Here’s a bit of culture for your Thursday night:
On Thursday August 7, San Francisco Bay Area based composer/musician Jesse Olsen Bay will perform his new song cycle Makings, as part of the Wayward Music Series at the Good Shepherd Center’s Chapel Performance Space, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle. Makings is an original song cycle, based on unpublished writings by Bay’s grandmother, legendary author/activist Tillie Olsen. The album was released in July, and Bay is currently touring the West Coast. For this concert, Bay will be accompanied by acclaimed Seattle percussionist Paul Kikuchi.
Also appaering will be Meghan O’Donoghue-Williams, a vocalist and composer who since 2008 has been living in Java, studying Javanese vocal music. She will be presenting songs from her upcoming album, Peshawar. The performance begins at 8pm. Admission is $5-15.
Jesse Olsen Bay is an award winning composer and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his art-folk duo Ramon & Jessica as well as his collaborations with dance and film. For Makings, Bay worked with unpublished writings by his grandmother, author/activist Tillie Olsen (1912 – 2000). Tillie wrote books, short stories, and essays about the lives of women and working class people, earning her reverence and respect from her readers. Makings was created from Tillie’s unpublished journals, which she called her “Blueys”: blue sheets of paper that she covered in ideas, notes, bits of poetry and prose.
In Makings, Bay sings and accompanies himself on guitar, percussion, piano, toy instruments and found objects, weaving Tillie’s words into a vivid tapestry of emotion and imagery. The songs explore history and memory, the cycles of life and death, and awe and reverence for the beauty of nature. Bay spent the past 8 years composing and recording these songs, and tonight will celebrate the album’s release. He will be joined by Casey Van Portlfeet on percussion.
Give a listen, see if it’s your speed, on the Makings web page.