. Mhmm. I think it’s the the the negatives are actually, in some ways, positives here.

Joel Myrene [00:15:58]:

Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:16:00]:

So how many shows do you think in the nineties do you think you put on here?

Joel Myrene [00:16:03]:

I think between, like, 97 and 2001, probably about 16 or so. Really? Yeah. Probably somewhere around there.

Scott Cowan [00:16:10]:

Okay. And when did you leave to to move

Joel Myrene [00:16:12]:

to Bellingham? September 1, 2001.

Scott Cowan [00:16:15]:

Okay. So you you left Wenatchee, and we’re gonna we’re gonna pause the Wenatchee segment Mhmm. Switch to the Bellingham segment. So you went up to Bellingham area. Did you put shows on up there?

Joel Myrene [00:16:27]:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Started, started going to community college there, and going to shows, meeting people, and then it just never stops. You know, you just get your foot in the door, you know, a club this club called The Factory would let me book shows on a Wednesday. You know? They they try out on a off night. Right? And those were going well, so then, you know, before too long, in a matter of months, you’re you can book Friday Saturday shows. And I became friends with the primary booker.

Joel Myrene [00:16:58]:

And then, you know, within 6 months, I was handling probably the majority of the weekend stuff too, along with my friend, Tom. Wow. I

Scott Cowan [00:17:08]:

wasn’t thinking about this before, so this is a question completely out of left field. Right? And there’s no wrong answer here. Was this lucrative or was it fun?

Joel Myrene [00:17:19]:

I would say in in Bellingham? Yeah. I would I would do it, and I would make a little bit of side money, but I’ve always I feel like I’ve always paid bands well from percentages that were coming in

Scott Cowan [00:17:33]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:17:33]:

In the door. It was it was another job. It wasn’t my main job. I would usually be, like, delivering pizzas since during school or something like that.

Scott Cowan [00:17:40]:

So it’s always been I you know, it’s an overused phrase. The side hustle is an overused phrase. But it’s, like, it was your side gig, but something you were interested in versus here’s your pepperoni pie. Thanks. How about

Joel Myrene [00:17:52]:

that? Until I finished until I got my degree from Western. And then after that, I, you know, after I graduated from there, I was playing music and and touring a little bit. And so then it became, my primary job. Booking then. Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:18:08]:

It’s a couple of questions. Number 1, what was your degree from Western? Sociology. Sociology. And you were playing and touring after graduating?

Joel Myrene [00:18:18]:

Yep. Yeah. And before too.

Scott Cowan [00:18:19]:

What was the name of the band after graduating?

Joel Myrene [00:18:22]:

After graduating, it would have been, I think, USS Horse Whip. USS Horse Whip. The seizures were before that, a little before graduation. We toured some too. And then I toured a lot in a band with guys from Wenatchee actually that moved to Bellingham called 84. And we that band toured a lot in 2 years. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:18:45]:

Where were some of the memorable places that that band played?

Joel Myrene [00:18:50]:

I mean, you know, there’s stuff it’s always fun to play your first time or, you know, if you have a good show in big cities like New York City or stuff like that. But usually, where you have the best shows are those random small towns in, like, maybe Texas. You know, small tiny town where no one goes through, where people it’s like a thing when a band comes through. Memorable shows, you know, the first time I played out of state, you know, we’re gonna play a house party in Chico, you know, that got, you know, broken up before we could play. So somebody else said, hey, I have a basement 2 blocks over, and we’ll play there and made it happen, and, you know, those are some or your first time playing in Austin, you know, Texas, stuff like that.

Scott Cowan [00:19:30]:

Alright. K. Part 2, follow-up to that. You you graduated with a degree in sociology Mhmm. And then you went on the road as a musician. Mom and dad, supportive? Mom and dad, worried?

Joel Myrene [00:19:45]:

They I don’t know if I’ve ever really talked to him about it to this day if they had any thoughts either way. I think I think they were probably pretty I mean, they didn’t discourage it for sure. And it made the Christmas letter every year.

Scott Cowan [00:19:59]:

So I

Joel Myrene [00:19:59]:

think they were Christmas letter. They were probably proud,

Scott Cowan [00:20:01]:

I guess. Joel played Austin this year.

Joel Myrene [00:20:05]:

Yeah. They would mention, you know, and my brother, his toured quite extensively in overseas and stuff too. So Okay. We were always mentioned in the Christmas letter. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:20:17]:

I love it. Alright. So my understanding is you’re in Bellingham about 15 years or so. So I’m gonna fast forward as well, actually, let me ask you this question. Your time in Bellingham Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:20:28]:

Did you enjoy it? Yeah. Yeah. The the music and art scene there is is just it’s great. It changes every 4 years because you get students moving in and out, starting bands, leaving bands, leaving town. But the beauty of that is you get people that are so excited to play and just have so much energy and wanna do things, whereas, you know, it becomes less stagnant. Mhmm. You do have to if you’re a music promoter and booker, you gotta keep up on that, on the changing environment Right. Where it doesn’t change as much here.

Joel Myrene [00:21:01]:

Alright. But, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:21:03]:

Alright. One last Bellingham question. Of all the shows you booked in Bellingham

Joel Myrene [00:21:06]:

Mhmm.

Scott Cowan [00:21:07]:

Is there one that sticks out? One that you’re like super proud of? Like, you put this together and it went really well or exceeded expectations?

Joel Myrene [00:21:18]:

Can I mention 2? Oh, yeah. I think, having Zeke play the factory in Bellingham at the height of where they were at to play a 150 capacity room, that was amazing. And that show, at the height of their powers and, you know, the in the middle of it, I think it was Marcy’s amp. He he tipped over his full stack, and then and behind them was a full plate glass window. It busted through the plate glass window, and then they just loaded it back through and and played. And that was kind of has gone down in Bellingham history, but that was that was just an amazing show. And the other one was probably, I think it was DMBQ from Japan, and they had a Bellingham connection because of Estrace Records. They’re playing a venue I was booking called Cheerabins.

Joel Myrene [00:22:09]:

And I also helped book it the night light down the road, and Dinosaur Junior was playing that night at the night light. And I didn’t book the Dinosaur Junior show, but since I booked there, I went backstage after the show. And they’re my favorite band. Okay. And I got to meet them. And I took, Murph and Lou, the bass player and drummer. You were you know, I was telling them I have this other show booked, and they were they were like, well, I wanna go see it. And so walked over with Murph and Lou, you know, to, to the DNBQ show right as it was the apex of it.

Joel Myrene [00:22:43]:

And they’re, you know, holding up the drummer of DNBQ and passing him around the crowd and stuff like that. And so they walked in right right to that. And yeah. It was it was great. I also did book, I guess, another special one is, Lou Barlow in Wenatchee, about 5 years ago. And that was great.

Scott Cowan [00:22:58]:

Well, we’re gonna get to your Wenatchee Yeah. Your Wenatchee resume now. So you what well, you moved back. Mhmm. Obvious question is or the easy question is why? Why’d you move? Because here’s the story. This is the true story for all of us. I think when we grow up in a smaller community, it’s I think really naturally you wanna leave. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:23:19]:

And you’re like, oh, when auntie’s boring, oh, Puyallup’s boring, you know, oh, oh, oh, you know, I couldn’t wait to get out. And so I went to Ellensburg. Not, I didn’t go anywhere big. I just went to Ellensburg. It was different. Yeah. You, you know, you stayed around a little longer after high school, but then you went to Bellingham, which is bigger than here, but you came back. I, I ended up back in to come up here for a while.

Scott Cowan [00:23:41]:

I’ve left again, but whatever. What brought you back?

Joel Myrene [00:23:45]:

Well, I met my wife in Bellingham. K. Yeah. And so, we’re married in 2015, and we just wanted to, you know, my parents are still here and they’re kinda they’re they’re aging. And so we wanted to start a family and be closer to to my parents. Okay. And just raising a family over in Bellingham versus here, here seemed like maybe a better alternative for what we were looking for.

Scott Cowan [00:24:11]:

Where’s your wife from originally?

Joel Myrene [00:24:13]:

Just outside Philly.

Scott Cowan [00:24:14]:

So she’s away from home in Bellingham or Wenatchee. It doesn’t really matter to her, does it? Yeah. Okay. Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:24:21]:

Outside of Philly, what brought her out to Western? Her best friend, was going to Western.

Scott Cowan [00:24:30]:

Oh. And

Joel Myrene [00:24:31]:

then she had a, my wife had a plane ticket, I think, a voucher for to go anywhere, and so she just went out to visit her her friend at Bellingham, liked it. And then, yeah, just moved out there,

Scott Cowan [00:24:43]:

eventually, decided to move. Everybody’s stories are interesting, aren’t they? Yeah. You know, he’s just amazing.

Joel Myrene [00:24:47]:

Glad you had that voucher

Scott Cowan [00:24:48]:

for a plane ticket. There you go. Yeah. We we might not be sitting here today. It might be a completely different story. So you moved here. How long was it before you started putting shows together back in Wenatchee again? It

Joel Myrene [00:25:03]:

was I think it was the Ramones thing started that first, you know, 5 months later, but putting on shows, I think it was a couple years, maybe 2 years. There was a garage rock band called The Schizophrenics from San Diego. Over the top, high intensity, the most amazing live show, and I had just seen some videos. And so I just messaged them. And I said, hey, if you’re coming to Washington State, let me know. I can I’ll find somewhere, you know, Central Washington.

Scott Cowan [00:25:33]:

Where’d you find them?

Joel Myrene [00:25:34]:

They played Wally’s. Okay. Yeah. I think it was a weekday show, and, I can’t remember. Yeah. I think the first one was a weekday, and I just paid them out of my own pocket because we didn’t do a cover.

Scott Cowan [00:25:48]:

So I’ve gotta ask this question because you just kind of you know, you just said, you paid them out of your own pocket.

Joel Myrene [00:25:52]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:25:54]:

November 2024. Yeah. You’re still booking shows. Mhmm. Why?

Joel Myrene [00:26:03]:

Well, I’m not paying people out of my own pocket now. That’s for sure. I just I like that band so much that they meant a lot to me. Why am I doing shows now? The I mean, there’s a weird thing that just doesn’t leave you, and you just it’s like you just have to keep doing it, but there’s gotta be a reason for it too. So, I mean, now the goal is to to try to get younger kids to play music in in bands. You know? I don’t care if it’s, you know, they could play whatever style of music, and I’ll I’ll book it if you’re, you know, a younger band wanting a space to play. And I wanna give them a space to play, but to have their friends see shows too.

Scott Cowan [00:26:42]:

Yeah. That’s awesome. From 2,001 to about 2016 Mhmm. This building that we’re sitting in, I almost say it was vacant, but it was certainly not being utilized. Mhmm. I mean, that’s a pretty I think that’s a safe assumption I’m making. I know that. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:27:01]:

How did you get reconnected here?

Joel Myrene [00:27:05]:

I think about almost ex you know, probably about 2 years ago, a friend of mine had approached me, and there wasn’t many members of the Odd Fellows here. And they’re trying to get the lodge going, get more members, and, they were just looking for people who might be interested in joining to help, you know Mhmm. Open the space up to the community, you know. And, and I just had I mean, just the best memories. You know, when you’re that young and putting on shows when I was, you know, maybe 19 to 23 years old doing shows here. It just I have good memories in the space. So it was kind of an easy sell to get me to join. I did think that, like, if I joined, I would just go to a meeting every 2 weeks, and that would be about it.

Joel Myrene [00:27:55]:

But I’ve gotten pretty involved in, like, improvements to the building, which, I mean, I like to. I like, you know, but I wanna make the space a good space that, you know, you’re not embarrassed by, right, when people come in. But that’s yeah. They knew, a guy, Dustin, that is here that’s a member of the lodge. He had gone to shows that I put on, back in the late nineties. So he, you know, famously was working at Hastings down the street, walking down from Hastings, and, just walked past the show that I was putting on in, you know, 98 or whenever. And so he started going to those shows, And he’s the one that kind of is responsible for kinda keeping the, you know, the torch of the lodge going kinda, you know, of of getting it back open again.

Scott Cowan [00:28:45]:

Right. Yeah. I think he he’s played an integral role in in, in the lodge’s revival.

Joel Myrene [00:28:53]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:28:54]:

Which might be a little optimistic of a word at this point, because it’s it’s tough. It’s it’s tough to, and this is the sales pitch part of the program, folks. If you ever thought you wanna be around a group of cool people, even with a strange name like the Odd Fellows, it’s a really great organization. I am a member. I’m currently not a member of this lodge. I’m a member of of the Olympia lodge. But it’s really it’s got great values. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:29:22]:

Yeah. And I think, it tries to do a lot of good in the communities that it’s in. Yeah. So there you go. Join up.

Joel Myrene [00:29:30]:

Yeah. It’s it’s it’s hard. There’s you know, we don’t have a lot of members, but the goal is to be an organization. You know, it’s a fraternal organization, so, technically, it’s it’s for the members. Right? But it’s also to to serve the community. So just you know, it’s it’s think of it as, like, Eagles or Masons or whatever. Elk or Rotary. Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:29:49]:

Stuff like that.

Scott Cowan [00:29:49]:

Yeah. Exactly. And, it is the longest running fraternal organization in the United States. I mean, there’s a lot, a lot of, a lot of, depth to the history of the, of the organization. Mhmm. Anyway, so we’ll jokingly say Dustin twisted your arm, got you to join. Yeah. Dangle the hall.

Scott Cowan [00:30:10]:

And for you can put shows on. I could hear Dustin in the background. Like, you could put shows on here, man. Come on. So you, you joined. Yeah. Awesome. And you gave me a tour before we sat down, and the improvements are are noticeable.

Scott Cowan [00:30:25]:

Thanks. And, you guys have done a lot of work since the last time I was in the building, and that’s that’s great. And you’re still putting shows on here, which is cool. So I gotta ask you, were you a member when when you decided to do the the the record show first? Were you already a member at that at that point?

Joel Myrene [00:30:45]:

Okay. I was a member. I kinda had this idea in my head, actually, a few months before they got a hold of me, you know, that about putting on a record show. But it was just an idea, and, you know, was thinking about shows at the hall. And, I I it must have been around the same time they approached me. I can’t really remember exactly, but, yeah, by the time I joined then shortly after, it’s, like, well, maybe I could do the the record expo here.

Scott Cowan [00:31:14]:

And did did the members receive that welcome week? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. K. Yeah. And how did the first expo go?

Joel Myrene [00:31:23]:

It was great. I mean, it you know, it’s definitely a passion project. You know, it’s not like some big moneymaker or anything. But all the vendor spots were were full. I mean, I gave away free vendor spots, you know. They could do a donation if they wanted to. But, they went well. And the turnout for buyers was really good Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:31:44]:

For the I mean, they’ve they’ve all done well, but the first one you got that kind of buzz of something new in town

Scott Cowan [00:31:50]:

Was it a paper?

Joel Myrene [00:31:52]:

Yeah. So not that the

Scott Cowan [00:31:53]:

paper’s that big of a deal anymore. Mhmm. Yeah. I hate to say it, but you you made the local news with this I remember a photo showing a lineup of people outside the front door of the hall waiting to get in. Yeah. There’s It was almost like a new iPhone was released.

Joel Myrene [00:32:11]:

There’s no record stores within an hour and a half, so people are really hungry for that. And to your point, you know, you were talking to Steve from the heats. Right? And it’s so interesting. He was mentioning they were in the Seattle Times, and overnight that just launched them. Right?

Scott Cowan [00:32:30]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:32:30]:

And you just don’t have that from any one media outlet now. Like, to do for the Record Expo though, you know, you you did the paper, you did I did radio, 2 different radio stations, social media, put up posters, join all these Facebook groups, and you get a little bit of, you know, of of heat from each one that you do, but there’s it’s so disseminated how people get their info.

Scott Cowan [00:32:56]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:32:56]:

That the time it takes to promote that is crazy. The best thing though, the closest thing to what he got from the heats was I think KPQ, not from when I went on the radio, but from an article they did. And for the 1st expo, it got, like, 470 shares or something.

Scott Cowan [00:33:15]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:33:16]:

And subsequently, it’s not gotten that many shares on the next ones. But

Scott Cowan [00:33:20]:

yeah. You said something that I find really fascinating is that there’s not a record store within an hour and a half of here. And I’m racking my brain trying to think with it where what on that is. Yeah. I mean, I guess, we go Seattle and I think of easy street in Seattle. I think of Mark Pickrell stuff like in Ellensburg, but I don’t think of that as a record store. Yeah. More, I think of it more like a, an antique booth type type of thing.

Scott Cowan [00:33:50]:

So I don’t think it was a record store. Although he’s got great great stuff.

Joel Myrene [00:33:55]:

Yeah. It I was there yesterday at Gerald’s in in Ellensburg where he sells. Yeah. And the amount of records he has has grown exponentially. So I was surprised, but Old Schools is a record store in Ellensburg. That’s right.

Scott Cowan [00:34:09]:

Okay. So I had Mark on a couple years ago, and we sat down, And this does tie in. We sat down in the studio where screaming trees recorded their first record

Joel Myrene [00:34:21]:

and it was clairvoyance.

Scott Cowan [00:34:22]:

Yeah. And, afterwards, mark took me over to his warehouse. Yeah. Have you been in his warehouse?

Joel Myrene [00:34:31]:

I haven’t. No. I’ve heard of it.

Scott Cowan [00:34:33]:

Okay. So I, for, a few years, I was the director of online sales for Tacoma Goodwill selling things online, you know, stuff from Goodwills, you know, so I, I kind of am familiar with this, the idea of going and picking and finding stuff. I’ve never seen anybody with quality and the attention to detail that that guy has.

Joel Myrene [00:34:57]:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:34:58]:

It’s, I’m just grateful I’m a tall, fat guy because I can’t wear any of it. Otherwise, I’d be broke because he’s got some really cool stuff.

Joel Myrene [00:35:06]:

He does.

Scott Cowan [00:35:06]:

Yeah. And his record selection, you know, he’s just got he’s got that. He curates just an amazing collection. And he was here at the he’s been here at all the record excellence, hasn’t he?

Joel Myrene [00:35:16]:

He’s been I think he was at the first two. Okay. The last one coincided with, one of the family member’s birthday. So he Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:35:24]:

Yeah. So I can only imagine what he travels with to a show. I I because he’s gonna be in my opinion, I’m thinking he’s putting his best foot forward for the day.

Joel Myrene [00:35:33]:

It’s highly curated, and it’s not it’s not $5 bin stuff. Right. It’s stuff, it’s it’s not crazy high dollar stuff, but the quality is off the charts. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:35:45]:

Are you are you a vinyl guy? Do you collect?

Joel Myrene [00:35:48]:

I do collect. I I don’t like, I don’t really buy many, like, expensive records per se because I I like to listen to everything I have. If I’m not gonna listen to it unless it has some sentimental value, I’m fine just getting rid of it.

Scott Cowan [00:36:02]:

Okay. Yeah. And so did you put the expo on to serve your own collection? Is that what it really was? Is it you’re, like, I’m just gonna go cherry I get to walk through before everybody else had picked what I want.

Joel Myrene [00:36:14]:

Partly, but it’s the worst plan ever because of the first expo, I didn’t get to shop almost at all because you’re just wanting to make sure everything’s going well, and you’re, you know, running around just taking care of stuff. But, subsequently, with the amount of volunteers and help it, you know, and frankly, my wife helping out so much run the booth while I go around and and shop. But yeah. Your wife says you couldn’t shop. She wouldn’t. No. I mean, no. She’s super supportive.

Joel Myrene [00:36:42]:

She, but, yeah. And also just, like, it it seems like there was nothing like that around here. So I thought it would I thought it would probably do pretty well.

Scott Cowan [00:36:51]:

I was super excited. I didn’t get to I haven’t been to any of them. They just they they never line up with me being available. Yeah. And, my barber this is a weird story, but my barber was here at the first show.

Joel Myrene [00:37:05]:

Oh,

Scott Cowan [00:37:05]:

okay. And his picture was actually in the paper. Oh. He was one of the guys in front, I think, of Pickerel’s booth or something. It was it was my barber and he’s like, hey, I was in the paper, the red there. And, you know, he he was just because he’s he he’s into vinyl and and, you know, he’s a musician and he’s into all this stuff and he thought it was great. Cool. You know, I mean, you know, there’s there’s my feedback to you as Connor thought it was great.

Joel Myrene [00:37:29]:

Thank you.

Scott Cowan [00:37:31]:

You’re putting those on now. Is it gonna be just once

Joel Myrene [00:37:33]:

a year for that? Yeah. Once a year, there was enough I feel like there was enough demand for twice a year, and I did do it twice that 1st year. It’s just it’s so much work to put into it and with a family Mhmm. And everything else. I just decided to do it once a year, and then that way, vendors also do well. Mhmm. Buyers, you can get you can get, yeah. And buyers just, you know, maybe they save up their money even more because it’s once a year.

Scott Cowan [00:37:58]:

Sure.

Joel Myrene [00:37:58]:

You know? But I wanna make it I never wanna I never wanna waste anyone’s time, especially a vendor that’s carting over 100 of pounds of records across the state. Right. Yeah. So

Scott Cowan [00:38:12]:

I have some questions I typically ask, like, business people, and I have questions I ask musicians. Unfortunately, for you, you’re gonna get kind of both. Yeah. But the question I’d love to ask everybody is what went wrong? Like, that you weren’t like, I want you to think we’re only talking about the expo here. And it could be any of the expos that you put on. What great idea did you have that just whoops. Because we all learn from it. It.

Scott Cowan [00:38:37]:

It’s like so I want I’m curious what what’s happened for you.

Joel Myrene [00:38:41]:

I think the first expo I missed I missed on doing early entry. The expo is always free to come to. Mhmm. But having an early entry where you pay

Scott Cowan [00:38:52]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:38:53]:

A small fee, that’s really the only profit margin that this thing has. And the first one I was just interested in, you know, some of those anytime you put on events, I’m, like, the 1st year or 2, you might not make anything. Right? Or break even.

Scott Cowan [00:39:07]:

Just wanna survive.

Joel Myrene [00:39:09]:

Yeah. Mhmm. And I I missed I should have done that the first expo right out of the gate because that’s pretty common for shows to do. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:39:15]:

Yeah. What went better than you’d hoped?

Joel Myrene [00:39:21]:

I think the amount of people that showed up, and you just never know. You know, the third one, is there gonna be as many as the first? I probably not, but it the numbers and the the amount of sales that the vendors have done have have definitely made it, you know, a good thing. But Okay. Yeah. What what have I done that’s worked well? Is that the question?

Scott Cowan [00:39:47]:

Yeah. Yeah. Or what surprised you?

Joel Myrene [00:39:51]:

I think the amount of people that were just so supportive and that would say, hey, is there anything I can do to help out

Scott Cowan [00:39:57]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:39:57]:

To and the amount of people that will spread the word on their own without even being asked and sharing the event and and spreading the word. Right. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:40:06]:

Yeah. Any major finds that anybody had that came out of here screaming and yelling, you know, that they

Joel Myrene [00:40:13]:

were just jazzed, that they had found something they’ve been looking for forever. I think it’s if people have been collecting records for long enough and they go to a record show, it’s hard for them to find things because they have everything.

Scott Cowan [00:40:28]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:40:30]:

But the cool thing is hearing, you know, things like, you know, Dan Coons who runs the wake up Wenatchee Valley show on NCW Life. And he’s had me on, his his TV show for each expo because he used to own that record store in town.

Scott Cowan [00:40:44]:

Oh, okay.

Joel Myrene [00:40:45]:

And so what means a lot to me is seeing someone like him come to the show and being so supportive and having me on. And for him to find a record,

Scott Cowan [00:40:55]:

Oh, there you go. Alright.

Joel Myrene [00:40:56]:

That’s pretty cool.

Scott Cowan [00:40:57]:

That is very cool. You know? Alright. So you you you join the Oddfellows. You dip your toe into a record show. Now you’re going to pitch them. You want to have a live music here. How, how did the members. Obviously, you’ve done it.

Scott Cowan [00:41:19]:

So you obviously got them to say yes. Yeah. Because you gotta get the membership to to agree that this is an idea that is good for the lodge’s reputation, the lodge physically. Yeah. Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:41:31]:

So how did you convince them? Was there any pushback? Not really. Because 2 thirds of the members of the lodge used to go to shows that I used to put on 25 years ago. The at first, there was apprehension of, hey, if we have a rock show or something, you know, are people gonna be rowdy? Are they gonna respect the space? Right. And I think and that was it. And then just, you know, making sure we’re doing it right, you know. Do you have people overseeing the crowd or, you know, just stuff like that.

Scott Cowan [00:42:01]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:42:01]:

But, yeah, there was they were really supportive and volunteered. Yeah. Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:42:06]:

The first show Mhmm. Back. Well received? Yeah. And who was the lineup for that night?

Joel Myrene [00:42:14]:

I think that one was probably Ikeris, who isn’t, you know, 8th, 9th graders at the time. Dry land from Bellingham Mhmm. With Brad that was on your show. And maybe it was Datura?

Scott Cowan [00:42:27]:

I think that’s yeah. That rings bell.

Joel Myrene [00:42:29]:

Yeah. And yeah. I mean, they’ve I’d be the first to tell you if it went poor. Yeah. You know, I’d have no problem saying that if something flopped. But it you know, I don’t know if it was just the novelty of, hey, there’s a show here again. But, yeah. I mean, they’ve all they’ve all done really well.

Scott Cowan [00:42:47]:

Well, let’s talk about Brad for a second. How you met him in Bellingham, I’m gonna guess.

Joel Myrene [00:42:52]:

Yeah. Probably when he was, like, 18 years old. I think I first met him.

Scott Cowan [00:42:55]:

Okay. And did you was he playing in bands back then?

Joel Myrene [00:42:59]:

That’s how I met him.

Scott Cowan [00:42:59]:

And so you were you were booking him?

Joel Myrene [00:43:01]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:43:01]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:43:01]:

Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:43:02]:

And so he’s a adjunct professor at Western now?

Joel Myrene [00:43:05]:

Yeah. Yeah. You

Scott Cowan [00:43:06]:

know? And, Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:43:08]:

Successful graphic designer. He hit the Bellingham flag. Yeah. All sorts of is graphic amazing graphic.

Scott Cowan [00:43:15]:

Yeah. Their his company’s done some stuff for explore Washington state. Oh, that’s right. He’s he’s a great guy. So how hard of a sell was it to get him to come over?

Joel Myrene [00:43:24]:

It was I think it wasn’t too hard. You know, I think there might have been a little apprehension at first because of just it’s not a known spot to have a show Right. And there hadn’t been one in so long. And, you know, this type of show at a Eagles or an Oddfellows or the Random Barn or something like that was super common in the nineties and maybe early 2000 Absolutely. Or VFW. Right. Those are a staple of, like, small town American music scene Mhmm. But not so much the staple now.

Joel Myrene [00:43:56]:

No. But so there was maybe a little apprehension, but, you know, I think he knows that I kinda go a little overboard on promotion and would do everything I can to make it k. Make it a good show.

Scott Cowan [00:44:10]:

Do you think his band would wanna come back?

Joel Myrene [00:44:13]:

I do because they sold more records here at that show than they did their own record release show in Bellingham, their hometown.

Scott Cowan [00:44:20]:

There you go. Yeah. Okay. So you’ve got one.

Joel Myrene [00:44:25]:

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:44:26]:

Got it. Awesome. Alright. And Icarus was local kids. Yeah. How were they received?

Joel Myrene [00:44:33]:

They just blew everyone away. They’re they’re so talented at that age. I mean, they’re far better musicians than I am, you know, and I’m 46. They’re in it’s not even I’m not even trying to be funny or anything. They’re just so they’re so talented that people’s jaws just kinda, you know, hit the floor when you

Scott Cowan [00:44:54]:

say them.

Joel Myrene [00:44:54]:

It’s just like, what is going on here? K.

Scott Cowan [00:44:59]:

And the room holds a 125. Yeah. And you said all the shows have, quote, unquote, been They have. Capacity. Yeah. So you’ve promotion’s not the issue. I mean, you don’t it doesn’t sound like but what is an issue? What’s the challenges of running a a live? I mean, I’ll tell you what my I would be concerned somebody would do something, like, this sense is an audio format, but there’s there’s some doors over there. Right.

Scott Cowan [00:45:24]:

There’s 2 restrooms back there. Yep. But there’s a stairway that goes up to the upper level. We don’t want them going up there.

Joel Myrene [00:45:29]:

Right.

Scott Cowan [00:45:30]:

I would be worried about that access point all night long. Yeah. But you told me before we hit record that the kids are not like what you were when you were a kid or what I was a kid. You know, you’re saying they’re well behaved and everything. It’s not just kids, but, you

Joel Myrene [00:45:46]:

know Yeah. I would say the first show is 5050, parents to adults, maybe 40% kids to 60% adults. Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:45:53]:

A lot

Joel Myrene [00:45:53]:

of the adults are around my age that went to shows here and have kids and bring their kids. And now, it’s hopefully doing its thing, where now the there seems to be slightly more kids than adults, you know, which is really cool to see. The challenge of a show here yeah. You it’s such a big space, you know, and you you have people, you know, making sure nothing’s going wrong, you know, behavior wise. But, is it’s not a venue. So, you know, it’s just a hall. So you’re setting this up from scratch for every show. Right.

Joel Myrene [00:46:29]:

So the PA is being brought in. You’re setting up the lights. You’re setting up the poster wall behind where the band’s playing. You’re you’re putting up signage. You know, you’re doing all the prep work before.

Scott Cowan [00:46:44]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:46:45]:

You’re afterwards, you’re taking everything down. You’re cleaning up, and you’re tearing down the the spot.

Scott Cowan [00:46:53]:

Are you doing that that night or do you do it the next day?

Joel Myrene [00:46:57]:

I would say I try to do most of it that night, but then there’s a lot of stuff that’s done the following day. Yeah. But all in all, you know, the show day, I probably spend about, you know, 8 to 10 hours. But for each show, I probably put in about 30 hours total of work.

Scott Cowan [00:47:14]:

Wow. Okay. And this upcoming show Mhmm. Star Anna, how do you know her?

Joel Myrene [00:47:28]:

I I don’t know her personally, but, through meeting Mark Pickrell from Screaming Trees through the Record Expo, he’s always been a huge supporter of her. And I remember her from, I think, around the early 2000 in Bellingham. She would come up and play the subdued string band jamboree, I think. Mhmm. And there were some musical ties with her in Bellingham, I think. And so I’ve always known of her. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her play live. Oh, interesting.

Joel Myrene [00:47:55]:

Okay. It just it never we’d never crossed paths.

Scott Cowan [00:48:00]:

Alright.

Joel Myrene [00:48:01]:

And she’s just phenomenal talent and just, I mean, I think if you can just lead people to the the band in Seattle episode, you know, on YouTube right now that she just did, it just speaks for itself. Just watch the first two songs on there and tell me that that’s not some kind of, you know, incredible talent. Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:48:26]:

No. You you you don’t have to sell me on it. I I was watching that. I had not aware of that show. It’s Yeah. And I thought, wow, this is really cool. How did I not know about this? And so thank you for sharing that with me. Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:48:37]:

I was like, this is really cool. And And she’s yeah. She’s and her band is amazing. Or the band that was with her on the show Yep.

Joel Myrene [00:48:44]:

Is phenomenal. Yeah. And for Wenatchee, she won’t have the full band. K. So it’ll be her and definitely Kathy Moore. Mhmm. And Kathy Moore plays guitar and is you know, she was here earlier this year with Chris Novoselic from Nirvana, his his band, and, you know, blew people out of the water.

Scott Cowan [00:49:06]:

No. That wasn’t here in the Oddfellas Hall, so we’re gonna come right back to that.

Joel Myrene [00:49:09]:

Oh, yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:49:09]:

We’ll come back to that because I wanna do I do wanna touch on that.

Joel Myrene [00:49:12]:

Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:49:12]:

So you know that Star’s bringing Kathy with her. Yep.

Joel Myrene [00:49:16]:

I’m not sure which other instrumentation, but I’m guessing it’ll be at least her and, Kathleen Starr. I’m suspecting maybe 1 or 2 other members, but I’m not I’m not really sure. Okay. The passes have a lot to do with it, you know. Yeah. December

Scott Cowan [00:49:32]:

when when before we came in, it was just starting that wet flaky stuff that might might it only is sticking, but, you know, we don’t know. Okay. So you got about 30 hours into each

Joel Myrene [00:49:45]:

Yeah. Show. Which is funny because I didn’t wanna do the record expo because it was too much work, but I’ve subsequently started putting on shows that are a lot of work. But the idea is to get if there’s anyone listening out there that wants to rent this hall and do their own show, this is a spot, you know. And and even better, if you’re a younger band, yeah, this is this spot’s for you, you know. Absolutely.

Scott Cowan [00:50:15]:

I mean, it’s 30 hours a show. It’s not like you’re married with kids and have a full time job. You know, I just love the fact that you’re willing to invest your energy and your time into giving something to the community and especially to the kids who, like, they just don’t have the opportunity Mhmm. To not sit in front of a screen. Mhmm. I mean, you know, you know, don’t just I sit in front of screens all the time. But I mean, I’m just saying, how nice is it that on the 7th, they’ll come down here. They’ll come in.

Scott Cowan [00:50:53]:

You’ll see some live music. Maybe they’ll pick up a guitar. I mean Yeah. He’ll pick up some drums. And for that, parents, I’m sorry.

Joel Myrene [00:51:04]:

I mean, that’s the goal. Thank you. Yeah. That’s very kind. I’d you know, I gotta say my wife has been super supportive of this and, you know

Scott Cowan [00:51:14]:

Does she like music like similarly to how you

Joel Myrene [00:51:17]:

No. No. No. She doesn’t have any music on her phone even. But she’s very supportive of things I’m, you know, passionate about.

Scott Cowan [00:51:26]:

Okay. So what is what’s she into?

Joel Myrene [00:51:29]:

I guess she just mostly listens to she likes a lot of the stuff that I like. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:51:32]:

But I’m talking about if she’s not into music, what what does she what does your wife like to do for her?

Joel Myrene [00:51:37]:

Her? I mean, just kind of, family stuff, hanging out with friends and family. Now, come on.

Scott Cowan [00:51:43]:

You guys connected before you had kids. Yeah. I mean, what was the connection for the 2 of us?

Joel Myrene [00:51:47]:

She does like live music.

Scott Cowan [00:51:48]:

She likes live music? Okay. Alright.

Joel Myrene [00:51:49]:

Yeah. But not not to the same degree.

Scott Cowan [00:51:52]:

Well Yeah. I mean, that’s yeah. I mean, that’s

Joel Myrene [00:51:56]:

doesn’t have my neurosis about

Scott Cowan [00:51:58]:

it. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. Let’s talk about that New America show. Now that for those of you that don’t know what Natchie, Numerica is, I’ve never been in it Mhmm. To be honest with you. So just what I think of it is is a room that holds about 400 people?

Joel Myrene [00:52:16]:

Yeah. Numerica Performing Arts Center, the main theater room, 550. 550. Yep. Okay. Yeah. And

Scott Cowan [00:52:26]:

you how are you involved in this event?

Joel Myrene [00:52:29]:

The Chris Novoselic Yeah. Band. So I you know, just being kind of a music junkie, you’re always paying attention to bands and where they’re playing. And, you know, I know since I know Mark Pickrell now, I knew that, you know, well, this is odd. Chris Novoselic’s coming over to Ellensburg and, you know, jamming with, with Mark Pickrell. And so, you know, kinda get a little more info and, find out they’re doing some shows. You know, Chris Novoselic and, Mark’s in the band, Cathy Moore, and some other members from Chris Novoselic’s other band called Third Secret, and they’re doing 2 months worth of shows. And I just noticed that, you know, they’re playing Ellensburg in Seattle on win one weekend, and there was a day in the middle that they didn’t have a show.

Joel Myrene [00:53:23]:

And, you know, you just if you see things like that, you just go for it. And oftentimes, it doesn’t work because, you know, reasons. And that didn’t work because I was you know, I pitched to Mark, hey, can we get Chris Nova’s Elks Band in Wenatchee? And it turns out they couldn’t because Saturday, there was one of the band members had a some other obligation or something. But it got the ball rolling. And because Mark knew me from the expo and that, you know, I wasn’t a flaky guy

Scott Cowan [00:53:52]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:53:53]:

You know, he trusted me with with things like this. And I didn’t really think it was gonna happen but just kinda kept pursuing it and kinda nudging Mark

Scott Cowan [00:54:02]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:54:03]:

And kept nudging Mark.

Scott Cowan [00:54:04]:

Well, but you also had to nudge Numerica, didn’t you? I mean, was that I mean, you gotta that’s a big organization with a a year a calendar that’s booked out a year in advance. You had to Yeah. Not only did you have to get the band, you had to get the venue to say yes. Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:54:17]:

And, I mean, Mark, eventually, he was pretty easy to work with. But the Numerica thing, it’s just such a big name with having Chris Novoselic from Nirvana Yeah. That it’s it’s kind of an easier sell. Granted, I’ve never worked with them, but, because of that name and because I know Ron from The Comet who works with them a lot, I think that that was an easier easier pitch. It yeah. Most of those shows are a year out that are probably part of their season thing.

Scott Cowan [00:54:46]:

Mhmm.

Joel Myrene [00:54:47]:

But they do have some occasional other shows that pop up probably that aren’t part of their, maybe, season ticket holder stuff.

Scott Cowan [00:54:53]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:54:53]:

Okay.

Scott Cowan [00:54:54]:

No. I thought it was great. And once again, all every event you’ve put on, I have it have not worked in my schedule. So I’ve missed

Joel Myrene [00:55:01]:

every single event, which is Well, I check your schedule first.

Scott Cowan [00:55:03]:

Yeah. I’ll make sure this guy can’t be there. Perfect. It’s a great date. No. And it’s like, I mean, once again, that little mini northwest tour that they were doing got a lot of buzz. Right? And because it was kind of a an all star band put together, you know, and and and they were playing and but, like but they were playing in a little bit off the beaten path places. Yep.

Scott Cowan [00:55:25]:

And that was kind of cause I think they played Walla Walla too. Yeah. Yeah. Yakima. I think they played the seasons in Yakima. Tri cities too.

Joel Myrene [00:55:32]:

Yeah. And, you know,

Scott Cowan [00:55:33]:

places that don’t, I mean, they have music scenes. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s not like, Oh, they’re playing in Bellingham and Seattle and Olympia in Portland. You know, no, it’s well, actually in Ellensburg. So that was that was great. Did that go well? Was that, I mean, well received? And Yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:55:50]:

I mean, when I am normally putting on a show, you wanna have it everything buttoned down at least 2 to 3 months before so you can start promoting it.

Scott Cowan [00:55:59]:

And that Did you say 2, 3 minutes before?

Joel Myrene [00:56:03]:

Months. And, this was, I think, from talks really trying to get things negotiated. That took maybe about a week, and then from then to the showtime, it was about two and a half weeks. So it was very last minute and, you know, Alex from the performing arts center, super easy to work with and great to work with. But, you know, he was on vacation during that first time, and I felt so bad bugging him on vacation. But he was so gracious, and he’s, like, I don’t care. Let’s make this happen.

Scott Cowan [00:56:36]:

Right.

Joel Myrene [00:56:37]:

Like, they were so easy to work with.

Scott Cowan [00:56:38]:

That’s good.

Joel Myrene [00:56:39]:

And, yeah, we had two and a half weeks to to get it done.

Scott Cowan [00:56:43]:

So Alright. Moving forward in 2025, what do you hope to put on here in the Oddfellows building?

Joel Myrene [00:56:53]:

Here, you know, I wanna do I wanna keep it, you know, smaller ish as far as names of bands that are coming in. Not that Star An is a small name, but, I wanna keep it, you know, a smaller size show type thing. Mhmm. And just I wanna continue to try to have, younger bands play each show. Right. At least 1. That’s the main goal. And just, you know, 4 shows a season.

Joel Myrene [00:57:23]:

That’s kind of the the goal. Okay. I do have some other pipe dreams of bringing in, you know, bands in that would play a larger cap room, you know, but not here in this room

Scott Cowan [00:57:37]:

k.

Joel Myrene [00:57:37]:

Elsewhere.

Scott Cowan [00:57:38]:

Elsewhere. Yeah. Alright. Because we’re gonna wind this down so you can get on with your day, and I’m sure you’ve got kids. Mhmm. I always ask guests a lot of the same questions, but I gotta ask you a musical question. So in your career Washington State only, by the way, is the answer. 2 2 part question.

Scott Cowan [00:57:59]:

Okay. What was the best room as a musician you played in? Like, the room that just fit like, you’re like, this a great room. Like, this room I love this room.

Joel Myrene [00:58:13]:

Washington state only? What? Yes, please. I mean, it’s probably just because I was raised on going to shows in rooms like this. Uh-huh. Playing that first show here in this basement. Okay. You know? It’s just such it’s an experience you’ll never have again because it’s your first show. Alright. And, you know, yeah.

Joel Myrene [00:58:35]:

The room is not meant to be a a venue. But yeah.

Scott Cowan [00:58:41]:

I’ll let you go outside of Washington. Where Yeah. Where where was the cool room that you played?

Joel Myrene [00:58:46]:

I think in Manhattan, we played some, you know, we played a a show downstairs at a place called The Cake Shop. That was a really great show.

Scott Cowan [00:58:57]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:58:57]:

That was packed. The next year, we played in a it was almost like a cavern, like a small cavern in New York, and there was 6 people there. But the room was really cool.

Scott Cowan [00:59:09]:

Alright.

Joel Myrene [00:59:09]:

That room was amazing.

Scott Cowan [00:59:11]:

So the opposite, where’s the best room you’ve seen music performed in? As a as a now you’re in the audience, like Yeah. Where’s a great venue?

Joel Myrene [00:59:20]:

Man, I think the Showbox has great sight lines wherever you’re out there.

Scott Cowan [00:59:23]:

You mean the original not Showbox So to?

Joel Myrene [00:59:26]:

Yeah. The originals the original Showbox.

Scott Cowan [00:59:28]:

Yeah. And who have you seen there? Oh,

Joel Myrene [00:59:32]:

gosh. I mean, I’ve seen Dinosaur Junior there a lot of times. Bands like Face to Face, stuff like that.

Scott Cowan [00:59:40]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [00:59:41]:

Yeah. Alright. Rock Candy in Seattle. Mhmm. But that’s hard to say because I was so young. And now if I could see that venue with adult eyes. Yeah. But at that point in time, phenomenal venue.

Scott Cowan [00:59:57]:

Alright. When you’re not working and when you’re not doing this type of work, what do you and the family like to do? What’s what’s great here in Wenatchee? What what do you what do you and the kids like to go out and do?

Joel Myrene [01:00:13]:

I mean, like, today, I’m hoping it’ll be snowing enough up by school, Chuck, to take the kids sledding. K. Yeah. Out outdoor stuff, just being outside. I mean, honestly, my kids are so young. It’s a lot of playground time. Yeah. We spend a lot of time at playgrounds.

Joel Myrene [01:00:30]:

We took, you know, we took the little quick weekend trip to Ellensburg Right. To to go see Mark play. Yeah. Just being outside.

Scott Cowan [01:00:40]:

You go to a lot of Apple Sox games?

Joel Myrene [01:00:43]:

Yeah. I don’t know how I forgot about that.

Scott Cowan [01:00:44]:

Yeah. Where’s the best seat in the house?

Joel Myrene [01:00:47]:

Best seat in the house? I don’t know that it’s the best seat, but we always just do bleachers because it’s easier to meet up with people. And with kids, it’s just easier for them to get up, go play with their friends. And do both bleachers

Scott Cowan [01:01:03]:

like going to Applesaux now? We do.

Joel Myrene [01:01:04]:

And we also go to a lot of Wenatchee wild games too. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:01:07]:

Yeah. Alright. That’s great that you’re taking them to that. Great that this this town has those too.

Joel Myrene [01:01:13]:

Yeah. For sure. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:01:15]:

I’m a coffee fan. I think you know that. Everybody that listens knows this. So where’s a great place to get coffee here in Wenatchee?

Joel Myrene [01:01:22]:

So I I don’t actually buy coffee out that often, to be totally honest. Oh. Because you have this machine at home that’s not great, and I think it just broke actually.

Scott Cowan [01:01:31]:

Come on now.

Joel Myrene [01:01:34]:

But oftentimes, it might be 4 a or something like that.

Scott Cowan [01:01:37]:

Okay. Yeah. And what’s your go to drink?

Joel Myrene [01:01:39]:

Just a latte.

Scott Cowan [01:01:40]:

Just a latte? Yeah. Not oat milk, regular milk? Oh, just regular.

Joel Myrene [01:01:43]:

Regular milk? Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:01:44]:

You didn’t look like an oat milk guy. Alright. Where’s a great place to grab lunch around here?

Joel Myrene [01:01:50]:

I do maybe it’s just of, you know, memories. We go with my parents a lot, maybe once or twice a year to El Porto in East Wenatchee. Okay. Maybe not for lunch but for dinner we go. That’s no

Scott Cowan [01:02:04]:

problem.

Joel Myrene [01:02:05]:

But as far as going out that’s probably where yeah. I like that place.

Scott Cowan [01:02:08]:

And where the kids like to go?

Joel Myrene [01:02:10]:

Oh, they I mean, Red Robin. You know? They’re 46. So, you

Scott Cowan [01:02:16]:

know I know. Yeah. That’s alright. It’s alright. You could have said McDonald’s. I mean, you know Yeah.

Joel Myrene [01:02:20]:

Okay. Alright.

Scott Cowan [01:02:22]:

Alright. Here’s the last question. Remember I told you about this. Right? So it’s very simple. You have to answer this question. You have to give us the reason why. K?

Joel Myrene [01:02:31]:

Cake or pie? And why? Used to be a cake guy, definitely. Now it would be pie. I think just because, you know, you have it with ice cream. And, but I will say not to go back on the pie. I do love cheap sheet birthday cake. I love it. Really? So maybe it’s This

Scott Cowan [01:02:56]:

energy just like went downhill, like, it just crumbled apart.

Joel Myrene [01:02:59]:

I know. I I it’s you know, you’re you spend a lot of time. Again, it kids stuff, birthday parties, and it is full of sheet cake with just bad icing, and I love it. It’s so good.

Scott Cowan [01:03:17]:

You really wanna stick with that answer? Isn’t it?

Joel Myrene [01:03:19]:

I think I will. I have multiple helpings. Is that your final answer? I think it is. I think yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:03:24]:

So what is the ideal cheap sheet cake?

Joel Myrene [01:03:29]:

Is it Costco, probably. But chocolate, is it what frosting would Probably vanilla. Yeah. With vanilla or cream cheese frosting. Vanilla with cream cheese. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:03:36]:

Okay. And if we’re gonna talk pie, what what would be the pie?

Joel Myrene [01:03:39]:

Pumpkin pie. Oh. Yeah. I do not

Scott Cowan [01:03:45]:

stand pumpkin pie.

Joel Myrene [01:03:47]:

But for a while, for about 3 or 4 years in the summer, it would be my pie making months. Pumpkin? Because we, you know, have my parents over once a week for dinner and, you know, I would do apple, cherry would I did not turn out good, but apple, peach, all kinds of stuff like that. Yeah. Key lime. Okay. Awesome sauce too.

Scott Cowan [01:04:07]:

I mean, there’s look, I’m teasing you other than about pumpkin. Pumpkin is just I I Pumpkin

Joel Myrene [01:04:11]:

pies, it’s there’s no skill involved in that though at all. It’s just kinda you just you just put the stuff in there and it’s done. Because there’s no technique or anything. Oh, yeah. So you

Scott Cowan [01:04:22]:

have your

Joel Myrene [01:04:23]:

parents over once a week for dinner? We try to. That’s awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:04:27]:

And Yeah. When you’re cooking, what do you prepare? What what are you fixing for mom and dad?

Joel Myrene [01:04:32]:

It’s honestly usually my wife doing it.

Scott Cowan [01:04:34]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [01:04:35]:

But well, actually, that’s not true because I feel like the default for my parents oftentimes is burgers. So it would be me doing it. In the wintertime though, it probably for falls more on my wife. Okay. And she’ll my parents like crock pot stuff quite a bit. So she’ll do some of that. But if it’s in barbecue weather it’s probably me doing burgers. Okay.

Scott Cowan [01:04:56]:

Alright. Well, thank you for sitting down with me. I am looking forward to I saw okay. So I have to say Are you

Joel Myrene [01:05:04]:

busy December 7th?

Scott Cowan [01:05:05]:

Well, okay. So so, Doug, this is the this is the the true story. So I saw where did I see it pop? I knew you were having it. Right? It was, like, rattling around my brain, but something popped up, and I went, oh, Star Anna’s gonna be here. I wanna see I wanted to see Star Anna. I haven’t seen her. It’s not just your shows. I don’t go to I don’t go to a lot of things.

Scott Cowan [01:05:26]:

And I was like, oh, December 7th. And I go to my wife. I go, e. We gotta go to the I Fellows Lodge on 7th. She goes, why? And I said, oh, because there’s, okay. Well, okay. That’s the same night that her sister’s having their annual gingerbread making event over on the west side. Yeah.

Scott Cowan [01:05:43]:

And I’m like, haven’t decided. It’s, like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. So next time you book on, can you get it can you get with me? Get one of my calendar. Let’s let’s make it work. I wanna go. I think it’s I think it’s really cool. And I, you know, continued success. When might the next the first show of 25 be?

Joel Myrene [01:06:02]:

I think it’s February 8. The band called True Stars from Bellingham.

Scott Cowan [01:06:06]:

Oh, you got one already booked.

Joel Myrene [01:06:06]:

Oh, good. So whatever that Saturday is right around there.

Scott Cowan [01:06:09]:

I think

Joel Myrene [01:06:09]:

it’s February 8th. True Stars, Ikarus is playing again, and, oh, a band called The Timely Tragedy from Wenatchee and Chelan. Okay. Yeah. One thing we need

Scott Cowan [01:06:21]:

to talk about, what’s the cost for people to attend?

Joel Myrene [01:06:24]:

Cost in advance, if you get tickets online, advance at Eventbrite is $8, at the door, $10.

Scott Cowan [01:06:32]:

Cheap? Cheap. Yep. And what’s

Joel Myrene [01:06:34]:

the hours? Show starts at 7 PM. Music’s over by done by 10.

Scott Cowan [01:06:39]:

Okay.

Joel Myrene [01:06:39]:

Yeah. I’ve tried to get music to start right at 7, especially, I don’t usually do 4 band bills because I’m not a big fan of that many bands crammed in that short of time. But so we do especially with this next one, really try to keep it start at 7.

Scott Cowan [01:06:52]:

Right. So so you told them to be here. It it starts at 6. Right? Because they’re musicians and they’re always late. Alright. Well, thank you for sitting down.

Joel Myrene [01:06:59]:

Thank you for having me.