꩜ Door At The Top Of Your Head ꩜

Correspondence 11

Komorebi (koh-mo-reh-bee)☟

Komorebi, the Japanese expression for the sunlight as it filters through the trees, is made up of the kanji characters for tree (木), shine through (漏れ), and sun (日). There is often a distinct shift in my mood while walking or running through Forest Park while the sun shines down on our Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and western red cedars. I have never walked out of the forest feeling worse than when I entered.

This summer I’ve attempted to spend as much time possible amongst the trees (or just outside in general). Time off from teaching has afforded me time to reflect, process, and reckon with feelings and thoughts I’ve actively avoided and moved to the far corners of my mind. I can (finally) feel my body relaxing. With Leo season in full swing, my creativity has also seen an uptick. I feel (dare I say it) hopeful for the first time in so long. Feeling good is good enough.

Guest Mix - Foxy Digitalis☟

I was thrilled to see Foxy Digitalis relaunch earlier this year, first in newsletter form and now as a proper blog. Brad does a tremendous job covering music that would otherwise slip through the cracks. His label, The Jewel Garden, is also a wellspring of forward-thinking drone, ambient, new-age, etc. adjacent sounds. It was extremely fun putting together a guest mix featuring some deep-cut psych and cosmic-country rippers. Listen w/ full tracklist here.

Nalgene Bottle Restock☟

Nalgene bottles are back! First round went quick when You Become The Mountain was released in 2020. A lot of folks have been asking, so we decided to do another run. A bundle gets you a Nalgene bottle, album download, and postcard featuring YBTM album art by Bailey Elderberry. This is my favorite piece of merch I’ve made to date. Always love to see those bottles out in the wild - please send or tag me in a photo on your next adventure with one. Stay hydrated out there.

Community Spotlight - Albina Music Trust☟

This month I had the pleasure of speaking with Albina Music Trust founder Bobby Smith. Albina Music Trust documents the historic music culture of Portland’s Albina District through oral history, media archivism, and events. Through community engagement, founder Bobby Smith has brought to light a definitive catalog of lost recordings and untold stories in collaboration with marginalized musicians. AMT is an initiative of The World Arts Foundation which has served Portlanders at the intersection of arts and education since 1978. Here’s our conversation:

+ What were some key events that put the idea for Albina Music Trust in motion?

In 2015, I met Calvin Walker and we connected instantly. His knowledge and experience playing music in Albina shed light on this place I’d been living in for years – a neighborhood that didn't reveal much in the way of a musical legacy and was quickly gentrifying. It seemed there were few vinyl records released by bands in the area, all the clubs were boarded up, and so on. Calvin convinced me we needed to do something about it and so we put our heads together.

Soon we began using XRAY FM as our office and the elders came through each week to tell their stories. We promoted new releases and gigs of musicians still active. I made digital transfers of old photos, film, and audio that came in and the musicians began to share with family and friends. Each session seemed to open a door to the next band or recording we should be looking for. It was all so fascinating to me and still is. We formed AMT to organize that material in one place. 

+ Do you operate under any kind of mission statement or guiding principles?

AMT is an initiative of local 501(c)3 World Arts Foundation, Inc. WAFI is a black-led organization established in 1978 here in Portland. Its arts and education mission aligns with AMT (you can learn more at worldartsfoundation.org). 

Working for WAFI has changed my life. I joined in 2017 as a volunteer and was hired earlier this year as a part-time archivist. In co-founder Ken Berry I found a mentor whose dedication to the Albina community is beyond comparison. And so Ken's faith in my work has come with great responsibility. As a white guy working in the black community I’ve been hard-pressed to examine myself and how this project will benefit those it is intended to serve. I'm often in an all-black space at WAFI and this has been a valuable part of my education.

+ What are common misconceptions people have about Portland's black music history?

That the culture didn’t exist! Or that its musical talents paled in comparison to other major metro areas in the US. It’s just not true. But with the lack of coverage by our institutions and local media outlets, we really don’t have a historical record to refer to. In the late 20th century, very few documented what was happening in the Albina arts community…except WAFI.  

+ What local organizations do you partner with?

Over the years we have partnered with various orgs, sponsors, grantors, artists, and individuals on project work. Partnerships have ranged from deeply immersive collaborations to receiving donations and grants that fund the work. Currently, the Collins Foundation has blessed us by funding this archivist position for a couple years. And RACC has committed to delivering multi-year consultation and funding as part of their Capacity Building program, which is funded by the Arts Tax (yes, the one everyone complains about paying!). I cannot speak highly enough about our partners Albina Vision Trust and Vanport Mosaic. Their programs are so powerful and when we get together on a project it’s really a gift.

+ What events or releases should folks be on the lookout for this summer and beyond?

Sooooo much. Over the past year, we've been working with a team at Instrument to transit our archive of historic Albina arts and culture materials online. It’s our version of a virtual historical society but visually immersive and curated in a way that’s user-friendly. Everything we’ve transferred has either been sitting on a hard drive or in the cloud. Launching the site will make it all accessible to the public. It should all roll out by the end of the year and we’ll gradually add much of what we have, collections we’re working on, and materials that have yet to come our way. It’s long been a goal of mine to get this going and we owe a huge debt to the team that is bringing it to life.

Other project work includes:

*We just finished producing a mini-doc on The Gangsters with director, Elijah Hasan. We’ll have a movie night some time in Fall 2021.

*We have three LPs in the queue but due to the global vinyl crisis it’s going to be a while before more releases can happen. We used to expect a 3-4 month turnaround after lacquer cutting but now it’s looking to be 10 months or more. 

*Our partners at Recording Associates just acquired a 15-deck cassette duplication rack so we’ve been toying with the idea of a cassette series for raw demos and live recordings to be released toward the end of the year. 

*In August, I’ll be broadcasting more interviews and music with Albina elders on my XRAY FM show. Those all get posted on our site in the Blog section.

*And last but certainly not least, we partnered with artist Megan Hattie Stahl to produce a sound walk. The gist is that users log in to an app that guides them through Albina while a series of short-form podcasts play music and stories from the elders on your phone. With much of our lives being online during the pandemic, many have been craving outdoor experiences. We wanted to lure folks to Albina to get a taste of the past while considering the value of reinvesting in black spaces there. 

+ What part of your work brings you the most joy? 

Collaboration and making things I hope we can ALL be proud of!

Reading, Watching & Listening To☟

Reading

+ Zeitoun (Dave Eggers)

+ The Tao of Ordinariness: Humility and Simplicity in a Narcissistic Age (Robert J. Wicks)

+ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: What the NBA Championship Means to Me (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for Jacobin Magazine)

Listening

+ Brightblack Morning Light – Maida Vale Session (2006-10-23)

+ The Desert Is Paper Thin - Corntuth

+ Redwing - Redwing

Watching

+ PIG (drop what you are doing and go see this movie now)

+ Summer of Soul (HULU - highly recommend watching in theaters)

+ Lots of movies on VHS including but not limited to the Austin Powers Trilogy, Father of the Bride, Twister, Apollo 13, Contact, Might Ducks, Goofy Movie, First Wives Club, Flintstones, Enemy of the State, Antitrust, and Loser.