Poster by Clayton Christopherson
Long-time readers and listeners probably know that Wesafari was one of my favorite bands – and were some of my favorite people – in Seattle for the first decade-plus of this century. Somehow it’s been over four years since they played their last show and head Wesafarian Rick Wright split town; I was certainly afraid we’d never see them on a Seattle stage again.
As you have probably guessed by now, that fear was somewhat unfounded. In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Wesafari’s Alaska (soon to be rereleased with all kinds of fancy bonus material), Rick planned a trip out here and a one-off reunion show with some local friends this Saturday, August 29th, at the Sunset Tavern. (Full disclosure, I will actually be helping out on various instruments during the set, allowing me to cross a biggie off my nonexistent bucket list.) The band will play a bunch of songs off Alaska and Sea Survivors, along with some newer/lesser-known tunes. We’ll dance, we’ll sing, we’ll drink, we’ll cry. It’ll be great.
On top of all that, two of Seattle’s finest non-broken-up bands will set the stage for Wesafari. Pampa (see Ball of Wax 32) will kick off the evening, and the mighty Hand of the Hills (who have never been on BoW, but most of their members’ other bands have) will bat 2nd. I can’t think of a better way to spend your Saturday night, people. Be there!
Oh, and about the now decade-old Alaska (2005 was a pretty good year, eh?): It is an absolute masterpiece, and if you haven’t heard it/don’t own it, you really must remedy that situation. It was released before the time when you could automatically hear everything everywhere. (You had to actually buy, like, CDs and stuff. It was crazy.) The internet has been basically devoid of Alaska for the past decade (apart from the charmingly low-fi video below), but I think this re-release should remedy that situation. I don’t know if it will be available via all the usual streaming suspects, but if nothing else, as of this weekend you will be able to hear it and buy it on Bandcamp. I strongly recommend you do.