not being from seattle, i was surprised to see an almost sellout crowd for this jason webley chap. apparently he has been a cult favorite here for years and has had some interesting incidents with the police during his shows, etc.
well, daniel ari opened up and played some cool sing-along tunes about pirates and sausages or something that made everyone laugh and get in the spirit of things. he was followed by aaron seeman, who concentrated on dead kennedys (and other classic punk) covers. his skills were impressive (some very, very rapid accordian playing), and i learned later that he had actually played jello biafra's birthday party at one point (he lives in san francisco). finally, jason webley got up to do his thing, a mix of gritty tom waits-ified ballads and (literally) stomping party sing-alongs. his set was especially fun for those who were tired of anal-retentive indie rocker crowds who refuse to dance--this time everyone who wasn't dancing had their arm around strangers and was swaying along to the sweet accordian love. the finale involved a group rendition (by all three players and their manager) of the monster mash. afterwards, daniel ari realized that he was stiffed a dollar by the one person who bought his record, so i gave him two from my pocket. after daniel seemed surprised, somebody commented, "that's just what accordian music does to you." yep.
check out jason's upcoming national tour, i cannot forsee disappointment.