Natural place for live music

Fri., Aug. 1, 2008

Isamu Jordan Soundwave Staff writer

Music at the Market

Here’s the live music lineup for August at the Rocket Market, 726 E. 43rd, complete with excerpts from the Rocket’s music calendar. Shows are free to the public. Music starts at 8 p.m.

Saturday: Canned Music with Linda Parman – “Steve and Kathy Sackett, along with vocalist Linda Parman, perform rock, folk, pop and jazz.”

Tuesday: Kaylee Cole – “One of the newest and most highly praised singer-songwriters in Spokane, catch her while she’s still here.”

Aug. 9: Sidhe – “With honest and easy, unstuffy virtuosity, Michael and Keleren Millham merge the worlds of pop, classical, folk and world music into a passionate, yet accessible, blend of sophisticated soundscapes.”

Aug. 12: Theresa Kelly – “… a style of music she likes to call ‘DylaJewel,’ that would be a cross between Bob Dylan and Jewel.”

Aug. 16: Sam Endress – “… a crowd favorite for years at the Market. High- to mid-energy pop-rock and soul music are the hallmarks of a Sam Endress performance.”

Aug. 19: Sidhe

August 23: Fallside – “Isaiah Dalager, from Spokane, was one of 300 artists to perform at (the New York Music Festival). Now Isaiah has teamed with friend and virtuoso guitarist Matthew Allen.”

Aug. 26: Blue Canoe – “One of Spokane’s longest-running original bands … plays a slice of Americana, incorporating rock/country/blues/jazz with beautiful three-piece harmony.”

Aug. 30: Darin Hildebrand – “His most recent solo project, ‘Back to the Basics,’ has been very well received and has gained national and international distribution through The Orchard/CD Street Group.”

’90s song of the week

“Virtual Insanity”

Artist: Jamiroquai

Released: 1997

One of the best-kept secret jewels for acoustic music doesn’t even charge admission.

There is a lot of talk about the local acoustic renaissance in Spokane, and it usually points to Caterina Winery or Empyrean Coffee House. And for good reason – those two spots have fostered the scene, without a doubt.

But there is a third venue that is staunchly dedicated to acoustic music – the Rocket Market, located at 726 E. 43rd, on the South Hill, at the confluence of High Drive and Grand Avenue.

Since the natural and specialty foods store opened nine years ago, it has been offering live music with a local focus.

With an extensive selection of beer and wine and a comfortable setting tucked into a central South Hill neighborhood, Rocket Market has been attracting families and wine lovers without much effort.

And traffic has really picked up – as many as 150 people packing the parking lot – in the last two years since the market was remodeled with an extended seating area that accents the outdoor patio and cinder and glass block wall backdrop for the stage. There’s also a movable enclosure for beer and wine service.

Not simply a music venue, Rocket Market is a grocery store where you can sit down and have a drink and watch some live music outdoors during the warm season. With 1,500 wines and 400 different beers, Rocket Market is the upper (but not uppity) South Hill sister to Huckleberry’s Natural Market, located at 926 S. Monroe.

In fact, Rocket Market’s co-owner, manager and booking agent, Alan Shephard, used to manage Huckleberry’s and helped launch live music there before he and his wife, Shanda, started their own neighborhood institution (which is part of the Rocket Bakery group owned by Jeff and Julia Postlewait).

“It has an East Coast feel. There is a lot squeezed into a tiny space. The whole idea is local; that you can walk to your grocery store. We hope that with the price of gas things start going back to that. We buy everything local that we can. Even the honey is local,” Shepherd said. “It’s a smaller footprint so people don’t have to travel as far to get what they need.”

Music happens at Rocket Market every Tuesday and Saturday, usually from April to October. The full schedule is posted at www.rocketmarket.com, and printed on the back of the wine and cheese menu in the store.