Crude Conversations

EP 088 King of the Hill Part 3 with Dan Coffey, one of the youngest competitors

In this one, I talk to Dan Coffey about his experience at King of the Hill. Coffey’s experience and recollection of King of the Hill is unique, in that he was just a teenager when he went. He was a senior in high school when he first competed in the event. He says it was surreal, he was up there in the Chugach Mountains, competing with and riding the same lines as many of the snowboarders he looked up to. So, for him, the abundance of drugs and alcohol weren’t as front-and-center as they were for others. Sure, he participated in the festivities, but he rarely overindulged. He was there to snowboard.
Coffey says that there was a sense of camaraderie and community at King of the Hill. That it was such an undertaking it took the whole town to do the event, so everybody had to be part of it. But between alcohol, illicit substances and young bravado, there was a lot of room for error. A number of times in this conversation, he makes a point of mentioning that nobody was ever seriously injured. Which, I think, could be a testament to skill and preparation or it could be a testament to luck. In a separate conversation we had—when talking about the equalizing quality of the Chugach Mountains—Coffey told me, “Those mountains will bring the skiers and snowboarders with the biggest egos down to earth.”

2019 Throwback: EP 039 The Alaska Beer Frontier with Dr. Fermento

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with longtime Alaska beer columnist Jim Roberts, better known as Dr. Fermento. Jim's been writing about and involved in the Alaska craft beer scene for over two decades. Back then, there were only about eight breweries in Alaska, today there are over forty. In an article he wrote for Crude in 2018, he called Alaska "the Beer Frontier."
Cody and Jim talk about how Jim is "a beer drinker with a writing problem," some suggestions for the curious and the uninitiated beer drinker, how there's a niche for every beer drinker in the world in Alaska, and the time Dr. Fermento was invited to the Playboy Mansion.

EP 087 The past, present and future of snowboard media with Brooke Geery

In this first episode in an ongoing series between Crude and Blower Media—where I’ll be talking with influential women in snowboarding—I talk to Brooke Geery, a longtime snowboard journalist and publisher of snowboard media.
In 1997, Brooke started an online snowboard publication called YoBeat. It began on an AOL message board with 2 megabytes of free space and grew into an internationally recognized website. She says that it was a satirical site that gave a voice to people who snowboarded rather than a mouthpiece for the industry. Brooke and the content YoBeat hosted were children of the Internet, conveying unfiltered opinions and candid ideas. Many of which garnered love and hate in the comment sections that often drew just as much attention as the articles. And this all started back when there were only a few online snowboard publications.
Brooke says that YoBeat needed to die so that she could run a more mature snowboard publication. She was 15 years old when she started the site, and that voice persisted throughout the lifespan of the publication. Now, with her new online publication, Blower Media, a more mature Brooke is re-entering the conversation surrounding the culture of snowboarding during a time when so many legacy publications have died out. There are only a few people left in the industry with the same knowledge and first-hand experience as Brooke. So, her perspective on the past, present and future of snowboard media is one to listen to.

Chatter Marks EP 013 How sound influences our lives and our relationship with the natural world

In this episode of Chatter Marks, Cody talks with four artists and musicians about their work on the Anchorage Museum’s new exhibition titled Listen Up: Northern Soundscapes. The exhibition explores and considers northern soundscapes to better understand humans’ relationship with, understanding of and impact on the natural world. 
A soundscape is made up of all the sounds of a given environment. Artists and musicians were given a soundscape that they remixed using their distinctive styles. Their music styles range from acoustic and classical to hip-hop, ambient and electronica.
Chatter Marks is a podcast of the Anchorage Museum, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. Just search "Chatter Marks."

EP 086 King of the Hill Part 2 with Competitors Julie Zell and Steve Klassen

In this conversation, Cody talks with King of the Hill competitors Julie Zell and Steve Klassen. King of the Hill was a legendary snowboard competition held in Thompson Pass back in the 1990s that hosted a number of different perspectives. There were the partiers, the general participants and the competitors. Julie and Steve were competitors. They were the ones who got up early and made conscious notes of their surroundings and snow conditions. If they partied, they did so sparingly, knowing full-well that the next day they could be deep in the Chugach Mountains, surrounded by variable conditions. For their skill and preparation, Julie and Steve both won King of the Hill multiple times. Steve won twice and Julie won three times.
For both of them, Thompson Pass—during those nascent years of snowboarding—was an outlaw world of guideless backcountry runs, heavy partying and the criminality that King of the Hill attracted. It was far from the world Julie and Steve had come from. In many ways, it represented a more primitive order to life, where everyone was able to adhere to their baser instincts. Today, you can see the lasting impression King of the Hill made on more modern day snowboard competitions like the Verbier stop in the Freeride World Tour and Kings and Queens of Corbet's in Jackson Hole. Although the extracurriculars of those competitions are much more tame and less primitive.

Chatter Marks EP 012 Finding your passion and chasing it, with artist and muralist Rejoy Armamento

Rejoy Armamento says that she’s always been interested in art, ever since she was a kid, but that it took her a while to reconnect with it in a serious way as an adult. As she got older, her attraction and affinity for it was stifled by feelings of ambivalence about whether being an artist was a realistic occupation. That was until she went to college in San Francisco, which she describes as a formative experience that re-introduced her to art. She says that she loves the sense of movement that comes with the energy of an active city. And it’s that energy that is present in her murals and in her art.
Today, she’s able to look back on her childhood and realize that she’s always been the person that she knew she was—she’s always been an artist.
Chatter Marks is a podcast of the Anchorage Museum, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. Just search "Chatter Marks."

EP 085 with Alaskan Author Don Rearden

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with Alaskan author Don Rearden. Don attributes being an author to his experiences and upbringing in rural Alaska. When he was  a kid, he and his family moved to a number of small communities in Southwest Alaska. There, he dealt with the loss of friends to suicide, drug and alcohol abuse and going missing. As a youth and as an adult, he made sense of this real-life horror and tragedy by turning to creativity. He says that that has allowed him to explore and embrace the darkness—both figuratively and literally.
In addition to his fiction work, Don has also co-authored two non-fiction books—Never Quit with Jimmy Settle and Warrior’s Creed with Roger Sparks. Both Jimmy and Roger are former pararescuemen—or PJs—with stories of perseverance, wisdom and heroism. Both books detail the path that led Jimmy and Roger to become PJs and the extraordinary experiences that made them who they are today. Don says that when people have experienced that kind of high-level, intense trauma, we have to listen and learn from it.

Chatter Marks EP 011 Indigenous traditions of healing and coming-of-age, with traditional healer Meda DeWitt

When Meda DeWitt was in her early 20s, she began her journey as a traditional healer—she was pursuing a degree in nursing when she says that Spirit had other plans for her. She was having health events that couldn’t be explained by western medicine, so she sought and found answers in holistic medicine. She says that people have a tendency to think of traditional healing as antiquated or obsolete. However, traditional healers of the past and the present are in constant pursuit of knowledge and understanding. And for over 10,000 years, they have focused on a culture of wellness that promotes mental, physical and emotional health. 
Chatter Marks is a podcast of the Anchorage Museum, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. Just search "Chatter Marks."

Chatter Marks EP 010 The importance of diverse voices in media, with photojournalist and documentary photographer Ash Adams

Ash Adams' work tends to focus on people and stories about humanity, and elevating the voices and experiences that have historically been underrepresented. In her work, this includes actively dismantling stereotypes by highlighting Indigenous voices and advocating for gender equity. She says that one role of photojournalism is to show what inequity feels like so that others may understand. And that if we diversify the voices that are telling the narratives and are writing history, then we’re going to have a documented history that is more reflective of what actually happened.
Chatter Marks is a podcast of the Anchorage Museum, and is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and Google Podcasts. Just search "Chatter Marks."

EP 084 with comedian Matt Collins

In this episode, Cody has a conversation with radio host and comedian Matt Collins. Matt got his start in radio at 17 years old at 87.7 The End in Anchorage. He was the overnight jockey and intern there, learning the ropes and getting used to being on-air. From there he went on to work as a producer and board op at 100.5 The Fox. But then after the Bob and Mark Show moved from The Fox to 106.5 KWHL in 2004, so did Matt. At KWHL, he continued to produce the show, as well as host his own afternoon show, Alice in the Afternoon. He says that he got the nickname Alice because Bob Lester—of the Bob and Mark Show—said he looked like Layne Staley of Alice in Chains if he was into donuts instead of smack.
Throughout his life, Matt has been drawn to live performances. When he was a teenager, he performed in local plays. From 18 to 26, he played the drums in a number of bands. And then from 26 on he’s done stand-up comedy. When he was younger, Matt says that he was a basement dweller and that he was intimidated by the world. But as he got older and more involved in stand-up comedy, he became more comfortable with the world and his place in it.