I first 'met' Blue Door impresario Greg Johnson via his Oklahoma Gazette column "Words and Music" in the early '90's. I loved the writing and the unusual depth with which an artist's work was explored. Plus Greg just plain knew his stuff and I'm impressed by anyone with courage enough to express strong opinions in print so I even enjoyed the occasional 'rants'. I was doing my radio show in Seattle on KBCS then introducing lots of Oklahoma and Texas music to Seattle listeners at a time when one was hard-pressed to hear the likes of Tish Hinojosa or Kevin Welch or Michael Fracasso on the radio here. Reading Greg's column helped me stay on top of who was doing what.

We 'met' again and had a bit of back and forth on the old Prodigy Country/Folk internet message board in 1992. Finally I met Greg in person at a Kevin Welch show at the Blue Door on a visit to my beloved home town, OKC. "This is a very special place", I thought to myself. "The kind of place where the walls hold stories and evoke sounds you can practically hear and see." We knew a lot of people in common, Okies mostly, and when Greg invited me to fly down for one of his storied Woody Guthrie Tribute nights, I accepted without hesitation. It was a truly memorable night.

You can learn a lot more about the Blue Door's history here:
http://www.bluedoorokc.com/history.html

But even better, go experience the place for yourself and help support an important venue. There's always amazing music to be heard at the Blue Door. And the friendliness & hospitality can't be beat either. Tell Greg I said 'hey'.

Blue Door's Website: www.bluedoorokc.com