Cabin Tavern: Skull Over the Bar

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

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

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

Lake Padden - October 2014

Lake Padden - October 2015

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

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 Old World Deli

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

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

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

EP Review: Spider Ferns: Safety

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

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

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.

Electric Beet Juice Co. Grand Opening

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

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

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.

Maikham: Thai and Lao Cusine

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

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.