seattle grunge redux

Falling forward, looking back.

Fall’s rounding the curve here in Seattle and I couldn’t be happier. The light’s already different. Softer. Rounder and more colorful. And not just because we’ve had a few weeks of depressing wildfire smoke wafting in from the Cascades and beyond. It won’t be long and the sun will rise after 7 am. Soon enough we’ll be changing our clocks and bemoaning the short days up here in the northern latitudes. The typical gorgeousness of August and September in the Pacific Northwest held pretty much true to form this year. Which has me taking stock and offering up an overdue blog post for those of you still hungrily Googling for such musings from one of America’s most special cultural outposts.

I’m about to finish up a validating run of Friday Happy Hour tours. I was honored to tell stories to visitors from at least six countries (Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Mexico…although I did also have a group hailing from all over the globe in town for a Microsoft conference). I also had American visitors from a dozen-plus states. The codifying interest in finding a connection with Seattle’s music brings some truly fascinating people my way, even decades after peak commercial grunge. This seems an especially timely nod in the direction of the past as true grunge nerds celebrate the 30th anniversaries of the release of “Singles” (September 18, 1992) and Pearl Jam’s legendary “Drop in the Park” show (today in 1992). That rescheduled PJ show drew 30,000 fans to my namesake, concert-ill-equipped, nonetheless-favorite Seattle park (Northeast’s under-used Magnuson Park along the shore of Lake Washington) after a months earlier plan was scuttled by the City in Gas Works Park (on the north shore of Lake Union). As I often try to emphasize, however, being a nostalgia merchant is just part of this gig. I aim to loop in earlier Seattle chapters while emphasizing that Seattle’s a thriving place where music’s still made with real passion. Look no further than the Bikini Kill show I saw last week at McMenamin’s Elks Temple in Tacoma. That crowd of hundreds was equal parts Gen Z and those of us still staying out somewhat late for Gen X’ers, along with music fans somewhere in between or on the margins (kudos to the parents taking their tweens out…although Kathleen Hannah getting pissed at a noisy cohort up front probably required a fuller discussion on the car ride home).

Rather than forget to mention all of the amazing individuals who came my way over the past few months, I’ll just finish the summary by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to make new connections. This version of my semi-annual mic drop really only applies to my regularly scheduled tours. I’ve got other irons in the fire and those of you who know me understand this move. So if you’re coming through Seattle and want to see if a tour is possible, just give me a holler. I’ll also be typically vague in saying that I’ve got a few new collaborations bubbling up and various evolutions underway. Want to explore something I’m calling Seattle Sports Redux? I got you. Need recommendations for how to better understand what’s happening in the PNW? Look no further. There are plenty of skilled storytellers and principled historians working in Seattle, but I think my flexibility sets what I offer apart. Just sayin’.

Much like Seattle continues to change like a living organism, so does what I’m doing with this side gig. For each vanishing hunk of Seattle (see the long-expected demolition of the block of Belltown north of the Crocodile Cafe’s former home) there’s an occasional welcome patched-up retrieval (see the reopening of the West Seattle Bridge over the weekend which makes it much easier to direct visitors over yonder for worthwhile pursuits).

Before I sign off again, I’ll offer a few random nuggets o’ note that very recently caught my eye. For those who’ve taken one of my tours, you’ll likely see the connections with the material I typically cover while out on the streets of Seattle.

I could go on with the details. But my purpose here was mainly to check in before shifting away from my regular schedule. Once again, I encourage you to reach out with questions about scheduling a special stop amidst your Seattle explorations. No guarantees that I’ll be free, of course. I always respond, regardless. I do what I do, as best I can as a one-man band. Rock on.

Seattle vs. London vs. San Francisco - historical comparisons come to mind

I mentioned in my last post a recent visit to London. It was part of a longer decidedly awesome family trip. London’s obscenely expensive. But I think it’s valuable to music fans that I recap some of what found by way of obsessively searching for music history there (and everywhere…).

I arrived with my casually curated list of sites worth finding. Given the recent phenomenon of The Beatles documentary “Get Back” and my interest in the bespoke tailoring history along Saville Row (for my other work), we set out to find the former home of Apple Records. It had most recently been an Abercrombie and Fitch showroom - not exactly a tribute worthy of the building where The Beatles last performed live. We stayed in Camden Town, mainly to be close to Regent’s Park. There was a theatre now named Koko around the corner from our flat that had been a punk venue where everyone played back in the 1970s. North London’s musical history more broadly isn’t hard to find. Amy Winehouse fans know about her statue up yonder. I sought out the exterior steps in Camden Market where The Clash shot the cover photo of their debut album. I’d hoped to venture further afield to see the former church (St. Augustine) where the iconic Wessex Sound Studios operated for 40 years. Former Beatles’ manager George Martin bought that studio in 1965. That’s where The Clash recorded “London Calling” and the Sex Pistols did the same with their debut album. Queen recorded “Bohemian Rhapsody” there. Everyone from the UK seemingly recorded there, including the Rolling Stones, XTC, and Pete Townsend. Then it was sold in 2003 and eventually converted into posh apartments collectively named “The Recording Studio.” Wessex’s advanced (for the time…) 40-channel console lives on in a studio in South Wales as of 2011. Music nerds surely make the trek there to this day in hopes of feeling a karmic echo.

In many ways, that’s some of what I do with my tour of Seattle’s cultural geography. Seek out places worth knowing and dig deeper for what’s beneath the obvious. Connect those places with stories and you’ve got yourself a time machine worth hopping aboard in hopes of better understanding why the music made there still matters. As I continue to learn from people on their own treks through Seattle, cultural history lives on. I sometimes make the unpopular point of saying that “grunge is dead.” Because it is as a musical genre rooted in a time and a place (the Pacific Northwest more broadly, although so many still associate it with Seattle in the ‘90s). One of my larger points, however, is that by better understanding where things happened you can make your own judgments about why it might’ve mattered in the present and (hopefully) future. Or at least, it’s fun to imagine things with the benefit of hindsight as you wander through what often times only exist as ruins.

Back to London - Soho as a part of the City of Winchester in the West End offers a target-rich environment for such exploration. Even just reading the engraved plaques on buildings scratches that itch. The English far better than us in Seattle put up historical markers. There are official circular blue-colored plaques about the size of a medium pizza pan bolted to buildings all over the place. Soho’s seemingly covered with them, especially in the areas around Denmark Street. Not everything gets a blue plaque - Paul McCartney’s offices and former squats used by David (Jones) Bowie or the Sex Pistols give just a few harder-to-find examples. But if you search for places like The Marquee Club or No. Tom Guitars, you’ll be pleased to see that over time there’s been a broad focus on marking those locations with a good starting point in the narrative. We here in Seattle can learn a great deal from what’s been put up all over London. I’ve been saying for the past few years that we desperately need to start putting up the sort of markers that London uses to remind people what happened all around them maybe not so long ago. When a City with only 170-ish years of history is so busy booming and occasionally busting, there’s only so much energy put into pointing people toward what was there previously.

If you want to go deeper into London’s history, I recommend starting with a walking tour we found through Airbnb that covered Soho. Evren runs it with real heart and soul, as a musician who’s looking to share what he knows. Followed by sitting with you in the pub to talk more about his own journey through the London scene. I was glad I connected with him as a fellow music fan and nostalgia merchant. His wife and brother-in-law were even along for the ride the day my wife, daughter, and I booked that experience. Good peeps, half a world away.

I feel a kinship with people seeking out cultural understanding from the places where music is made. Let me know if you have your own favorite cities with musical histories worth exploring. I’m reminded of a tour I led here in Seattle for a German chocolate company’s very hip executives who chose their corporate retreats based on the music history they wanted to explore. Their visit prior to Seattle was San Francisco. Where I also lived for a few years and loved the history found all over the map. Although I never saw blue plaques or their American equivalent there either. Although those hip chocolate titans did pay Phil Lesh from The Grateful Dead to sit down with them and give a guitar workshop. They didn’t get that sort of craft instruction from me. But I like to think I bring other talents to the stage. What those talents are, I’ll leave open for debate. Rock on.

Summer 2022 Dates Added!

Hello Seattle music fans (and all the ships at sea). It’s been a minute. I’ll get to my recent visit to London in a jif. But I want to lead off with an update on what’s happening with my Grunge Redux tour in Seattle. I’m adding tours. My ever-popular Happy Hour Tours will drop onto the calendar for every Friday starting July 22nd and will continue through September 23rd. Check your itineraries and see if those dates sync up with the next 10 weeks of Seattle’s glorious summertime. Also, I’m still very much open to VIP/Private Tour requests that as always are not limited to Fridays. I make no promises that I’ll be able to honor all requests. But due to an exciting new partnership in the works with Kimpton Hotels here in Seattle, I’m getting back out there with new energy and ongoing research into the history worth seeing around the City.

Bear in mind that plans for my lit’l passion project have often shifted due to up-to-date pandemic concerns and my multitude of interests. Case in point - I’m adding a new sports tour to my repertoire. It’s a driving tour and limited to special requests. Expect much more detail to come in the very near future. If you or your crew love Seattle’s sporty history (baseball, basketball, football, soccer and rowing - oh my!), my new Seattle Sports Redux will be three-hours of bliss for y’all.

Bottom line - I’m excited to get back out there. Join me, won’t you? Rock on, regardless.

A recent partial gallery of good people (posing nonplussed in a trashy alley).

I’m down to the last handful of dates covering my last month of tours. I’ve met some great folks who’ve made the trek to Seattle for a variety of reasons. A few curious locals, too. I’ll do a fuller recap after I drop the mic on the streets at long last on Friday, September 24th. Until then, expect a few pics like the following - same pose, done nearly a hundred times with groups since I kicked this off back in March 2017. If you’ve been waiting to join the fun, the window is closing. I mean it this time. Holler back if you have questions. Thanks for checking in. Stay safe, be well, and rock on.