Dearest lovely Seattlites, I’m playing this Friday at the Stepping Stone in Ballard, 8PM.
FREE
I’ll be playing with these fantastic musicians:
Colin Bradford
Jan Peter Eklund
Dustin Schmidt
http://www.facebook.com/events/333716210002729/
And that means it’s going to be fun.
But it’s going to be even more fun with you there too!
Best!
SJ
Mon, January 30 2012 » News » No Comments
Elliott Bay Sunset
Seattle has some really good musicians, and I’ve met some of the best of them on this trip. It also has some fun venues to play in, venues that actually respect musicians and don’t just use them to do the venue’s marketing for them. I’ve been playing here a bunch and meeting lovely fans of music too. If you’re one of them and you’ve just stumbled on my site, go here for regular updates and say ‘hello!’:
http://www.facebook.com/saintjohnandtherevelations
Fortunately for me, Seattle also has some lovely sunsets.
Well, I’m going to go back out now and see what other bits of loveliness are hiding around this city.
Don’t worry dearest Venice, I haven’t forgotten about you! I’ll be back home soon.
Love,
SJ
Fri, January 27 2012 » News » No Comments
The snow is almost completely melted here in Seattle, and this snowman has been reincarnated to a puddle of water, and then on to wherever evaporation takes him.
Just in time for Chinese New Year, happy Year of the Water Dragon!
All the best,
SJ
Mon, January 23 2012 » News » No Comments
This is a little pic of Seattle in the snow, you can see the Space Needle through the haze in the back. I hear that I’ve been caught in Seattle in their biggest snowstorm in decades. It’s a bit slushy for the flip-flops I usually wander Venice in, but it’s lovely none-the-less.
Keep warm!
Love,
SJ
Wed, January 18 2012 » News » No Comments
Last night I played a super fun show at The Crocodile in Seattle, and even ran into a friend from Venice Beach. Small world, good people, and sunsets everywhere.
The other musicians from the show last night, Colin Bradford and Katie Davis, were very talented, and we had a great time. I’ll dig up some links on them soon and will post them later.
Talk to you soon!
Love,
SJ
Fri, December 30 2011 » News » No Comments
Dear friends, I’ll be playing a show at the famous Crocodile in Seattle WA, 29 Dec, with some really cool local artists:
http://www.facebook.com/events/337103739639883/
This is the spot where Pearl Jam, Nirvana, R.E.M. and a few other legends played, and I hear it’s a mandatory place for up-and-coming artist to perform in Seattle.
The show starts at 8PM
$5
See you there!
Best,
SJ
Wed, December 28 2011 » News, Shows » No Comments
I now own gloves. I know you may think to yourselves, “yes, and?”, well, I admit it’s not really that monumental of a statement. Doesn’t everybody own gloves? My hands have accepted some very hot cups of tea in my life and perhaps I’ve cursed myself for not having some sort of hand protection for the occasional lava-hot brew. But I have lived in southern California for so long now I can’t even remember needing gloves for cold weather. I haven’t even owned a heavy coat since I was very young. I wear standard issue t-shirts of varying colours and flip-flop sandals almost all year round in the nearly endless sunshine of Venice Beach. But at the moment, I am more northerly than our species should probably permanently inhabit. This Canadian southern California boy is in Seattle, Washington.
Maybe I’m not mushing sled dogs through the arctic, but fekk, it’s damn cold here, especially for my SoCal thinned blood. So I bought gloves (and a scarf, and a heavy wool jacket) to survive my stay here. I didn’t want future humans to discover my frozen carcass in some archaeological dig and be designated ‘Wallingford Man’ (Wallingford is a Seattle neighbourhood, in case you needed a guide). I have my own personal mental challenge to not lose the gloves, but their loss is just as inevitable as my eventual return to the easy weather of Venice Beach.
Seattle also has its treasures that I’m starting to discover and appreciate. I’ve met so many lovely folks this time around, I’m starting to think of Seattle as a second home. I have some family here, and my legendary guitar-wielding collaborator Peter Buck records with me here, and now that I’m out exploring Seattle’s unique neighbourhoods and playing shows here, it’s becoming much more familiar to me. And I have to say it is a lovely city, with some great music talent and venues, and some very interesting people.
I just slid my new gloves off to go on the trusty laptop and look for some flights back to California, but I’ll be back to Seattle soon, and hopefully I won’t lose my gloves in the meantime.
Love,
SJ
PS. Please have a listen to our newly minted version of Make A Fuss, it’s been one of the songs I’ve played most here in Seattle, I guess it’s just been on my mind:
http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_11068526
Thu, December 1 2011 » News » No Comments
Vinyl Mecca
Whenever I come to Seattle, I have to make my way over to Bop Street Records in Ballard and spend some time digging through their record collection for lost and forgotten musical treasures. I used to work in a record store and I feel very much at home in pretty much all of them.
It’s always the same types of people in these shops, if you’ve seen the movie High Fidelity, then you know what I’m talking about. For me it’s just as much about the passion of music and talking about it with the employees whilst listening to some classic Motown record over the in-store speakers as it is about the smile I get when I flip through to a record that I know a friend will love so much and I have to get it for them.
I am such a music geek, it really should be embarrassing. Fortunately, I don’t really have the good sense to get embarrassed about much of anything. If you ever run into me somewhere, beware, if you start talking about classic records, you might not be able to get me to shut up about them.
I added a couple of treats to my collection on this visit, I’ll let you know how they sound.
Love,
SJ
Tue, August 23 2011 » News » No Comments
This Seattle sunset sliced open the sky and a whole lot of guitar playing fell out of it.
Thu, August 18 2011 » News » No Comments
Well, it’s 4AM and who could blame me for taking the wrong way at this hour. But it was a super productive day, and my first day back in Venice so I’m making the most of it. We booked a show at the House of Blues on Sunset today, we’ll be playing on the 12th of May at 11PM. Bring your boogie pockets, we’re going to have some new stuff to show you and maybe even have something for you to take home…
Luca and I met up tonight and rehearsed for a few hours and discussed our audition schedule. We’re auditioning for bass players, keyboardists, and cellists, send me a note if you’re interested in coming around and jamming. Sometimes it’s a little bit fun, and sometimes it’s a lot of fun, it’s kind of up to you.
I met up with some really good musician friends tonight and they just finished up recording their record. I’m cheerfully jealous of them. Don’t worry, we’ll have our record done by 2049, your grandkids will love it.
2AM Chinese food saved my life. I’m missing some of the food up in Seattle though, flamed cheese at the Greek restaurant in Ballard was probably my favourite. I’ll be back in a couple of months for it, and maybe even some more work.
Well, I’ve been a lazy guest at this party and should rejoin them. G’night my dears!
Love,
SJ
Sat, April 30 2011 » News » No Comments
I’ve been in Seattle for the past week or so, and in typical Seattle fashion it’s been grey and drizzly at least half the time I’ve been here. But in typical Saint John fashion, I’ve been super happy that we’ve had any sun at all. It’s ok though, I’m here to work on some music and see family, not to work on my tan. We have some really good things brewing (very much like the pacific northwest breweries that seem to have beers in every bar in this town) with more recording and planning a tour etc.
What have you been up to?
Love,
SJ
Wed, April 27 2011 » News » No Comments
Sat, April 23 2011 » News » No Comments
We finally posted an album of the photos of my sessions with Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (R.E.M., Baseball Project) and Bill Rieflin (R.E.M., Ministry). They’re a legendary team to have in the studio, I am blessed beyond comprehension.
We went in and recorded the songs together in Seattle, Washington. The sessions were a lot of fun, we had tons of freedom to record the songs how we wanted them to sound and we just fell in to a groove and recorded very quickly and easily. I can’t wait for you guys to hear the songs, I’ll see if I can find some videos to post of the sessions also.
Love,
SJ
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