Seattle. Dark, mysterious and the bluest eyes you’ve ever seen.
I went to the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. I was four. Do I remember it? Vaguely. Very vaguely. A living room. Jumping on my Uncle Jack’s stomach after dinner. He was my favourite uncle, most likely because he allowed us to horse around and jump on him after eating dinner.
That was as much as I remembered of Seattle until 1968 and Here Come The Brides featured the song Seattle, sung by Perry Como. “The bluest eyes you’ve ever seen are in Seattle.”
In 1980, we started going there to see shows, search for records, books, clothes and to enjoy their great dives and diners. There was an excitement to Seattle, but also a darkness. Something foreboding, evil almost. Nothing tangible, just an aura of that Pacific Northwest Noir. The rain, the I-5, the drugs. Green River Killer.
Seattle is a port city like Vancouver, and Portland and San Francisco.
There is a rich history of lumber barons, shanghaied sailors, and depression. There is the mental institution in Steilacoom where Frances Farmer was lobotomized.
The Ghoul of Grays Harbour
Billy Gohl is on of Washington states most infamous serial killers. Billy Gohl apparently had a baby face. He was a Union official in a time of great inequality. There are some doubts as to his guilt, with the thinking that as an Union official he was smeared by monies interests to get him out of the way. Allegedly he murdered upwards of 50-60 sailors. He also worked as a bartender.
Gohl was spared from the death penalty by a request for leniency by the jury, and he was sentenced to life in prison at Walla Walla State Penitentiary where he died in 1927 from lobar pneumonia and erysipelas complicated by dementia paralytic which was caused by syphilis.
Author and historian Aaron Goings argues that the numerous bodies discovered in Grays Harbor were the result of accidental deaths caused by unsafe conditions on the docks and in the lumber industry. He says Gohl was unjustly blamed for these deaths by influential local tycoons, who saw Gohl as the perfect patsy. He was tried and sentenced to life in prison, and later lived out the remainder of his life in a mental institution.
Besides Billy Gohl, there is also Dave Grohl, who played in a little band called Nirvana. Kurt Cobain joined the Stupid Club, according to his Mother, after committing suicide. Guns and heroin.
One visit we had to Seattle was to see Richard Hell. Michelle and I went with my friend Warren Hunter and another friend Linda, who made some of the best Mexican food in Canada. Richard Hell was a big influence for me, but his show was not great. Then our car broke down in Mount Vernon. It was not good.
Another time, Michelle and my sister Barbara and I went to Seattle with our friend Peggy Thompson to see Patti Smith. We stayed at the Belltown Inn. We were treated to a night of ghostly visitations. The ghost was an old timey lady in a gown who floated across the room. The air was cold, and the three of us who shared a room also shared a ghostly experience, which we later shared notes on.
Another time, I went there to see my friend Dean Wartii. He was the unofficial Mayor of Belltown. He was also one of the funniest people I have met. We went to see the Jim Rose Circus, and were driven home by his extremely drunk friend Jerry. Scary Jerry.
Another time Dean and I went to a soul food restaurant called FranGlors, where I was introduced to ketchup on lettuce as a salad dressing. Dean called it French Dressing.
Another time, my first band AKA was supposed to open up for The Cramps, who cancelled at the last minute. We spent the night at a weird party in the U- District, where our hosts kept going into a closed room and. Most likely doing drugs we were not invited to share. I saw a glimpse of a couple of them shooting up. Not my scene. In the early hours of the morning, Mount St. Helen’s blew her top.
AKA was also know as special guest!
Strange happenings in Seattle. Another time, Michelle and I went to a music seminar, and I got to see Greil Marcus; Greil is a hero of mine, who also has a Substack. He was also on a panel, talking about some subject of which I completely forget.
Still another time, another of my bands, Rhythm Mission played in Belltown in a gig organized by Dean. I remember doing cocaine in a walk in cooler, as the gig was in a restaurant. Our drummer didn’t do the coke. Instead, he was given some brownies which turned out to be laced with hallucinogenic properties. Our band that night was on different floors of consciousness, half of us racing to the attic, while the other half were going sideways on an escalator.
I have been writing this piece for a few weeks. Today I found out that Dean Wartii died January 29, 2020. I am so sad about this news. Below is the funeral notice. It is not super clear if it is real. But it seems so. Poor Dean. He was such a larger than life character. Another time, Dean invited Jazzmanian Devils to play in Concrete, WA.
Concrete was in the middle of nowhere, and is linked to the Grand Coulee Dam. JD’s played in an historic theatre. I still have the program for that night somewhere in my files. Concrete was like a ghost town.
Washington. So many ghosts. https://flubugbugle.wordpress.com/2020/02/03/memorial-for-dean-wartti-draws-record-crowds/
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