6 men, a dog and a Dane

As six men (four musicians, a script writer and an instructor) are standing in a circle out in my front yard having an acoustic percussion practice I thought I'd blog about what it means to live with a musician and have a studio in the house. Almost half of our house is a studio where musicians come to practice, jam or record. It is not a sterile, clean, white-painted ordeal, but has dark blue carpet on the walls and floor to capture sound, a big board to write lyrics and set lists on and a constant instrumental movement in and out as instruments and equipment are used for live shows and practices at other locations before they return, yet again, to our house. There is something inspiring about listening to the creation of art and I love being in the house as it unfolds, seeing flushed faces appear from the studio and listen to exciting discussion of how to proceed. I have also discovered that I can sleep through a lot of loud live music as long as it sounds good. I also have the privilege of offering my own band a place to practice - my band who, by the way, just got back from Anderson Bluegrass Festival where we were very well received and earned 200 Dollars - our biggest gig so far.

It feels like the summer is almost at its end in Fairbanks. It has become berry season and I have picked the first round of blueberries. Next will be more blueberries and then cranberries. I also start studying again next week at the Circumpolar Health Conference 2012 is being held in Fairbanks and I - studying perceptions and practices of health in rural Alaska - have signed up for the whole week. I just learned that there is a dress code for the conference and so I might have to buy some clothes that doesn't scream "bought in Value Village", have holes in it or was meant to be worn by a hippie at a festival. Did I mention that Alaskans really haven't taken the idea of dress codes to heart? Rich or poor: worn Carhartt and practical boots is the uniform here. When I show up in tight black jeans and a black top I scream European - especially when the jeans don't have trumpet sway (this is the best I can describe it) which is still the norm in Alaska. This is also why I can get away with only showering twice a week. People just don't care and it is so liberating.

The men in my yard have now been reduced to three musicians who have barricaded themselves in the studio. One is James, the other is the drummer from my own band: Cassidy, and the third is bass player Isaiah who lives in his van outside my door. And thus like that it turns into a normal Tuesday evening of music, people and for me: reading, writing, eating, talking and perhaps soon sleeping?  

Local News and Restlessness

It has been a quiet summer so far. For the first time in years I haven't had the urge to travel far away. Probably because for the past three years I have had the urge to travel to Alaska and this year I am already here and no immigration laws are forcing me to leave. So I've just been hanging out in Fairbanks. To go somewhere else would mean flying somewhere or driving at least 2 hours to get to the tourist mecca (and beautiful national park) of Denali or driving 6 hours to get to an actual city: Anchorage. Over halfway through the summer, I am starting to get somewhat restless. I need to go somewhere, see something new. How do people stay in one place for years at the time? Luckily new people always show up in Fairbanks as a breath of fresh air and stir up the familiar surroundings. In the summer a lot of firefighters come to town for 3-4 months, however this year most of them have been sent down to Colorado and surrounding states to help with their fires as the Alaskan fire season has been slow. The rest of the year students from everywhere are at the university and a lot of military personnel is in town.

While I enjoy my quiet summer and try not to get restless I read a lot of news to keep up with what is going on and since I am in my Fairbanks bubble I especially enjoy the local newspaper The Newsminer. The articles that that paper manages to publish are amazing(ly bad) and the things that go on around here are always original. Today there is a picture from the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics of two girls competing in the ear-pulling contest: 

                 From: Newsminer.com/Salgu Wissmath

The other day there was an amazing story of a woman who had fought of an aggressive bear with a natural bug spray and a stick while protecting her two nieces and holding on to her dog. And then there was the sad story of two men from out-of-state who went canoeing without knowing how to swim and without life vests. They managed to flip their canoe and inevitably, both drowned.

The other day there was the story of the first possession of bath salt (yes that drug that make people eat other people). A young man of 21 years was arrested carrying bath salt and a machine gun - what a fella. This week Fairbanks' self-proclaimed largest heroin dealer was also arrested  - presumably because of the self-proclamation. And then the King Salmon continue to not run in the rivers of Alaska. There are just no King Salmon this year. These are the kind of news we get up here. However if you search around there are also great community stories. Right now the celebration of the Golden Days is happening - people dress up in Gold Rush outfits as cancan girls and miners and parade through town. There is also a Rubber Duck race down the river - several hundred rubber ducks (yes the yellow ones from the bathtub) are sent of down the river, each of them with a number while people who have bought a lottery ticket for one of these numbered ducks cheer them on as they float by. I learned last year that there is a massive wall of people trying to get a glimpse of the ducks and so this year I wisely stayed away.

Happy Golden Days everyone - may you be less restless than I am today

This week brought 4th of July celebrations to Fairbanks, but since it is not something that I nor any of my close friends celebrate over here, James and I threw a 5th of July Elf Quest party. In the back of our garden is a beautiful circle of garden overgrown with fire weed and raspberry plants encircled by young aspen trees and spruce - perfect for an Elf Party. James built a stage using old parts of a stage from the Shakespeare Theater and we had live music all night. Everyone were just so happy and with the midnight sun keeping us company we stayed up till the sun came up, I mean stayed up, well you get the picture. More to come soon, wishing you all a happy weekend.

Photos by Rhi Johnson, Fairbanks

Solstice

The past week had solstice written all over it, which in Fairbanks means 24-hour sunlight and lots of festivities. I decided to take a road-trip with friends to Healy and the 49^th State Brewery’s Solstice Festival. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny night with great music and happy people. We crashed for a few hours in our car – that is, I slept in the car and the other three slept behind it. Somehow I have managed to live in Alaska with all it entails on and off for four years without ever needing my own sleeping bag and mat. Instead I have slept in car seats, trailers, tents, friends’ houses, and strangers’ houses on a sheepskin with a blanket or even a robe a couple times. This weekend was no different and after a couple of hours of sleep we turned back towards Fairbanks. We were lucky enough to get back to town before heavy smoke took over the highway between Denali and Fairbanks as one of the bigger wildfires of this season spread from 9 to 20,000 acres in just 36 hours. I could smell the smoke in my garden last night, but today the winds must have turned and I have yet to see ashes fall from the sky or have smoky clouds cover up the sun. 

I can add to my education in American cuisine after this weekend, as a friend ordered the exquisite dish of waffle fries with melted cheese, bacon and sour cream. Check my photo page for an illustration. I was also told that the bus – on my photo page – is in fact the famous bus from the book (and movie) Into the Wild. It was hauled out of its spot in the wilderness because people kept hiking out to it, get stuck and die. I’m not sure whether to believe this or not, but just in case it was really true we made sure to document. I mentioned it before on this blog, but I think it is hilarious that while people around the world idealize Christopher McCandless as a great example of how to break free of society and materialism, Alaskans think the guy was an idiot who wandered unprepared into the wild and now people are following his example to their own demise. I enjoyed the story, but I see their point. 

Happy solstice everyone!