Longtime Rock Star Marty Jourard Chooses Kirkland for his Encore

WHEN YOU hung out with Tom Petty, played in a famous band that had two top 10 singles and two gold albums, and traveled the world as a rock star, what do you do for an encore?

If you're Marty Jourard, keyboard and sax player for the hugely successful '80s band, The Motels, you move to Kirkland, become a music educator, write two books, raise two kids and keep making music.

Marty grew up in Gainesville, Florida, a music mecca that spawned a number of well-known musicians in the late '60s and early '70s. Marty sang and played sax, bass and keyboards in creatively named bands like Airmont Classic, Uncle Funnel, Southpaw, Flash and the Cosmic Blades, and Road Turkey—the latter two with Stan Lynch, future member of The Heartbreakers.

In the early '70s Road Turkey began sharing gigs with Tom Petty's band, Mudcrutch. Tom and Marty have been friends ever since, and when Marty wrote his first book, Start Your Own Band, Tom penned the foreword. Marty's sax playing can be heard on several of Tom's recordings.

In 1976 Marty headed to Los Angeles to try his hand at the musical big time. For two years he dabbled in college, odd jobs and odd bands. His guitarist brother Jeff had also moved to L.A. and was playing in a group called The Motels. Jeff invited Marty to a practice, and the rest, as they say, was history.

For eight and a half years Marty played keyboard and sax, wrote songs--including "Take the L"--made five records, traveled the world, appeared on American Bandstand and Saturday Night Live, played Radio City Music Hall, and lived a life of fame and stardom. Touring with the new wave band The Cars was the peak. "That's when I really felt we'd made it," Marty said.

The band, and life on the road, had its highs and lows. "The two hours on stage are great," he says, "but there is nothing glamorous about sitting in a hotel room in the Midwest where you don't know anybody."

Then came Friday, Feb. 13, 1987. "Martha (Davis, band founder) told us she was dissolving the group. I was devastated. I went into your basic existential meltdown."

But life went on. He formed an R&B band called Locomotive, and he got married. In 1989, he and his wife and infant daughter moved to Kirkland. "We wanted to get out of the California smog, lack of seasons, earthquakes, traffic." They spent a week exploring Seattle neighborhoods and chose Bridle Trails. "I liked the Eastside vibe--it reminded me of where I grew up," on one and a half acres, by a lake.

MARTY'S BEEN busy during his 23 years in Kirkland. He ran a recording studio for six years and wrote a music column for Rocket magazine. He also wrote two books, Start Your Own Band, and The Marty Method: How to Play Piano and Understand Music. Nick Erwin, a former student who's played in several bands, says Start Your Own Band is "an incredibly accurate description of exactly what it's like to be in a band."

Marty also teaches songwriting classes at Cornish College of the Arts, speaks at local music education events and has taught at Eastside Prep and . 

When Marty found out that BEST had a fully functioning digital recording studio and no one to run it, he salvaged some sound panels, spent a weekend putting them up, and began to teach the kids about recording and songwriting.

In 2001, he and BEST counselor Wendy Simmons founded Rock School, an after-school rock band program for teens that is still going strong. For Kirkland's centennial, Marty helped the BEST kids record a song written by Peter Kirk's daughter.

Ten years ago, Marty began giving private music lessons. A multi-instrumentalist, he teaches piano, guitar, bass, sax and drums. He's taught more than 150 students.

He teaches rock, pop, blues and jazz, and adapts his teaching style to fit the student. Students say he's a fun and enthusiastic teacher. He says teaching is a way to give back to the community. "I do good by teaching people how to bring music into their life."

In 2005 Marty formed a bossa nova band called Novabossa that performed the music of one of his favorite composers, Antonio Carlos Jobim, at local jazz clubs and events in Kirkland and beyond.

Twelve years ago he moved to his current home in Houghton. "This is the first place I've lived where I can walk everywhere I need to go. It's also the first place I've lived as an adult where I felt like there was a real sense of community." He stays connected by taking long walks around town and visiting with the owners of businesses he's patronized for many years.

In 2004, the VH1 show "Bands Reunited" tracked down The Motels members, flew them to L.A., and staged a concert. The camera crew's first stop was Kirkland, where they surprised the heck out of Marty. He has since played other reunion gigs with The Motels.

A visit to Marty's website yields a treasure trove of Motels memorabilia and well-written stories about life in the music biz, as well as links to his books and music lessons.

And in case you're wondering, yes, he is accepting new students.