"A weekend of performances has been donated by some of Portland's most popular bands and Laurelthirst mainstays to help raise money for a new and better PA sound system. The Laurelthirst is a one-of-a-kind establishment and is arguably Portland's Art & Music Lover's Public House. It is a special place that's easy to talk about, yet hard to explain where some of the best music you'll ever hear happens for free - no cover charge every week, all year 'round. A diverse culture is represented by those who perform and are regular (and not so regular) patrons of this establishment as it is has become a community family room, bar and concert stage. This history reaches back almost 20 years. Passion lives, breathes, plays and drinks here among the publicans and thrives with its nurturing. For this we musical artists have been thinking about the fact that with the calibre of audiences we get to play for and the high musical experiences we regularly achieve, we all would benefit immensely from more sonic fidelity in the now "non-smoking" music room at "The 'Thirst". With that we have proposed to help management not only replace the existing system but bump it up to a greater aesthetic standard and treat everyone's ears to the potential level of musical peak-experience that higher-fidelity delivers. What happens onstage in the Laurelthirst music room feels worthy. We want to make things sound better, that's all. Margins are tight in this business and when faced with the potential of making greater art for art's sake The Laurelthirst Public House crowd, musicians and management see this as an opportunity where everyone wins and we just get the job done by "pulling together what we can as a community."