Tune in on November 7th, 2025 for a special collaborative FolkU episode, featuring Howie Roman telling stories of his life and how he got to Cortes. This is a live recording from the Cortes Island Museum and Archives Society’s latest Finding Home event, recorded in October 2025.
Continue reading Folk U: Howie Roman goes to Finding Home
Lovefest 2025 was at Linnaea Farm on Saturday August 9th.
Cortes Currents arrived early and wandered through the crowd asking people about the festival and why they kept coming back. In the process, I also recorded a few short clips of music, asked one of the principal organizers about this year’s program and some people shared their recollections of the festival’s beginnings
Continue reading Gleanings from Lovefest 2025
Originally published on April 22, 2021
Born in New York, he chose Canada. Another two years passed before he arrived on a remote island off the West Coast. Paul Kirmmse remembers Cortes Island in 1971.
“I originally came here in January of ’71, looking for land. A guy gave me a job for the summer, beginning in April, serving coffee to the fishers and the loggers. There was a little cafe just above Mansons Lagoon, across from what used to be the Barton store – which I understand is now the Cortes Island Museum. It was dragged up the road and put in place to become the museum,” he says.
Continue reading Paul Kirmmse remembers Cortes Island in 1971
Originally published on October 4, 2023. Part 2 of a 2 part interview, click here for part 1.
Her singing career appeared to be a thing of the past, when Kim Paulley came to Cortes Island in 1992. The release of ‘Straight From The Heart’ had been promising, but she turned to Classical music. While there had been ‘fantastic’ moments between 1985-90, there was also the toil of auditions (and sometimes not getting the part). Her career was on hold when a friend recommended the retreats at Hollyhock, where George Sirk was a naturalist guide.
Continue reading Kim Paulley (part 2): George Sirk, Cortes Island and the rebirth of her careerBy Howie Roman
Rick Bockner, Immanuel McKenty and I have spent a year and a half working on this. Rick and I spent 18 months looking at over 30 hours of Lip Sync that Immanuel digitalised for us. We selected 16 acts and 7 mc bits for a usb video of Highlights of Lip Sync. It was a constant reminder of how great the shows were and what a special thing they were. We did 23 shows in 11 years It provided an outlet for the island’s performers that is now missing.
Continue reading The Lip Sync Video
