Ethos Music Center

Ethos is 100% focused on those who cannot afford music lessons. While that is a good thing in some aspects, for those who are fortunate enough to be able to pay for lessons, prepare to take a back seat. Ethos fails to realize who us actually paying their bills and is shortsighted in their business plan.
The saddest part of Ethos is that the problems start at the top, with the Board, and roll downward. It’s the kids who pay the price for their incompetence.

My kid is not particularly obnoxious. Mainly because I have spent years of putting him in check and shooting the dagger eyes at him from across the table. What are dagger eyes you ask? Those are the eyes that let you know your mom is about to get buck wild on your ass if you continue to act like a fool in public. I don’t know if you have ever seen the wrath of a Mexican woman, but I am telling you right now, its not pretty.
Last summer I was in France and some kid at breakfast kept spraying unnecessary amounts of whipped cream out of a can on to his waffles and laughing about it. His parents kept lovingly tapping his arm and telling him in their «inside voices» that it was «not okay to be wasteful, Ethan.» In this situation, my kid would have been dead meat a long time ago but since he wasn’t there, I shot the dagger eyes to little Ethan. One would have thought that little Ethan saw a ghost after our eyes met. He immediately handed over the can of whip and his parents thanked him with looks of relief on their faces. (And all of these years I thought the daggers only worked on my kid!).
My kid is a little older now, so the dagger eyes don’t get used very often. Lately, his biggest transgression is to complain that he is bored and demand that I entertain him when all I want to do is finish the Buns of Steel video I am in the middle of. This is when a place like Ethos comes in handy. It has an all around good vibe upon entering, and they are a non-​profit gig with a passion for teaching. They offer just about any and every kind of instrument lessons, and discounts to children who are on free or reduced lunch. Their standard lesson prices are very affordable: $ 149 for 8 guitar lessons. There are also instrument rentals for those who can’t afford or are undecided on what instrument they will stick with. The teachers are friendly and communicative AND there is a coffee joint in the lobby where you can catch up on reading and drink tea while you wait. Overall a good place to ditch your kid while boosting his confidence and gaining piece of mind for yourself.
One of the best thing about Ethos? There are tons of little kids that hang out in the lobby for me to «accidentally «shoot my daggers at, should they decide to act like fools in public. :)

I’d like to see someone review Ethos Music Center itself as an amazing part of the community. What’s not to love about a nonprofit that sees to bring kids together with instruments and affordable lessons. With so much funding for arts cut out of schools these days Ethos is an important part of the Portland community.
That said, this review is about the café they have attached to the music center. I so want to love this place. It is close by, it helps support the music center, the folks are friendly, it is a great space, and they have live music. I liked the Nossa Familia coffee they serve — strong, Italian style roast without a bitter note.
But it just isn’t quite to «love» yet for a couple of reasons:
Like most PDX businesses they put a big sandwich board outside when they’re open. This board suggests «Vegan too!», however, both times I’ve been in so far there hasn’t been a vegan food option anywhere in site. When I asked about it the nice person behind the counter shrugged and said, «Oh… uh… I guess we have these cookies…» and gestured vaguely towards the back of the building. *sigh*
My second visit my simple order of an iced soy latte was served to me hot. If I’m the only person ordering coffee and asked for it iced please don’t serve me a hot coffee. This kind of thing happening in a place that is packed is one thing, but it is a little frustrating to be the only order being attended to and it is wrong.
That all said, the café is something I’ll check back into in hopes that they really do include some vegan options. I’m sure the nice people making the coffee will become more adept at filling orders as the business grows.