Jun 21, 2012

Brain on my parade

Kohn Ashmore’s voice is arresting. It stopped his friend Andy Mills in his tracks the first time they met. When Andy first laid eyes on 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?

This turned out to be a trickier question to answer than either Andy or Kohn expected, and led to a revelation that 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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