2005 Gig Archive

2005: Sharing stages...

Date	City	Venue

12/30/05	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads with Joe Jencks
12/29/05	Seattle, WA	Haller Lake Community Club with Joe Jencks
12/17/05	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads with Reilly & Maloney
12/16/05	Seattle, WA	Puget’s Sound with Reilly & Maloney
11/12/05	Seattle, WA	Seattle Folklore Society with Reilly & Maloney
11/10/05	Mount Vernon, WA	Lincoln Theatre with Reilly & Maloney
11/6/05	Studio City, CA	Unitarian Universalist Church of Studio City
10/20/05	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads
9/9/05	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads
8/21/05	Seattle, WA	Northgate August Festival
7/31/05	Moscow, ID	Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse
6/19/05	Seattle, WA	History House with Erin Clancy
6/18/05	Seattle, WA	El Diablo with Ron Dalton
5/15/05	Everett, WA	Flying Pig with Joe Jencks
5/8/05	Spokane, WA	Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane with Joe Jencks
5/7/05	Spokane, WA	The Shop with Joe Jencks
5/6/05	Moscow, ID	Palouse Folklore Society with Joe Jencks
5/5/05	Boise, ID	House Concert with Joe Jencks
5/4/05	La Grande, OR	Northeast Oregon Folklore Society with Joe Jencks
5/3/05	Hood River, OR	Mid-Columbia Folklore Society with Joe Jencks
4/29/05	Seattle, WA	Seattle Poetry Festival
4/10/05	Moscow, ID	Palouse Folklore Society with Reilly & Maloney
4/9/05	Spokane, WA	The Met with Reilly & Maloney
4/8/05	Kirkland, WA	Kirkland Congregational Church, UCC with Reilly & Maloney
4/3/05	Coeur d’Alene, ID	North Idaho Unitarian Universalists
3/10/05	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads Bellevue
3/7/05	Seattle, WA	Hop Vine Pub

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Performance Notes

Fri., December 30, 2005
Bellevue, WA: Crossroads (with Joe Jencks)

Rehearsal time for my songs (as presented by a Wes/Joe duo) became a casualty of last night’s musi-fracas, so the set (and, at times, the chops) are a bit impromptu...but that seems to be just the kind of presentation that the nice-sized, holiday-weary crowd seeks as I close 2005 with my fifth visit to the Crossroads stage. A happy and safe new year to all—thanks for the support & company!

Thu., December 29, 2005
Seattle, WA: Joe Jencks “Rise As One” CD Release Concert at Haller Lake Community Club

Lotta particulars to this one—a special CD-release concert for Joe’s new live album, “Rise As One”—but a heckuvan event: fun to be a pure sideman, swapping mandolin, acoustic-, and electric guitars (and singin’ some) to compliment the arrangements, which are really enlivened by the presence of the fabulous Cary Black on upright bass. Linda Allen and the Seattle Labor Chorus guest, and everyone sings along (decently). A welcome celebration in these lean times for live-music (though I wish 100+ more people would find events like this!!).

Sat., December 17, 2005
Seattle, WA: Crossroads (with Reilly & Maloney)

Back again, slinging mando (never far from sight after last night...!) from the sidelines.

Sat., December 16, 2005
Seattle, WA: Puget’s Sound (Meadowbrook) (with Reilly & Maloney)

Looks like a Reilly & Maloney Holiday Concert is now an annual Puget’s Sound event, and we’ve turned out another animated and engaged crowd as I juggle my multiple role-hats. The standard ‘never-take-your-instrument-away-from-the-stage’ rule surfaces as I take my mandolin back to the ad-hoc green/dressing-room just a shade early in an attempt to make sure that David & Ginny find an unlocked door at intermission. Oops...

Sat., November 12, 2005
Seattle, WA: Seattle Folklore Society (with Reilly & Maloney)

Trying a new hall (Haller Lake Community Club) tonight with my now-annual (wearing my Seattle Folklore Society concert producer hat), fall presentation of R&M, and the early returns are great. Desiree and Larry Smith of the spirited, fledgling Haller Lake Arts Council had literally grabbed my arm at the Kirkland show earlier this year after hearing my Puget’s Sound spiel, sharing their desire to see this facility used. (We also collaborated some for the Northgate August Festival). Nice house (I was gonna be upset if I’d done all that chair-wrangling fer nuthin’!), sound, and, to my great relief, playing from me and the finger I smashed in a microphone stand at last night’s Puget’s Sound event. Busy weekend...and I look forward to more like it as HLAC’s Arts Live! at the Club gets set to take off this spring.

Thurs., November 10, 2005
Mount Vernon, WA: Lincoln Theatre (with Reilly & Maloney)

I’m purely along for the ride tonight (well, I’ll play some sparse mandolin...)—David wants an ally and thinks I might like to scope out the gorgeously warm Lincoln Theatre in downtown Mt. Vernon. The industrious Don Wick has arranged the event (the story he tells is that he was driving in his car when his phone rang: “This is David Maloney...I have your business card...who the hell are you?”), guaranteeing at least the attendance of his ‘For No Particular Reason’ dinner club. The crowd that turns up, though, is much more: numerous; rowdy; and great fun! (Someone gave me flowers...) Seems like I keep busy even when I’m not really working...

Sun., November 6, 2005
Bellevue, WA:

A favorite high school classmate of mine is marrying himself off outside of San Diego (home of my somewhat-grievous 2004 Folk Alliance experience—hence my lack of overt enthusiasm surrounding a few days in obscene November sun), and, as it turns out, another old friend has begun coordinating some activities for the Unitarian-Universalist congregation in Studio City, so I’m able—with a little more driving than I’d like—to add some work to the trip, immerse myself in plenty of good company, and share tunes with another UU community. The ocean (dolphins!) is a bit like a good Northwest lake plunge in May, and I wonder, as I romp around in sandals, if Southern Californians sing the same winter-holiday tunes as the rest of us... The Studio City crowd is pleasantly receptive (and, in one particular instance, charmingly- and disarmingly-decisive...), and Rev. Atkinson reveals some fire beneath his gentle, liberal-white-guy-with-beard deportment. Nice to share music, stories, small-world connections, and future planning with this neat group...and then feel underdressed (not hip enough...) at our Hollywood lunch spot.

Thurs., October 20, 2005
Bellevue, WA: Crossroads Hurricane Katrina Benefit

Crossroads is starting to feel a bit like my ‘regular’ gig: I’m back tonight for a Hurricane Katrina benefit organized by the generously-spirited Reggie Garrett, a great performer and citizen—all donations from the evening will go to Habitat for Humanity’s rebuilding efforts. My short set to kick off the evening becomes a double-set as Richard Middleton has phoned in ill, and it’s nice to see folk meandering over to Reggie’s table with open pocketbooks. Brad Warren, Reggie with the so-smooth Gary Westcott (who sound great!), Larry Murante, Grant Dermody, and Paul Benoit follow; Jim Page couldn’t make it, but a few patient folk who’d come looking for the Victory Music Open-Mic do a few songs each before the promised song-circle/performer-jam. (And Nes-Quik Guy is back for a brief cameo!!) It’s been great sitting around and catching up with these guys, and it’s even more fun all stumbling about in a self-indulgent, ad-hoc jam: Gary, Reggie, and Larry cover guitars; Grant (of course) on harmonica; Brad takes piano; and I commandeer Brad’s funky mandolin. Bellevue loves it! And nearly $600—and two guitars (eleven strings between ’em...) and a clarinet—are headed down to help.

Fri., September 9, 2005
Bellevue, WA: Crossroads Bite of Crossroads

Glad I chose to eat after my set... Just a quick hour on this great stage (with Bob Conger’s fabulous sound), rewarded with phad thai, gyro, popcorn chicken, spring rolls, peach cobbler, and bubble tea (my first time...) from the third-annual Bite of Crossroads celebration. The shakily-enthusiastic fellow who pleaded for me to really shred some tunes on my Martin departs early, perhaps to refill his large, yellow ‘Nes-Quik’ bottle with whatever he had in it (not, Bob and I agree, Nes-Quik...).

Sun., August 21, 2005
Seattle, WA: Northgate August Festival

Puget’s Sound is coordinating the live-music stage at the first-annual Northgate August Festival, so I’ve got a brilliant-yellow nametag and a radio to make me look far more official than necessary in my capacity as Stage Manager for the local lineup—some of which I’ve arranged—featuring High Class Brass Quintet, Johnny Moses, Nancy K. Dillon, John Nelson, Tim Noah, Brian Butler, Filé Gumbo...and me. The shadow of Interstate-5 is hardly a sonic paradise, but the trademark-Seattle slowdowns and convenient placing of giant, inflatable ‘bouncy-toys’ help limit encroaching traffic noise. I’m following Tim’s dynamic kids act on stage, and, one must admit, nothing from my near-hour set compares to my impromptu role as “Superkid” (we were, sadly, a bit thin on youth in the crowd) for the Emmy®-winning Mr. Noah, which saw me dress to just below my ribcage with a confrontationally-pink, converted-kayak-life-jacket-looking muscle-suit and cape, running (‘flying’) and flexing through the sparse crowd as Tim sang my super-praises.

Sun., July 31, 2005
Moscow, ID: Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse (Gospel Sunday!!)

My father—now a real, live, ordained e-mail-order minister through Universal Life Church—and I reprise our Gospel Music Sunday program from April at his home church (UUCP), with the usual (and growing!) cast of characters, including the also-Reverend Tami ‘Faye’ Moore and an ad-hoc choir to help us lead the songs of spirit/labor/justice that comprise the sermon: what undeniable fun!! After, our traditional fried-chicken / RC Cola potluck (Dad and I drove all over the Palouse looking for Moon Pies...no dice) prolongs the fun (and tastes delicious!!), a welcome distraction for me from the heavy (though healing) memorial of a lost high school classmate the day previous.

Sun., June 19, 2005
Seattle, WA: History House of Greater Seattle: Music in the Sculpture Garden (with Erin Clancy)

History House of Greater Seattle is a great non-profit community museum/resource that celebrates neighborhoods around Seattle (the building itself lies in Fremont), and this summer it’s been hosting an outdoor Music in the Sculpture Garden concert series Sundays May-September—I (lucky me!) am booked for Fremont Solstice Fair weekend. Once a year (or therabouts—I’d like to make it more frequent) I call my dear friend and fine singer Erin Clancy to join me for a gig, and this ’un seemed like a good ’un: I’ve recently finished a song (“White Hats & Wild Times”) begun live on-air on KPBX-Spokane’s Nacho Celtic Hour last year, and it’s turned into (my producer’s mind tells me) a duet with a unassumingly twangy female voice—perfect!! With a fragment of the Berlin Wall behind us and a spot of sizzling sun streaming through a strategic skylight in the awning directly onto me, Erin and I teeter through some our annual favorites for the transient festival crowd.

Sat., June 18, 2005
Seattle, WA: El Diablo (with Ron Dalton)

Ron Dalton, a skillful songwriter and altogether-pleasant fellow, has asked me to join him this evening at El Diablo, a funky little coffeehouse on Queen Anne Hill with great coffee, victuals, and décor: a low-maintenance evening swapping songs to the comings and goings of an awfully light Saturday crowd that chosen to step indoors on this near-longest day of the year.

Sun., May 15, 2005
Everett, WA: Flying Pig (with Joe Jencks)

Puget’s Sound and KSER recently completed a nice first-season run at the Flying Pig in Everett, a great all-ages brew-pub (though, I learn, it’s starting to outsource its beers...and has sold it brewery equipment to a joint in Israel called the Dancing Camel...) with music-supportive ownership and a loyal clientele, and I’m excited to play one more ‘non-sanctioned’ show (neither organization is officially involved, just owner Joel Starr’s benevolence) with Joe. Joe scored a nice write-up in the Everett Herald, and, through Chris Glanister’s infamously-crippling stagelights, I can sense a reasonable Sunday crowd enjoying the collaborations, which continue to evolve: a nice, pleasantly comfortable way to close the run—looking forward to the future possibility of more!

Sun., May 8, 2005
Spokane, WA: Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane (with Joe Jencks)

Joe has had striking successes lately sharing his music in spiritual communities, and I’ve lined up this morning’s guest-spot with the Spokane Unitarian-Universalists’ Mother’s Day service. Our first impression of The Rev. Dr. Richard Erhardt is that he’s not from Spokane...and we’re dead-on right (never lived a day outside New York-metro area prior to his move to the Inland Empire). And neither of us’d ever heard the word “Hussy” delivered in a sermon before, either...! But the morning proves to be really special—a gathering where people and energies and spirit all line up in a wonderfully human celebration of the moment (Boise was this as well). Of Joe’s songs we offer “For the Singing” (a nice way to start with folk singing together) and “Fox River Song” (written for his mother), and I’m excited to sing “Lakeside Summer Home”—a song based on maternal jounal-keeping—in its ‘home’ environment. Special thanks to Music Director Deborah Jacquemin for beyond-the-call support and kindness!

And thus end 1,500 quick miles of mayhem...

Sat., May 7, 2005
Spokane, WA: The Shop (with Joe Jencks)

After yesterday’s run, Pullman-to-Spokane is nothing, so it’s fun to linger around bed and then with the folks—Joe finds it particularly relaxing to have two sit-down meals in succession at the same table. I’m also looking forward to revisiting tonight’s venue (The Shop), which I last played during the Project Tour of 2001. A groovy little converted auto-body shop that’s coffeehouse by day, slick Pro-Tools-equipped concert hall by night, The Shop has run into trouble of late from predatory city officials demanding back taxes on tickets from five years of by-donation events, so the details of tonight’s show took some time to throw together. But, with that long squared-away, it’s time to enjoy the setting and the last evening-gig of our manic week of shows. I’m blown away by the attendance-response from the Camp Sweyolakan network, a former summer haunt of mine (as camper and, later, staff), and we play to a nice-sized (though oddly docile) crowd. And always nice to visit, however briefly, with good friends Phill and Amanda Kopczynski (and 4½-month-old Cole!), our hosts tonight in newly-liberated Spokane Valley.

Fri., May 6, 2005
Moscow, ID: Palouse Folklore Society (with Joe Jencks)

Conscientious singer/citizen-types like Joe and myself should know better than to stay up as late as we did last night, and, to complicate our still-hazy lives, Joe’s State of Ohio Driver’s License has vanished. A morning on the phone with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles yields a faxed copy of Mr. Jencks’ ‘Abstract of Driving Record’ from the previous three years (squeaky clean!), which, the state assures us, will keep us legal for the time being. So instead of taking the endless meanderwindings of ID-55 and US-95 at the suggested leisurely pace, we’ve got eyes on the clock (we get that hour back!) in our deteriorated state. And the green is still rather alarming!

Moscow is a hometown show for me (back at the familiar Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse!), and it’s always neat to see who turns out; in addition to the Palouse-area Wes-Faithful (thanks for the phone-banking, Mom & Dad...!), the crowd features many won-over from Joe’s previous visits and the cohorts of a young man who’ll receive a surprise birthday serenade prior to intermission (Joe is his favorite singer, his mother tells me, as if I don’t have feelings of my own...). It’s nice to build on the energy from last night (though we ourselves have decidedly less), and to show the two former music instructors of mine in the crowd that I’ve stuck with it!

Thurs., May 5, 2005 (05/05/05!!)
Boise, ID: House Concert (with Joe Jencks)

¡Cinco de Mayo!—and not only that, but today’s date is 05/05/05 as well...!! Before bouncing out of town we’re thankfully able to visit briefly with one of our hosts to apologize for our post-concert ruckus and fill our heads with train fantasy: David is a model railroad enthusiast (as is Joe...on the ~3 days a year he allows himself the opportunity) with a heckuva spread downstairs (where we slept), and he also, we learn, serves on the board for the new Eagle Cap Excursion Train, a startup tourist rail line through the gorgeous Wallowa Mountains that’ll also haul freight! We lose an hour on today’s show time, so we’re nonetheless out quickly and pushing further down I-84, whose hillsides continue to shine greener than we’ve ever seen.

Tonight’s venue is the stately house of Marvelous Mike Reuling (Jessica’s father; Jess has been traveling with us thus far) and his fiancée, Marianne McIntosh. Mike has been a great sport in slinging this together, willing to take my word that house concerts are in fact a common, accepted practice: I located a helpful New York Times article on the phenomenon, aimed at a readership like Mike’s, to build my case, and ended up including it in my Boise press releases (the Boise Weekly, incidentally, has starred this evening’s listing (great!)...but also listed it as a “House Party,” which, on Cinco de Mayo, may prove interesting...). The nice-sized audience isn’t yet sure what to make of the setting (I expected some of this): is this a party?; a concert?; are these real musicians...? But as folk’re warming up to the idea (and the vino), Joe begins with a superb rendering of “Red River Valley,” and I’m elated to see everyone jump right in!—with this gesture, Mr. Jencks has won over the masses and paved easy rest-of-the-way. And Joe and I are starting to really click playing together, too!

A particular highlight for us is an exchange that transpires following Joe’s performance of “Men Are Good,” his charmingly- and constructively-assertive response to 30+ years of Women’s Music...which, we discover, assumes one has said frame of reference! “Now you need to write ‘Women Are Best!’ ” a woman in front demands good-naturedly; not realizing the fire we’ve faced from the Holly Near-, Tret Fure-, and Cris Williamson-types (all wonderful songwriters and people!) in the folk music community, some in the room may have thought we were beginning negotiations with the independent contention that, Y’know, men are pretty fantastic...! What a great night!!

Wed., May 4, 2005
La Grande, OR: Northeast Oregon Folklore Society (with Joe Jencks)

After a pleasantly slow morning, we’re off to La Grande, OR, for a date with Northeast Oregon Folklore Society. Rolling into town (and navigating streets that, we agree, should be through in places they’re not) we find our venue at The Olde Meeting House, an Evangelical Quaker haunt (who knew?!) that proves wonderfully warm and welcoming in its role as a concert hall (I especially dig the eight-inch white picket fence at the foot of the stage, protecting us, I assume, from unruly La Groupies). As showtime nears and a modest crowd trickles forth, however, Joe and I elect to forgo the staging and invite all to circle chairs to share music—we’ve nothing really to prove (and mid-week in La Grande has its challenges). The gathering grows (touching to have folk go home and bring others back with a “You gotta hear these guys!” appeal) and the end result, despite an awkward admission-charge miscommunication (resolved with moving generosity), is a neat musical experience.

Tues., May 3, 2005
Hood River, OR: Mid-Columbia Folklore Society (with Joe Jencks)

“Let’s take my car,” Joe Jencks had asserted as we planned the transportation details for our week’s-worth of shows together; “I really trust it.” I’ve really been looking forward to this string of shows, a chance to share the road with a good friend and spend evenings singing with such a tremendous voice as Joe’s, and the first 90 miles are cake. After filling the gas tank in Centralia, WA, however, the car (“Bertie, ” a 2000 Saturn wagon with the same name as my mother...) offers nothing. No dash lights, engine turning...nothing; new battery, just drove ’er 90 miles... An hour-and-a-half of head-scratching and two agreeable and openhanded Good-Samaritan helpers help us determine that Bertie’s battery terminals have become so corroded as to prevent any current whatsoever from passing through, and another ten minutes of scrubbing have us back on I-5 headed south, rattled but moving.

The gig in Hood River, OR, is one I’ve played before (December, 2002): a pleasant house-concert setting at the home of Paul Blackburn, Kristen Dillon, and their two daughters Althea and Rosalie, hosted by the Mid-Columbia Folklore Society. On my previous visit Paul had taken me out to a sauna post-show where I met Don Shawe, whose chilling and touching World War II stories inspired the song “Carry On, ” which I’m thrilled to return to its home community. Joe and I trade songs through the evening, backing each other on many and making note of what’s working (and, of course, what isn’t...). No sauna this time, but Paul and Kristen have added a hot tub to the grounds...

Fri., April 29, 2005
Seattle, WA: Seattle Poetry Festival at Richard Hugo House

While thumbing through a recent issue of Poets & Writers magazine, I stumbled upon an ad calling for, literally, cheesy poetry: “Did you know that April is National Poetry Month AND National Grilled Cheese Month?” it inquired with visible enthusiasm (I didn’t...but Google tells me that plenty did/do!); “Celebrate by sending your best couplet using ‘cheese,’ ” it continued, “...[to] be featured at the National Grilled Cheese Poetry Booth during the upcoming 2005 Seattle Poetry Festival...” I wondered whether my recent musical ode to the infamous Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich (hear it *HERE*)—written on a challenge from good friend and quirky-music aficionado Carlos Alden—would qualify, so I sent the lyrics along. One week later I received a request to perform.

I arrive at the cozy Richard Hugo House not at all sure of what to expect—I know that I’ll perform “Happiness Fulfilled” (the cheese song) and perhaps a few others from the Northwest Home collection for a group of schoolkids from Lowell Elementary School, who have themselves constructed cheese-sonnets, but beyond that I have no idea what the organizers have in store for the remainder of the three-hour ‘shift’ to which I’ve agreed...though I have a sneaking suspicion (my favorite kind of suspicion) that they plan to put me to work. And I’m right. Before I can even uncase the guitar I’m hanging banners and moving chairs, and after my little presentation—much fun and nicely interactive (I debate playing “Ballad of the Whitman Greeks,” a song that I know will hold attention and inspire, but which also has overt ‘brothel’ references; as it turns out, the fifth-graders have recently completed a unit on old Seattle history and, the teachers tell me later, should be well aware of the phenomenon of brothels!...I play the song...)—my job for the next two hours is to hunch over the George Foreman Grill and act as grilled cheese line-cook for the lunch rush that never quite happens. (Note the lesson in real-life economics, I encourage the teachers to tell the kids: the professional musician is now making lunch for everyone, gone from taking #2 pencil autograph requests on notebook paper to placing toothpicks affixed with a G.K. Chesterton quote—“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese”—into sandwiches.) How the mighty have fallen...

Sun., April 10, 2005
Moscow, ID: Palouse Folklore Society (with Reilly & Maloney)

The weekend concludes with a visit home and a show with the good folk of Palouse Folklore Society in the majestic Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse, which my father attends. Taking most of the day easy (except for a chance brunch encounter with the entire spirit/cheer squad from Washington State University’s Mom’s Weekend festivities) after the scramble of yesterday and David’s rough night at the Spokane Valley Super 8, low-key is just what we need and the comfortable setting, responsive crowd, and great PFS volunteers make everything easier. I open again (“My name’s Wes Weddell, and I’m from here,” I drawl stupidly, preparing to follow with something clever but overtaken by boisterous applause) and add mando later, realizing that I’ll be back on this stage in less than a month (Friday, May 6, with Joe Jencks).

Sat., April 9, 2005
Spokane, WA: The Met (with Reilly & Maloney)

First trip east of the mountains for Reilly & Maloney in nearly twenty years, and I’m delighted to act as chauffer and ambassador to the home-country. Spokane has had more big-ish events than usual of late (Elvis Costello tonight...), and The Met has suffered some, I think, as a result. Elvis is, it turns out, playing next door (I thought he’d be in the Arena across the river), and I pull right behind his bus into the parking spots clearly reserved for us (“Reserved - Met - Reilly & Maloney” & “Reserved - Met - Wes”), noticing my name on the marquee (I wasn’t supposed to be on the bill-proper). Elvis’ posse, it seems, didn’t think it’d have to share the block, and several goateed fellows with sport jackets and ear-pieces hustle over to sort me out (“I’m ‘WES,’ ” I respond, gesturing to my sign). The bulk of the seats in the gorgeous Metropolitan Performing Arts Center lie in balcony, so the modest crowd isn’t too lost in the orchestra level (save the three folk who choose said balcony)—nice for the collective pride. I play a three-song opener, a late (and generous) decision encouraged by the glowing marquee outside, and join in for my planned mandolin accompaniment in the second set. Fun to see all the posters in the dressing rooms of acts who’ve passed through, and to work with the great staff.

Fri., April 8, 2005
Kirkland, WA: Kirkland Congregational Church, UCC (with Reilly & Maloney)

As my busi-musical relationship with the beloved folksinging duo Reilly & Maloney continues to grow, I find myself with increasing chances to put on shows under creative circumstances. Tonight is one such opportunity: though we’ve done a Puget’s Sound-sponsored night at Kirkland Congregational before (and had a very nice experience; great folk here!), we haven’t while the church has been hosting Tent City IV homeless encampment! As a former volunteer with Real Change Newspaper (& Homeless Empowerment Project), I’m especially excited to see how my scheme will materialize—I’ve arranged with Brown Paper Tickets (another neat organization that’s treated me well) for community members to sponsor Tent City IV residents to attend the evening (a rare non-‘benefit’ opportunity to reach out and raise awareness while doing okay for ourselves). The idea never reached front-page status, but it’s been neat to see a handful of sponsorship-sales trickle in and, now, a few residents enjoying the show (which has become an enthusiastically-cozy happening!). At some point, however, I have to yield enough organizational verve to try to be a musician and sit in with R&M, and as the manic pounding of kid-feet increases upstairs (what’s going on up there?!) I add some mandolinnings to tunes in the second set. Wonder what we’ll do here next...

Sun., April 3, 2005
Coeur d’Alene, ID: North Idaho Unitarian Universalists

My father, the sometimes-Right Reverend Jim-Bob (Unitarian Gospel Crusader—see 8/1/04 Notes), has invited me to join in his second visit to the North Idaho Unitarian Universalists in Coeur d’Alene, ID—a town that holds many fond memories for me (piqued by the presence of a Camp Fire USA branch office in the NIUU’s multi-use schoolhouse-ish home, a former employer of mine in these parts...). Dad has put together a truly great service featuring traditional songs that all have three versions from particular contexts: a gospel/spiritual version (usually the ‘original’); a Labor version; and a civil rights/social justice version. I (introduced twice as Jim Weddell’s brother, not son) am here to lead the singing. It’s wonderful to hear the evolution of a gospel song like “I Will Overcome” as it becomes “I’ll Be All Right” (from a 1945 Negro Food and Tobacco Union worker’s strike in Charleston, SC) and then the better-known “We Shall Overcome.” Other highlights include “You’ve Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley”/“You’ve Got to Go Down and Join the Union”/“Ballad for Bill Moore,” “Revive Us Again”/“Hallelujah I’m a Bum” (Love that one!)/“Hallelujah I’m a-Traveling Down Freedom’s Main Line,” and “Sweet Bye ’n’ Bye”/“Preacher and the Slave” (Joe Hill’s brilliant satire)/“Elected Officials All Say” (another clever parody). Great to hear folk singing and renewing commitments to social justice and community well-being! And a Paul Bunyan milkshake for the road never hurt, either...

Thurs., March 10, 2005
Bellevue, WA: Crossroads Bellevue

Puget’s Sound has agreed to co-sponsor the new alternating-Thursday Singer/Songwriter Showcase at Crossroads Bellevue, one of the last strong local-music stages in the area, and I’m excited to be kicking the venture off this evening...well, I had been even more excited before that bug I began to feel Monday at the Hop Vine turned into a full-fledged-flu... I’ve had little voice—or energy—all day, but I find that, with help and hot monitor levels from Bob Conger (Crossroads’ wonderful house sound-tech), I’ve got enough to make do. The lights, however, are toying with my body temperature something fierce, but the evening ends with another surprising number of attentive souls expressing satisfaction, so no harm done. Excited as I remain for the future of this series and the collaboration between Puget’s Sound and Crossroads, it’s time to head home and crawl into bed!

Mon., March 7, 2005
Seattle, WA: Hop Vine Pub

Barbara Buckland, an active and spirited promoter of local music, has commandeered hosting duties at the Hop Vine’s Monday Singer/Songwriter Showcases, and I have accepted her invitation to appear this evening along with Michael Fleckenstein and Heidi Newman. More than customary for the busy-pub environs heed my hour-long set to open the night, and it feels good to get back up in front of folk after a few months’-time off from performing—despite the bug I feel coming on...

2004 Gig Archive

2004: Mostly close to home...

Date	City	Venue

11/19/04	Seattle, WA	Best of the Northwest Holiday Craft Fair
10/24/04	Seattle, WA	Bethany Presbyterian Church
10/21/04	Lacey, WA	Panorama City
9/18/04	Seattle, WA	Olympic Hills Elementary School
9/4-5/04	Richland, WA	Tumbleweed Music Festival
8/20/04	Seattle, WA	Puget’s Sound Meadowbrook Series
8/1/04	Moscow, ID	Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse
7/22/04	Seattle, WA	Conor Byrne’s Pub
5/29/04	Seattle, WA	Northwest Folklife Festival
5/3/04	Seattle, WA	Hop Vine Pub
4/30/04	Seattle, WA	Best of the Northwest Spring Craft Fair
4/23/04	Seattle, WA	Richard Hugo House
4/18/04	Spokane, WA	Nacho Celtic Hour
4/13/04	Vancouver, WA	Washington State University- Vancouver
3/28/04	West Seattle, WA	West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
2/26-8/04	San Diego, CA	Folk Alliance Seattle Sounds Showcase
2/6/04	Leavenworth, WA	Leavenworth Community Coffeehouse
1/23/04	Seattle, WA	USA Songwriting Competition Showcase

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Performance Notes

November 19, 2004
Seattle, WA: Best of the Northwest Holiday Craft Fair

After what must have been a flourishing set at the spring event in April, Adam Carlson has brought me back for the Best of the Northwest Holiday Craft Fair at the old Naval Station by Sand Point Magnuson Park (in the cavernous airplane hanger again!). Pleasant place to spend an hour on a brisk November Friday, playing a sort of ‘paid practice’ gig for luncheaters doing their respective parts to keep that economy humming this holiday season.

October 24, 2004
Seattle, WA: Bethany Presbyterian Church: Sunday Nights in the Parlor (SNiP)

Chris Glanister does a tremendous amount of sound/technical work to maintain both Puget’s Sound concert series, and tonight I’m excited to play for the series he co-produces, Sunday Nights in the Parlor (SNiP) at historic Bethany Presbyterian Church on Queen Anne Hill. The fourth-Sunday series features a musician and an artist each month, and tonight I share the room with the appealing, local-color photography of Eric Stern, an accomplished Seattle doctor and professor. The room is cozy, the cookies and coffee ample, and crowd favorable—and willing to sing!—as I strum along, enjoying the sight of Chris relaxing somewhere other than behind the mixing console. Chris adds pre-planned vocals and whistles to several tunes, and his wife, Jan, joins for the final two participatory numbers: “How Can I Keep From Singing?” and “Name of the Lord is Music.” Fun to find yet more instances of comfortable community music!

October 21, 2004
Lacey, WA: Panorama City Retirement Community

Panorama City Retirement Community is a spacious estate in Lacey with a tremendous amount of on-site resources for its residents—travel, financial, recreation, etc. The story, as I understand it, is that a resident caught the Seattle Post-Intelligencer story that ran this summer and walked into the office, paper-in-hand, to request that Panorama City hire me. &nbspSo here I am, the entertainment for the monthly birthday celebration!

Everyone’s good to me as I quickly set up and accept an invitation to join a table (near the back by the bar and TV so I can keep an eye on NLCS Game 7!) for the dinner. True to senior from, the meal—which’d begun at 5pm—winds down shortly past six and, just as I’m starting to set up a CD/info display, the emcee announces me! Guess I’m on... It’s fun to play some of my songs for this attentive and appreciative crowd and its generational perspective (ages range from late-50s to 103!), and I’m touched by many of the friendly and thorough responses afterward (we end early, too...in time for me to catch the last three outs). Many suggest I come back, and It’d be my pleasure!

September 18, 2004
Seattle, WA: Olympic Hills Elementary School

A li’l appearance at Visions Toward Tomorrow, a community event sponsored by the City of Seattle’s North District Council, North District Stewardship, & Department of Neighborhoods—a bunch o’ committed and well-meaning folk.

September 4-5, 2004
Richland, WA: Tumbleweed Music Festival

Richland’s Tumbleweed Music Festival, organized by the Tri-Cities’ Three Rivers Folklife Society (three cheers for John and Micki Perry!!), is one of my favorite annual folk-rituals. Whether relaxing in the generous performers’ hospitality area (which, as usual, includes free massages in the instrument-check room!) or scurrying to one’s next engagement, Tumbleweed maintains a feeling of openhanded comfort—a true performer’s festival (though audiences enjoying a sunny holiday weekend in a lovely riverfront park surrounded by good music and community seem content, too)!

Saturday begins (‘performance’-wise) with John Nelson and me helping Nancy K. Dillon with her harmony workshop. I take a considerable amount of grief throughout the day for being the “First Alternate” in the songwriting contest—a title the festival has published! (‘Eleventh-best song out of ten,’ I tell many...) Though Nancy, whose taken-squarely-from-behind picture will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper (we chide her about the photos the paper wouldn’t touch that you can find at Folkbutts.com), had sliced her finger earlier in the week, no one bails from the contest and I keep my ‘Alternate’ status. (I was unsuccessful in my attempt to hire someone to hide behind a dumpster with a tire iron and strike another contestant in the knee; and the intense psychological warfare that I employ during the contest—“You feeling okay?! You suuure?? ’Cause if you’re not, you know, I can step in...you should rest, it’s a long festival... ”—fails me as well.) Joe Jencks secures his Tumbleweed dynasty with a second consecutive win, barring him from future contests and promoting him to ‘Judge’ status.

I’m on as ‘Wes’ shortly after the famous Performer-Brunch on Sunday, and I’m pleased to see a nice noon-time crowd gather, many of them discovering Wes for the first time (and liking it!—as several share with me after the set). Joe joins me for the first three songs, before shuffling off (in true Tumbleweed spirit) to join another act for the last few songs of her concurrent set. A later workshop on “Inland Northwest Historical Songs” produces a wonderful in-the-round that could have lasted another hour-plus, and I’m glad to be a part of the regional celebration. My on-stage duties conclude with a guest-mandolin spot during John’s set, and another Tumbleweed Festival winds itself down in another tornado of contentedness.

August 20, 2004
Seattle, WA: Puget’s Sound: Meadowbrook Series

I’ve really enjoyed putting this show together with Joe Jencks, a Seattle expatriate now living in Cleveland (not to mention a tremendous singer and gifted songwriter); as much work as it’s been coordinating all of the various particulars, it’s been fun watching this come together. I’ve also really enjoyed the chance to learn some of Joe’s songs, teach him some of mine, and play together, and (as I told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) I can’t think of a better person to help me celebrate the start of the second Puget’s Sound season than Joe, who shares my vision of community through music in a comfortable, compatible way. In fact, we spend a considerable portion of time discussing this in a live, on-air interview with Puget’s Sound partner KSER-Everett in the morning—bless the heart and soul of community radio!! (KBCS also had us on yesterday.) [Note to those keeping score: Though Joe is not technically a ‘local act’ anymore, he qualifies for this appearance in a Puget’s Sound series because we had not originally planned for an August show and he is thus not taking another truly-local act’s slot...much as I would not have allowed myself this appearance under different circumstances.]

The show itself draws a nice-sized, animated crowd that enjoys Joe’s and my efforts to make the evening more than merely two white-guys-with-guitars separately playing their own music. The highlight for me comes in the middle of “Ballad of the Whitman Greeks” as a siren screams by outside just after I’ve delivered the line: “None of his laws would land coeds in jail.” Serendipity... Joe is truly a remarkable performer, and I’m pleased to have been part of such a pleasant evening...and one that will likely yield future co-performances. Stay tuned!

August 1, 2004
Moscow, ID: Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse (Gospel Sunday!!)

Now in its sixth year, Gospel Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse in Moscow, ID, and its prodigious hosts—‘Reverend’ Jim-Bob (my father, Jim Weddell) and his faithful sidekick Tami ‘Faye’ Moore—have become quite the annual spectacle one choice summer Sunday a year in my hometown Palouse hills. (They’re even playing out some!—the UU church in Coeur d’Alene, ID, had ’em up earlier this year...) The Gospel-uninitiated feel more comfortable each time (the first time Dad, a failed Southern Methodist, called for a spirited “Amen!” in this setting many years ago you could hear crickets...), everyone sings along, and more often than not the clapping falls on the two-and-four beats! I’ll lend my musical facilities to this wonderful, feel-good event any time!

July 22, 2004
Seattle, WA: Conor Byrne’s Pub

I’m delighted to see more folk pushing the cause of the local musician—as Eva Tree and Anna Coogan have begun by offering these monthly local-songwriter in-the-rounds at Conor Byrne’s Pub in mighty Ballard—and just as thrilled to accept an invitation to perform for such an event. With me this evening are Puget’s Sound veterans Eva and the peerlessly-passionate Bob Antone, along with Bill Lavoie and Val (why don’t she and her powerful voice ’n’ guitar play out more, darnit!) D’Alessio. We’re good for five times ’round the horseshoe, and the impromptu accompaniments begin almost immediately: Bob adds some of his spirited fiddle to my songs “Every Now and Then a Sunset,” “Left Me With No Choice,” and my new, Washington-focused re-write of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” which continually proves a nice addition as we work out in the sweltering July heat. (There’s a convenient fan right at the foot of the stage, which makes things bearable—but, unlike Eva, I don’t have hair enough to take advantage of its potential ‘singin’-in-the-wind’ visual effect...) Fun times chasing each others’ songs, jumping in, and kicking back with a nicely appreciative (and sweaty) house. Hope Eva and Anna keep these up!

May 29, 2004
Seattle, WA: Northwest Folklife Festival

Memorial Day means camping to some, barbeques to others, boating, sleeping in, working in the yard... In my circles, however, Memorial Day weekend brings the all-consuming, over-stimulating fracas that is the Northwest Folklife Festival. My main set comes on Saturday this year, kicking off the “Life Beyond the Cascades” stage...at 11:00 AM. Hosts Carlos Alden and Dan Maher—both playful musical nemeses from my eastern-Washington past—do their expected and collective worst to incite the emergent, not-yet-drizzled-upon crowd. All in all, this proves a very comfortable way to play Folklife, and I feel good enough to debut my new re-write of Geoff Mack’s great trucking song, “I’ve Been Everywhere,” which exclusively features Washington State place names: I’ve been to Pasco, Tenino, Potholes, Indianola.... It goes over very well, and I wonder if my half-hour on the Fisher Green stage might emerge as one of the more relaxed moments of the weekend...

May 3, 2004
Seattle, WA: Hop Vine Pub

For six years the convivial, kind, and eminently approachable Kurt Myhaver has run the Monday singer/songwriter showcases at the Hop Vine Pub; and now, with a move to Maine imminent, I’m honored that he’s asked me to play the penultimate show (with Steve Key—seen a lot of him lately...though he, too, will be skipping town in a week’s time—and Amy Roberts). Amy opens the show with a nice set of tunes, eventually yielding to Steve, who, as he’s done once before, has asked me to join him on mandolin (we’ve never sat down and really worked through any songs...). His set also finds a nice rhythm and all (including Steve—which is important!) seem to enjoy my on-the-fly accompaniment. My set’s last, and I break out a few that I haven’t tried in a while to close the nice evening of Monday music. Best to you, Kurt!

April 30, 2004
Seattle, WA: Best of the Northwest Spring Craft Fair

While the airplane-hanger site of the 2004 Best of the Northwest Spring Craft Fair at Seattle’s old Sand Point Naval Station is, one must admit, pretty cool, the air inside on this gorgeously hot-’n’-hazy Friday afternoon is not. I had accepted the two-hour slot (from my friend and former UW T.A. turned Contra-danceband-booking-magnate Adam Carlson) thinking that the second hour would be a great chance for my accustomed Friday-afternoon hobbyband (never named, though we briefly toyed with the idea of Hasselbeck) to make its public debut. (The now mostly-defunct ensemble included fellow Pullman-bred Travis Luther, lately of Ultra Find and other projects, and David Bush, another good friend and intermittent collaborator with his hand in at least a half-dozen other musical adventures around town.) With Travis off to Colorado, however, the two hours were mine alone (though the posted schedule wistfully announced the presence of “Wes Weddell & friends”—perhaps the transitory audience took ‘friends’ to mean ‘harmonicas’...).

The set sounds and feels good, many in the non-committal audience respond positively, and the ensuing ice cream bar from Scotty’s Northwest Cuisine is one of the best I’ve ever had. Just another grand spring day in the neighborhood...

April 23, 2004
Seattle, WA: Richard Hugo House (S5)

Having spent so much time of late pushing the cause of the local musician with the Puget’s Sound series and related endeavors, I’m excited to remember the performer and songwriter in me (my real calling, darnit!) with an appearance in mover-and-shaker Steve Key’s S5 series: the Secret Society of Seattle Singer/Songwriters (don’t tell). Steve has done a nice job pairing able local acts with traveling singer/songwriters, and I’m honored to split tonight’s bill with an award-winning Bay-Area gentleman named Christopher Smith.

Steve opens the show with his trademark affability and a few great tunes, soon handing the stage to Christopher for a set of well-crafted songs. I begin to see some why Steve might’ve billed us together—Christopher’s clever wordplay and clear, versatile expressiveness remind me of many of my aspirations when writing. The cafe/bar finally opens, and I go on after a short intermission, playing to a nice, familiar crowd of appreciative listeners and enthusiastic clappers. An emotional and fragile as-yet-untitled song (someone else’s personal story) that’s been over a year in the making makes its debut, allowing me to meet a goal I’d set of having this one done by this evening...which feels pretty good! In fact, the whole durn evening feels pretty good!!

April 18, 2004
Spokane, WA: Nacho Celtic Hour

Three years ago, while deeply immersed in The Project, I appeared on Carlos Alden’s Nacho Celtic Hour, a great weekly radio program on Spokane’s NPR affiliate, KPBX. Carlos interviewed me some, I played a couple of tunes, and then we opened the phones to listeners who might have ideas about local songwriting topics as I used their ideas to write on the fly—‘Folk Radio on the Edge,’ we called it. Knowing I would be in the area over the weekend, Carlos, himself a fine Celtic player (with the Celtic Nots) and songwriter, has invited me back and, after a brunchtime taste of Spokane’s inaugural Dim-Sum enterprise, we again challenge listeners to do their worst/best. The ensuing medley this time includes a probing, Western-identity-soul-searching treatise on folk who move to the Methow Valley (or like areas) looking for that elusive ‘something’ and a showtuney coda remembering grand Lake Missoula and her impact on our landscapes and lives today. Maybe you’ll see part of this again...

April 13, 2004
Vancouver, WA: Washington State University-Vancouver

WSU-Vancouver twice had me down last year—both great visits—to present songs and materials from The Project, and I’m happy to find myself guesting for Susan Tissot’s Senior Public History class once again. This time, however, I’m not battling food poisoning (as I was when I appeared before this class last April!), and the results with regard to my disposition are manifest. It’s rare anymore that I play the entire Northwest Home set, and I enjoy digging out some of the songs I don’t play very frequently (“Row, Row Your Boat, ” “We’ve Got Stories”...), but some of my rhetorical gimmicks suffer from having the lyrics simultaneously on display (like watching a sitcom in closed-captioning—the timing’s lost). I also salt the playlist with some relevant Woody Guthrie (who, Susan tells me, is largely an unknown among her current students; bummer...), James Stevens, etc.

The first musical voyage in the new-used car goes quite smoothly (though I should do something about the carnivorous tape deck; I did a lot of yodeling on the way down...); farewell Blue-Beauty-cum-Dented-Dinghy: you served me well! Also great to see good, old friends and catch up.

March 28, 2004
West Seattle, WA: West Seattle Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

This was supposed to be Steve Key’s gig, but he had to run to Portland on short notice and graciously referred me. After years of experiencing the (Right) Reverend Jim-Bob’s grand UU revivals—my father’s triumphant Unitarian guest-appearances across the Northwest, to the uninitiated—I’m well prepared to address this gathering of delightful, community-minded West Seattleites, and they seemed equally predisposed to welcome me and my two tunes: David Mallett’s masterful “Garden Song” (for the kids); and Josh Ritter’s “Snow is Gone”, a fitting and uplifting spring melody to preface Rev. Peg Boyle Morgan’s service entitled “The Abundance of Invitations.” Many smiling, enthusiastic faces, and a pleasant social hour afterward!

February 26-8, 2004
San Diego, CA: International Folk Alliance Conference - Seattle Sounds Showcase

How does one begin to describe to the uninitiated the over-stimulating fracas that is the annual International Folk Alliance Conference? Or, perhaps more challenging, driving rain in San Diego?? I pause during a quiet Wednesday dinner in San Diego’s Old Town with co-Seattle Sounds-mates John Nelson and Nancy K. Dillon to breathe the fragrant, floral air and enjoy the peace while I have it. By the time I’ve begun putting up posters the next morning, it’s gone and, as I write this, I’m still searching for some of it!

Jenn Adams remarks that the conference is like “kid-in-a-candy-store” time for her, and I wish that my deeply-committed organizing drive allowed for more of that feeling in myself. I come close sharing bawdy jokes (when I ought to be networking with folk-radio DJs!) with Tom Paxton, Steve Seskin, and dear friend David Maloney, but too soon I’m back to fretting over the upcoming Seattle Sounds showcase, which’ll feature thirty individual performance slots and four in-the-round sessions over the course of two late evenings; further, I board a plane for Portland at 6:45 Saturday morning—merely five hours after my last performance!—to drive out to Astoria and attend a relative’s wedding...and I’ll end up wasting my first-ever first-class upgrade (for weight-and-balance purposes, they tell me, though I’m not sure that I’m the best choice given my wiry body-type) fast asleep over the slowly waking western coast.

Despite a pretty major hotel screw-up (not the only one, I hear...and that’s not even counting the serious fire in one of the showcase rooms!) that booted us from our original, advertised room (sigh), the showcasing plods along at its spontaneous and serendipitous best, complete with requite drop-ins, drama, jams, stress, and occasional smiles all around. And good coffee—we take representing Seattle very seriously! More physically and emotionally taxing than last year for a variety of reasons, but I’ll catch back up. And, sometime MUCH later, I’ll also think about whether I want to take this damned thing to Montreal next year...!!

Fri., February 6, 2004
Leavenworth, WA: Leavenworth Community Coffeehouse

I’m starting to think that I could settle in Leavenworth, the little Bavarian hamlet in the Cascade foothills. Behind the faux-Alpine Dairy Queen and Rodeway Inn lies a wonderful, vibrant community of good folk surrounded by stunning mountain and river-valley vistas that are as awesome in today’s heavy snowfall as they are on a clear summer day. Jessica and I have come over the pass the previous night in order to make my early-morning radio spot more doable, and I’m out the door of our delightfully-energetic hosts’ house as the snow’s just starting to pick up. The KOHO studio is always cozy and welcoming (donuts!), and I’m happy to swing by even for the smallest of radio spots, which this morning yields.

With a full, free day looming before the gig, Jess and I set about snow-romping and visiting the wonderful little shops that dot downtown and beyond (the new guitar store, Hi Strung Music, proves to be a real treat!!). After a great home-cooked dinner back at Alex’ and Amanda’s (I love homestays!) I’m off to the Grange Hall for the gig, long a coveted performance by Northwest artists given the Coffeehouse’s loyal following and spirit (one of my inspirational templates for the Puget’s Sound series). Though I hear that audiences have been slower of late, I’m still happy to play to a modest gathering of enthusiastic concertgoers (next time, I’ll have to make sure not to schedule myself opposite a home basketball game at the high school—you’d think I’d’ve figured that out by now given the number of small towns I play... Pleasant weekend, as expected; gonna have to make it back.

Fri., January 23, 2004
Seattle, WA: USA Songwriting Competition Showcase

The true ‘thrust’ of this gig—booked/coordinated entirely via e-mail (not unusual)—has remained somewhat murky in the weeks leading up to it (I’m ‘required’ to provide a certain number of audience members at a showcase for a contest I never entered...), and things don’t exactly come right together as I enter the downtown Borders on this drizzly, traffic-heavy evening. Shea, a personable Borders employee, explains to me that the host for these monthly showcases never comes (?!), but that folk usually pay mild attention. As I begin to fill in the (considerable) blanks in the sound system with pieces I have brought, it appears that neither of the other two musicians scheduled—fellow Seattle Sounds showcaser Kathryn Mostow and Texas refugee Michael Hill—are coming in addition! (Maybe they know something I don’t...or at least learned first!) I really didn’t sign up to play two hours to apathetic book/record-browsers, and I’m ready to burrow full-bore into my grumpy-pants when Kathryn and Michael arrive five minutes past scheduled start time. Friends arrive, too, and we make a perfectly pleasant evening of sharing tunes—proof what groups of good folk can do with a little time, space, and good-will! Coulda been a whole lot worse, but not how I’d hope to kick-off the new performance year... And I don’t imagine I’ll enter the USA Songwriting Competition (a Florida company, I hear...) anytime soon!

2003 Gig Archive

2003: From Nashville to Frisco to Duvall

Date	City	Venue

11/14/03	Seattle, WA	Puget’s Sound
8/30/03	Richland, WA	Tumbleweed Music Festival
8/26/03	Portland, OR	St. Francis Park
7/31/03	Denver, CO	Swallow Hill Cafe
7/25/03	Vancouver, WA	Washington State University- Vancouver
7/18/03	Bellevue, WA	Crossroads
5/30/03	Seattle, WA	Meadowbrook Community Center
5/26/03	Seattle, WA	Northwest Folklife Festival
5/17/03	Mountain View, CA	Red Rock Cafe
5/15/03	San Francisco, CA	Papa Toby’s Revolution Café
4/25/03	Duvall, WA	P & G Speakeasy Cafe
4/22/03	Vancouver, WA	Washington State University- Vancouver
2/13/03	Kirkland, WA	Intermission Pub & Parlour
2/7-8/03	Nashville, TN	Folk Alliance Seattle Sounds Showcase
2/1/03	Bainbridge Island, WA	Pegasus Coffee House

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Performance Notes

I have had several different requests over time to return to posting journal
entries—as I did during the Project in Spring, 2001—so I have
decided to offer ramblings about each performance, starting...now.
                       WW   5/21/03

Fri., November 14, 2003
Seattle, WA: Puget’s Sound

One reason that my performance schedule has relaxed some in the latter half of this year is that I’ve used the time to focus on getting my new concert series off the ground. I’ve always been a big fan of local, community music events/gatherings—concerts where people go because they want to ask the artist a question or hope to run into old friends in addition to just wanting to watch the performance; places where folk can get there, park, bring whomever (kids!), and then afford to continue through the door. This idea that live music need not entail a hundred-plus dollar-investment and an epic drive to the oft-not-local mega-arena, coupled with my desire to see the many talented musicians of the area have a stage where they can share their crafts with folk who want the same, has driven me to organize this Puget’s Sound series...and, now in its third month, I have accepted an invitation from my featured act to share the bill.

In some ways the doubled production and performance duties prove oddly soothing. After the first two Puget’s Sound shows, I have discovered that I have a dreadfully hard time sitting still once the show actually begins: I’m used to ‘my time’ being the performance itself, not the prep! Carol Crowell (who also teaches flute lessons at Meadowbrook, the host community center) opens the evening with a nice selection of Irish, popular, and show-tune music for solo flute, and then I’m on. My parents, sister, and second-cousin-ish once-removed are here, and it’s nice for me (and for them, I think) to see me on a stage I’ve created. My indispensable sound/light man, Chris Glanister, dials in his usual solid sonics, and his brilliant, Ernst plumbing hardware-supported lights keep me from really seeing who’s out there. I play a shorter-than-usual set—helped through by a two-quart pitcher full of water (there’re really no decent-sized drinking glasses at Meadowbrook!)—deciding to leave more time for MJ Bishop and her great band (whom I join for four songs on mandolin). Nice crowd, nice night, nice progress for what I hope will become a solid and accessible series for performers and audience alike!

Sat., August 30, 2003
Richland, WA: Tumbleweed Music Festival

There’s a core-group of folk who tend to do all the local festivals, and for a few months we reconvene periodically in places like Yakima and the Tri-Cities to catch up. Tumbleweed is sort of the end-of-season blowout, the last great local-focused festival of the summer, and the folk who put this thing on do fantastic work: feeding us; keeping us cool; and giving us great audiences. I do love this festival!

My set is a short one on the River Stage, and I always enjoy playing to the Columbia in addition to the beaming faces in front of me (I also sit-in with Jon Pfaff and serve on a Northwest Historical panel workshop that plays futilely to a handful of people during the dinner hour!). Lots of ‘how-ya-beens’ and ‘sometime we oughtas’ throughout the day, with the added (sometimes heckling) bonus of my folks, who’ve made the 2½-hour drive down from Pullman. As always, the first day ends with the evening concert sending pleasant sounds into the cooling air, and the second day offers more of the same great, relaxing event. ¡Adiós al verano!

Tues., August 26, 2003
Portland, OR: Saint Francis Park

I’m splitting tonight’s show with Jon Pfaff (“the notable exception”), a self-proclaimed refugee from Seattle 1960s folk scene and a long-time coffee buddy. We’ve talked for months about playing some together, and tonight we’ll finally get to. Jon is one of those delightful enigmas who I probably would not find so engaging if I knew all of the answers to the various questions that readily raise themselves in his company. Today ought to be a hoot!

We start our trip down circa 7:30 AM: Jon has several errands to run in Portland, and apparently the G.I. Joe’s in Seattle simply won’t suffice. We bounce from CompUSA to Circuit City to Car Toys (we’ve got those up here!—though we do have to pay sales tax...) before really entering Portland proper, where we proceed to price (and sometimes purchase) books, vitamins, wine, microphones, sandwiches, potential performance venues, and more. In the midst of our conspicuous consumption, we meet with the fabulous folk at St. Francis who run a remarkable outreach program, serving daily meals from their facilities—a great, maze-like churchhouse and the adjacent, charming little park in which Jon and I will soon perform.

Goods procured, we find a lawn to put in a quick rehearsal, the Hanes that Jon uses to soften the sound of his little nineteenth-century banjo flapping in the steady breeze (hey, it quit drizzling!). From there it’s back to the park, where the parish sound system sputters and fails, leaving me to piece something together from my good Portland-friend Leb’s borrowed Marshall guitar amplifier (which I had planned to use for monitors..). It works, somehow, and we’re off and running, trading barbs and tunes to a nice-sized and nicely enthusiastic gathering of folk. We close with Mary Garvey’s poignant “Astoria Bar,” basking in the sounds of the crowd singing in the closing darkness. We’re back to Seattle before 1:00 AM...

Thurs., July 31, 2003
Denver, CO: Swallow Hill Cafe

Odd experience it is to have an airport layover in the city I’ll end up in by evening, but my travel plans have my flying to Colorado Springs to drive to Denver. The wait for the rental car is so long that I receive an “upgrade,” so now I’ll use twice as much gas in my mammoth Isuzu XL-7 on the drive up. (The odometer in this car displays “HELLO” when I turn the power on and “SEE YOU” when I turn it off, which creeps me out—I’m terrified that when I really need to get somewhere, like the gig, it’ll merely read “I’M SORRY WES, I CAN’T DO THAT...”) I take only one wrong turn—and I think I was instructed to do so—before finding the Cafe and meeting an old friend for a pre-show drink.

Seattle songwriters meet monthly (or, at least, they used to...) to discuss how the community might develop a venue like the Swallow Hill Cafe: what a treat! (Interestingly, Ed, the pleasant fellow who booked me, tells me that the organization has trouble getting people out to take advantage of the very resource that some of us feel Seattle sorely needs...) Denver’s acoustic music society, the Swallow Hill Music Association, which offers classes in addition to producing a notably-large number of shows, has at its disposal a wonderful, intimate cafe setting to showcase acoustic music nightly in addition to its large concert/class space upstairs, and I’m stoked to share this evening’s bill with the Coal Creek Bluegrass Band. I’m on first, and I quickly learn that even a Denver audience can appreciate a good Walla Walla song. Five tunes in, I realize that I’ve played only songs in the key of E—a serious set-list foul—but I come clean and the crowd seems forgiving. I close with a tune in A and another in B-flat and retreat to the back to enjoy some fine bluegrass picking by three tall gentlemen named Dave, a extraordinary sixteen-year-old fiddler, and bass player who croons randy Appalachian numbers with a hint of British accent. Another very nice evening—I’ll have to make my way back!

Fri., July 25, 2003
Vancouver, WA: Washington State University-Vancouver

Apparently satisfied with my ‘guest-lecture’ performance in April, the delightful folk in WSU-V’s History Department have asked me back, this time as the dinner program for their Engaging the American Past summer institute for secondary-level history teachers. A catered barbeque at the Fort Vancouver Reserve is an awful nice place to set up and play some tunes (or daydream about leaving early with the rented sound system, as this those in charge hand me my check early and then leave me alone on site—such wonderfully trusting folk!), though most of the audience elects to sit inside the picnic shelter instead of on the grass, as we’d expected: the result is a pleasant performance...with more of my audience to my back than in front! Nice evening.

Fri., July 18, 2003
Bellevue, WA: Crossroads

Ah, Crossroads: one of the last remaining havens for local, acoustic music in the area—and a great food court to boot! This evening I am the Featured Songwriter for the Victory Music open-mic, a title that nets me an hour-long set perched in the midst of a couple dozen two-song performances. The quality of musicianship at Victory open-mics is notoriously high (not to mention the confidence of the organizers—one ought never to hand a musician his check before his performance!), and tonight’s performers uphold this standard easily; they’re friendly, too, which is always nice. The real challenge comes from trying to win over the fleeting dinner crowds, though the setup is designed to place determined listeners close.

I have, I realize two songs in, left my large, carefully-filled water glass well out of reach, and for some strange reason I elect to stay fastened to my stool and ride it out. All continues to go well enough, however, until my last song, a quiet number that I frequently use to close, when loud yelling from the bar area off to my right steals everyone’s attention (including my own); in my limited view of the television I can tell only that Ichiro Suzuki has homered for my beloved Mariners (who, last I checked, had been trailing the upstart Kansas City Royals), so I can’t stay steamed for long. (I am reminded of a performance I gave last fall at the Fiddler’s Inn in Seattle on the same night as Game 2 of the World Series—I needed only to absorb the vociferous, awed commotion that interrupted another quiet song to know that Barry Bonds had homered...convincingly.)

Turns out Ichiro had hit a grand slam to win it. Good for him. The rest of the evening passes in relaxing fashion listening to the other open-mic participants and ad-hoc combinations thereof. Glad we have Crossroads.

Fri., May 30, 2003
Seattle, WA: Meadowbrook Community Center

In an exciting development, I have recruited North Seattle’s Meadowbrook Community Center to sponsor a once-monthly local artist showcase on the second Friday of each month beginning in September ’03. I have booked this show in order to ‘feel-out’ the hall and offer another low-key Wes-stage with time and space for storytelling . . .‘Test’ remains a good word for the evening, though I wish for a simultaneous opportunity to test the center’s distinctly-shaped and prominently-windowed Multi-Purpose Room with a greater density of audience...Guess that’ll teach me to play in town twice in the same week! Fun, unusual set, though, and many belly-laughs to go around.

Memorial Day: Mon., May 26, 2003
Seattle, WA: Northwest Folklife Festival

Good ol’ Folklife: family, houseguests, chance encounters, and hopefully a set or two somewhere in the mix... My set this year arrives on Monday, so most of the over-stimulating craziness brought by sixteen-person Dim Sum breakfasts and rendezvous plans for seven festival wanderers is fading by the time I amble up to the stage in the Liquid Lounge, the bar housed in Paul Allen’s grand Experience Music Project and serving as my venue this year. Funny: for a popular hangout in a museum dedicated to music, the Lounge doesn’t seem to have been built with comfortable concert attendance in mind...though it does offer one a candid view of the unique construction of the building (the inside appears to be the largest papier-mâché-covered chicken wire structure I have ever seen!).

Folklife sets are always an adventure—more often than not wild attempts to establish a groove in twenty-five minutes—but I find much help from the growing crowd of good friends and supportive faces. Seems like most everyone who has vowed to catch a show ‘one of these days’ has picked this one! I am, of course, feeling nicely warmed-up and ready to really settle in when the jovial soundman’s voice announces through the monitors that I have four minutes remaining, so I close with a plug for the upcoming Meadowbrook series and an upbeat tune, pleased with the responses both receive. New and old friends linger for handshakes and more information (just the way I like), and I felly pretty durn good about this one, fleeting as it may have been.

Folklife seems back on its feet some this year after last year’s post-festival fallout in parts of area music communities. Also helps to have the grounds back!—the noticeable lack of construction at Seattle Center this year provides some comfort and elbow-room that, all agree, has been missing the last few years! So much great music and spirit—good ol’ Folklife!!

Sat., May 17, 2003
Mountain View, CA: Red Rock Cafe

Ah, the self-promoter’s grand dilemma: employ the literary airbrush in order to present an image of success always, or level with the audience that values your honesty? My fortune cookie from the pre-show Mongolian barbecue tells me to “☺Be direct, usually one can accomplish more that way ,” so here goes:

This one proves to be a real bummer, amplified by the lengths to which my staggeringly-gracious hostess, Colleen, has gone to smooth the wrinkles that had already appeared in my transportation plans (as if maintaining a hostel in her apartment while her beau and my old hometown buddy, Spencer, flies to Vegas for his brother’s bachelor party isn’t enough!). Colleen’s slick, borrowed Jetta gets me to the South Bay with no problem, and I stumble into the midst of Mountain View’s A la Carte and Art street-fair. After checking in with the venue, I wander through the blocks of merchants and artists, finding gifts for those who deserve ’em (Colleen appears first on that list) and enjoying some sunny northern-Californian niceness. After dinner (and a fortune), I return to the venue to find two messages waiting for me: a thoughtful ‘sorry I can’t make it but wanted to check in’ note from the son of good family friends; and news of an inopportune decision by the cafe’s owner to close early due to the street closure. Mountain View is a long way to go to be told, forty-five minutes before you plan to go on, that “We’ll close in an hour or so, so you might as well start playing.”

Often when a gig turns slightly sour—which can happen from time to time, for any number of reasons—I adopt the attitude that I can’t undo the travel, etc., and though I’m entitled to grumpiness I might as well play since I enjoy it and it just might distract me from whatever frustrating circumstances have emerged. (If there’re any ruthless promoters lurking in my website traffic, forget that you read that Wes plays in any weather!) But tonight I don’t even really have the option of playing, though I hammer out a few tunes for a handful of coffee drinkers, meaning to quit before Jessica (who flew down Friday) and her friend Lizzy arrive, learn what has happened, and force me to sing to angry-yet-sympathetic pouts. (Jess and Liz do catch a number or two after all.) The three of us grab a drink down the street afterward, where I find some consolation in a Centipede video game machine that is giving away free plays, while the sidewalks bustle with people who probably would have loved to duck into a coffee shop for a little music—though by now I’m past resentment. Turns out it’s prom night (such events, which no one thinks to mention while booking me!, frequently distract from attendance—homecoming in Centralia, the great Thayer Barn auction/fundraiser in Duvall—but this one may have been lucky had it had the chance). Well, shoot...at least I’m staying right on the wharf!

Thurs., May 15, 2003
San Francisco, CA: Papa Toby’s Revolution Café

I should learn not to make such grandiose and stoic statements as ‘whatever happens with the gigs down here, staying with friends on Hyde Street two blocks up from Fisherman’s Wharf will make anything seem pleasant in hindsight.’ Perhaps I’m too prophetic: hanging those thoughts in the ether seems as good a way as any for one to find himself full of hard luck and song ideas (see Day 1 of the Project Journal for a perfect example). I arrive at Papa Toby’s Revolution Café (and ArtBar) in the Mission District only to learn that the police have recently cited the establishment for failure to procure an entertainment license. (Scoping the place out yesterday, I arrived in time to catch an especially heated conversation between a passerby and a staff member; perhaps I won’t stop by tomorrow.) This development, I learn, means that the shop cannot furnish my small guarantee. Seems unfair...

The show itself is one of those nice, unamplified, mostly intimate gatherings that I really like, though I wonder during “Carpe Diem, Carpie” what must be running through the heads of the few people who have just walked in to a Revolution Café and ArtBar to witness a young man singing a song about an elderly fish while seated below an enormous print of playful, topless women. The ethereal, trance-like vibe of the evening continues as we all break and head outside shortly into the second set to watch the breathtaking lunar eclipse, framed in splendid summer-in-the-city fashion by one of San Francisco’s mighty hills on the right and a glaring adult-entertainment sign urging one to call 647-BUTT on the left. Great to play for some old friends and an appreciative clerk. New tunes sounding better with more work (and getting good responses). Nice show, long story.