Music that puts everything back together.
I've posted about this artist before, but I like him so much that I'm doing it again.
Jason Webley is a musician from Seattle who started out as a street performer, playing guitar, accordion, and a vodka bottle filled with coins. His music is best described as a blend of folk, punk, and gypsy rock. Some of his work has been compared to Tom Waits, mostly because of his gravely vocals. His live performances usually incorporate pranks, props, and audience participation, and in my opinion are worth attending whether you like the kind of music he makes or not.
It hurts to pray to God when God is crying too.
"Dance While the Sky Crashes Down" from the album Only Just Beginning
Jason coaching the audience through singing trombone and violin parts for his song.
"This is not a song, it's a WAR!"
Jason Webley doing his version of Outkast's "Hey Ya"
Here's the thing. I haven't seen Jason Webley since his release party for the Eleven Saints single in 2006. That night, a boy broke my heart in about a thousand pieces in the cursed driveway of my friend's rental house, which coincidentally was owned by one of Jason's very good friends. This heartbreak took me quite a while to recover from. Sometimes I'm still not sure I'm completely recovered from it. Since then, I have unconsciously and illogically associated his shows with that heartbreak. It isn't like I've outright refused to go see a show, I just haven't, you know, gone out of my way.
This year, though, Jason's big show promises to be too much to miss. Among other amazing artists, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls will be part of the show. As much as I like his recorded music, it's really the live performances that make him such a fantastic artist. He's an excellent showman at any time, but when he goes all-out for his big shows, it's really something special. This is, after all, the guy who was banned from Bumbershoot for baptizing people in the fountain, and staged a pirate invasion of Bainbridge Island.
He has this way of connecting with his audiences' inner child and bringing them into his world. Which is how, at his Halloween show in 2004, I ended up wearing a headband--hachimaki style, with a tomato on it instead of a rising sun--and raising my fist in the air with the rest of my fellow flag-waving, headband-wearing tomato warriors, singing "Tomaaaay-ay-ay-to!"
To illustrate the types of antics he instigates: After the show, we walked to the the nearby park and engaged in rituals at different stations along the way, ending in a theatrical "death" that involved a giant paper-mache tomato. (If you look reaaaaally closely at the picture below, you can see my head, with blue and black dreadlocks, in the lower right-ish, looking up at the aforementioned boy.)
All photos from this show taken by Michael Hanscom
Once I decided that I was going to go to this show, I went out and bought his newest full-length release, The Cost of Living, and listened to it in my car this morning.
I'm really, really bad at reviewing music other than saying that I liked it or not. So I'll just say this: I was teary the entire time I listened to it. Maybe it was hormones, or maybe it was the sunscreen I was wearing dripping into my eyes, or maybe it really was the music.
In any case, if you are in the Seattle area, or you can get to the Seattle area easily, I highly encourage you to attend this show. I think it will sell out, so you should get advance tickets here. I already have two, though I don't know yet who's coming with me. Someone will, and even if they didn't want to in the first place, they'll thank me later.
Jason Webley is a musician from Seattle who started out as a street performer, playing guitar, accordion, and a vodka bottle filled with coins. His music is best described as a blend of folk, punk, and gypsy rock. Some of his work has been compared to Tom Waits, mostly because of his gravely vocals. His live performances usually incorporate pranks, props, and audience participation, and in my opinion are worth attending whether you like the kind of music he makes or not.
It hurts to pray to God when God is crying too.
"Dance While the Sky Crashes Down" from the album Only Just Beginning
Click to viewJason coaching the audience through singing trombone and violin parts for his song.
"This is not a song, it's a WAR!"
Jason Webley doing his version of Outkast's "Hey Ya"
Here's the thing. I haven't seen Jason Webley since his release party for the Eleven Saints single in 2006. That night, a boy broke my heart in about a thousand pieces in the cursed driveway of my friend's rental house, which coincidentally was owned by one of Jason's very good friends. This heartbreak took me quite a while to recover from. Sometimes I'm still not sure I'm completely recovered from it. Since then, I have unconsciously and illogically associated his shows with that heartbreak. It isn't like I've outright refused to go see a show, I just haven't, you know, gone out of my way.
This year, though, Jason's big show promises to be too much to miss. Among other amazing artists, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls will be part of the show. As much as I like his recorded music, it's really the live performances that make him such a fantastic artist. He's an excellent showman at any time, but when he goes all-out for his big shows, it's really something special. This is, after all, the guy who was banned from Bumbershoot for baptizing people in the fountain, and staged a pirate invasion of Bainbridge Island.
He has this way of connecting with his audiences' inner child and bringing them into his world. Which is how, at his Halloween show in 2004, I ended up wearing a headband--hachimaki style, with a tomato on it instead of a rising sun--and raising my fist in the air with the rest of my fellow flag-waving, headband-wearing tomato warriors, singing "Tomaaaay-ay-ay-to!"
To illustrate the types of antics he instigates: After the show, we walked to the the nearby park and engaged in rituals at different stations along the way, ending in a theatrical "death" that involved a giant paper-mache tomato. (If you look reaaaaally closely at the picture below, you can see my head, with blue and black dreadlocks, in the lower right-ish, looking up at the aforementioned boy.)
All photos from this show taken by Michael Hanscom
Once I decided that I was going to go to this show, I went out and bought his newest full-length release, The Cost of Living, and listened to it in my car this morning.
I'm really, really bad at reviewing music other than saying that I liked it or not. So I'll just say this: I was teary the entire time I listened to it. Maybe it was hormones, or maybe it was the sunscreen I was wearing dripping into my eyes, or maybe it really was the music.
In any case, if you are in the Seattle area, or you can get to the Seattle area easily, I highly encourage you to attend this show. I think it will sell out, so you should get advance tickets here. I already have two, though I don't know yet who's coming with me. Someone will, and even if they didn't want to in the first place, they'll thank me later.