Bellingham Reviews and Ruminations

Cabin Tavern: Skull Over the Bar

2017-10-18T17:33:00.001-07:00

Cabin Tavern - Bellingham, WA

It's devil working the details here that makes the Cabin a great bar: a skull over the bar is always a good sign, then ice cold glasses and Hamm's on draft. A jukebox that plays a great collection of 45s. An excellent selection of tequila. That little magical golden unicorn, the twilight Hamm's sign, the audio track of the fishing show in the bathroom, a two-headed wolf. Take all this and add great bartenders and a charming owner, all who are committed to making sure you get the best drink while listening to the best music and are having the best time.

Cabin Tavern - Bellingham, WA

Cap Hansen's Tavern: Monkeys dressed in sharp suits

2017-10-18T17:27:00.001-07:00

Cap Hansen's Tavern - Bellingham, WA

For better or worse, the go-to dive bar in Bellingham. Cheap but strong drinks, bartenders' attitudes that run the gamut from stereotypically surly to efficiently enabling, the classic Bukowsky-esque assortment of barflys and a surreal decor that is half vintage beer sign, half paintings of monkeys dressed in sharp suits drinking mugs of beer.

I love Cap's on a Sunday afternoon after the Seahawks have lost, when the crowd of mostly lonely males is / are drunk, sad and irritable. Then the bartender turns the TV to some bad 80s movie and someone plays Purple Rain on the jukebox. And everything wrong in the world seems endurable, if not entirely right.

Avoid the weekends when it fills with Western Students learning how to drink and throw-up. Try the free popcorn; it's the healthiest thing you can put in your mouth at Cap's (mostly). On Sundays nights, there is one of the best, raucous - and often poignantly talented -karaokes in town. The signature drink is the Peruvian Bear Fucker. Don't ask, just drink.

Try a shot of Hussong tequila and a Miller Genuine Draft, the champagne of beers with the cognac of tequilas. Cheers!

Sehome Hill Arboretum: The Green Fuse

2017-10-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

Observation Tower on Sehome Hill, Bellingham, WA

A sanctuary in the center of Bellingham, the Arboretum offers a surprising and welcome solitude for those who are suffering from Information Sickness or the gentle urban pressures of Bellingham's subdued bustle. While popular, it is not nearly as crowded as Lake Padden or the the Interurban Trail. Indeed, there have been many early mornings where I have thankfully not encountered another human soul. There's always a mysterious engagement to walking up a hill or a mountain, the point being ostensibly to get to the summit, but more to enjoy the journey on the way. Something of a Mount Analogue.

Over the years the Arboretum has seen it's fair share of logging and coal mining. Fortunately some farsighted souls designated Sehome Hill as a park in 1922 to preserve its unique character. The hand-cut hobbit like tunnel at the top was created in 1923 to accommodate the passage of early Model T automobiles; now it is only a footpath to the Other Side. Note this is not a cultivated and landscaped sort of Arboretum and Bellingham is the better for it. There are portions of the South Ridge Trail, where it is easy to believe you are in deep woods, far from any sign of human or noxious machinery.

You can find parking in the crowded (Western students) lot off Bill MacDonald, across from Sehome High School. From there, the recommended ascent is not up the road, but along the well-worn path at the Southwest corner of the forest. Here the trail runs along the western side of the hill, passing a fern-lined natural amphitheater, to turn round gentle switchbacks to an 80 ft wooden observation tower. In the summer months, when the trees are full of leaves, there is a limited view of the bay to the northwest; but there is a view nonetheless. Further along, you pass through the tunnel to emerge on the other side where a large prohibitively fenced in radio tower stands humming. Here you come to the asphalt road, which descends a winding wooded way back to the parking lot.

However, there are many lesser traveled paths that take you deeper into the woods. Story goes that the area was heavily mined for coal in the mid-1800s and a network of tunnels lace extensively through the Hill. The entrances are no longer known. But on those deep forest paths, there are moments of strange enchantment where you wonder about the other worlds underneath and Heidegger's Holzwege: paths that lead nowhere. Open from dusk until dawn.

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower

Dylan Thomas

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer.
And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose
My youth is bent by the same wintry fever.

The force that drives the water through the rocks
Drives my red blood; that dries the mouthing streams
Turns mine to wax.
And I am dumb to mouth unto my veins
How at the mountain spring the same mouth sucks.

The hand that whirls the water in the pool
Stirs the quicksand; that ropes the blowing wind
Hauls my shroud sail.
And I am dumb to tell the hanging man
How of my clay is made the hangman’s lime.

The lips of time leech to the fountain head;
Love drips and gathers, but the fallen blood
Shall calm her sores.
And I am dumb to tell a weather’s wind
How time has ticked a heaven round the stars.

And I am dumb to tell the lover’s tomb
How at my sheet goes the same crooked worm.

Tunnel on Sehome Hill, Bellingham, WA

Lake Padden: Sky Water

2017-10-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

Lake Padden - October 2014

Lake Padden - October 2015

Lake Padden is one the many beautiful natural spaces that makes Bellingham such an extraordinary place to live. In many European cities, there are great and expansive city parks and gardens, manicured and cultivated, famous places for the citizens to walk around and through. Lake Padden is one of several such beautiful walks in Bellingham, where you see so many friendly faces on their morning, afternoon or evening walks.

The Lake is beautiful and sublime year round, a perfect jewell that transforms throughout the seasons. The well maintained main trail is a comfortable 2.75 miles around. There are several bathrooms spaced along the way. A series of poignant memorial benches can be found spaced around the Lake. There are also two main piers and a concrete fishing area that almost always has a few old men fishing every day during the season.

In the summer, the grassy "beach" on the south side of the Lake fills up with families and younger people, laying in the sun, grilling, inflating floaties, swimming and paddle boarding. It's an idyllic and simultaneously nostalgic scene. Many people walk their dogs around the Lake. There is a contained off-leash area on the north side of the Lake.

There is also a winding set of "backwoods" trails where horses can be ridden and dogs unleashed. Note there are a number of bikers also that occasionally forget others are on the trail. There are also showers and changing areas on the south side. Plenty of parking at both entrances. Plenty of picnic table and grills. Lake Padden is Bellingham's own beautiful Walden, a peaceful, meditative and inspiring natural wonder.

See also: 9 Curious Notes on the History of Lake Padden

In such a day, in September or October, Walden is a perfect forest mirror, set round with stones as precious to my eye as if fewer or rarer. Nothing so fair, so pure, and at the same time so large, as a lake, perchance, lies on the surface of the earth. Sky water. It needs no fence. Nations come and go without defiling it. It is a mirror which no stone can crack, whose quicksilver will never wear off, whose gilding Nature continually repairs; no storms, no dust, can dim its surface ever fresh; — a mirror in which all impurity presented to it sinks, swept and dusted by the sun’s hazy brush — this the light dust-cloth — which retains no breath that is breathed on it, but sends its own to float as clouds high above its surface, and be reflected in its bosom still.

A field of water betrays the spirit that is in the air. It is continually receiving new life and motion from above. It is intermediate in its nature between land and sky. On land only the grass and trees wave, but the water itself is rippled by the wind. I see where the breeze dashes across it by the streaks or flakes of light. It is remarkable that we can look down on its surface. We shall, perhaps, look down thus on the surface of air at length, and mark where a still subtler spirit sweeps over it.

- Walden, Thoreau

Lake Padden - January 2016

Lake Padden - November 2016

Honey Moon Mead & Cider

2017-10-13T12:18:00.001-07:00

Honey Moon Mead & Cider

The Honey Moon is a Bellingham treasure. They make delicious award-winning Meads and Ciders in back, while in front, there is a cozy tasting room where you can enjoy drinking these refreshing elixirs. And they serve excellent small plates of cheeses and meats, homemade soups, great mac n cheese and heaven dissolving in your mouth cakes from Pure Bliss. Be sure to check out the seasonal Mead and Cider offerings from Hot Spiced Mead or Frozen Meadaritas to exclusive kegs of Bourbon Barrel-aged Ciders.

They also have live music, spoken word and poetic performances six nights a week. They book talented local acts exclusively and have been at the heart and soul of the Bellingham acoustic and traditional music scene for years. Irish Monday always features amazing performances. Their Wednesday Open Mic is legendary. Sing out in praise: Hallelujah, Honey Moon! They are located speakeasy style in the alley behind Pepper Sisters. Don't miss it!

The Black Drop Coffeehouse

2017-10-13T12:16:00.001-07:00

Best coffee in Bellingham for many years. Their espresso is second to none. Their beans are delivered fresh every week from the talented roaster at Maniac Roasting. Try it out every Friday when they give away doppios for free! Their lattes and specialty drinks are amazing, the milk is perfectly steamed into delicious micro-foam. They are also on point with beautiful latte art. You have to try to Level 10 Fireball - a chipotle mocha latte. All of their delicious pastries are made in house. Sometimes there is a wait, but it's well worth it. They've won the Best Coffeehouse award and Best Barista award every year and they deserve it. They also a vital part of the community, giving to local organizations and proving a unique and safe space for everyone.

See also:

The Black Drop: If the shot's not perfect, we throw it out.
The Mystery of Coffee
Black Drop Ephemera

The Old World Deli

2017-10-13T12:10:00.002-07:00

House-made Corned Beef with Potato Salad at Old World Deli

Hands down, the best sandwiches in Bellingham are at the Old World Deli. I personally believe their house-made corned beef to be the best I've ever had - with Swiss and spicy mustard on rye, served warm. The German potato salad is supreme. In addition they also make excellent soups and salads - their mushroom soup, in particular, is outstanding.

There are new specials every day and you'll never go wrong with any of them. The wine selection is one of the finest in town with more than reasonable prices. They also have a dizzying array of condiments, oils, seasonings, chocolates and much more for you to buy.

There are always well-attended wine tastings and special themed dinners. Local musicians perform on Saturday nights. It's a good sign to me that most of the staff has been there for years, everyone is friendly and make you feel like family.

The Temple Bar

2017-10-13T12:07:00.002-07:00

Temple Bar - Bellingham, WA

Absinthe at the Temple Bar

If you're looking for a place to have a good conversation, well made cocktail or excellent glass of wine and delicious meal, the Temple Bar is the place you want to go. Nothing else quite like it in Bellingham. With its high ceilings and old world decor, there is a kind of European atmosphere where you feel comfortable taking time to savor and appreciate your drinks and food. Table service is friendly, familiar and patient.

The roasted cauliflower wedge with spicy aioli is an excellent starter. Salads are all super fresh, locally sourced and prepared with care. Their cheese and charcuterie plates are delicious works of art.
You can't go wrong with any of the daily specials. And the happy hour deal for a bottle of wine plus small cheese plate (before 7) is a great way to start an evening.

It's one of the most popular bars in town, so expect a happy crowd during peak hours.

Roasted Shishito Pepper at the Temple Bar

11 Questions for What’s Up Magazine - July 2017

2017-08-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

Photo by Jessica Garr

11 Questions for What’s Up Magazine - July 2017

Interview by Brent Cole

In all the years we've been doing an 11 questions piece, I think we're at over a decade now, we've never doubled up on an interviewee. Until now. Many moons ago we covered Scot Casey, he'd probably only lived in town a couple of years but I already thought the world of the guy. Creative, funny and incredibly kind and sincere, I first met Scot through the Black Drop, which he was part owner of at the time and he soon began writing for the magazine. Scot always covered music that others weren't talking about, but that desperately deserved the attention... and he covered it with the honesty and love that made Scot SO incredibly well liked in town.

Welp, after seven years, Scot is leaving our fair city and I am crushed. He has been one of those people in town that MAKE Bellingham what it is - he'd become part of the fabric of this town’s music, art and culture scene and someone who I enjoyed talking to every chance I got. In all the years I've lived in town, Scot Casey is truly one of the most special people. He will be very much missed.

And with that, Scot was kind enough to answer 11 questions on why he's leaving, if he'll come back and his thoughts on the town he loves.

***

• Who are you and where did you come from (tell us about yourself, for those who don’t already know)?

My name is Scot Casey. Currently, I work at Honey Moon Mead & Ciders, handling sales and marketing, hosting Open Mic, booking shows. I also book Old World Deli. And probably met most everyone I now know from when I was a barista / part-owner of the Black Drop Coffeehouse. I’ve been fortunate and am extremely grateful to have been associated with three of the best businesses in town. I’ve often joked that they pretty much reflect my basic appetites: coffee, sandwiches and alcohol. I also write on occasion, engage in a strange graphic design and perform sporadic episodes of music. I’ve been in Bellingham now for about 6 years, having moved up here from Austin, Texas.

• You are moving away from Bellingham after years within the art and music community. What’s prompting the move away?

Well, it’s difficult. Of all the places I’ve been, Bellingham is one of most beautiful. I’ve never found anywhere else like it. A community like no other, with some of the nicest, most generous, engaged and insanely talented people I’ve ever met. I have a great place to live, a great job, a loving extended family, wonderful friends, everything anyone could ever hope for. But… some odd splinter in my being compels me towards solitude and isolation, makes my suspicious of any contentment and interrogates my happiness. I am haunted by the Buddhistic parable about how the house is on fire and we are are all just sitting around in the living room discussing the metaphysics of fire. To extend and probably corrupt this lovely analogy, I guess you could say I am leaving Bellingham to find a dark place out there in the Desert to walk out of the House of Scot Casey and watch it burn to the ground. I say this with laughter and take solace in William Burroughs’ mantra: “It’s ain’t no sin to take off your skin and dance around in your bones.”

• What one thing do you think you’ll miss the most about Bellingham?

There’s no way to narrow it to one thing. And if there is one thing, it is Bellingham itself. It often seems to me like a sanctuary, a last hold-out for poets, musicians and dreamers, for a vital and active community, more of a town than a city, where you seem to know everyone, where people still greet you with a smile on the street, where small businesses not only can thrive but are celebrated. I came from Austin, which I still dearly love, but I watched in dismay as all of these simple, almost undefinable, qualities that make up the unique personality of a place faded away. I’ll miss the vital Pulse of this place. I’ll miss the music and the poetry of the city itself in all of its amazing, weird, sublime, ridiculous, quixotic, poignant, proud, sad, funny and absolutely enchanting manifestations.

• So where are you moving too? What are your plans when you get there?

Nowhere - if it’s still out there. I’m trying hard to have no particular destination in mind. I’d like to “wander aimlessly” in the manner of Chuang Tzu, following the fractal paths in the landscape as they appear in the moment. My loose sense of it is to head down along the Sierras, into Death Valley, the Mojave and then pass the winter in the Sonoran Desert, perhaps Northern Mexico. I’d like to find a place of extreme isolation where I can experience the full of weight of solitude. My plan, as it might be simply expressed, is to live as close to the bone as possible, life at degree zero. In more poetic and idiosyncratic terms, I’d like to find the bones and skull of the dead god that haunts my world, cover them with honey and set it all on fire.

• What will you be doing your last night in town? What is your last meal going to be?

That’d be the last Sunday in July. I imagine I’ll probably take a slow evening walk around Lake Padden, share a good conversation and bottle of wine at Temple Bar, wander around downtown getting intoxicated with nostalgia, stop into Cap’s for a shot of Hussong, sit on the curb along State Street and hope I can always see the stars from those gutters, then end up where all good nights end up: at the Redlight in the Red Room sharing a last drink with all the beautiful ghosts.

• Who is your all time favorite Bellingham musician? What about artist?

There cannot be just one! I’m really fortunate to know so many talented musicians. My heart is always with the Honey Moon and all the performers that play there. It’s a loosely held secret that at every Open Mic, we like to end the night with the Saddest Songs in the World. Tad Kroening and Pete Irving have so sweetly broken my heart on so many of these nights, I always be grateful just for the melancholy echo. And like most everyone, I believe Sarah Goodin hung the moon and sang the stars into shining. Meghan Yates and the Reverie Machine have restored my ragged soul so many times. Jan Peters and the Irish Crew. Louis Ledford. I could go on and on. Bellingham is blessed with an exaltation of great musicians - or whatever you call a great gathering of musical wonderment.

As far as artists, there is only one for me: Michelle Schutte. Her sublime and stark expressions of bonelike beauty just stop me in my tracks with wonder and laughter. It’s my sense that she sees into the radiant skeletal nature of the world and celebrates that in everything from the contagious terror of horses to the worried wisdom of a bunny rabbit.

• Do you have a favorite artistic moment in Bellingham, whether it’s something you created or experienced?

As far as any of my shows go, I’m really proud of The Last Meal of Calouste Gulbenkian at the Honey Moon. An “authentic” Armenian 8-course dinner that Linda Melim helped to conjure up, with each course reflecting the various stages in the Gulbenkian’s life. With all the usual suspects-musicians performing “authentic” Armenian songs. It was beautiful! Armenian professors from Western, an Armenian family, grandmother and all, were all there having a wonderful time. I presented it as an exact recreation of the millionaire’s last meal. And the thing I’ve never revealed publicly is that it was a complete fabrication, a beautiful, enchanting lie! Calouste Gulbenkian was the only real thing about it. The rest, myself and Linda and all of the musicians, made-up. And it was great! All art is a lie in one form or another. And if it’s beautiful and it’s entertaining, that’s truth enough for me.

• Thinking back to your first moments arriving to town – was there a “I love this town, I’m going to stay here” moment that made you fall in love with Bellingham?

My sister, Shannon, took me first thing to the Black Drop Coffeehouse, where I had a double latte that seemed a work of art. Then we walked over to Henderson’s where I found a good copy of Olson’s Call Me Ishmael. Went up to the corner to Everyday and Avalon. Then back around to Film Is Truth. Amazing coffee, bookstores, record stores, celebrations of film. As we sat at Temple drinking a bottle of wine while the sky was evening over the bay, I had that thought: yes, I do believe I could live here for a long time.

• What would it take for you to come back?

Well there’s that Bellingham Curse, right? Everyone who ever says they’re gone for good, always comes back. I’ll be back. Family and friends hold my heart here. But I’ve a rare window it seems: I’m not in love and I’ve got no kids, no pets, no plants, no house, no debts. I do have freedom and health. And I know how fragile each of those are. So before my mind or body or heart gives way, I want to do this thing that won’t leave me alone. But I’ll be back, in one form or another, bones in a box or still dancing around in this flesh.

• If you could wave a magic wand an change one thing about Bellingham, what would it be?

It’d have to be a big magic wand, but I’d want to change the conditions of the homeless and all who are lost and suffering out there on the streets. I imagine every city in the world would like that particular magic wand to solve these difficult problems. And the weight of responsibility and irony is not lost on me as someone who has the privilege to choose a life of nomadic homelessness.

• Any last thoughts?

I would just like to thank everyone - and there are many - who has offered me a hand up, provided opportunities, opened doors, supported me and stood by me as friends and co-workers and Bellingham family. I am deeply grateful. Thank you all. Y’all are all golden - down to the bone.

Photo by Ed Viladevall

Mike McGee, Robert Lashley and Cynthia French at the Green Frog - April 7th - The Green Frog

2016-05-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

source

Mike McGee, Robert Lashley and Cynthia French at the Green Frog - April 7th - The Green Frog

It’s always a joy when Mike McGee returns to town. McGee is one of the finest poets in the country, the only poet to have ever won the National and World Poetry Slams, the originating influence of the popular Kitchen Sessions and the nicest person you will ever have the pleasure to meet. Based now in his hometown of San Jose, California, Mike lived in Bellingham not too long ago and there is always a lot of love waiting for him here.

All of this was present at the Green Frog when McGee took the stage. As a working poet, he has a deceptive ease of delivery. He calls what he does “stand-up poetry”. Often, he catches you off-guard as you realize his conversational comedic “stand-up” set-up has suddenly morphed into a poem of luminous beauty. After the alliteratively aural acrobatics of “Love Life”, he begins a piece called “Mycrophone” with the question “Is this thing turned on?” The piece unfolds as a heartfelt confession of how comfortable he is in front of a microphone. Then he seems to fight the rhyme for a moment until it bursts forth in a paroxysm of pure poetic ebullience. It’s a virtuoso performance, stopping you in your tracks and fixing you in the high-beams of language. He follows this with “Geez, Us!”, a brilliant hallucinogenic-comedic piece about him hanging out with Jesus, dreaming of the “Four Midgets of the Apocalypse” who “burned down miniature golf courses”, shaving Jesus’ head and the receiving a “Holy Burrito”.

Even though McGee is up on the stage separated from the crowd, he is actively engaged with the audience, listening to laughter and silence, watching the faces for reaction. With each new piece, you feel it is being pulled out of his bag of poems just for you. He calls Jake Werrion up to the stage to perform beautifully sparse musical echoes on guitar during the spoken monologue of “Take No Shit! (A Zoo Story)” which probably made the sorrowful ghost of Spalding Grey smile. He follows this with the powerful and poignant “Dirty Dimes” which details with a harrowing fluorescence a graveyard shift at a Walgreen’s Drugstore, describing a Dantean procession of characters who pass through in quietly desperate caricatures until the tenth customer, a woman dying of cancer or AIDS who pays with a handful of dirty dimes. It’s a powerful piece that takes all the breath away, a sublime synecdoche of the American Dream un-waking. Poetry that rings your bones like a bell.

Robert Lashley rises to the stage, his body language incarnating the Jeremiad, the mournful tenor and meter of his poetry. He tells us this day is the anniversary of the death of a woman he loved. His reading is uncompromising, the language shivering and shaking, a fist raised up in barren rage against time. The death of the loved one weighing down the words, adding black hole gravity to the lost center: “Through light and glass, the world is her laurel. / Her holly seeds filtered all light and shadow. / Sorrow is an invisible city of fabrics / from her, and the world outside.” An unrelenting obsequey performed with an almost violent rawness and fragility.

Cynthia French follows with a wonderful poetic rant about how Jane Fonda ruins everything from drive-in theaters and how one looks in spandex to not being able to set it up for your dying father to win an Academy Award. Her delivery is electric and engaging, laced with a penetrating and self-deprecating humor: “I am a fluorescent sock caught in the rusty chicken-wire fence around the drive-in movie parking lot.” She ends with a humorous story about her move across the country to Bellingham without a physical map that took her far off course of a scheduled poetry reading, which she then drove many miles back to attend. And Cynthia French is that sort of supremely talented poet who would go drive hundreds of miles for poem.

McGee returns with a selection from his most recent chapbook, Romantic Electric Camouflage, which is a “loop of poems” describing the development, denouement and dissolution of a relationship. This new work, while accented with his incisive comedy, is rooted deeper down in poetry. “I Meant to Say” as the first meeting, first impression, is one comedic riff after another, followed by what he meant to say. Imagine a Red Skelton clown trying to tell a woman he meets how he’s not kidding. This is followed by “The Winners”, full of the first bloom of love, a sublime poetic solemnity silencing the laughter: “I am the words in the night / You are the ears I exist for”. McGee takes the audience out into deeper waters with “Knightswimming” - about mid-point in the cycle where he asks the unravelling question: “Did we think we were rescuing each other? / Two anchors at sea?” He tells us the cycle is meant to be looped, when you get to the final poem, it guides you back to the beginning, Finnegan’s Wake, beginning again at the end. This is fine poetry, arcing white hot from page to performance, an absolute pleasure and privilege to bear witness to.

Mike McGee: http://www.mikemcgee.net/
Robert Lashley: https://robertlashley.wordpress.com/
Cynthia French: https://cynthiafrench.com/

This review originally appeared in What's Up! Magazine

EP Review: The Living Arrows - Set You Free

2016-05-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

The three pieces (transcending the idea of “songs”) on The Living Arrows EP, Set You Free, resonate like the separate lines of a haiku: each is a world unto themselves but realizing a greater poetic dimensionality as a whole. On the first track, “Set You Free”, Alexandra Doumas’ warm voice, beauty laced with an unidentifiable melancholy, sings you into a poetic, almost mythic, narrative. There are elements of Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark and also something entirely its own. Traesti Luther comes in on the refrain, the perfect tonal counterpoint to Alexandra. The next piece, “Every Day I Wake”, features the rich sincere vocals of Traesti singing “Every day I wake, I try to lose my mind” over Christian’s Casolary’s captivating drum track and Loren Shaumberg’s engaging knife-like guitar riffs. Their shared vocal dynamics, the lyrical metaphysics, unfold and unfold the song over a sweet jazz-folk musical landscape. The last track, “King, Spring and Stone”, could have easily been born out of the Child Ballads, the vocal interplay between Alexandra and Traesti evoking comparison to Anais Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer - the elegant and sparse instrumentation serves as a perfect frame. While there is obvious lyrical talent and accomplished musicianship, what is most engaging is a sense of the unexpected joy that emerges out of The Living Arrows’ music. Whistles, odd vocalizations, giggles, conversation and laughter are all essential elements. This music is the soundtrack for the beauty of waking up on a Summer’s morning, of not wanting the night’s dreams to fade; the prelude to a perfect day.

http://thelivingarrows.com/

This review originally appeared in What's Up! Magazine.

CD Review: Corwin Bolt and the Wingnuts: Screwloose

2016-03-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

CD Review: Corwin Bolt and the Wingnuts: Screwloose

Listening to Corwin Bolt and the Wingnuts latest release, Screwloose, is like tuning-in to a haunting AM radio station on a summer night where the grass is blue and you are happy lost on the backroads of a 1930s Appalachian Dream. Bob Wills, Hank Williams and Stephen Foster are conjured forth. Bolt’s voice aches and moans with his resonating steel guitar like a strange attractor, owl-wing flutter towards a Blood Moon, at once comfortable and unsettling in its authenticity and rawness. Josh Britton’s slapping bass and Tim Long’s percussive tapping raising up the ghosts of Johhny Cash’s Tennessee Two: somewhere Marshall Grant is smiling. Dancing over it all, like musical lightning melting is Jeremy Sher’s sweet sweet fiddle playing. Every track on the album is fine, a cauldron of inventive original themes such as Made of Metal and Mile After Mile mixed with traditionals that reach out from the depths of the the collective American unconscious. The Gillian Welch song, Winters Come and Gone is given a new and remarkable reading as the involuted elements of the song are turned outwards into the willful convictions of the traditional John Henry. Likewise, the Stephen Foster tune, Angeline the Baker is fused with the dark energy of the fiddle reel, Soldier’s Joy. Corwin Bolt and the Wingnuts perform a New-Time Music, dressing the bones of Old-Time Music in a fresh and mysterious skin; creating a thing of beauty, harmony and sorrowful joy.

https://corwinbolt.bandcamp.com/

EP Review: Spider Ferns: Safety

2016-03-05T15:02:00.001-08:00

The Spider Ferns new EP Safety unfolds seductively in your mind, laying down layer after layer of resonate musical reference, from trance to surf, jazz to dreampop - music simultaneously bright and shining new and yet as ancient as a fireside dream lullaby. The marriage of music between Kelly and Alton Fleek as The Spider Ferns has created a series of epiphanic sonic landscapes filled with poetic fragments and evocative musical atmospheres. The first track, Stronger Still, sets out with Alton’s fused-out tribal rhythms, icy guitar riffs, and Kelly’s voice like that of deep memory, reverberated and reminding: “When you turn the key.” The next track, Safety, has an elegant clock-like complexity, jazz-inflected guitar over a series of vocal questions that answer themselves in the beauty of Kelly’s asking. The hypnotic and seductive, Worlds Without Fail, with it’s Bauhaus meets Angelo Badalamenti echoes, an opium dream of a surf guitar, is one of the strongest tracks on the EP - entrancing as a ghost. The final track, In Violet Bloom (featuring Audiosapian), has intricate rhythms alchemized with sparse musical phrases and luminous vocals. The five songs on this EP are all beauties, as solid and multi-faceted as diamonds. The Spider Ferns music is music you fall into like a dream, where time and your presence dissolve into a transcendent beauty.

http://www.thespiderferns.com/

This review original appeared in What's Up! Magazine

Joseph: Music Rooted in Kith and Kin

2015-01-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

Deep in the heart of the band Joseph's music is an eerie and beautiful spirituality, reminiscent of the haunting backwoods harmonies of the Carter Family and resonate with the echoes of ancient English and Irish folk song. Joseph is a band of three sisters from eastern Oregon celebrating kinship through music and song. The name Joseph is derived from three sources: their Grandpa Jo honoring family, the small town in Oregon representing home and the Biblical patriarch, whose ability to interpret dreams guided his life. There is bewitching mountain mystery in the music the three sisters, Natalie, Allison and Meegan Closner. Joseph sings the listener back into the essential elements of music, the lyrics as spells, the melodies as enchantment, the rhythms as the primal beatings of the heart that unites kith and kin in the shared experience of what it is to be human.

I asked Natalie about the world she and her sisters grew up in. She tells me, "we grew up in this Christian culture where is this very strange thing happens where you are not supposed to ask any questions or wonder or be curious. And that is so lifeless. Recently, after playing so many shows, we have been trying to make it as an occasion for people to pause and reflect upon what it is to be spiritual, to engage that part of themselves through the music."

On their new album, Native Dreamer Kin, the title representing the fundamental axes that define the band, Joseph has gathered in a solid collection of songs that showcase their poetic and musical sensibilities. What is most striking about the music is the harmonizing between the sisters. There is a natural tendency to associate them with other sisterly musical pairings such as the Dixie Chicks or Heart - and they do share some of the best qualities with them - but they are much closer the otherworldly Sirens trio (Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch) from O Brother Where Art Thou? In standout songs such as "Cloudline", "Come In Close" and "Eyes to the Sky" the three sisters perform a harmonic alchemical transmutation of word and music into shimmering epiphanies of transcendent meaning.

There is an atmospheric and evocative video online of the first song of the album, "Cloudline", which places the sisters in the deeps of the Edenic Northwest woods. Chiming piano and tribal drum, incense and fog drifting through the evergreen and fern, the sisters as archetypal angelic figures stepped out of the major arcana of a Pacific Northwest tarot, chanting soul choir repetition of: "Take me to your water and lay me on your shore, I want to come in deeper but the water is so cold". As in the presence of all great music, there is a simultaneous sense of wonder and hair-standing-on-end spookiness.

Natalie tells me that "something happened in the room as we were making Cloudline that was gripping and powerful. Through the process of recording and listening, we realized that Cloudline was the story of us taking a risk in the music. That is is our journey. And we want to reach up into the clouds to achieve the success this risk is going to take me to."

One of the more refreshing aspects about the construction of many of the songs is the lack of obvious refrain. Instead, the poetic narrative flows without break, finding resolution in single repeated, increasingly gnomic phrases. The plaintive death meditation "Come in Close" circles around the line, "What do we have but this?". The Cohen-esque gospel affirmation of "Lifted Away" returns again and again to simple statement: "It's here". "Not Mine" seductively repeats the question: "Who will stay?" answering with "You're not mine" over and over, turning the word's semantic meaning into a pure musical sound. And the sublime prayer-like musical mantra of "Eyes To The Sky" explores the repeated dynamic between the light of "I will lift up my eyes to the sky, to the sky" and the dark of "Burn up the despair that's been sinking me". At the heart of every song is the tightly woven fabric of the sister's incantatory harmonies whose ever shifting patterns shade richer meanings with each new listening.

The three sisters in Joseph perform music that is achingly beautiful and yet wonderfully strange, rooted in kith and kin, a poetic dream language and an abiding sense of home and place. Their music has that unusual quality of sounding new and also as if it has been sung for a thousand years, hearkening back to a rich tradition of home spun spirituality. The hope is that they always remain true to the strangeness and idiosyncratic beauty of the family: the private jokes, inside stories, the rich red blood stronger than any water, the sweet birthing songs and the hymns sung over the graves and dying beds. But there is no real doubt here: the music of Joseph is a beautiful musical celebration of these luminous elements of lives centered in the goodness of the family, harmony of place and beauty of dreams.

http://thebandjoseph.com/

The band Joseph will perform on Saturday, January 10 at the Green Frog.

This article originally appeared in What's Up.

Ben Von Wildenhaus: Music to make the cartoon moon cry tears

2015-01-03T18:01:00.002-08:00

Ben von Wildenhaus, formerly of Federation X and Quaalude County Country Band, looks like used car salesman from 1973 in a rumpled suit, a beat down figure from a David Mamet play. From this appearance comes entrancing atmospheric music that is a cross between Ennio Morricone and Brian Eno mixed with a little Angelo Badalamenti. On his new vinyl release, II, Wildenhaus takes the listener into a reverberated landscape where broken fragments of melody creak and moan like junkyard wind chimes (Bad Lament I, II); where a surf style guitar mixes with Esquivel like sonic elements to reverberate like the theme song to a space-age western where astronauts on horseback lasso aliens; where guitar strings map the desolate territory around a thrumming industrial heartbeat (Al Azif, An Nur); where a sad / angry woman sings Spanish to the sound of mascara running down her face (Tu); and where an organ grinder's monkey plays percussion in a boardwalk fortune teller's booth as a blind man plays violin and an emaciated elephant blows a busted saxophone while the bearded lady smiles at you and all you can see are her three missing teeth (Easy Opium). Wildenhaus's music taps into deep neural frequencies that drop the listener into an autistic fugue state where discrete notes stand on the distant horizon like a herd of wildebeests always threatening to stampede but never doing it . It is music to make the cartoon moon cry tears and every alley cat fall into respectful silence. Beautifully strange. Strangely beautiful.

Ben von Wildenhaus has a record release show on Jan 30th at the Shakedown with Prom Queen.

Blake Angelos at the Bellwether

2014-12-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

Blake Angelos at the Bellwether

It is a typical Tuesday night at the Bellwether: Blake Angelos is playing an achingly beautiful interpretation of the jazz standard, "I'm Through With Love". Accompanying him is bassist, Rene Worst, and his usual partner in jazz, drummer Julian MacDonough. It is one of those happy instances of music here in Bellingham where you feel privileged and fortunate to be in the audience. Here in the richly appointed lounge, listening to the Blake Angelos play through the standards, you know you have found a hidden gem in the weekly music scene.

Blake has been in Bellingham for over 14 years, playing solo or as The Blake Angelos Trio. Recently, he has been performing at the Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center. He has also performed and recorded with local singer Havilah Rand among others. He tells me, ""Jud Sherwood has me on some of his concerts as well with his Jazz Project which continues to be a great program for jazz musicians in Bellingham. I have one coming up with him in the fall with a great vocalist from Seattle named Gail Pettis with my friend and great bassist Jeff Johnson. Just think - we have two vibrant nonprofits for creative music in Bellingham. How cool is that? I also regularly play with my great friend, vocalist Rane Nogales."

He tells me that one of the challenges of playing jazz regularly is to find a way to make it accessible to everyone. "It's a great gift to have the opportunity to play solo piano as much as I do and I don't take that for granted. I am always adding new songs to my repertoire from jazz standards to classic pop like the Beatles, and more contemporary stuff Radiohead, Soundgarden, David Bowie, Peter Gabriel." Regardless of the song, there is always a lovely subtlety, a quiet complexity, to Blake's playing: jazz runs curling back into blues voicings that just break the heart.

I ask him about his early experiences with jazz. "My Dad played lots of music like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Mills Brothers, so I grew up listening to the music but growing up in Billings, Montana wasn't super conducive to studying jazz. I did take piano lessons, played and sang in rock bands and was in choir in high school but I really started playing jazz when I went to college in Wyoming and studied with the jazz band director there, a great educator named Neil Hansen."

It was at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming that Blake says, "that is where I first really dove into jazz." In between semesters of studying music theory and composition, he played in the summers with a trio at Glacier National Park. He adds, "the cool thing about Northwest College is its right next to Yellowstone Park and attracts lots of people who retire and move out there. One of the guys who retired was a swinging drummer named Ronnie Bedford who moved out to Wyoming from NYC. He was really instrumental in hipping me to lots of music and the stylistic elements of Jazz."

He moved to Seattle in the early 90s. "I was working in a music store there and played a lot of gigs with a bunch of Seattle jazz artists for a few years." In 1994, Blake started working for Yamaha. He says, "I found the Yamaha work really engaging and fun and decided to leave college, moved back to Seattle, worked at Microsoft for about a year and a half, then became full time with Yamaha where I have been ever since. All this time I have played and studied jazz primarily but really everything else as well. My job at Yamaha keeps me dialed in to all sorts of different musical genres."

Attracted by the music scene, Blake moved to Bellingham in 2000. "There are some great venues around - like Wild Buffalo, the Red Light, the Green Frog to name a few - and Jim Haupt, the manager at the Bellwether hotel, has been amazingly supportive to live jazz in Bellingham. The fan base and support of this community is amazing. It is awesome to live in this town for that reason. I travel constantly all over the U.S. and it is exceptional in that regard compared to other places around the country."

Every Friday and Saturday night, you can hear Blake Angelos play solo jazz piano at the Bellwether from 6 to 9 pm. And every Tuesday as a trio featuring Julian MacDonough from 5 to 8 pm.

http://blakeangelos.com/

This article originally appeared in What's Up!

The Washington State Archives: Northwest Regional Branch: City Directories, Death Records and Old Newspapers

2014-12-14T20:14:00.000-08:00

The Register of Deaths at The Washington State Archives

As a follow-up to our Bayview Cemetery excursion, Marissa McGrath from the Bureau of Historical Investigation suggested that we schedule a visit to the The Washington State Archives at 25th Street and Bill McDonald Parkway. Our intentions were twofold: to introduce me to the rudiments of the collection and to uncover some history of the names we found on the gravestones at Bayview.

City Directories for Bellingham at at The Washington State Archives

After leaving our packs and bookbags at the front (you can bring in unbound sheets of paper, cell phones and laptops), we were led into a well-lit research room. There is a shelf of City Directories going back to 1900. Many other basic reference volumes. Also a computer terminal and a Microfiche reader.

The informative website for the Archive states:

Local government records include those from county offices such as the Auditor, the Clerk, the Treasurer, the Board of Commissioners, and from municipalities, school districts, and other service districts. Only a small percentage of the records created by these offices are transferred to the State Archives as archival records. They are selected as archival for their value as legal and historical evidence of policy development, implementation, and effect. The transfer of records to the State Archives is an ongoing process. Some historical records remain with their originating office pending future transfer to the Archives.

Although the Archives does not hold all the records for the entire span of Washington's history from the various county and city offices in the region, it does hold extensive series of some records from all seven counties, with more complete representation in Whatcom, Skagit, and Snohomish counties. These series include:

Birth and death records from January, 1891 to July, 1907

Marriage records

Court records including naturalization records, court dockets, and civil, criminal, and probate case files

Land records including general indices to recordings, deeds, and patents

County commissioner's proceedings, ordinances, and resolutions

Real and personal property tax records

School district and Educational Service District records including school censuses.

Oregon and Washington Gazetteers - The Washington State Archives

Since we were researching names on gravestones at Bayview, we asked to see the earliest Death Records for Bellingham and Whatcom County. We also retrieved several volumes of Bellingham City Directories from the shelf. What I immediately realized is that I could spend hours and hours here just looking at the covers and advertisements. They are rich with their own history and offer a fascinating window into the interests and businesses of early 20th century Bellingham.

Cover of the 1904 City Directory
Morse Hardware Co. - Importers and Jobbers
The Washington State Archives

Interior Cover of the 1904 Bellingham City Directory
Cannery Dealers
The Washington State Archives

Front Cover of Bellingham City Directory
The Washington State Archives

Diehl & Simpson - Corner of Dock and Champion Streets
Ford Supplies and Sundries Always at Hand
The Washington State Archives

Standard Auto Co. - 1215 Dock Street
Overland Automobiles
The Washington State Archives

Cole's Popcorn - "Here to Stay"
The Washington State Archives

Sanitarium Baths - Hotel Leopold
Electric Baths and Vibratory Massages
The Washington State Archives

Printer's Ephemera - City of Bellingham Directory
The Washington State Archives

F. L. Dames - Died 1905
Bayview Cemetery

The first grave Marissa showed me the other day at Bayview Cemetery was for Corp.'l F. L. Dames, who was notoriously murdered in his butcher shop in 1905 by a man from Maple Falls.

We open up the oversized Register of Death and, in an charming approximation of the Palmer method of handwriting that everyone in the 19th century seemed trained in, we indeed find entry #1069 for Dames, F. L.. His address is listed at 1017 Elk St. - which is now North State Street and home to the wonderful Redlight Bar. Under cause of death, is the single word: "Murdered". And, to me, there appears just a hint of disturbance in the writing, a subtle remark on the brutal nature of the act.

The next name on a grave that we are researching is that of Nicholas Caufman, whose remarkable gravestone designates him as a member of the Woodmen of the World.

Nicolas Caufman - Died 1906
Woodmen of the World
Bayview Cemetery

Bellingham City Directory 1906
Entry for Nicholas Caufman
Occupation: Filer at Miller Brothers
The Washington State Archives

In the Bellingham City Directory for 1906, there is indeed an entry for Nicholas Caufman. He was a "filer" who worked at Miller Brothers. His address indicates he owned a home at 1534 Grant.

Marissa points out to me that while many of the men were listed under a wide variety of occupations, the women were most often listed as housewife. In the Directory of local poet and writer Ella Higginson, who died in 1940, her occupation is listed as "widow" - as her late husband's business concerns defined her more than her own well lauded profession.

Bellingham Register of Deaths
Entry for Nicholas Caufman
The Washington State Archives

Bellingham Register of Deaths
Entry for Nicholas Caufman
Cause of Death: Tuberculous Spondylitis
The Washington State Archives

Moving back to the Register of Deaths, Nicholas Caufman is found under entry #1213. His cause of death is listed as "Tub. Spondylitis" - Tuberculous Spondylitis. According to Wikipedia, it is also known as Pott's disease and is a form of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis that affects the spine.

The Causes of Deaths column is fascinating. I want to compile a database of all of the causes of death in the early 1900s in Bellingham, along with explanations of some of the more arcane and obsolete medical terms. The cause of death offers a surprising amount of "unspoken" or euphemistic information. Such as the Chinese "laborer" who died of "ruptured hernia" - meaning he essentially worked himself to death. Or Oda Burton, who lived at 1121 B - which Marissa informs me was a neighborhood of brothels. She is listed as "single". Occupation: "servant". Cause of death was a "Gunshot Wound". Reading between the lines, it was highly likely that Oda Burton was a prostitute.

City of Bellingham Register of Deaths
Women's vs. Men's Occupations
The Washington State Archives

Flora Blakely - Died 1892
Cause of Death: Brain Disease
The Washington State Archives

Marissa finds an entry for Flora Blakely. Died in Fairhaven on March 15, 1892. Cause of death: "Brain Disease". She asks me if know about "The Lady in Green". Unfortunately, I do not recognize the name - which is why it is great to be at the archive with an informed guide and local historian. So she fills me in (this is from a Good Times Girl Historical Tour of Fairhaven):

Town Marshall Joseph A. Blakely and wife Flora Blakely owned one quarter of the Mason Block (now Sycamore Square) and lived in an apartment on the 4th floor. Flora had given birth to two children: A girl, Kay, and a boy, Roy. Kay died at the age of 10 in Brownsville, Oregon in 1890, the same year that the Blakely's moved from Brownsville to Fairhaven. Flora's sister, Retta, had suffered from "insanity" and died in 1888 at age 26 in an Oregon institution. In 1892, Flora died in the Mason building.... Of a "brain disease."

In a time when our city newspapers would devote full columns to the death of any person of the slightest merit or with even the hint of a tragedy, the newspaper ran a single obituary article for the 33-year-old mother of a 9-year-old boy and wife of the Town Marshall. The obituary stated that she was overcome with a sudden illness and died at home. The coroner report lists her cause of death as a "disease of the brain," and said that her illness lasted a week before she died but cites no attending physician in an era when house calls were common and in a full page of death records where all other deceased entries had attending physicians listed.

Interestingly: When psychics were brought into the Mason Block in the last few years to investigate some of the strange goings-on, two different psychics independently picked up on a woman in green that they said lived in the building at the turn of the century who had died by falling or jumping from the 4th floor balcony.

We wonder: Was she depressed over her daughter's death? Was she crazy? Did she throw herself from the balcony? If Flora had killed herself, we think it highly unlikely that the newspapers would have printed such a story about the Town Marshall's wife. A "disease of the brain" could easily be interpreted as "mental illness." There was also major social stigma around mental illness at the time, and having a wife with a mental illness would have been an "embarrassment," so... Was she pushed? Perhaps even by her husband? In any case, Joseph remarried and had two more children while son Roy was sent to live with his maternal grandparents in Oregon. Joseph had more children and enjoyed successful career as sheriff of Pendleton, Oregon.

Mason Block (Sycamore Square)
Photo Source

I could've (and probably will) spent hours and hours at the Archive. We didn't even get to any court records or county proceedings. The amount of information is staggering. Just as an example, as we were leaving, I noticed a couple of bound volumes of the Bellingham Herald from 1910 and 1911. Just casually browsing the pages turned up some sweet little gems:

Bellingham Herald - 1910
Whirling Spray
The Washington State Archive

An advertisement for Marvel Whirling Spray:

"Every woman is interested and should know about the wonderful MARVEL Whirling Spray. The new Vaginal Syringe. Best - most convenient. It cleanses instantly. Ask your druggist for it. If he cannot supply the MARVEL, accept no other, but send stamp for illustrated book - sealed. It gives full particulars and directions invaluable to ladies."

Bellingham Herald - 1910
The Machine With the Human Brain
The Washington State Archive

And this beauty for the Remington Adding and Subtracting Typewriter:

"The Machine with the Human Brain" which claims: "This machine not only writes but thinks. It does what a man can do only by thinking - and more. It writes and adds simultaneously, whereas one thing at a time is all that the average brain can do. Again, it automatically detects errors of operation. No man ever had a brain that would do that - automatically."

Washington State Archives
Northwest Regional Branch
Western Washington University, MS-9123
Bellingham, WA 98225-9123

(360) 650-3125
NWBranchArchives@sos.wa.gov

The Northwest Regional Branch is located on the southern edge of the Western Washington University campus at the corner of 25th Street and Bill McDonald Parkway.

WJMAC Presents Trumpeter Oliver Groenewald with the Miles Black Trio - Wednesday, December 10

2014-12-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Oliver Groenewald with the Miles Black Trio at WJAMC - The Majestic on Forest

Wednesday, December 10

It has been 20 years since Trumpeter Oliver Groenewald has performed in Bellingham. Influential and admired when he was here at Western, Groenewald now lives on Orcas Island and performs regularly in Seattle. Accompanying him tonight is the Miles Black Trio: Miles Black on piano, Michael Glynn on bass and Julian MacDonough on drums.

The evening starts off nicely with a relaxed interpretation of Thelonious Monk's "Straight No Chaser". Oliver Groenewald performs with a kind of effortlessness and natural grace. Playing the trumpet like breathing. With the echoes of Sunday's stellar performance by Steve Davis and Josh Bruneau still in the air, there is a natural comparison.

I am reminded of a quote by either Waits or Eliot about how time equals memory plus desire. And it strikes me that this is the essential difference between Josh Bruneau and Oliver Groenwald. Josh was electric desire, burning up the air with his sound. Oliver is reflective memory, inhabiting the songs like a favorite hat or broken in pair of boots. It is a striking juxtaposition which only deepens as the performance goes on.

Miles Black is, as usual, just mesmerizing and astonishing, a pure joy to listen to. His piano seems to spin hot molten notes into delicate figures of glass, then break them and have them fall into a dizzying array of kaleidoscope patterns and newly deconstructed, reconstructed melodies. A fluidity of performance mixed with poetic stops and challenging chords phrasings that almost gets lost in a solipsistic ecstasy.

Time and again, Michael Glynn follows Miles with a inspired response, the bass singing about as high as it can, at times sounding closer to Oliver's trumpet, with quick fluttering blasts of melodic riffs before returning to the core time signatures of the piece.

It is fascinating week after week, to see the interpersonal dynamics of the musician's personalities. Julian has such grace and courtesy as a musician, you almost don't recognize him as the de facto leader, coordinating the sonic space and time for each of the other musician's performances. His own playing gets more interesting each week. He and Michael match the complex interchange of tone and tempo between Oliver and Miles with authoritative ease. Oliver, meanwhile, invests every note with memory and the beauty of detached desire, making it all look as effortless as being.

http://www.milesblack.com/
http://www.wjmac.org/

Electric Beet Juice Co. Grand Opening

2014-12-08T21:30:00.000-08:00

Electric Beet Juice Co. - Juice Flight
The Electric Beet - Over the Moon - Kale Cooler

Stopped into Terra for the Grand Opening of the Electric Beet Juice Co.. A happy crowd waiting in a fast moving line. There has been so much anticipation for this opening. When Juice It closed, it left an empty space in the daily routine of many in the Downtown Core community. I was very happy to learn that Sara and Kara would be opening a new juice bar in the same space. Walking in, I smiled to see how Electric Beet has expanded to match the newly remodeled Terra. An enthusiastic and familiar team were working hard in the completely rebuilt area. The whole place looks great.

For the Grand Opening, there was a limited menu. We ordered a Juice Flight which consisted of The Electric Beet (beet, pear, ginger, lime), an Over the Moon (orange, fresh tumeric, cilantro, coconut water, pear) and a Kale Cooler (kale, pineapple, green apple, mint). Each was beautiful. Super fresh with each flavor balanced well with the other. The Over the Moon in particular, had the sweet richness of the coconut as a base with the midrange twin flavors of orange and pear like a yin and tang, then on the top end, the earthy tumeric complemented perfectly by the bright cilantro. Just exceptional and delicious.

Electric Beet Juice Co. Sample Plate
Kale-a-bunga Salad - Golden Mountain (Lentil) Salad - Raw Harvest Pasta

We also got the Sampler Plate which had generous portions of Kale-a-bunga Salad (kale, golden beets, carrots, chives, raisins, hemp seeds, tossed in lemon miso tahini dressing), Golden Mountain Lentil Salad (curried lentils, red onions, raisins, daily greens, apple slivers) and Raw Harvest Pasta (zucchini and yam noodles, cashew "cream" sauce, nutmeg garnish). Each of them were delicious and interesting with excellent flavor combinations. The golden beet with the kale. The raisins with the lentils. The cashew and nutmeg. Everything fresh, bright and tasty.

The full menu offers a surprising variety and depth. Juices such as Green Bling (daily greens, celery, cucumber, parsley, lemon, lime); Juice Shots (ginger and honey; wheatgrass); Smoothies, Smoothie Bowls; Breakfast items such as Chocolate Pancakes and Vanilla Chia Pudding; Hummus Sandwiches, Green Pesto Sandwiches, Spring Rolls and more Salads. I look forward to trying them all.

And there are these welcome words on the menu:

"We are Electric Beet source organically and locally as a standard because we want the best for you, our customers, and the best for our planet. If it is available locally, we buy it locally. We'll rotate our menu with the seasons to showcase the talents of our local farms and food artisans in our community, and bring you the best in flavor and nutrition.

For desert, we had the Cookie Dough Bliss Truffles, which were even more amazing than they sound, and The Raw Brownie with creamy cacao frosting, also excellent.

It was great to see the Electric Beet finally open and serving such great juices and foods. We are looking forward to making it part of our daily ritual again. And judging by the satisfied crowd around us, it looks like many others feel the same way.

Electric Beet Juice Co.
Cookie Dough Bliss Truffles

Electric Beet Juice Co.
The Raw Brownie

WJAMC Presents Steve Davis and Josh Bruneau - Sunday, December 7th

2014-12-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

WJAMC Presents Steve Davis and Josh Bruneau at WJMAC - The Majestic on Forest

Sunday, December 7th, 2014

On the stage at WJMAC is Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers alum, trombonist Steve Davis. Beside him, a former student from the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, Josh Bruneau, who just put out a new CD, "Bright Idea" on the amazing Cellar Live label. Tony Foster is on piano, Adam Thomas is on bass and Julian McDonough is on the drums. It's a good crowd here. More and more people each time. The word is getting out: you want to hear great Jazz in Bellingham? Go see a WJMAC show. Really, any of them. But this one, today, this one is going to be a great one. It is in the air.

The band starts into the first number. We all have an expectation that it will take a song or two for them to get their footing. You sense the musicians giving each other sonic space they each need - each courteously defining his territory. The rhythm section of Adam and Julian is purring like well-oiled motor. Tony sparkling across the ivories. Steve steps out in front first, the trombone singing with its muted eloquence. And they are all there of a sudden: together and as tight as can be. Steve's trombone works through such lyrical melodic lines, cutting a groove right through the center of the audience.

Then Josh steps in. It's like a sudden blast of lightning, which hangs over the audience for a moment until it is transformed into rippling ribbonlike riffs of brassified melody. It's a revelatory contrast from Steve. Each of them complimenting and not taking away from either in comparison. Josh's playing is electric, vibrant, pulsing with the energy of youth. Even how he stands on stage, trumpet help up, leaning back, arms tightly coiled as the music explodes out of him. Steve, on the other hand, elegant, balancing lyricism and volume, knowing the interior architecture of the music that only time can illuminate. Josh steps back from his solo and you can almost feel the crowd un-grip their chairs from the roller coaster beauty of that sound.

Tony's piano is perfectly subdued, as if it is making quiet commentary on the slides, charges and bright riffs that just preceded it. And there is always that solid rolling rumble of percussion from Adam and Julian that anchors it all. The first song was not a tune-up for the musicians, it was a tune-up for the crowd.

Steve lets us know the next tune will be by the incomparable trombonist, J. J. Johnson - who he calls "our Charlie Parker". They launch into "Kenya", Josh's trumpet just soaring out over the crowd, bright platinum spools unwinding with these trill-like riffs of astonishing speed. Man, is that a trumpet making that sound? Steve follows and somehow takes the groove even deeper. And we all just sit there with the simple joy of listening to a trombone sing like we have never heard it. Tony's plays as gracefully as ever, Steve and Josh to one of the stage adding soft musical commentary. Adam performs a bass solo that has that seems to let time seep in between the notes and dissolve the tune. Then at the most precarious moment, he cuts right back to the heart of the melody. Julian's percussion, as always, adds just that extra bit of temporal complexity while at the same time complimenting and giving room for the others to stretch out. As Steve says after the song, "Jazz music is one of the purest forms of Democracy."

Towards the end, Adam and Julian performed a mind-blowing percussive interplay, Adam slapping parts of his stand-up bass and Julian hitting complex rim skin cymbal combinations. It was such a virtuoso display of talent. I felt like I could listen to an entire show of just that - and how often do you hear that about a bass and drum solo section?

It was absolutely beautiful to experience such world-class jazz on a Sunday afternoon in Bellingham. At the end there was a rousing standing ovation and the musicians indulged us in an sweet encore of White Christmas. Tony Foster's piano notes making some of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard, happily reminding me of Earl Garner. And for the first time, I thought: right here and right at this moment, Christmas begins for me.

http://www.stevedavis.info/

http://www.wjmac.org/

This review originally appeared in What's Up!

Bayview Cemetery: A Beautiful Place of Buried Bones

2014-12-07T13:14:00.001-08:00

I was fortunate enough this weekend to go on a historical excursion to Bayview Cemetery with Marissa McGrath from The Bureau of Historical Investigations.

As soon as we pull in, Marissa has me stop near the road to pay respects to the grave of F. L. Dames. She fills me on on the history of one of Bellingham's most notorious murders.

F. L. Dames - Died 1905

Here is what she wrote about it on The Bureau's website:

"Dames was bludgeoned to death in his butcher shop in 1905. His thirteen year old delivery boy discovered him the following morning, his skull pinned to the ground with a screwdriver and the top of his head chopped off. No one had been arrested. For a while, it was assumed that some robbers had killed him. That was until a Maple Falls man was tried in Stevens County, Washington. He had killed a woman he was engaged to for her money and was discovered to have likely murdered at least 3 other people. After reviewing the evidence, a local detective figured out that this murderer had lived in Bellingham at the time of Dame’s death, and that witnesses had seen the two arguing the week before Dame’s death." - From This is Frederick Dames

Note that Dames' butcher shop was located where the Redlight is today. They recently opened up "The Red Room" just opposite the bar. As you are enjoying one of their excellent drinks, you should say a prayer for the murdered soul of Frederick Dames. And if you look up towards the ceilings, you can see a row of meat hooks still mounted near the ceiling. Violent poetic history.

Nicholas Caufman - Died 1906

Just down the road is a tombstone for Nicholas Caufman, died 1906, who belonged to the fraternal organization, Woodmen of the World. [More information about the Woodmen of the World can be found on my other site, The Shaving Mug Review.] The WOW are noted for the elaborate gravestones. This is from the Woodmen of the World website:

When Joseph Cullen Root founded Woodmen of the World more than 100 years ago, one of his objectives was to provide a decent burial for all members.

Root made a special effort to honor deceased Woodmen. He created Woodmen Memorial Day, celebrated on June 6 each year, and included the following statement in the Objectives of Woodcraft: "... to give honorable burial to our sacred dead ..."

Early Woodmen certificates provided for a death and a monument benefit. Gravestones were originally furnished to members free of charge and later were offered only to those who purchased a $100 rider to their certificates.

However, during the 1920s the Society stopped providing stone markers to members when the cost of gravestones increased and cemeteries began prohibiting above-ground markers for maintenance reasons. The monument rider was discontinued and converted to an extra $100 of insurance protection, but for many years after that, members and lodges arranged for markers and monuments on their own.

Woodmen gravestones vary greatly in size and shape. Some resemble a tree stump, others a stack of cut wood. There are elaborate hand-carved monuments, simple stone markers and stake-type markers driven into the ground.

Thomas S. Dahlquist - Died 1939

The grave for Thomas S. Dahlquist is just behind the Caufman grave. Earlier, Marissa and I had stopped for a lunch at the new Thai restaurant, Maikhamm which happens to be located in the Dahlquist building. Thomas Dahilquist opened Bellingham Bay Grocery Company on the lower floor while his wife operated a hotel in the rooms above. At one point there was even a car dealership in the basement. [source]

In 2013, the Good Time Girls were being filmed in the Dahlquist building and experienced an a strange anomaly:

We drive down the road a bit until we came to an unpaved stretch. Just off the road is a broken gravestone propped up against a tree. We share some speculation about the tree sending roots down into the body beneath. Nourishing elements of the man's mortal being now bound into the branches.

Edward ???

Just beyond this, Marissa finds a marker for the lovely and evocatively named grave of Kitty Bone. Kitty was born on November 3, 1880 and died on February 24, 1902. The COB database lists her name as Mrs. Kate Bone. No other members of the beautifully named Bone family are buried in Bayview.

Kitty Bone - Died 1902

Further on is a leaf covered dirt track that leads to a group of graves for the Japanese, who we assume were granted this space on the outskirts to bury their families. Many of the grave markers are inscribed with Kanji. There are also a lot of graves for babies. It is nice here: a quiet and beautiful place under the trees.

The Japanese Section in Bayview Cemetery

Japanese Gravestone in Bayview Cemetery

Baby Marker in the Japanese Section of Bayview Cemetery

We drive up the hill and take a left to the crossroads where the Angel of the Luminous Eyes looks down upon all who pass by. Marissa tells me that certain individuals periodically come out to paint the Angel's eyes with luminescent paint. If you come into the graveyard at night, the Angel's eyes may be glowing.

The Angel of the Luminous Eyes at Bayview Cemetery

Just beyond the Angel is a large bench / cross monument for a local poet and writer Ella Higginson, who died in 1940. Along the base are inscribed the words: "Yet, am I not for pity - trembling I have come face to face with God." Moss and lichen obscure many of the letters. And the bench seems difficult to sit upon. But it is all quite decadent and lovely. [More information about he Higginson grave.]

Ella Higginson - Poet and Writer - Died December 30. 1940

"Yet, am I not for pity - trembling I have come face to face with God."

We walk down the hill behind us. Marissa points out several markers for Civil War veterans, informing me that there are a couple of hundred in Bayview. Many soldiers came out to this area to get away from the horror and aftermath of the Civil War.

Edmund Gaudette - Died 1916

Around the corner is the large grave of Edmund Gaudette. The only information I could find on him is a brief reference in a court case as listed in The Pacific Reporter, Vo. 280:

The facts essential to be stated are these: Edmund Gaudette and Laura M. Gaudette were married in 1853, and for some years prior to Mr. Gaudette's death, in 1916, resided in the city of Bellingham.

Below this is a single rose on the grave for Baby Caulkins. The COB Database lists it as "Infant Caulkins 9-27-16" - which adds a sweet mystery.

Baby Caulkins - Died 1916

We head back toward the center of the cemetery, where some of the most famous bones of Bellingham are buried.

An imposing a solid marble slab marks the grave of the Henry Roeder, generally acknowledged as the "Founder of the Whatcom Settlement" - what eventually became Bellingham.

Henry Roeder and Elizabeth Roeder - Died 1902

The Best Virgil to Guide One Through the Graveyard: Marissa McGrath

The always informative Skagit River Journal documents this interesting passage from Wes Gannaway's Whatcom Then and Now:

He shares this research from the Hubert Howe Bancroft papers — an interview with Henry Roeder at Port Townsend in June 1878: "While he (Roeder) was at Pt. Townsend [in 1852] Capt. Pattle arrived on his way to Olympia to file on a claim. He was an English subject, and he had discovered coal in the place called Bellingham Bay and he told Plummer [owner of Port Townsend's only trading post along with E.B. Hastings] he had also discovered a waterfall, a good one, and would give the information for $1000 to anyone who wanted to locate there. Plummer told him (Roeder) how to get to the falls without paying any 1000 dollars; the Indians would take them there for dollar a day. They took up this plan and camped the first night inside of Deception Pass on Whidbey Island because of the stress of the weather. The next day they camped on Guemes Island where they killed a wild dog in the night. The place was called Dog Island for many years. The third day found them at the future site of Whatcom. They met with Chief Chowitzet of the Lummi Indians who invited them to stay and offered help to build a sawmill." As with all anglicized Indian names, you will find many spellings; Lelah Jackson Edson spells the chief's name as either Cha-wit-zit or Chow-its-hoot.

Marissa directs my attention across the road to an imposing draped obelisk that marks the graves of the Eldridge family. She humorously speculates that it almost seems as if Capt. Edward Eldridge wanted to "one-up" Roeder. There certainly is an element of compensation for some insecurity in the design. From the COB Database, it appears there are five members of the family are on the plot, including an infant that died in 1921.

The Eldridge Obelisk

The COB site also has this to say about Eldridge:

Edward Eldridge, originally from Scotland, came to Bellingham from San Francisco in 1853 along with another of the city's founding fathers, Captain Henry Roeder. When Eldridge settled in Bellingham the Federal Land Policy allotted 160-acre claims to each person. The current 2.2-acre Eldridge Homesite on a bluff overlooking Bellingham Bay is what remains from Edward Eldridge's, and his wife Teresa's, 320-acre claim that made up much of north Bellingham.

The first enterprise of Edward Eldridge upon his arrival in Bellingham was to open a lumber mill. The Eldridge mill would supply San Francisco with much of the wood needed to rebuild the city after their great fire. Eldridge soon quit the lumber industry and began teaching at Sehome School while continuing his mining ventures. After exploring a career in mining Eldridge became the first legislator ever elected from Whatcom County to the House of Territorial legislature. Eldridge continued to be a distinguished political figure in Bellingham until he died from Paresis in 1892 at the age of 63, shortly after his return as a delegate to the National Republican Convention.

Across the road, there is a fresh pile of roses and a few graves with unusual mementos recently left upon them:

Memorials at Bayview Cemetery

Bayview Cemetery is a beautiful and fascinating cemetery. Of course, it helps to have an informative guide from the Bureau of Historical Investigation with you. But even without a guide, there is plenty to explore hike around. It is a perfect place to contemplate one's life and be reminded of Memento Mori - that there is only one certainty in this world: you too will one day die.

Much thanks to The Bureau of Historical Investigation and Marissa McGrath. If you are looking for more information about the history of Bellingham, especially of the more notorious and fascinating sort, I encourage you to head over to the Bureau of Historical Investigation. There is no better place to find books, photographs, historical artifacts and fascinating curiosa about Bellingham and the surrounding areas.

Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center: Blake Angelos with Michael Glynn and Julian MacDonough - Wednesday, November 12th, 2014

2014-11-12T19:00:00.000-08:00

Blake Angelos with Cory Weeds
Photo by Rev Meredith Ann Murray

WJMAC: Blake Angelos with Michael Glynn and Julian MacDonough

Wednesday, November 12th

This is the third performance I have seen at the new Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center a.k.a. Downstairs at the Majestic. The common element in each performance has been drummer and founder of WJMAC, Julian MacDonough. Julian is always excellent. He is easily one of the, if not the, most talented drummers in town. He also has a great sense of humor that often comes though in performance. However, up until now, perhaps wanting to convey the importance of WJMAC, he hasn’t entirely shown it up on the new stage. Until tonight.

Blake Angelos and Julian have played together for many years, most notably as the Blake Angelos Trio at the now defunct Chuckanut Ridge Winery/Ridge (today, the Redlight). In the time since, Blake has been performing an excellent solo gig at the the Bellwether on Friday and Saturday nights. It has been a couple of years since he and Julian have played together.

What is immediately apparent is how comfortable they are with each other. Blake and Julian seem to have a sort of weird twin language constructed out of slight nods, the raising of an eyebrow, winces, smirks and smiles. Michael Glynn is so quick and talented that he apparently needs no translation. The resulting music has a certain ineffable quality of lightness, of mastered ease, of effortlessness. It flows out and back in to the trio of musicians like breathing, the most natural thing in the world for each of these beings to be doing. Like watching a great dancer dance with abandonment and unconscious grace.

I couldn’t tell you what the names of most of the songs where. I really wasn’t listening to write anything like this review. And it has been a couple of weeks since, but the performance was haunting. It was good. What music is meant for. I do remember marking in my mind the aching and poignant piano playing by Blake on Lament by J. J. Johnson and then, the entire trio on Herbie Hancock’s Drifting.

It was in the Hancock piece that I saw Julian MacDonough perform laughter and joy on the drums. Listening, you could not help but smile. Through several solo drum breaks, he evoked a world of inventive rhythm: crickets chirping, hands playing fast patty cake, children jumping rope Double Dutch, the sound of Charlie Chaplin’s dancing rolls in the Gold Rush, the warped ticking of the clocks in a Dali painting. I could see Julian smiling, glancing over at Blake, each of them trading clever musical one-liners, inside jokes, knock-knock riddles and the shared simple experience of the joy of performing with the other. Certainly a privilege and a pleasure to witness. And, in my estimation, the most convincing argument to support the truly wonderful experience that is being brought to life downstairs at the Majestic.

Leaf and Ladle: Sandwiches, Soups and Salads to Save Your Soul

2014-11-12T18:49:00.003-08:00

Right off the bat, I will tell you that I love Leaf & Ladle. Linda's soups, salads and sandwiches taste like home on a winter afternoon or a beautiful picnic by the lake in the summer. The soups are always hearty and full of rich flavor. The sandwiches are balanced with just the right balance of ingredients and grilled to a golden perfection. And the salads are always fresh, crisp and expertly dressed. The Leaf & Ladle is easily the best vegan and vegetarian restaurant in town. They also have many gluten-free options. And their Tuna Melts, Ham, Brie and Green Apple Paninis will satisfy any meat lover. But, for me, it is the Grilled Cubano Panini that is most extraordinary; it will save your soul.

Sitting at the comfortable bar in Leaf & Ladle, I watch Linda prepare all of the food with laughter and good conversation. Every customer that comes in the door seems to be a friend and a regular - even those who are coming for the first time. Linda and Morgan treat everyone like family. It always feels good to be here. A perfect lunchtime sanctuary in the middle of your busy day.

The menu is written weekly on brown butcher paper from pull-down rolls. They also are great about posting menu item changes and specials on Facebook: weekly soups, seasonal paninis. (You should like them on FB if you haven't already: https://www.facebook.com/LeafandLadle.) Note the many vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options. They also have a Thursday Night Supper Club from 6 to 8. No reservations needed. The dinners feature one dinner type item in addition to the regular menu. Plus they have beer and wine!

I order the Grilled Cubano Panini with a side of fresh greens and Curry Squash soup. The Cubano is Linda's variation on the classic with a mouth-watering in-house smoked pork (I swear I could eat just a plate of this and be a happy man), ham, swiss, dill pickles and Dijon mayo on Avenue Bread focaccia. Then grilled on a press until all of the ingredients are married together in a savory ceremony of sweet delight. It is a thing of beauty. After the first bite, you forget where you are, you stop paying attention to what anyone is talking about, all your world becomes enraptured by this beautiful sandwich before you. I am not kidding. The Cubano at Leaf & Ladle will save your soul. If you are having one of those days where everything seems hopeless, go to Leaf & Ladle and get a Cubano. It will bring hope back to you - at least, to your mouth and stomach.

That being said, the perfect sandwich needs appropriate accompaniment. The Curry Squash soup is excellent, just enough curry, just enough squash. Goldilocks would have no problems with this soup. Linda is a artist at making soups. You will never go wrong ordering soup at Leaf & Ladle. Every soup is a unique little masterpiece of flavors unto itself. And, they now sell quarts of soup to go. While you are having lunch, pick up a quart to make a quick and delicious dinner.

Also the salad. Fresh, crisp and lightly dressed. I believe Leaf & Ladle makes one of the best Caesar's in town. Always a generous portion and dressed with their tangy but sweet homemade Caesar dressing. Again, no question, the best soup and salad combination you can find in Bellingham.

Beyond the counter is a quiet and charming dining room. A great place to enjoy a beautiful lunch or Thursday night dinner. The Leaf & Ladle is one of the best lunch-time eating experiences Bellingham has to offer. And, seriously, the Cubano! Your life is not complete until you have had one.

Leaf & Ladle

1113 N State St

Bellingham, Washington

(360) 319-9718

Mon - Fri: 11:00 am - 4:00 pm

Addendum: I have this theory that you can tell a lot about a restaurant by the beauty and cleanliness of their bathrooms. The Leaf & Ladle has one of the most refreshing and lovely bathrooms in town. Happy chalk comments from satisfied customers, beautiful flowers, a clean and happy baby-changing table. Everything super clean and fresh. All good signs.

Maikham: Thai and Lao Cusine

2014-11-11T17:20:00.003-08:00

Maikham ("Golden Silk") is the new restaurant, specializing in "Authentic Thai and Laos Cusine", that moved into the old Dashi location on State Street.

We stopped in for lunch this afternoon and were rewarded with an excellent dining experience. I always enjoyed Dashi and was sad to see them close. Seems like they were barely there. And I was happy to see that not much had changed as far as the interior. (Almost weirdly so; as if Dashi just moved out yesterday.) Everything pretty much the same. A beautiful bright and crisp Fall day streaming in through the high open window facade, warming the natural wood and simple design of the interior.

Chef Usanee Klimo was enthusiastically working the counter and the kitchen when we came in. The menu was written on the chalk boards offering appetizers such as Fresh Roll (Spiced tofu or shrimp rolls with green vegetables, mints and basil), Maikham Rolls (Deep-fried vegetarian spring rolls) and Khaotang Naa Tang (Crispy rice crackers topped your choice of curried turkey, chicken or pork).

Main dishes included Tom Kha Gai (Hot and sour chicken soup with coconut milk, lemongrass, mushroom and onion), Green or Red Curry (Vegetable, Chicken or Beef), Khao Soi (Chiang Mai egg noodle and herbs with chicken or beef curry) and Yam Mu-Kuea (Grilled eggplant salad with lime dressing and topped with minced chicken and shrimp) among others.

We ordered the Khaotang Naa Tang because we had never had it, Vegetarian Red Curry and Tom Kha Gai. I figured you can always get a good sense of the culinary sensibilities of a restaurant in how well they prepare the standards like curry and Tom Kha Gai.

The Khaotang Naa Tang arrived well presented on the plate, tasty house-made rice crackers and a small dish of curried turkey. It was excellent. The rich, but not too spicy, curry and the subtle roasted flavors of the rice crackers harmonized like old friends.

Tom Yam Noodles with Chicken

Next up was the Tom Kha Gai and Vegetable Red Curry. Both presented nicely, garnished with basil leaves. The Tom Kha Gai was well balanced, rich with mushrooms and chicken in sweet coconut milk, delicately balancing sweet and sour. The Vegetable Red curry was also exceptional: the vegetables - broccoli, eggplant, green bean pods and kabocha squash- cooked just enough, all still crisp to the bite. The curry sauce was delicate and subtle - two qualities not usually associated with curry. Also the dish was not drowned in sauce. There was just enough to coat the vegetables and provide a thin layer at the base to soak into the rice. The rice was also excellent in flavor and texture.

Chef Usanee told me she wants to emphasize the truly traditional flavors. And I read on the new website that she feels "equally at home with the more subtle flavors and coconut-based curries of Thailand's central region, as well as the many seafood dishes found along Thailand's extensive coasts." And that is what we immediately remarked upon: the subtlety, almost delicate, qualities of flavor that made our dishes stand out from the usual.

I think it is one of the signs of a good restaurant that each new dish you try only stimulates your desire to try another. If the Tom Kha Gai was so good, you imagine how good the Khao Soi is going to be, or the Yam Mu-Kuea, or anything Chef Usanee applies her expert culinary skills towards. We look forward to many more beautiful experiences at Maikham.

Update: Went back last weekend for lunch with a friend. Had delicious Fresh Rolls with tofu and Tom Yam Noodles with Chicken. What is most distinctive about Maikham is the freshness and subtle preparation of all of the ingredients. I had the Tom Yam Noodles with Chicken. The broth was rich and spicy without being overbearing. The vegetables all crispy and in large portions. Good cuts of tender chicken. An perfect dish for a cold rainy day.

Maikham

1311 North State St.

Bellingham, WA 98225

(360) 366-8193

http://www.maikham.com/

Monday - Saturday, 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Note that Maikham also caters.

The Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center: New York Saxophonist Eric Alexander and Pianist David Hazeltine with Michael Glynn and Julian MacDonough - Sunday, October 26, 2014

2014-10-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center: New York Saxophonist Eric Alexander and Pianist David Hazeltine with Michael Glynn and Julian MacDonough

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Downstairs at the Majestic on North Forest is the elegant new space for The Whatcom Jazz Music Arts Center (WJMAC), a project under the guidance of Bellingham drummer, Julian MacDonough. The Center is set up as an all ages, non-profit (much needed) performance space for local and national jazz acts. In addition, there will also be weekly jazz instruction and education by Bellingham jazz musicians. This is a welcome development for jazz performance and education in Bellingham and deserves the widest community support. More information about upcoming events and membership can be found at wjmac.org

Julian tells us the event today is a “soft opening”. What better way to break in the new space than with saxophonist Eric Alexander, pianist David Hazeltine, Michael Glynn on bass and Julian on drums. They start things off with “Blues for David” a lively upbeat interpretation of a tune by pianist Buddy Montgomery. The room, which seats about 100, is intimate and open. The sound is excellent. Alexander and Hazeltine, who are touring together, are well complemented by the tight rhythmic backing of Glynn and MacDonough.

Next up is the standard “Sweet and Lovely.” Alexander peels off lush rolls from his sax as Hazeltine compliments with rich counterpoint. The saxophone starts off front and center but the piano keeps commenting until it steps in. Likewise, Michael Glynn lays down the bones of the bass in subtle rearrangements as Julian marks the time in complex percussive phrases.

Alexander says the next tune will “hopefully transport you out of this rainy day”. It is “The Island” by Brazilian jazz artist Ivan Lins. Alexander’s playing on this piece reminds me of Ben Webster in the manner in which he is taking a basically upbeat melody line and infusing it with a latent ache of sorrow and longing. A beautiful piece.

Alexander steps away for the trio to perform. Hazeltine’s piano playing unfolds the melody, opening up hidden complexities and, at the same time, playfully exploring the flexibility of the music. Each musician takes obvious delight in the reaction, response, and reiteration of each other’s performance. Glynn’s playing is a thing of sweet bass beauty. Phrase and counter-phrase breaking down and restructuring the possibilities of a song, building fractal architectures in the mind.

Next up is a tune by Chicago saxophonist, Eddie Harris. Ultra-cool and smooth, Alexander’s playing is so on the beam, as controlled as Miles Davis, then spiraling out Coltrane-esque but contained in the limits of the song. Hazeltine’s playing on this piece is percussive with lightning fast runs.

The last song, Eric tells us after a quick conference with the other musicians, reflects an understanding of jazz as having an illusion of polish on the outside while the interior is completely helter-skelter. What follows is a beautiful crazy sax and drum exchange. Soaring saxophone trills and dynamic percussive breaks. Moments of balanced silence when you fear it might all fall apart - an acrobat spinning in the air with no net - and the graceful accomplished recovery of the dynamic Pulse of the song. Julian’s drum solo here is outstanding: eerily melodic and expressive.

There is a standing ovation. It is just pure joy to hear music performed at with such passion and skill. I look forward with great anticipation to the grand opening of the space with Seattle trumpeter Thomas Marriott and saxophonist Mark Taylor pianist Tony Foster bassist Michael Glynn and drummer Julian MacDonough on Wednesday November 5th. Highly recommended.