WHAT I KNOW ABOUT WES COTTEN…

Coop here again,

Pardon me for getting personal here, but I’ve had a few emails from site visitors asking how I know Wes Cotten.  Not sure if these guys are friends or family but I encourage them to contact me again if they are (wescotten@live.com).  As for my relationship with Wes, that’s a valid request since I’m running his site now. 

Here’s how I know Wes…

This was back when I was living in Los Angeles around September 11, 2001. After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, things were looking pretty grim. Most of my business deals were being dropped like a hot potatoes and newspapers stopped printing my articles so they could focus on the national crisis. My old bar/hangout wasn’t the same anymore so to ease the misery, I started haunting some other venues. At a dive bar in the San Fernando Valley, I met Wes.

I was in the middle of my first Guinness when he barreled into the mostly empty bar and loudly announced that he was in North Hollywood and had just seen a UFO being chased by police helicopters. I instantly thought he was a nut but it made me laugh. He seemed disappointed that no one seemed interested in what he had witnessed, but I offered to buy him a beer to calm his nerves. After awhile of talking, I told him about the time I saw an octagon-shaped UFO fly over the Sunset Strip when I was at the Cat Club attending Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke’s birthday party. My only fellow witnesses: Two stoners sharing a joint (man, I wish that story WASN’T true because it’s embarrassing to tell it). He got a kick out of that and we made a decent night out of a strange one.

Soon I was meeting up with Wes on a regular basis at various spots around the Valley to grab a beer, trade stories and philosophize about what was becoming of the world we lived in. He cared little about politics but could easily win a debate. He hated pretense, but had no difficulty putting a literati in his/her place. He made hanging out fun again. So when he started talking about weird stuff, I enjoyed every minute of it.

A couple of years later, we had established a strong friendship (this was before all the craziness of “Myspace” and “Facebook”… something that he never bought into). We hung out regularly but never with eithers’ social circle. We were autonomous, independent and always ended up in strange locations, talking to the weirdest people due to our interests.

Eventually, Wes had to move due to monetary constraints, so he chose to go back to Memphis around 2005. He had a passion for helping underage and underprivileged youths, coming from a similar background himself.  He felt he could make a difference in his hometown.

When I returned to the mid-south myself, I had limited contact with him. An email here, a party invitation there… but we were hard pressed to reconnect.

Before his disappearance, I got an email from him:

Coop,

Only you might dig this, but I’ve found something pretty cool up here. All that crazy shit we used to talk about isn’t as crazy as half of the stuff I’m finding now. I want you involved. Get in touch, man.

-Wes

After a few missed opportunities we finally reconnected.  I went up to ElvisTown and met Wes and his brand new girlfriend, Sarah. Wow. What a knockout. Wes was a ladies’ man but I never saw him with a girl like Sarah. I can’t even begin to describe what a perfectly impossible woman she turned out to be, even on a first impression. No wonder Wes liked being back in Memphis so much.

Over the course of the night, Wes kept telling me about info and stories that he absolutely HAD to tell me about, but we never had the aside time to discuss it.  The night was young, Sarah was all over him and the drinks were flowing freely.  By the end of the night, he and I promised to get together soon and have a constructive pow-wow on the info he had in mind.

That’s the last I ever saw of Wes, or Sarah for that matter.  Almost a year ago.  

As for the material Wes left behind for me, he found a lot of interesting stuff… but it’s epic in volume.  It’ll take me a good while to sort it all in my free time.  It’s creepy, it’s neat and I’m going to post what I can from this hodgepodge of notes and interviews (?) he has amassed.  He’s got some videos too, I’ll get to those when I get a solid nerd to fix my comp so I can view them.  Apparently my system doesn’t respond well to this “Divx” crap.  I’ll definitely include the unsettling images and artwork he scanned into most of these posts.

I was worried at first about Wes disappearing, but not so much now.  He’s the kind of guy with an active passport, no ties, a taste for the weird and a sense of humor.  I’m going to dig through what he’s left for me and post it.  I’m positive that’s what he wants me to do, and if my browsing his crazy material is any indication, I’m SO down.

Stay tuned to The Man Behind the Door for updates.

-Coop

Coop’s site: (http://www.smalltowncritic.com/)