Thursday, January 29, 2015

Kyle Lesley Benefit Tonite with Mariee Sioux, Michael Musika, Future Twin, TV Mike & the Scarecrows


TONIGHT. Come celebrate Kyle. 
Come celebrate life, community, and spirit (Kyle's words). 

poster by Mark Matos


FRIDAY JANUARY 30th
SeaweedSway & friends present
a benefit for Kyle Lesley
"fighting cancer loving living recording expanding exploding rocking & rolling"
with 
MARIEE SIOUX, 
FUTURE TWIN, 
TV MIKE & THE SCARECROWS,
MICHAEL MUSIKA

7:30PM doors
8:30PM Michael Musika solo set - do not miss

Write-ups about the show! 

Thanks Hiya Swanhuyser @ SF Weekly

Thanks Annie Bacon @ SF Music Critic

Thanks Jordannah Elizabeth @ The Deli SF

Price: Sliding scale: $10-100, sky's the limit. No one turned away for lack of funds. If you are broke but wanna go, we also can use volunteers to help work the door for hour shifts. Let me know if that's you! (text is best -415 515 7604) There are sweet raffle prizes including merch from bands, for those who pay more than $10!

All $ from the door (minus $60 to pay the soundperson!) & a percentage of the bar will go to Kyle!! 
Thank you immensely to the bands for donating their time and songs, and to those who are helping to organize & promote! 


BANDS:

 
(photos of Kyle's awesomeness)

Last week's email is below, if you want to read even more all about it. 
xo
Jessie


On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 1:11 AM, jessie woletz | seaweed sway <seaweedsway@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear friends near & far,

Happy MLK Day. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?" 

This year, the first Seaweed Sway show of 2015 is an attempt to give back to the music community, with a benefit show for someone who is indeed always doing for others, within our community and beyond.

I met Kyle Lesley right before he moved out of SF. He was diagnosed with stage four metastic melanoma and left to begin treatments in LA. Before he left, a grand benefit show at El Rio happened where many friends gathered, and some bands I knew well + some bands I never heard of played. I got a sense of Kyle's wide-ranging community and the love that surrounds him.

I'm grateful to be getting to know Kyle now and the more I learn, the more I realize what an incredible person he is. Beyond being an awesome & kind human, he has donated his sound skills to many a good cause: Occupy SF & the Clarion Alley Mural Project, to name a couple, in addition to tirelessly running the sound at some of my fave places: Amnesia & Viracocha. 

Hiya Swanhuyser wrote a beautiful piece in the SF Weekly about how Kyle is a music hero:http://www.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2015/01/12/music-heroes-kyle-lesley 

Please read it!

Here's a quote from Kyle to give you a sense:

"I wanted to help cultivate this community that I really grew up obsessing over, reading books and magazines and watching documentaries, dreaming about it. And I realized that it wasn't just going to happen to me. I had to work. I had to get in there and meet people. I had to say 'Hey, I want to record you,' or I'll come and run sound for free, or let's organize this festival, I have access to this gear, a couple microphones, let's make it happen. I really wanted to be a part of the music culture of San Francisco. I realized it wasn't going to be given to me, just because I played guitar, or smiled, or wore the right clothes. I actually wanted to be this reliable, dependable, talented person. People knew that my heart was in the right place, and I wanted to work. I wasn't just going to ask for things. I wanted to prove that I could contribute."

Jean of Future Twin says: "Kyle comes through huge and helps Clarion Alley Mural Project do our annual block party fundraiser, by lending a PA and running sound. He helped every year I asked him. He's a dope musician and engineer too! He helped Future Twin track some guitars at his studio."

Michael Musika says: "Kyle's that dude that remembers to bring matches and knows where to find firewood and doesn't lord it over you. Being a musician for so long, I've seen my share of sound people-- you need a crucifix, jewelry, menagerie, and the Tibetan prayer for the dead to navigate. But Kyle's always been calm and prepared and collected, like lakes in mountains where no people go...which is a trick because music venues have lots of people and often the most distracting sorts... all of it while it's dark and late and behind time. His stop watch goes backwards if need be, with no more charm than old fashioned unassuming smile."

We can use help with 
spreading the word - word of mouth, radio, write-ups, flyers, email, text, phone, etc. 
working the door for a shift (hopefully an hour max if we get enough people),
putting together a raffle,
hanging up posters 

If you want to help, just write back!

(when you RSVP & invite friends it helps spread the word)
Incredible poster by Mark Matos attached.

If you are unable to go, here's a site that Kyle's Mom set up for folks to donate $ toward Kyle's treatment: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/yy56/kyle-lesley-stage-4-cancer-fund

Thanks and would love to see you on the 30th!
Jessie

PS - Next show after this one, Sunday Feb 8th at Viracocha: Andrew Bancroft is flying into town from NY for his album release, with Olive Mitra's Eggplant Casino! Stay tuned for details.