The Red Shed Tapes: A McMenamins Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Author Talk with Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

In this B-side episode, we present Bob Crawford of the Avett Brothers on the Great NW Author Tour. Crawford explains how he became a historian while touring with the band and ended up writing about John Quincy Adams. Hear about the drama of Adams's election and how he was a force behind abolition. Plus, a whole lotta of fascinating history you never learned in school!

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design and audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Live audio recording: Joe Sanchez

Writing: Michelle "Jake" Robbins

Editing: Kat Nyberg, Gretchen Kilby, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Shannon McMenamin

Photos: Kat Nyberg and Joe Sanchez

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, and Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Email The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: mcmenamins.com/podcast

Melt Into a Dream Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

We take you inside a little-known McMenamins tradition: the annual Barley Brew. On this day, a group of McMenamins folk follow in the footsteps of our first brewers from the '80s to craft a very special beer celebrating the birthday of our first pub, the Barley Mill. You'll hear about the people who make it happen, how it began, and how a touch of magic makes this beer like no other.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Interviews & audio composition: Kat Nyberg

Writing & editing: Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Kat Nyberg, Gretchen Kilby

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Email The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: mcmenamins.com/podcast

Rainbow Full of Sound Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

This episode is all about connections. The connections between an unexpected gift, a thousand-year old poem, a legendary jazz musician, a stolen illustration, the Grateful Dead, and how they all converged in the creation of a secret room at McMenamins Kennedy School. You'll hear the story behind it all, including descriptions from the artists on how it all came to fruition.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Interviews & audio composition: Kat Nyberg

Writing & editing: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Gretchen Kilby

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Email The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: mcmenamins.com/podcast

December to Remember Dec 08, 2025

Show notes

In this episode marking the 20th anniversary of Portland's iconic concert series December to Remember, we listen in on a conversation between co-founders Jimi Biron, McMenamins' music director, and Mark Hamilton, program director for 94/7 fm. You'll hear how the series is unique and why so many Portlanders who've been to December to Remember shows are still saying, "I heard them when."

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Michelle "Jake" Robbins

McMenamins audio and interview: Kat Nyberg

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Email The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: mcmenamins.com/podcast

From Here to Forever: Celebrating 40 Years of Oregon's Brewpub Law Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

Today when you go to a pub in Oregon, you'll find a long list of locally brewed craft beers. That wasn't always the case. In 1985 a handful of brewing pioneers, including Mike and Brian McMenamin, changed the future of beer in Oregon forever. Host Shannon McMenamin and her cousin Conners take a look back at the role their dads played in passing the Brewpub Bill; we hear from some of the original pioneers, talk to brewers today, and muse about how pub culture has changed.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design and audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Michelle "Jake Robbins

Editing: Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Gretchen Kilby, and Kat Nyberg

McMenamins archival audio and photos: Kat Nyberg

Additional archival photos courtesy of John Foyston

McMenamins production team: Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Kat Nyberg, and Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Get in touch with The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: www.mcmenamins.com/podcast

UFO Festival: Garrett Graff Examines the Government's History of UAP Secrecy May 02, 2025

Show notes

On this B-side episode we dip into our archives to hear journalist Garrett Graff's expert take on the government's 80-year search for alien life. The Pulitzer Prize finalist explores everything from CIA insiders to the "summer of the flying saucer" to the odds of life out there.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Michelle Jacobson Robbins

McMenamins' production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle Jacobson Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Video Production: Kat Nyberg

UFO Fest archival audio, video & photo: Kat Nyberg & Patrick Chapman

UFO Fest A/V engineer: Rand Deahl

Music: Jim Brunberg & Ben Landsverk at Wonderly

Art: Lillian Ripley

Get in touch with The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: www.mcmenamins.com/podcast

UFO Festival: Kathleen Marden and the Abduction of Betty & Barney Hill Apr 25, 2025

Show notes

Today on the B-side… In 1961 a couple driving across New Hampshire spotted something unusual in the night sky. What happened next is the stuff of science fiction – only it wasn't to Betty and Barney Hill. On this episode of The Red Shed Tapes, B-side you'll hear the detailed account and evidence of their alien encounter from ET contact researcher and the Hills' niece, Kathleen Marden.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Michelle Jacobson Robbins

McMenamins' production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle Jacobson Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Video production: Kat Nyberg

UFO Fest archival audio, video & photo: Kat Nyberg

UFO Fest A/V engineer: Rand Deahl

Music: Jim Brunberg & Ben Landsverk at Wonderly

Art: Lillian Ripley

Get in touch with The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: www.mcmenamins.com/podcast

UFO Festival: Top Gun Pilot, Witness to the "Tic Tac" UFO Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

Welcome to the first B-side episode of The Red Shed Tapes! In these episodes we play recordings and interviews from our archives… In this episode you'll hear Top Gun pilot David Fravor's play-by-play of his close encounter with the "Tic Tac" UFO, made famous by The New York Times. Commander Fravor spoke at McMenamins UFO Fest 2019 in what he called, "probably my first and last public appearance." We're playing this rare presentation in its entirety – prepare to be amazed.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins and Gretchen Kilby

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Michelle Jacobson Robbins

McMenamins' production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle Jacobson Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Video production: Kat Nyberg

UFO Fest archival audio, video & photo: Kat Nyberg, JD Breneiser

Art: Lillian Ripley

Get in touch with The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: www.mcmenamins.com/podcast

Look for Something Built to Last Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

Customers at McMenamins pubs and hotels often look around in wonder at how nothing matches, yet everything goes together. They contemplate unusual, historical objects filling spaces from floor to ceiling and marvel at bars intricately carved. In this episode, host Shannon McMenamin delves into where it all came from. She talks to antiques dealers and a local historian, gets nostalgic about the old Portland Hotel, and learns how a Brunswick backbar from Portland's legendary Lotus Café & Card Room ended up at McMenamins Back Stage Bar.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins, Gretchen Kilby and Jess Is Creative

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Jess Lyness of Jess Is Creative

Video production: Kat Nyberg

McMenamins archival audio, video & photos: Kat Nyberg

McMenamins archival photos: Liz Devine

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Get in touch with The Red Shed Tapes: podcast@mcmenamins.com

Website: www.mcmenamins.com/podcast

One Man Gathers What Another Man Spills: Chasing History Aug 22, 2024

Show notes

What kind of pub/hotel/handcrafting/live music business has a history department? And why? In Episode 3 of The Red Shed Tapes we're talking about how history is an integral part of the McMenamins experience and how 28-year historian Tim Hills built a department from the ground up as the company was restoring buildings from the roof down. We'll meet staff historians, hear from superstar drag queen Poison Waters, and stop by the second biggest UFO festival in the U.S. But first, a story about the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

Check out the transcript & photos here on the BLOG

Produced by McMenamins, Gretchen Kilby and Jess Is Creative

Host: Shannon McMenamin

Sound design & audio editing: Gretchen Kilby

Writing: Kat Nyberg and Jess Lyness of Jess Is Creative

Editing: Michelle "Jake" Robbins

Video production: Kat Nyberg

McMenamins archival audio, video & photos: Kat Nyberg

McMenamins archival photos: Liz Devine

McMenamins production team: Kat Nyberg, Michelle "Jake" Robbins, Renee Rank Ignacio

Art: Lillian Ripley

Read more about Tim Hills's evening with James Brown in his essay.