Hot and Cold

Amidst the stifling heat of the hot and humid summer of 2017, a draft copy of the updated National Climate Assessment, prepared by scientists from 13 federal agencies, announces that the average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, that recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, and that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. The report is a direct contradiction of claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain and that the ability to predict the effects is limited.

“Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans,” the draft report states.  The authors note that thousands of studies, conducted by tens of thousands of scientists, have documented climate change on land and in the air. “Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change,” they wrote.  A copy of the draft report is available from The New York Times.

So in the midst of this heat and predictions of more to come, it's worth remembering that December 7th, 2013 was one of the coldest nights in the recorded history of Portland, Oregon.  On that night, the orchestral folk-rock band Typhoon collaborated with La Blogothèque and a handful of talented musicians to film A Takeaway Show in an empty Portland warehouse.  Sadly, the release of the video was hampered by unforeseen circumstances and the project was shelved indefinitely.

Until now.  The video of the December 2013 performance was finally posted on YouTube on July 31 of this year.  According to La Blogothèque, "It was the coldest weekend that Portland had in decades. It was so cold that we were genuinely concerned that some of the instruments wouldn’t play right. But as soon as Kyle and the band started playing, that fear quickly subsided. It was almost as if Kyle conducted the temperature in that room the same way he conducts his band: with grace, love, and a gentle wisdom that only he holds— and it’s inspiring and jaw-dropping to witness live."

As La Blogothèque notes, any fan of Typhoon will tell you how much their music means to them. "It’s personal, it’s sincere, and it makes you tackle emotions you hold deep and don’t take out very often. And for that, they are magic."  It's magic enough to bring out a small audience to a secret show on the coldest night in decades, and it's magic enough to make this video worth the 3 1/2 year wait.

With all that in mind, above is a warm video on a cold night in a hot period of Earth's history.