Full Circle☟
Well, I did it. I stuck with this newsletter business for a whole year. This is the longest I’ve ever maintained a personal writing project - it absolutely ‘feels good man.’ I am writing this post from the same perspective I shared my first, anxiously anticipating the start of another school year. Am I different person? Yes. Ready to take on year two of teaching during a pandemic? We’ll see. Will I continue to write this newsletter as a means of showing up for myself with the hope that it brings a small group of people joy, inspiration, or comfort? You bet.
Share Your Love With Me☟
After his passing in March of 2020, I was invited to cover a Kenny Rogers tune for a forthcoming tribute compilation. Truth be told I had limited knowledge of The Gambler’s music outside of the hits. I was intimidated by the initial lineup of participating artists, but felt more confident once I decided upon a track. ‘Share Your Love With Me’ appears on Share Your Love (1981), the 11th studio album by Rogers produced by Lionel Richie. It was written by Alfred Braggs and Deadric Malone and originally recorded by blues singer Bobby "Blue" Bland. Over the years, the song has been covered by various artists, most notably Aretha Franklin who won a Grammy Award for her 1969 rendition. Other artists who covered the song include The Band and most recently, Van Morrison in 2016. No pressure for me, eh?
I was surprised to get a guitar/vocal sound I liked from my basement ‘studio’ and invited bandmates Barry Walker + Alex Chapman to lay down pedal steel and bass guitar remotely. Gabriel Birnbaum of Wilder Maker contributed tenor saxophone from Brooklyn and Ryan Oxford handled the mix. As someone who tends to shy away from covers, I’m really happy with how it came together. Happy Birthday, Kenny is out now on cassette and digital via Perpetual doom. Listen to the full comp here.
Jogging The Mind☟
I welcome any chance to talk about the crossover between running + making music/creativity in general. I was grateful to speak with Heads Lifestyle about where cannabis enters the equation in both endeavors. In addition to our chat, I put together Jogging the Mind, a 60min mix designed to accompany you through the different stages of a run. Looking for more jams to move to? Check out In Motion, an interactive and customized running playlist generator created by New York composer David Moore aka Bing & Ruth. The website allows users to create playlists based on their desired speed in BPM as well as duration ranging from 30 minutes to 4 hours. Presented as an alternative to more traditional workout music - upbeat, loud, fast - the slower and softer songs presented here from the likes of Atlas Sound, Julianna Barwick, Grouper, and Tim Hecker encourage a trancelike, meditative state. The playlists can be exported to both Spotify and Apple Music. Photo by Alex Kocher. Design by Sunny Eckerle.
Saloon Sundays☟
I’ve been spending a lot more time in record stores again. Having a DJ set lined up is an excellent excuse to spend some money at local shops. If you’re in Portland please consider a visit to Jump Jump Music, Tomorrow’s Records, Clinton Street Records, and Specks Records (just to name a few). Starting 10/17 I’ll be spinning country + country-adjacent jams every third Sunday at Mad Hanna in Roseway. Roll through and we can fend off the Sunday scaries together. Design by James Madison Mitchell.
Felt Time 22☟
Episode 22 of Felt Time is a personal favorite. The first hour of music was hand picked by Franklin Fantini, the voice and creator of Dollar Country.
Dollar Country is a weekly radio show that takes a deep dive into the world of country music singles via Fantini’s ever growing collection of 45rpm records recorded in Cleveland Ohio. Featuring well known artists from the golden age of country mixed with complete unknowns and a special focus on weird, unknown, and regional records from the 40s-60s. In addition to the show, Fantini puts out limited run, handmade cassette and cd mixtapes of a lot of music you’ll hear on his show and beyond.
I came across the first mix he put out while record shopping on tour in Olympia Washington at Rainy Day Records. The art and handwritten tracklist immediately made me think of the in-shop only mixes that Mississippi Records and Little Axe put out here in Portland. Was really impressed not only with the curation but how much love/time you can tell goes into each release and episode of the show. Been a huge fan of all things Dollar Country ever since. Design by Brandon McMahon.
Community Spotlight - Elbow Room☟
This month I’m very excited to put a spotlight on Elbow Room - a virtually-based creative space for artists who experience disabilities operating in the Portland Area. A huge thank you to Quinn, one of their organizers, for speaking to me about their work, accessibility, and more. Our conversation is below:
+What ideas/conversations sparked the idea for Elbow Room?
All of the Elbow Room organizers met while working at Portland Art and Learning Studios, a now-defunct progressive arts program in Northeast Portland. When that program was forced to close during the pandemic we started to have conversations about ways to keep the community together going forward. The most important thing for us at the time was to provide a space for people to stay connected and continue to make art together during lockdown. We set up a simple website and a zoom account and started offering free classes and hangouts last winter and things unfolded naturally from there.
+ What are the current classes/programs you offer?
We have been hosting Zoom classes five days a week since December, and began to offer a few days of safe in-person programming after all of us were fully vaccinated. Next week (September 6) we will be starting a new schedule that includes five days a week of morning/afternoon in person programming followed by at least two hours of virtual classes each day. Our in person classes have been made possible by the generosity of various community organizations willing to share space with us. Shout outs to the Independent Publishing Resource Center, the Oregon Society of Artists, Water in the Desert, and the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark College!
+ How does having a virtual creative space impact accessibility?
Our ability to all share virtual space has been absolutely essential during COVID, as we really had no other options for staying connected. It has been fun to figure out ways to use Zoom creatively (Virtual road trips, collaborative music and video editing, movie nights, drawing from internet imagery, YouTube karaoke) and to see how some people really thrive in that environment. At the same time we’ve encountered plenty of accessibility hurdles particular to doing things online--lack of access to technology and reliable internet, the difficulty of troubleshooting technical issues over virtual space, lack of at home art supplies, the simple fact that it isn’t easy or appealing for many people to sit in front of a computer screen for hours at a time. We’ve spent a lot of time trying to solve these issues but have also come to terms with the fact that not everyone will find virtual programming fulfilling, and we want to continue to offer in-person programming alongside our virtual classes as long as we feel we can do it safely.
+ Tell us more about your newsletter, Orbit Norbit, etc!
Orbit Norbit, etc! is an online publication/newsletter highlighting some of the fantastic work produced in Elbow Room. It is planned and produced collaboratively (the name is an amalgamation of different artist’s ideas) and hosted at Orbitnorbitetc.weebly.com (check it out!). Unfortunately we’ve been a little behind schedule and have only made one issue so far, but a second issue is in the works. Keep your eyes peeled.
+ What part of your work brings you the most joy?
There are a million things I love about this work, but fundamentally I’m just happy to be able to hang out, joke around, and make art with some of my favorite people every day.
+ What are the best ways for people to get involved/donate/volunteer?
We just surpassed our first fundraising goal and we are enormously grateful to everyone who donated. We are currently trying to gauge our capacity to bring on volunteers but anyone interested in helping out/getting involved/donating supplies or funds/learning more can email us at goodelbowclub@gmail.com. You can also subscribe to our newsletter on the Orbit Norbit, etc. website and follow the Elbow Room instagram for the most up to date info.
+ Any upcoming events/drives, etc. you want to highlight?
Elbow Room is collectively the current artist-in-residence at the Hoffman Gallery at Lewis & Clark college, and we are planning to hang our first shows there in October and in December. More details to be announced soon!
Reading, Watching & Listening To☟
Reading
+ The Machine Stops (Oliver Sacks for the New Yorker)
+ Sign From Above (Nate Rogers for theLAND)
+ In the Dead Archives (Max Abelson for N+1)
Listening
+ La Musique Electronique Du Niger - Mamman Sani
Watching
+ The 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival
+ The Chair (Netflix)
+ Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu)