| john and the whale |
[30 May 2010|01:43pm] |
Hello, friends. You guys all look great tonight. I'm here to introduce John Haley from San Francisco, played by Ed Westwick & bearing the credits of Chuck Ragan. All of his albums are available on his directory page for your downloading pleasure. John's history and personality were built almost entirely around Chuck's lyrics, so if you are in the mood to listen to something new, that would probably give you the best sense of his personality. I also think this song from youtube sort of sums it all up for me, and here is an interview you can read.
John was influenced a lot by growing up on a fishing boat with his fisherman father and hippie mother and by listening to a lot of Utah Phillips and Bruce Springsteen as a kid and getting fired up about the working class and the power of the people and all that. When he's not touring or traveling for fun, he still gets up at sunrise every day to help out his dad on the boat. He lives on it about half of the time and in a small bare-bones apartment near the wharf the other half. John graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in May of 09 and has a shitload of student loans to pay off! Fame-wise, he is basically at the bottom of the ladder, although he has toured extensively and picked up a pretty substantial following by tagging onto shows at various local joints. For the last two years, he has organized a kind of DIY folk revival tour with his friend lucasy (credits of Conor Oberst) who will hopefully be joining us imminently and he also went on tour with his BFF cadey after she and her sister (credits of Tegan & Sara) picked him up as a hitchhiker several years ago.
John is very confident, a little arrogant, a little demanding, but also extremely nice to just about everyone. He really embraces an old-fashioned way of life in terms of materialism and manners and generally passes no judgment on anyone for their behavior or lifestyle. He wants to be thought of as strong, hard-working, honest, and dependable. He's serious about music but playful and spontaneous about mostly everything else, especially sex, which he is borderline addicted to, but he treats all women with absolute respect and as individuals no matter how many he has been with. He likes it when girls are a little sassy or dirty or bold with him, but can't stand to be manipulated or dominated past a certain point because being tied up (literally or metaphorically) interferes with his sense of absolute freedom, which he values high above anything else in life.
Overall, he considers himself to be a simple, relaxed, and up-front guy and rarely makes apologies for the way he is, because he has always endeavored to live his life in a way he can take personal pride in, though his tendency to oversimplify things has a way of making him a little dense and naive and he has trouble sometimes empathizing with other people's emotional struggles. He is not particularly in touch with any real deep feelings. He has never been in love or in a serious fight, and he doesn't internalize much of what goes on around him, though this does not happen consciously or purposely.
I welcome friends and collaborators of all kinds. The great thing about John is that is utterly fascinated by all people, especially ones that are very different from him. Since his songs are rarely deeply personal, his main source of inspiration in songwriting is other people's lives, so whoever your kid is, he totally wants to meet them. Additionally, I can use all sorts of guest musicians for his albums & also his Revival Tour band: drummers, guitar players, backup singers, mandolin players, banjo players, jaw harp players, assorted bluegrassy personnel, you know the drill. If there are any other kind of folk revivalist types (is there an Iron & Wine in the house? Nickel Creek? Bon Iver? Tim Barry? Ben Nichols? Joey Cape? *cricket* *cricket* *cricket*) that John can go/have gone on tour with, that'd be swell.
I also welcome lady friends with whom he can have (formerly, presently, or in the future) entered into a mutually respectful & casual intimate arrangement if you know what I mean, dude friends (I always have such a freakin' hard time with this in communities, please don't let me down!), bigger and more famous bands he's opened for or toured with or people he's met up with along his own sort of indie tours (John isn't signed and has paid to have all his albums recorded and pressed with the money he makes from tour and some help from his snobby well-to-do grandfather). I mean it when I say he can get along with almost anybody, so if any of this sounds interesting or fun, don't be shy. I love you.
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