Doggies have a musical day out

Sisters Coffee Company held a concert, and it went to the dogs - literally. The "Hoffman and Hounds" concert, on Saturday, August 4, featured singer, songwriter, guitarist and recording artist, Jonathan Hoffman. Unfortunately for concert guests, Hoffman's backup could not make the performance due to a prior commitment.

Watson and Cricket are the two dogs that cohabit with the Hoffman family.

"I could have brought Watson, but my wife was at the Metolius Meadows Homeowners Association meeting today. He (Watson) sings with one of my songs, and he has a better voice than I do," said Hoffman.

Although Hoffman has been writing music for a long time, the turn to doggy tunes was relatively recent.

"I have been writing music since I was in college in the late '60s, but we adopted a dog about 2000, and without consciously thinking about it I started writing doggy tunes. All of a sudden I was writing a lot more of them. Now, my dog Watson likes to think that he wrote a lot of them, but since he doesn't have opposable thumbs, I can take the credit," said Hoffman.

Debbie Bucher of Sisters was in attendance with Mojo, the mystery dog.

"When I go for a walk some people feel sorry for me and others think she is cute," Bucher said. "We are still trying to figure out what she is. The only thing we know for sure is that she is not what we paid for."

Hoffman has immortilized his dog music on a CD.

"I already had two CDs, and I thought since I have so many dog tunes why not issue a CD of dog tunes, a CD that was an 'if your dog could write music what would he write about?' That was the basic idea," said Hoffman.

The music came off without a hitch, but there was some confusion when it came to food and beverage service.

"I thought that they had advertised that there would be treats, but we didn't ever see them. The missing drink cart was the bigger problem though. A lot of the dogs were looking around to order a drink, but there was no one to take their orders," Bucher quipped.

A big hit was the doggy love song.

"I have a dog love song. It was written with the idea that if a dog could write a love song, what would he write about. It is titled 'Big Smelly Woman.' We kind of run the gamut," said Hoffman.

Bucher thought Mojo liked the song.

"She (Mojo) has been to concerts before, not specifically dog concerts. This was a new experience for her, and she seemed to relate. I am sure that she liked 'Big Smelly Woman.' I learned from my sister a long time ago that all smells are interesting to dogs. There are no good or bad smells, and the more putrid the smell the more interesting it is to a dog," said Bucher.

Sisters resident Bonnie Knox brought Lacie, even though Lacie is disabled.

"I have to explain it to her in my own way as she is totally deaf. I sign to her, and she can understand. She is an Australian Shepherd, and when they are predominantly white they have what is called a white gene, and although they are born hearing they lose it very soon. She came from the Millican Rescue, where they have 130 horses out at Millican. We went out to help with the rescue, and I ended up rescuing her," said Knox.

Not all the songs were numerous.

"For what it is worth, not only do I have a doggy love song but I also have what is possibly the world's only doggy Christmas carol. It is called 'Canine Christmas.' One of the themes of the song is: 'I don't want material things. All I want is love like I give,'"said Hoffman.