The Cascadia Chronicles: pt. 1

There's so much i could say about Portland, Or. and the Pacific Northwest, in general. I've been waiting around for the muse to strike, for the perfect moment, to summarize some of my impressions, from travelling this summer. Yet this perfection eludes me, its just another funky Tues. afternoon, high on coffee, low on food. Inspired and terribly normal, in one fell stroke.

Since i've been travelling, i essentially live everywhere and nowhere, simultaneously. Allows me the freedom of escaping humdrum routines and hamster-wheel thinking. This is not hedonism, for me, its how i live. Because of this, being new to the Northwest, i've been able to view this place, almost as an anthropologist, but also a pilgrim or devotee. So many interesting threads and currents, i hope to pick them all apart, and look at them separately, as a means of reviewing hopeful trends alive and kicking in this world, in this day and age. I refute, i downright condemn, the nostalgic defeatists, constantly pining for times before they were born. This is the single-most exciting and important time in history. Everybody's waking up, people are hitting the road, giving up their homes, asking more existential questions, getting together more often.

Its this last tendency that i would like to speak about, first. Getting together. Potluck, singalong, campfire, berry-picking; a complete 180 degrees from the passive, pointless television zombie world that is prevalent around where i grew up (or the internet zombie that is prevalent everywhere :), i've spent the whole summer playing music with people, making dinners, having parties, starting bands, sitting on the porch. This is not only with the sweet group of friends i've made along the way, but also amazing artists and musicians, at tiny indie festivals, and around the towns where they live. They run record stores and recording studios and food carts. They are out and around, and everybody is just another human being. I find this, in stark contrast, to the hipster elitism, the cold stand-offish putdown that i have found a lot of other places. And it is this little spark, this tiny tendril, that has set off such a wildfire in my imagination.

Our band could be yr life. Our life could be yr band. Audience and performer, inseparable. True punk rock, true DIY, true ETHOS. Share what you have. Give it freely. Welcome people into yr scenes. Talk about other people's art, and what they're doing. Sing in public. By breaking down the barriers, of 'artist' and 'regular person', it opens the field for everyone to raise their voice, to speak their truth, to spread a message of constructivism and positivity. Its about getting together and inspiring one another.

I've been so inspired, so healed by getting to know all of these amazing people, spending so much time in amazing nature. There is something so HOLY going on here in the Pacific Northwest. I really feel like i've found my home, my spiritual center. It has alleviated so much of my cluelessness and aimlessness and anxiety. To root, to come to ground, and to radiate outward. So much more can be done, with a home and a family.

Today's the day. Carpe diem. Go start a band!

The Godfather - Calvin Johnson @ Helsing Junction