Episode 24: Rocking the Suburbs!

Forget the tired “Keep Portland Weird” bumper-sticker: the real action is happening in the neighborhoods you keep cruising past on the MAX. In this month’s Stumptown Soundcheck, host Jamie Dunphy drags the spotlight off downtown and plants it firmly on Portland’s orbital music hubs—Beaverton, Vancouver, and beyond—where guitars are repaired faster than city councils can file another noise-ordinance memo.

Geoff Metts, co-owner of Five Star Guitars, reveals how a suburban shop morphed into a West-Coast gear mecca, why NAMM has him testifying on Capitol Hill, and which of his former guitar students now teach him a lesson or two.

Sheri Jamison, opera-singer-turned-arts-power-broker, dishes on Vancouver’s shiny new 0.1% cultural-access tax, brewing plans for a 1,200-seat performing-arts center, and the secret to coaxing city hall into funding mosh pits.

Plus: post-pandemic venue survival hacks, Live Nation shade, commute-induced existential dread on the I-205 bridge, and a love letter (with scorch marks) to Dante’s at 3rd & Burnside.

Whether you’re a policy wonk hunting economic-impact numbers, a suburban parent praying for a hometown date-night gig, or a jealous downtown club rat wondering where the crowd went—this episode lays out the dollars, decibels, and drama driving the greater-Portland music engine.