I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: September 24, 2018] Wesley Stace

Wesley Stace once recorded  under the pseudonym John Wesley Harding and released some 20 albums.

He has somewhat recently reverted to his real name for performance and wrote about the pseudonym in the New York Times

I’m the last person who should have bothered with a fake name in the first place. I didn’t need a Bowiesque persona, nor did I have a drab real name, but I did need a disguise, assuming that my “career” would tank in about two weeks, proving an embarrassing obstacle to a more attainable-seeming future in academia.

So “John Wesley Harding” it was, founded purely on the coincidence of my Christian name and a Bob Dylan album title. Both I and the cowboy John Wesley Hardin were named for the founder of the Methodist religion (though of the two of us, I’ve probably followed his teachings slightly more closely, having killed fewer people.) For some reason, Dylan misspelled Hardin “Harding”; no one knows why and to my knowledge no one’s ever bothered to ask. (My own favorite theory is that Dylan omitted so many “g”s from titles like “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” that he decided on a little restitution.)

And after a coincidentally precise 25 years, I have decided, for my new record, to ditch the tried and tested “John Wesley Harding” brand in favor of my real name. Why? I am hardly a household name, but whether you’re a Cougar, a Prince or a Harding (and unless you’re a Will Oldham who changes his name from Bonnie-Prince-this to Palace-Songs-that at the drop of a hat), it’s the sort of decision that doesn’t come lightly.

The reason is simple: I wrote a couple of autobiographical songs, and then I kept writing them. It was the first time that I’d ever bothered to write that kind of confessional song. All songs are autobiographical, but these were also true: things that happened to me. It wasn’t an aesthetic decision; it was something that just presented itself, because I was feeling low and stuck in hotel rooms on a dull book tour. I wrote to comfort myself; you could go so far to say, as a form of therapy.

This move has been facilitated by the fact that I’ve been writing novels for the last 10 years under my real name: that decision was a no-brainer. The first novel, “Misfortune”, was a Dickensian kind of thing, and having the misspelled name of an outlaw on the spine would have been silly. That extracurricular use of my real name means that Wesley Stace has continued to exist on some level over there on the bookshelf. But it gets tiring having two names. Introductions to readings are too long anyway without that added complication: time to get it all under one roof.

That’s a long introduction for a short set (about 30 minutes).

I was familiar with John Wesley Harding (I have two of his albums, Here Comes the Groom (1990) and The Confessions of St. Ace (which cleverly hides his real name) (2000).  These albums bear a resemblance to Elvis Costello because he shared some of the members of The Attractions and also because his singing voice has the same arch tone and timbre as Costello’s.

That tone and timbre were evident tonight as he took the stage.

He explained that the last time he and Page toured together was in 1992.  So he thought he would treat this show like it was from 1992 and play some songs off of that year’s album, Why We Fight.  This seemed odd for a few reasons, not least of which was that he didn’t have any copies of it for sale at the merch booth.  Regardless, the songs were great and were still, sadly, relevant today.

He started by saying that he’d play a song he might have opened with in 1992.  It turned out to be Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” (which actually came out in 1989 but whatever).  This was not meant as a joke or novelty (the song is fantastic and his performance of it shows that it works just as well as folk as pop).   It was also relevant because he was selling an album called Greatest Other People’s Hits (with a cover that looks perfectly like Abbas gold) and this song was on it.

Then he said he’d be playing songs from Why We Fight.

He played “Kill the Messenger” and threw in a chorus of “Heatwave” as the chord progression was kind of similar.

Then he grabbed his new-fangled magnetic harmonica holder (in 1992, this technology would seem like it came from 2018).  He played “The Truth” with the observation about the recent political comment that “‘truth isn’t truth’ if you remember that awesome quote.”

I love these lyrics:

I was arrested for disturbing the peace
But, hey, I was disturbing the war
I was waving a small white handkerchief
Singing “please don’t fight no more”

He sounded great throughout the show.  The older songs sounded current and he still sings powerfully and clearly, which was great to really focus on his lyrics.

He played a newer song (2011) which he said was a “Big Yellow Taxi” for today.

There’s a freeway where we played football in the fields
Apartments on the pitch at Highbury
There’s a shed called Deer Creek
Of which my one critique
Is there’s no creek now and it’s all deer-free

There’s a Walgreens where there was no wall, just greenery
There’s a theme park in a palace in Tennessee
That tree there is a pylon
But some things you can rely on
There’s a Starbucks where the Starbucks used to be

The last line is the title.

For me the highlight was a jokey (but not) update of The Sound of Music standard “My Favorite Things.”  I’m not sure if it is titled but if it is it’s surely called “My Least Favorite Things.”

This clip contains the first part of the song, but it was the ending of the song that had the best pointed lyrics.

“elected officials who think they are kings”

I placed a video of him playing the whole song it elsewhere at the end of the set list.

He may have had one more song (I don’t have the full setlist), but he told us that he was always prompt and would be ending the set at exactly 30 minutes.

He ended the show with “The Devil in Me” a song from Groom that I recognized.  But he surprised me but jamming the ending.  And by jamming, I mean, he played the chord progression (it is not a simple three chord song) faster and faster until by the end his hands were a blur.  It was pretty impressive, I must admit.

Great stuff.

After his set (since I had a seat) I went out and chatted with him.  I bought a CD and he threw in a chapbook of his lyrics.  He was pleased that I was paying in cash, although he was amused that he didn’t have any change.  So I waited with him for a minute hoping someone would give him a five.  When that didn’t  happen, I decided to buy a copy of his first novel (he has written four) called Misfortune, (which he signed).  It looks fantastic and I can’t wait to read it.

You’ll read about it in these pages in the not too distant future.

1. Like a Prayer
2. There’s a Starbucks where the Starbucks Used to Be
3. Kill the Messenger
4. The Truth
5. My Least Favorite Things
6. The Devil in Me

I was playing this clip on You Tube and up came “I’m Wrong About Everything” a song of his that I totally forgot about but which is utterly fantastic.  Wish he had played that one!