Ups and Downs but Somehow Getting into a Home

We were exploring the idea of buying our first home just prior to the layoff, which was extremely difficult during this time-period. It was an owner’s market, meaning that prices went in favor of the seller, not the buyer. Also, seemingly everyone in the country wanted a home in Bend, which rose the prices to where very few could qualify for a high enough loan.

Most people living in and working in Bend weren’t making industry standard wages. Employers knew that they could easily hire someone else to do the job, especially with marketing jobs, from somewhere else. They rode on the mystic premise that employees should be happy you even have a job in the resort town of Bend, and there are many other people who would love to have the job instead.

Finding a property to purchase in Bend was equally challenging. After losing my job at the telecom company, the whole idea of getting into the house seemed like a far distant dream. It was sort of heartbreaking. I was complaining to my dad about the situation. They felt it was extremely important for a young couple like us in getting into a mortgage early on in a marriage, and that we should at least try.

Shannon, with her networking skills, had a friend who is a real estate agent, and he was quick to confirm that we weren’t anywhere close to being qualified for a loan. Both my dad and stepmother decided to come to Bend and help us get into a home.

It was incredible and we felt extremely lucky. Thanks to my father and family, who signed for the loan, we moved into our first new home. It was an incredible amount of trust for their son who was unemployed.

While looking for work I started getting back into the entrepreneur world, doing things like designing and selling tourism t-shirts downtown Bend and creating websites and logos for local businesses. I also was moving along with recording new songs and performing around town with KouseFly.

The local weekly newspaper took notice of my graphic design skills and offered me a contract to design advertisements for their clients. It was a very challenging job, working with the sales team at the weekly paper to create ads for approval in time for publication.

I also got to know one of the most ambitious entrepreneurs in town, Aaron Switzer, the publisher and founder of The Source Weekly Newspaper, who also produces many high-profile cultural and athletic events like the Oregon Winterfest.

It was very interesting to work with him behind the curtain of the town’s cultural scene. I got to get to know the bigger players in the town who were booking touring acts and setting up big shows. The work of pounding out the ads with a relatively low wage at first was a bit stressful, but Mr. Switzer often threw over some other small job opportunities to help me make ends meet. I was slowly becoming an art entrepreneur once again, while studying the music industry and slowly working my band’s way into the local music scene.

I also got to know Central Oregon’s biggest music show promoters, Marney Smith, who founded the Les Schwab Amphitheater and manages a very prestigious shopping district that was rezoned and redeveloped from an historic lumber mill that economically established Bend, Oregon in the early 1900’s, owned by the Shevlin-Hixon Lumber Company. The site was off-limits to the public for nearly eighty years until it was redeveloped in the 1990’s. Today, the Old Mill District is an incredible tourism attraction, inspired by the river walk in San Antonio, Texas. The area has many restaurants, shops, and the largest outdoor concert venue on the eastern side of Oregon.

I learned how the venue coordinated hosting big-league bands performing in Bend, and how it was closely tied to the Sasquatch Festival at the Gorge Amphitheater. If you followed the news of what bands the festival was booking, there would be a strong possibility of the same bands coming to Bend, either before or after their show next to the Columbia River. You could determine your summer plans of travel to the Gorge, or staying home if your favorite band was also performing in Bend.

Marney and I share a long history of living in Bend. In fact, she went to the same high school as me. We never knew each other as kids, but I got to know her and her team as an adult. Her father was the person who headed up the renovation while earning lifetime achievement awards for his work. She was the visionary of the concert venue and brought big stage music to Bend.

It was a unique time for me professionally. It seemed to be an ‘either/or’ environment for me. Either I was working one cubical corporate job, or I was working many contract jobs. My work at the weekly newspaper, while hunting down other little jobs and work in being a local musician, was fulfilling. I wasn’t making a very good living, but I was able to ask for more money for my contracts, and I was learning a lot about things I found very interesting, like the business behind live music and working as a creative professional.

Bird and I were making a lot of headway with our album, and we were starting to play around town more and more. We were becoming a real local band and were starting to build a reputation in the scene. My crazy, creative, professional lifestyle mixed with my rock ’n’ roll lifestyle would end up causing some issues in the future.