Essential Elements Apothecary Loves Muddy Waters

We were glad to help with the auction and wish you continued success. Muddy Waters is a fab place to hang and drink massive amounts of caffeine :-) We share much of the same clientele and are very happy to be part of the same community!

To your future success!!!
Essential Elements Apothecary Team
Over 400 Bulk Herbs, Herbal Extracts, Essential Oils and More
3135 SE Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214
503-231-2831

I love you, Muddy Waters

I first visited Muddy Waters when i first came to Portland as an adult. I had grown up just minutes from Portland, but hadn't done much here except go to movies and such. When I started dating my girlfriend, Molly, she took me to Muddy Waters immediately for an Open Mic Night. And I had no idea what I was in for. Although i had lived in Eugene for a couple of years, and met some great, down-to-earth people, the day-to-day down there just involved getting messed up. When i walked into Muddys for the first time, I was excited to see REAL people living a life of LOVE! I couldn't believe it at first! Growing up as a 'super-christian' I have always had a problem trusting people, not because i thought they were going to hurt me in any way, but for fear of a person's underlying intentions. But i soon found out what these people's intentions are. Having created a space of love and acceptance toward everyone, I fell in love with myself every time i walked in the door. And the first time was no different. Two 'acts' in, Seth Martin got on stage and blew my mind. This was a person who wrote and sang about what was in his head, about his convictions and attitudes about what he witnessed on the earth. Maybe two songs in, he sang about walking to the end of the sidewalk where the grass still grows, and my heart dropped. My mind began to wander to a place that thought 'Where do I have to go to be at the same Place that his mind is?' And i began to dance. Once I danced while listening to Nahko and Medicine For the People! We jumped up and down and yelled at the top of our lungs "You quit the job! I'll quit the job! And we'll work for ourselves on the Mountain Top!!!" OH the energy in the place at that moment! All i wanted was MORE! I have spent many nights dancing at Muddy Waters since then. Dancing for pure joy! Dancing because I wanted to! Dancing because Muddy Waters provided a place for me to do so. About a year later and maybe just a handful of visits to 29th and Belmont, I began to build a friendship with Roody, Megs, and Dukky after having met them at Oregon Country Fair in 2009. Although both relationships (one with Muddys, the other with the NIAYH kids) started slow, they were both there, filled with Love, and i was ready for what was about to come.
About a week before New Year's 2009, I was asked to help out with the construction of The Flipside, Muddy Water's new venue. And this offer came to me not three weeks after I had discussed with Molly about how my life seemed to be without purpose. Like i was just here wasting space and working and eating and drinking and smoking. Seeing this awesome coincidence I decided to dive in head first. And it's been a roller coaster since then. I've never been apart of a project this big before, a project that makes my heart happy like this one. And although I never felt as though I was helping out in any huge way, my hands and heart being present was greatly appreciated by the owners (for some reason). New Year's was a huge success! It was a ragin party and everybody was in such high spirits! Then i think just a couple days later, it was announced to everyone: 10,000 in 6 days. WHOAH! what a fuckin mind blowing announcement! Just when I thought I was doing something worthwhile, it was all going to end?? Hell NO! and Adrenaline Week began. I don't know how many 'projects' there were where I had a really small part in, but I was THERE. I was helping. I was doing something completely out of my ordinary situation. And it worked. Even though deep down i just knew that it would survive, it is still such a shock that we pulled it off! And it seems that it was the effort put in by all of US, TOGETHER, that saved it. Not just the money. Muddy Waters has helped me so much, and in more ways than anyone there could possibly know; more than i even know. The help that i have provided them is very minuscule in comparison. So thank-you, Muddy Waters. Thank you to the people i have met there. Thank you to the people there who love me. I LOVE YOU!
-FatKid

TELL YOU STORY!

Log on! tell us your story!

What brought you to Muddy Waters?

What kept you around?

What does this community mean to you?

below is the information to log onto the blogspot account and write YOUR STORY!

please share with us..

lets all get on the "same page"!

This is YOUR community! get involved!

username: megan.tramp@pcc.edu

password: muddywaterscollective

UPCOMING EVENTS!

we have a few things coming up this weekend at Muddy Waters you may want to know about!

FRIDAY 1/15 7pm Southshores, Lovers Ball 8:45pm Aba Kiser at the FLIP SIDE

SATURDAY 1/16 Pancake Feed 11am-2pm

8pm Movie Night hosted by Dingo Dizmal (this weekend-Boondock Saints) come eat popcorn and watch a good flick with your friends at Muddy Waters!

SUNDAY 1/17 We start flyering at 10am! flyers for upcoming shows and events! 10pm is our after hours merch party! snacks provided, bring your supplies and lets make some cool stuff, listen to music and hang out! Getting artsy fartsy with the Muddy's Crew!

POwerful!

Muddy Waters has been a community hub to many folks in SE Portland (29th 'n' SE Belmont).  And, why is it important?  As folks who care about our community, we know we need to have a place where self expression is encouraged in healthy ways, where people relax, feel safe, and can share their perspective through voice, music, art... the arts have not been supported enough in our society, and thus violence has risen and continues to rise. Youth are struggling and need a space to  share their voices. 

This space is worker owned which is a powerful paradigm shift from the big business of our country.  It means people have taken it into their own hands to create the space they want to see happen in their neighbor, their town-  and doing this with altruistic vision, not for profit. 

Many volunteers work to keep this place open everyday out of a sense of friendship and common vision.   And by the way, the coffee is great, they have free wi-fi, and the food is local and organic! 

The Flipside is an exciting new creative project space happening in the backspace behind Muddy waters.  It is growing to become one of the most exciting new music spots in Portland...there is a large venue for performance as well as a variety of classes (music, yoga, dance, permaculture, arts, etc.) .  There will be music recording capacity, supporting musicians to affordably get their name out and create promotional tools.  If you are interested in booking this venue, just ask for: Aloe or Roody.

So come in and check it out for yourself- Maybe have a cup of coffee, meet someone interesting,  and possibly get up and dance!  

-C U There, 

Hope

Muddy Waters PSA

WE DID IT! Thanks to YOU!

Dear Friends and Family-

I want to express my appreciation for all your generous support of the community coffee house Muddy Waters. Thanks to you, we were able to raise $6,000 in six days- not bad for 12 hours of planning. We were able to feed the community with a giant pancake feed AND a baked potato fest; hold an auction supporting local artists; and have 20 straight hours of local bands play on our two stages. It was truly an adrenaline-filled week, and it was only possible due to your positive energy, endless work, constant support and contributions. Muddy Waters would not exist without its community, no matter what part you played- big or small- thank you.

You are truly amazing!!


So what's next? The community will be meeting tomorrow, to discuss our future with this blessing of a cleaner slate to work with, and we are solidified like never before. We are diving head first into 501c3 (non profit status) asap....our priority is to get this business rolling in its true status in order to better serve the people. We have TONS of ideas, dreams, and dreamers...and we believe by transitioning into the nonprofit sector, we will be able to fully meet our potential as a community center. . We are open to any help from any of you that have a bigger clue than we :-) ...we are all in this together....open minded to your advice.

This group of people have proven to be magical, enduring, and relentless to make it happen...and we have sincerely grown together and grown stronger and are ready to turn the vision into reality... "Nothing is more valuable than today." -Goethe


Aloe
Owner
Muddy Waters Communityhouse
Flipside

Muddy Waters and The Flipside need your HELP!!

This is a notice to let you know that Muddy Waters Community House is

going to be shut down at the end of the week unless 10,000 dollars is

raised to pay the bills BY THIS SUNDAY! We are a pro-community

organization that has been caught in the wrath of the recession. Our

focus has always been toward creating stronger, healthier people

through an atmosphere of creativity, compassion, and contagious better

good. We are an employee owned orginization which is transcending its

former role in the business sector in order to actively serve and

build our nieghborhood and community of southeast Portland, Oregon.We

have had 2 Thanksgiving events feeding accumulatively 250+ people, we

have had 2 fund raisers for a local homeless service obtaining $800

towards health provisions for the less fortunate of the city. The four

owners have forfeited wages in order to insure our endeavors. We

transformed the business from a coffee shop to a community. We have

hosted a screening for Invisible Children, in order to bring awareness

to Americans of what we can do about the children in Uganda. Every

week we provide 30 gallons of coffee to the wonderful people that live

outside in our city. Daily, there are 30+ people that call our shop

their home. We support their art, feed their bodies, provide a stage

for their music, listen to their stories, validate their purpose, and

give them friendship.

A lot of people will be on the streets provided this does NOT happen,

for they have put their livelihood on the line for this place, and as

some may know, an extremely beautiful venue has just been finished in

the back of the cafe to provide an extremely warm and aesthetic

atmosphere for events, shows, and community gatherings like writing

workshops, music lessons, activities for children. ANY help would be appreciated. Also, I understand this is a very short notice but if you could do ANYTHING to help us

with getting the word out, announcing, blogging, whatever, would be so

much appreciated. Ideally, monetary help is essential. 10,000 is a lot in one week, yes, but our community believes so much in this place and is going to do everything in its power to save it. 

And ANY kind of help will be so much appreciated! We are going to make this happen! And you can be a part of it! Help us save this unique place! 

Every night until Sunday starting tomorrow we are going to be holding

events to help raise funds to save the venue from shutdown, and we will be open 24 hours each and every day until Sunday! This will include art shows, music and

spoken word performances, and potlucks put on by the owners and

supporters in the community. 

Thank you for you time and possible future support. 

Communities helping communities. Anything helps.

 The Muddy Waters Community

503-396-8028

any online donations can be made via paypal to NWorden08@yahoo.com