Vik Puri and Nikhi Aum are idealists.

When they closed their printing business in Vancouver B.C. in 2008 they wanted to pursue ways of fulfilling the mandates of their heroes Mahatma Gahdhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Both of Indian descent the couple did some volunteering and chose to explore an opportunity to serve the "food desert" along Delridge Way SW by opening a fruit, spice and vegetable stand they called Martin's Way in 2012. But when the Delridge Produce Co-op came along with plans to do it as well, the couple chose to bow out.

It's been difficult admits Puri, but through it all, their idealism survived, and so did the purpose of Martin's Way.

Now it's being put to a new use in the form of what Puri calls "The People's Republic of Music" now under construction in White Center at the corner of 112th SW and Ambaum Blvd. SW. in what was once the Firedog Inn.

The plan is to convert the space into a combination live music performance venue, recording studio and what Puri calls "A digital platform for music sales" all produced by local northwest artists. It will also be a community center for kids, meaning there will be no alcohol sold there. Puri noted that interior is being worked by Royce and his assistant Rubens.

Getting there of course will require money, which Puri hopes to raise through crowd sourcing via Indiegogo.com, grants, private donations and possibly nominal admission fees, some sales of pre packaged food items, and rental of the space for events. The campaign will go online once the video for it is done and Puri hopes to have high quality premiums to offer contributors.

He plans to have a full set of stage equipment, audio recording equipment, and to create an onsite and later online digital distribution platform where people can buy the music made there as full tracks or in certain cases, such as just beats, in parts they can incorporate into other works. "We're going to be a digital catalog. It's going to be distributed to digital agencies across the world," explained Puri,"for companies who need sound."

The exterior of the building is undergoing a highly visible makeover at the hands of Seattle muralist Jeff "Weirdo" Jacobson who is painting a "hyper realistic" vision that depicts a friend of his, wrapped in plastic all in bright dayglo style colors. You can learn more about Jacobson via his website http://www.weirdocult.com .

The couple does not own the building, but they have convinced an investor group to give them one year to try to carry out their plan.

"The idea is to effect change" said Puri, who pointed out that when he first came, the site was a place where he and his wife would find numerous syringes left by drug users. That's all gone now as the building is being transformed.

Puri is partnering with Jason Gray with the band the Polyrhythmics to produce the video for the fundraiser and who will also be part of the music effort.

"If you are a film maker or ad maker or making a video game, you are going to need music or sounds. Where do you get sounds? I'm saying come to my catalog, give me the genre, this is the sound. There's a huge market for that."

The facility will be open in early June but not fully outfitted since funding will supply the gear and let them complete the restoration.

It's a plan with lofty goals and driven by the belief that change can only be accomplished by people with a passion to make it happen.

If you'd like to contribute to the effort you can reach them via email at Vikpuri@live.com

You can also find them on Facebook here www.facebook.com/peoplesrepublicofmusic