Climbing & Cohen

Today I was inspired by climbing & John Cohen.  Elliott & I have been climbing for the past several weeks & today we took a couple climbs at the REI Pinnacle.  Though its not the most challenging climbing I’ve ever done it sure does feel great to get out & get my arms moving.

I spent my evening at the Grand Illusion watching the films “Musical Holdouts” & “The High Lonesome Sound” by John Cohen.  This man is amazing.  His life’s work has been to document the most important cultural moments of the 40 years in American history - from photographs of the the folk revival in Greenwich Village &  Bob Dylan (both of which were largely inspired by Cohen’s own old time band the New Lost City Ramblers) , to interviews with the Abstract Expressionists, & films documenting the  the rural, traditional, old time music of America.  The man seemed to have had a hand in every major cultural movement in recent history.  His films were wide-eyed open-eared evocations of  American folk music traditions, from the hand-clappin’ foot-stompin’ songs of South Carolina, to the Gospel songs of a river baptism, & the bluegrass n banj’r tunes of backwoods Kentucky.  The films chronicled vibrant cultural identities as preserved through music.  Reflecting on the past few months & years I recall Folklife (Seattle’s massive free music festival), Wilderness Plots (the Scott Russell Sanders inspired concert chronicling early Midwestern, settlers, hunters, preachers, & pioneers), & the various bluegrass festivals I’ve attended as venues where the folk tradition is still alive well.  It seems John Cohen’s pioneering work plays a large role in my enjoyment of these art forms today.

Back home, all jazzed up, I began reading up on some of my favorite bands & stumbled across a blog by Crooked Still bassist Corey Dimario.  About halfway down the page he talks about Big Grass (which I almost went to), Wintergrass (which I did went to), & Vivace, a well known Seattle espresso joint (which I just went to - its right across from REI, Elliott & I grabbed a quick drink after climbing).  That made me pretty pumped up, & brought everything full circle.  I started climbing, then got some hot chocolate,  watched some Cohen films, which reminded me of Crooked Still, and that carried me to Corey’s blog, which took me back to Vivace where I pretty much began my day.  Cool.