Dogfishbay Studios
Back Stage Pass
About the name
Dogfishbay...
Yes, we sit overlooking Liberty Bay, in Poulsbo Washington, but it was not always the case. The U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey officially changed the name of the bay in Poulsbo from “Dogfish Bay” to “Liberty Bay” on Nov. 4, 1914. Poulsbo residents had petitioned the U.S. Board of Geographic Names back in May 1905 to change the name to “Liberty Bay.” The letter, signed by 44 businessmen, educators and farmers who lived in area, stated, “Many years ago, prior to the settling of this Bay, the Indians occupied the bulk of the lands situate thereon, and they called this bay ‘Dogfish Bay’ on account of the number of dogfish that were in the habit of running in the waters thereof. We now have a very prosperous community in Poulsbo, another one at Pearson and a small one at Keyport. The population is composed largely of Scandinavians who have taken out their citizenship papers and propose to make the United States their home. The name of ‘Liberty Bay’ is more euphonious and much more appropriate … as the name ‘Dogfish Bay’ has become a term of derision and opprobrium.”
And with an opportunity to name the studio something that evokes both "derision and opprobrium," how could I resist?
The DogfishBay Studio was born in December of 2008 following a gift of ProTools M-Powered 8 to me from my son, Greg. Presentient being that he is, he warned his mother that this gift would probably be a very small part of the cost needed to set up the studio. The studio was set up to provide me and my friends a way to record the songs we’d written, sometimes decades earlier, and to share them with family and friends. After three years of recording we finally came to a point where we wanted to share the work with a broader audience and that desire precipitated the need to create a studio name, a website, and a whole new set of skills.
This work reflects the generous collaboration of friends and family. The sale of the music is to support the musicians, the songwriters and the continued survival of the studio. None of the contributors has been able to forgo the “day job” and all play for the love of it. We feel blessed by all those who have taken the time to listen to our music and hope, whether you purchase it or not, that it brings to the listener the kind of pleasure that it has brought to us in the making of it.
Jeffrey Powel