Notes by Northwest

NW Passages features passages from books or poetry with a PNW connection. Timothy Egan has written several books about the PNW, and this 1990 is considered to contain some of the finest writing about our natural environment.  In this passage, Egan tells a story about a random encounter with a herd of Roosevelt elk on the Olympic Peninsula in a dark and damp canopy of fir trees.  

NW Passages is the new series features passages from books with a connection to the Pacific Northwest, and this month, we will feature selections from Timothy Egan’s classic book about the PNW, The Good Rain .   In this passage, Egan describes the remoteness of the Northern Cascades, where, until 1972, no proper roads transverse the lands.  He goes on to quote a trapper who described the region as...

This final episode of The Good Rain finds Egan on the western most part of the Olympic Peninsula, in La Push.  The seemingly constant winds from the Pacific form the landscape, the trees, and the people of the area, all the way down to their breath.    You can read about that book, or others by this great PNW author by visiting his website, www.timothyeganbooks.com .   Thanks to Connie Furr for he...

The Boys on the Boat is the story about the University of Washington rowing team who, against all odds, wins the 1936 Olympic gold.  The story has a special connection to Sequim, as the main character of the story, Joe Rantz, spent much of his childhood here in Sequim.   When you’re driving into town, you can see the road sign calling out the two Olympic champions from Sunny Sequim.  Joe Rantz is...

The Boys on the Boat is the story about the underdog University of Washington rowing team who wins the 1936 Olympic gold.  The story’s main character, Joe Rantz, lived on Silberhorn Road in Sequim.  In this passage, we’ll hear about how the virtually orphaned Joe Rantz tried to scrape by when his family left him alone in Sequim when he was a teenager.  If you want more information about the book,...

On this episode, you’ll hear a passage about a defining race that helped the University of Washington rowing team set their place on the world stage at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.  If you want more information about the book, which was a NY Times bestseller, you can visit the author’s website, www.danieljamesbrown.com .     Thanks to Connie Furr for her reading.   

In this final episode for the book, Brown does a masterful job of capturing the excitement of the Olympic finals, where a rag-tag US team from the University of Washington beats out every other country for the Olympic gold in rowing. If you have suggestions for other passages we can feature on upcoming shows, please let me know on the notesbynorthwest.com website, using the contact function. For m...

Here's the playlist of artists I've come to enjoy in the first year of Notes by Northwest: Woody Guthrie                 Roll On Columbia  Wailers                                 Lucille  Kingsmen                            Louie Louie Q, Jones/Barry White   Secret Garden  Folk Uke                              Wear you down Brandi Clarke                  That wasn't me Will and Hayl...

Playlist: Penny whistlers  |   | Roll On Columbia  | The miracle workers  |   | Way Back When  | Mason Burns  |   | Come on Baby   | Kristina Lao  |   | Mice  | Rumour Mill  |   | Feel it 2  | Odo Abby  |   | Oshi  | Heart  |   | Dog and Butterfly  | The Matinee  |   | Said I  | Rocky Voltalado  |   | Little Black Diamond  | Grand Archives  |   | sleepdriving   | Wild Powwers  |   | Gorgon  | Tiny...

Theodore Winthrop was a New Haven, CT dandy who ventured west to California, the Oregon and Washington Territories, and British Columbia in 1853 to explore the Pacific NW, its natural beauty, and its native peoples.    The story of his journey, The Canoe and The Saddle , was first published in 1862, a year after the death of Winthrop in one of the early skirmishes of the civil war.   Winthrop’s de...

We’re continuing this week with The Canoe and The Saddle, the account of Theodore Winthrop’s journey to the Washington Territory in 1853, where he shared his accounts of the majesty of the mountains, the Salish Sea, and the native peoples of the PNW.   This edition of NW Passages includes Winthrop’s tribute to the mountain he, and the first people—refer to as Tacoma—and what the whites then and to...

In this episode, we will continue the journey across 1850s Washington Territory as told by Theodore Winthrop, the Connecticut dandy who trekked across the PNW and wrote about it in his book, The Canoe and the Saddle.  In this passage, Winthrop tells the story of waking in the PNW forest at sunrise, in an encampment of missionaries, and the profound effect that colors, and light and the land and th...

In this segment from The Canoe and the Saddle , author Theodore Winthrop relates another spiritual moment inspired by the natural beauty of the Washington territory in the mid-1800s. 

The entire show is dedicated to female artists: Judy Collins                                Roll on Columbia  Rosalie Sorrells                         If I could be the rain Loretta Lynn                              Don't come home a drinking Ernestine Anderson               The Thrill is gone Esperanza Spaulding            Touch In Mine Brandy Clarke                            Get High Brand...

Steve Einhorn                                    Roll on Columbia Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio        Pull yo’ pants up Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio          Careless whisper The Dip                                                 Advertising The Dip                                                 Never my love Modest Mouse                                 Lampshades on Fire  Modest Mouse                 ...

Playlist:   Woody Guthrie                                 Roll On Columbia  The Frantics                                        werewolf Ventures                                             secret agent man  Wailers                                                 Tall Cool One  Kingsmen                                            Money That's what I want  Sonics                               ...

Here's the playlist for this dog days of summer episode:  Highwaymen                                 Roll On Columbia Timberbound                                 End of my line Rosalie Sorrells                             Home Ain't in The Hall of Fame Buck Owens                                    Tiger by the tail Rocky Voltalado                            Evergreen Will and Haylie     ...

All the music on this program either has "Seattle" in the title, or is about an area of Seattle, just for fun.   Here's the playlist: The Pennywhistlers                        Roll On Columbia The Fabulous Wailers                     Seattle  Jelly Roll Morton                              Seattle Hunch Laurie Lewis Quintet                       Summer in Seattle  Shawn Mullins     ...

This features covers of Woody Guthrie songs by his contemporaries, by some current artists, songs by the next generations of Guthries, and some new songs based on Woody Guthrie lyrics, some of the more than 3000 he wrote in his amazing lifetime.  Here's the playlist: William Worden                               Roll On Columbia Pete Seeger                                       Union Maid Cisc...

This audio documentary chronicles the life and the music of the father of American folk music on the 110th anniversary of his birth in Okemah, Oklahoma.   The program includes a number of his songs, my interview with Nora Guthrie, the Director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation (and Woody's daughter);  my interview with KEXP-FM host Greg Vandy, the author of a book about the Columbia River serie...

This program featured music and artists I've never played before on the show.  I hope you hear something new and interesting. Playlist Pennywhistlers                                 Roll On Columbia  Bill Frissell                                           Rumble  Shook twins                                        Mad Scientist Danny Barnes                                    Pizza box  Zauso ...

PLAYLIST  Highwaymen                                     Roll on Colombia  Pete Seeger                                       Acres of Clams Fess Parker                                         Lewis & Clark  Dave Lewis                                          Little Green thing Neko Case                                           South Tacoma Way Owl city                                         ...

This is my live interview with country folk singer and songwriter Will Worden, where we discuss his musical influences from the Beatles to Townes Van Sandt,  his original compositions, and how he became such an old soul at such a young age.   The program kicks off with Will's version of Roll On Columbia that he recorded in Woody's cabin on actor Will Geer's property in Topanga, Cali...

PLAYLIST Peter McKee                                                      Roll On Columbia Buck Ellard                                                          Simple Man  Bread & Gravy                                    Black Diamond Junction                                Creep Fleet Foxes                                                         I’m not my season Damien Jurado               ...

This interview features Peter McKee, a former Peninsula resident, whose been playing the banjo his entire adult life.  He's a fan of Woody Guthrie (who he honored in a unique way on Woody's 100th birthday), Pete Seeger, and a lot of other fine artists.  This show includes my interview with Peter and the following songs: Peter McKee           Roll On Columbia  Woody Guthrie      It Takes...