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Where should I move to?

#161
You might consider Brookings Oregon if you want to keep the West Coast vibe in a smaller town. I lived there for 14 years, and had quite a lot of band experiences during that time. I recently saw neighboring Harbor listed as one of the best places to retire in Oregon.
Climate is a bit chilly compared to LA, more similar to SFO. medical care is okay, more of that in Medford 100 miles away.
I moved from there to Portugal 2 years ago. I definitely don’t regret my decision, but I do miss regular playing with people here.
 
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#163
jthisdell said:
Couple down the street just moved to Roanoke, Va. Southwest Va in a valley surrounded by mountains. I can be on a mountain hiking trail in 15, on the AT in less than 30. They were real close to picking Asheville and chose Roanoke because it is a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

This is quickly becoming THE micropolitan area. The northern regions (Front Royal, Winchester) have become bedroom communities for metro DC.

Almost forgot...buy some bear repellant.

Riis
 
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#164
Zooberwerx said:
This is quickly becoming THE micropolitan area. The northern regions (Front Royal, Winchester) have become bedroom communities for metro DC.

Almost forgot...buy some bear repellant.

Riis
Click to expand...
We don’t have many bears in the city , just an occasional one, but lots of deer, foxes and a group of owls in my neighborhood. One evening we were playing on my back patio and a large owl swooped through the air above us.
 
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#167
smeet said:
So I just retired, and my wife and I are looking for a new place to live. We are currently is the Los Angeles are. We had settled on Asheville North Carolina, but hurricane Helene hit that area two days before we were going to leave LA to head out there. The livability of that area will be in question for an indefinite period.

So we want to start thinking about other places that are great to live in. I’m intending to play as much good music as possible, in pretty much any style. Here’s what we’d like:
- Mild temperatures - not subzero, not flesh-cooking.
- Natural beauty - forests, wildlife, distance between neighbors, quiet, etc.
- Great music scene - I want to play and see music of all sorts! Jazz, rock, country, disco/funk, experimental, etc.
- Nice walkable restaurant/shopping/public square type areas

And hopefully:
- Good health care (we old!)


Thanks!
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Sounds like some places I have visited in Italy.
 
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#169
SharpCat said:
Several of my (non-musician) buddies are talking up Kentucky. Dunno if it grabs me or if it meets your requirements. My first thought was Boise.
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I LOVED Louisville - reminds me a northern version of NOLA.

living in Nashville (Franklin) now and the music scene is BONKERS due to over saturation- least amount of live music I've played in my life (but that is probably just due to increasing parental and professional responsibilities)
 
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#172
smeet said:
So I just retired, and my wife and I are looking for a new place to live. We are currently is the Los Angeles are. We had settled on Asheville North Carolina, but hurricane Helene hit that area two days before we were going to leave LA to head out there. The livability of that area will be in question for an indefinite period.

So we want to start thinking about other places that are great to live in. I’m intending to play as much good music as possible, in pretty much any style. Here’s what we’d like:
- Mild temperatures - not subzero, not flesh-cooking.
- Natural beauty - forests, wildlife, distance between neighbors, quiet, etc.
- Great music scene - I want to play and see music of all sorts! Jazz, rock, country, disco/funk, experimental, etc.
- Nice walkable restaurant/shopping/public square type areas

And hopefully:
- Good health care (we old!)


Than
Click to expand...
Canada is beautiful but the cold weather wouldn’t be to your liking
 
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#175
re: the European suggestions, while there are a lot of excellent players and it's easy to see big name shows, the music scene for more local/regional acts is much, much weaker than it used to be. Seems like the most viable live playing situations are the tribute acts if that's your thing (an excellent well known Australian guitar player I've played with complains of this in the UK in particular). I love living here and have played some great gigs though those are mostly festivals, culture centers, city events, etc. It's not really common to have the local dive where you can get a regular weekly slot and multi-night gigs are very rare (used to do this often when playing more rural California gigs - would play Fri and Sat and the second night was always more full than the first as so many of the first night people would come back bringing friends - have tried to make that argument here many times and just doesn't fly). Similarly, I toured in France in the 90s and early 00s and there were a number of places in Paris for multi-night stints like New Morning and enough small venues to string together weeknight gigs between bigger weekend shows. Now there's only one or two of those Paris gigs and the smaller venues are near extinct.
I recall doing a tour in Poland in 2003 where we played 26 shows in 25 towns/cities in 30 days. Other than the festivals and culture centers, I think all of those venues are now DJs or gone.
Another friend (who had previously played with The Stylistics, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes and even James Brown) moved to Mallorca in the 80s and was playing with various bands 5-7 nights a week and was able to support his family on that but live music so eroded since that he was down to occasional solo dinner gigs with backing tracks... He recently ended up going back to the US.
All that said, it is possible to play. I just played a lot more when I was in the US.
 
#176
Op here. We are in An airbnb in the Seattle area. It’s wet and beautiful here. But my heart hurts for LA, which burst into flames shortly after we left. :(
Our LA house is not sold yet, and is currently a mile from an evacuation zone. Fingers crossed for our house and our neighbors.

The world is going crazy it seems. A couple of days before we left for Asheville, it was hit by hurricane. A couple of days after we left for Seattle, LA burned. So far WA seems safe from whatever curse I carry with me.

We are trying to learn the area a bit. We made quick visits to Gig Harbor and Olympia. Both seem promising and quite different from each other. Both are over an hour from Seattle proper. I wonder if that will make it difficult to get decent gigs.
 
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#177
If you plan to spend time in Seattle, I'd recommend you avoid living in Olympia.
I lived in Olympia for 30 plus years. That drive north can take 60 minutes from the north end of Olympia, exit 111, and 120 minutes depending on the volume of people at the same time. If there is an accident on I-5, forget about it.
South from Seattle to Olympia is 70 minutes in regular traffic and two or more hours easy when the volumes are high. It's not an accident slowing things down, it's just the sheer volume of cars, ongoing construction along I-5 at all hours of the day.
The area around JBLM is a bottleneck most hours of the day. There are windows of time when that drive is not difficult, but it's usually at times when most folks aren't out.

-Mike
 
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#180
While the PNW doesn't have as many catastrophic weather events, there is an active volcano in the region and the threat of an earthquake is legit.
The wildfire threat is also legit. It's mostly in Eastern Washington, which is mostly forests and farmland so it doesn't get the news coverage like it would elsewhere, but that area burns out of control for weeks at a time closing down major highways on some occasions. Western Washington will burn too though. We had to cancel multiple backpacking trips in recent years due to wildfires in Western Washington.
Because of the geography of the Puget Sound, it becomes a staging ground for wildfire smoke from Eastern Washington, Canada, Oregon, and sometimes California. The air quality on some days will be the worst in the world and health officials will advise anyone with respiratory or health issues to stay inside.
All that aside, there is nothing comparable to the blue of the sky on a sunny Western Washington August day when it's nice.
No place is perfect out there. We all have to decide what we're willing to put up with in exchange for the quality of life we seek.

-Mike
 
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