Matt Cohen is a Journalist, Associate Editor at DCist, and plays bass for the band Collapser.
What was the food highlight of your year?
Literally buying $80 worth of Trader Joe's snacks to drive across the country with a friend. We ate at a lot of great restaurants during the trip (Laramie, Wyoming's only vegetarian restaurant, other places), but Trader Joe's snacks are tops.
What was the music highlight of your year?
I was fortunate to participate in a thing called Call + Response this year. It's a semi-annual art show in D.C. that pairs writers with artists, with the artists creating something inspired by a piece of writing by the writer they've been paired with. This year, the organizers mixed things up a bit by introducing a musical element. Philadelphia's Restorations, one of my favorite bands, wrote and recorded a 12-minute instrumental track for the show, which was given to us writers as inspiration. The short story I wrote was probably garbage (haven't had the courage reread it since I submitted it), but to be involved in the project was incredibly cool. At the opening, Restorations performed the track live. The song and all the stories were published and package as part of a limited 7-inch. It was a huge honor to be invited to participate in such a unique project.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
This summer, some friends and I organized a DIY music and arts festival in D.C. called In It Together Fest. I can go on and on about what a raging success it was and how proud I am to have been involved, but I'll just sum it up with one spectacular moment: we concluded the festival at a skate park underneath a bridge in D.C. We partnered with Food Not Bombs to sell some grub to raise money for charity, had a skate demo, and live music. But the main event featured a buddy of mine jumping over 50 gallons of homemade ramen in a bathtub on his dirt bike, while another buddy shredded the National Anthem on guitar. 'Merica.
@matt_d_cohen