Happy Happy Holidays!  Today I am at my grandma’s celebrating Christmas, but Annie and I brought our menorah so we’ll be celebrating the 6th night of Chanukah tonight.

We’ve rushed to put together a little album for you guys, and I’m happy to announce today that we have released it into the world!  Click here to download it and listen to The New Year 2012.

It features 3 originals and 1 cover – a newer song and three songs that I’ve meant to record for a long time.  I’ve released it as a pay-what-you-will, but please feel free to enter $0.00 when you download it, its my holiday present to you!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday, and that 2012 will be a wonderful year for us all.

Love,

Jonah Luke

Here’s the Video:

Here’s what my mom’s reaction will be: “Jonah I’m glad you were on TV, but next time you need to put some shoes on.”

Love,
Jonah

Somewhere, on the SE side of Portland, there is a gateway through which all indie-rocking to-be Portland Hipsters enter when they first arrive to the city from other places in the US, some from Omaha and some from Brooklyn.

At this gateway, the Hipster Spirit of Portland, or the Phantom of Portlandia, or the dead King that Colin Meloy croons about, is there giving out 4 very important things to everyone who passes through the gateway:

1. A white V-neck t-shirt, OR a Fleet-Foxes band t-shirt.
2. A pair of skinny jeans.
3. An electric guitar.
4. A pair of Toms shoes.

The Spirit or The Phantom or The King, whoever it may be, gives these items to each would-be hipster and says: “Go, go out into the land of Portlandia and do what you were born to do.”

Moral of the Story:

Sometimes there are way too many of these kinds of indie-rocking hipster people (and bands) in Portland.  These are the times when I feel like putting on a good pair of sunglasses and blasting Black Eyed Peas out of the car with the windows rolled down so that people are reminded that there is such a things as music that you can do something other than nod your head to, you can actually dance to it.

Also, sometimes I am afraid that I am turning into one of these people.  I mean I am a white skinny young male who plays songs on an acoustic guitar, so I think I’m getting at least dangerously close.  Maybe I am already in the flames and I have no idea.  But I’d like to think that the music I create, or the music I am going to create, is going to do more than make people bob their heads.  Eventually, my goal is to get people out of their seats, or at least singing along.  My goal is to make people happy.

A Different Moral of the Story:

WHERE IS THIS GATEWAY?!?!?  BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE A FREE GUITAR AND A PAIR OF TOMS!!!!

Love,

Jonah

I saw some super-rad music last weekend at the Doug Fir Lounge (which I had never been to, can you believe it?).  Annie and I have a surprise mutual friend in Josh Lava, who is the drummer for electro/pop/hiphoppy band John Craig and the Weekend.  I say surprise because I knew him from back in Chicago and Annie just happened to work with him at Lewis & Clark.

Anyway, check these guys out – they’ve got a new record out (Friday was their CD release), and its great.  When they took the stage, they seemed to be on the verge of launching into some sort of Shins-sounding Portland indie rock that we’ve all heard a million times, but it was refreshing to hear solid beats and layered stuff that reminded me of Stars.  It almost got all Blue Scholars for a moment when a rapper joined them for one song.

Tango Alpha Tango played as well, and they stole the show with viceral rock’n'roll and the Jimi Hendrix-style antics of the lead guitarist and vocalist.  Talk about a tight band.

Anyway, check them out.

Love!

Jonah

I’m trying to organize a tour in late August (shhhh don’t tell anyone, I haven’t announced it yet!) – with possible stops in Portland OR (duh), Olympia WA, Seattle WA, Bellingham WA, and Vancouver BC.  Do you know people in those cities that would be interested in putting us up or going to one of our shows?  Or, do you know any cool venues in the area like coffee shops or acoustic spots?

Let me know.  Comment below or shoot me an email: jonah@jonahluke.com.

Love,

Jonah

From Amazon.com:

Four out of Five stars for I Don’t Need You To Know EP

A Quick Hug & A Pat On The Back, July 25, 2011

Jonah Luke’s “I Don’t Need You to Know EP” is the debut recording from this Portland, Oregon singer. His music on this disc is joyful, acoustic and sunny. Because he backs himself with an acoustic guitar and sings melodic tunes, his music will probably be compared to Jack Johnson. His web site says “Something Left To Do Here” was a call to action inspired by a trip to the Dominican Republic, “So if you want to help out the weak, give to the hungry, help people eat, don’t buy a ticket, just walk cross the street.” “Almost Gone” rests on a bouncy riff with Jonah’s vocals soft & sweet, “Why don’t you stay, We could lie around the house all day, We could sing our favorite songs.” The title track is a bouncy full-strum tune with some “dum dum dee” bubbly backing vocals. This is a good freshman set. Luke’s music doesn’t so much grab you by the collar as it does give you a quick hug and a pat on the back. Enjoy!

- Lee Armstrong

So I’ve decided to stop doing the “This Week I…” posts.  I’m still going to blog every week, its just not going to be so journalistic, as if its a catalog of everything I did last week.  So here goes.

Open Mics.

So last night, Annie and I had the wonderful idea of attending an open mic night.  I’ve been to one in Portland so far – the Alberta Street Pub open mic.  That one was a great experience; we played a few tunes, people liked us, I sold some CDs and connected with some cool musicians.  Not bad.

The one last night was entirely different.  In fact, I think I might go so far as to say it was one of weirdest things I have ever been to.

Now I have nothing against the Buffalo Gap, in fact the bar/grill seemed like a pretty cool place.  But the Open MIc – MAN, that was something else.  First off, lets just say it was not worth my time.  Everyone seemed to be eyeing everyone else like we were competing —- which I then found out that we were! It was a competition style open mic, the winner got $50.  If any of you are out there reading this and thinking of starting an open mic, let me just tell you: don’t make it a competition, it brings the crazies out.

I had to go to work in the morning, so we left before the round of voting started, and we didn’t get to see who won.

How weird was this open mic?  Well, the first guy was an absolute creeper, singing songs and explicitly naming womens’ body parts while half-heartedly strumming an acoustic guitar.  The next guy was kinda cool but also definitely homeless and was probably there in search of — well, $50 cash.  I won’t go into more details, but let’s just say, this was the kind of open mic where the room was constantly in some uncomfortable state of anxiety about the strange sounds coming from the performers.

In summary, whats the point of open mics?  I’ve been to a handful, and some seem to be worthwhile, while others don’t.  It doesn’t seem to be something that musicians put high on their list.  Is it a place where unheard songwriters go to be heard by other unheard songwriters?

Lastly, does anyone know of any great open mics in Portland?

Love,

Jonah

Hello wonderful people,

Busking.

This Week I made $120 busking (playing music on the street) at the Portland State University Farmer’s Market in downtown Portland!  Good deal huh.  Annie and I played for about three hours, a mix of covers and my originals, it was sunny and warm, and there were lots of people out.  You should come by if you are in the area next Saturday (7/23).  We won’t be there this Saturday because…

I am in Chicago!

Well, not yet.  I am currently typing this as I fly thousands of feet above our lovely planet.  But I’ll be in Chicago for a week visiting the family and friends and generally hanging out.  If you are in Chicago you should drop me a line.

Best Coast.

This past weekend I went to the Oregon coast with Annie’s mom and sisters.  If you’ve never been to the Oregon coast before, you’re missing out.  There is something really nice about having the ocean within one hour’s drive of Portland, and something relaxing about the big waves, the salty air, and the wilderness along the coast.  We spent most of our time relaxing and walking on the beach.

International Attention!

So the other week, an obscure podcast in Australia that talks about B Grade Movies (whatever that means) picked up my song Flown This Far and played it at the end of their episode.  Pretty cool right!?!?  Click here to hear to the episode (and scroll down to Special 007) – its worth a listen just to hear how they pronounce “Jonah Luke” and “Flown This Far” in their Australian accents.

Well that’s it for this week.  I assume I’m somewhere over Nevada or Utah right now, so bye from way up high!

Love,

Jonah

I’m going to start a weekly blogging experiment called This Week I… in which I talk about what I’ve been doing and thinking about this week.  I’m starting this in order to get myself to blog more regularly and consistently.

Lesson learned:

This week I found that living in a house that has limited internet access (due to stupid Clear, which I do not recommend) has a huge silver lining: I am writing more songs, playing more guitar, and reading more!

If you haven’t checked out my newest songs, you should.  I probably would not have recorded them and got them out there if I was stuck on my computer doing nothing.

Lots of books:

Due to the fact that I sold a bunch of my old college textbooks back to Amazon.com in exchange for gift card money, I’ve bought over 5 books in the last week, all for “free.”  All of them have been non-fiction, mostly self-help books about entrepreneurship and living and working in new and different ways.

My favorite so far is Derek Siver’s (founder of CD Baby) new book, Anything You Want.  Its full of advice and life lessons that Derek has learned from starting a little hobby for friends that became the largest distributor of independent music in the world.  I highly recommend.

Blues Fest:

I went to the Blues Fest in Portland on Friday and Saturday, had a wonderful time.  Actually, I should have looked at the schedule because I had no idea that people like Lucinda Williams and Steve Riley (cajun musician) were playing!  On Friday, Annie, some friends and I had a great time dancing to Chubby Carrier and his band, who won a grammy for best Zydeco album this year.  Then on Saturday Annie and I went to see Lucinda, but we had to watch through the fence because the fire marshal closed the gates.  It was that packed.

Connecting people:

I’m looking for someone who is into video making/editing.  Doesn’t need to have the best equipment, just needs to be interested in making cool videos and have creative input.  Do you know someone like this or are you this person?  Let me know. jonah@jonahluke.com.

That’s all for this week!

Love,
Jonah

So a few days ago, I was messing around in my “studio” and jammed on this song.  I actually came up with the original verse when I was studying in the Dominican Republic, and having no laptop available, I recorded it on my phone.

The track is just me and my voice, with some improv body percussion for good measure.  Its short and sweet, but I hope you like.

Take a listen below, and download for free!!  You have to enter your email, so that I can bug you next time I come out with a new song.  If you’re already on the email list, just enter your same email, don’t worry you won’t get duplicate newsletters from me.

Its sunny and nice in Portland right now.  I’ll be at the PSU Farmer’s Market tomorrow, busking for pennies.

Comment below, let me know what you think of the song.

Love,
Jonah