Oct 18, 2011

Slow

Kohn Ashmore’s voice is arresting. It stopped his friend Andy Mills in his tracks the first time they met. But in this short about the power of friendship and familiarity, Andy explains that Kohn’s voice isn't the most striking thing about him at all.

When Andy first met Kohn, he saw a college freshman in a wheelchair who moved slow and talked slow. But it only took one conversation for Andy to realize that Kohn was also witty and observant. They clicked so effortlessly over lunch one day that Andy went ahead and asked an audacious question: why was Kohn so slow? Kohn told him that when he was 8-years-old, he was hit by a car. He was in a coma for five months, and when he finally woke up, he everything about him was slowed down ... except for his mind.

That lunch quickly led to deep discussions and lots of late nights spent joking around and playing music. But when Andy decided to interview Kohn on tape last summer, Kohn told him another story about himself that caught Andy completely off guard--and made Andy question what it means to be truly familiar with something ... like the sound of your own voice, or that of a friend.

Neurologist Orrin Devinsky joins us to answer some questions raised by Andy and Kohn’s story, and the band Hudson Branch helps us hear, and feel, the world through Kohn’s ears.

Hudson Branch is: Matthew and Jacob Boll, Corey and Cobey Bienert, and Enoch Kim. Becky Beighley, Andy Mills, and Kohn Ashmore join them to sing an adaptation of Damien Rice's "Grey Room."

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