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April 24, 2009
Holy Modal Who? A chat with Chip Cohen
of the Conjugal Visitors
Well, I just got off the phone with Chip
Cohen. This story, for me, starts a few years ago, when I received
a CD as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend’s sister’s husband,
Tim. Tim lives on the North
Umpqua
River near
Roseburg, in a cabin he built himself. It’s
a really cool area, and the forested property is pretty amazing.
Anyway, he gave me a CD called “Horsehair” by Chip Cohen. Tim saw
Chip at a farmer’s market, or something like that, and said I
would really enjoy his music. I gave it a listen, and it’s really
good. Chip is a really good fiddle player, well steeped in
old-time, bluegrass and world music. Chip started playing violin
at age 11 and then joined his grade school orchestra. In his
teens, he learned fiddle tunes and folk music, and at 21 he headed
out on the road with some friends and traveled to numerous
festivals around the Southeast, soaking up bluegrass and old-time
music.
Chip relocated to the West coast, and
spent time in Berkley
California, where he continued music, giving
fiddle lessons, and came up with his moniker “Professor Horsehair”
-- a combination of jazz musician Professor Longhair and the
material used for violin bows. After 30 years, the name stayed
with him. Along the way, Chip learned guitar and bass, but is
still best known for his fiddle playing. Chip still teaches at the
community college in Eugene
and gives private lessons.
So now we have to rewind the tape back to
last Fall, and recall one of the 27-million band names that come
up in my Entertainment Update column. This time, we’re talking
about the Conjugal Visitors, from Eugene, who played at the
Trillium Café. The Visitors have a tongue-in-cheek name for sure.
I checked out their MySpace page, and lo and behold, one of their
band members is Chip “Professor Horsehair” Cohen. I know that I
should have gone to that show, but of course, something must have
come up at the last minute (sound familiar? See Oct 22,
2008 blog entry). Anyway, Chip said that gig went
really well, and he was really pleased that his band was able to
do the gig acoustically.
Again, we have to rewind the tape back to
February, you know, that period of time when the Trillium Café was
closed, for repairs and such. It turns out the Visitors were
scheduled to play sometime during those weeks, but the closure
somehow led to the re-booking (re-booking, is that a word?) for
the Visitors, this time at Everybody’s Brewing, across the river
in White Salmon, this week. When I was gathering the information
for this gig, I pointed the ol’ web browser to Chip’s MySpace,
page (which is very funny, by the way) and read that he played
with a group called the Holy Modal Rounders.
The Rounders, were an obscure folk group,
for sure. The reason I know about the Rounders is from working
with my band (Kate Meloy Trio). Our guitar player, Craig Wilson
(of White Salmon Guitar) un-earthed a song called “Down the old
Plank Road” from the original Holy Modal Rounders
(Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber circa 1965). Anyway, Craig lent me
this double vinyl record from these guys, and it’s kind of a funny
record. The Rounders had a playing style that is so different, you
can’t tell if they’re serious or not. Go figure.
So when I saw on Chip’s web page that he
had played with these guys, I just had to ask. It turns out Chip
moved to Portland in the late 1980s, and by just hanging around
the local music scene, befriended Steve Weber, who had also
relocated to Portland. Weber had apparently continued the Rounders
without Stampfel at that point. The Rounders decided that they
needed a fiddle player, so Chip played with them for 3 or 4 years
and can be heard on the album “Are They Gone Yet.” The group hung
out at Hannigan’s Tavern, which was known locally as “Vern’s”
because the neon light in the “Tavern” sign did not light the “T”
or the “A”.
After that stint, Chip moved back to
Eugene, where he continued to teach and play music. In
addition to his current role in the Visitors, a string/jug band
that he has been with for the last 2 years, Chip plays in a band
called the “Klezmernauts,” affirming his love for traditional
Klezmer music. To this day, Chip has no idea how the Conjugal
Visitors got their name, but he hopes folks get a chuckle out of
it. Chip’s CD “Horsehair” is only available at his shows, but he
hopes to get an on-line store up and running soon.
The Visitors have a pretty extensive gig
schedule lined up, including a slot at the 2009 Seattle Folklife
Festival in May. Chip didn’t have the details about which stage
they were going to be on (there are at least 5 or 6 stages) but
I’m sure in between sets the group will be jamming on the
sidewalks. If you haven’t been to Folklife – go – it’s a hoot!
So that’s the story on that! Thanks Chip,
and thanks Tim, for the disc. It’s always fun to make these
connections in the endless music circle.
The Conjugal Visitors will be at
Everybody’s Brewing in White Salmon on Friday, April 24.
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