Thanks to venues for music space

On the final weekend of August, Wired &Unplugged Coffeehouse in Snohomish closed its doors. I was there for the final open mic when a host of musicians of all ages paid tribute to this home away from home for many. I want to thank Rick and Kathy Jacobson for opening the coffeehouse four years ago, and Paul Henderson and Kim Longmore for buying the place and keeping the dream alive as long as they could.

As I looked at my collection of photos going back to 2005 I noticed that many people (young and old) who honed their musical skills at Wired are already moving on to bigger and better things, largely because they had a safe place to try things out. My own songwriting and performing career has been revived, after going through a long dry spell, thanks to this place.

While I’m very sad to see our intimate hometown coffeehouse close, one that reminded me of those I frequented in the ’60s, I’m pleased that a group of community leaders have found a place to keep the open mics alive. On Sept. 5, we had our first weekly open mic at Tim Noah’s Thumbnail Theater, located at 4th and Avenue D in Snohomish. Many of the regulars from Wired &Unplugged were there to play and check out our new home. I’m sure we’ll see many more of our friends in the future at this new venue.

Thank you Tim Noah, Cyndi “Soup” Elliott and Dave Douglas at the Thumbnail Theater for opening your doors to us so we could keep this wonderful tradition alive in our town.

Volkert Volkersz