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| From | ArthurBang2@aol.com |
| Subject | Wesley Willis 1963-2003 |
| Date | Sun, 24 Aug 2003 00:53:59 -0400 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: WESLEY WILLIS 1963-2003
A letter from one of his biggest fans, Jello Biafra:
We lost Wesley Willis some time before 9PM Chicago time August 21,
2003. Word is he died peacefully. The likely cause may be heart
failure. Wes had been battling leukemia for less than a year.
No services are planned as of yet. There will probably be a memorial
concert, or at least a gathering in his honor in Chicago in the near
future. We will let you know.
Wesley will go down as one of the most unique songwriters and
entertainment personalities in history. His music, lyrics, drawings,
insight and the way he put them together are like no one else. Ever.
There will never be another.
As I got to know Wes, what really struck me was his sheer will power,
his unrelenting drive to succeed and over come his horrifically poor
background, child abuse, racism, chronic schizophrenia and obesity
among other things. He was the most courageous person I have ever
known.
Yet through it all he had such a deep, all-encompassing love of life.
Little things, big things. He loved bus rides. He loved watching
trains. He loved writing songs about how much he loved his friends.
He loved travelling to new towns so he could headbutt new friends. Is
there any band he saw that escaped being in their own song about how
much he loved their show? He was so warm, so sweet, so giving. He
could be a handful when he came to visit; but as soon as he left, wed
miss him immediately.
As his long time friend Dennis Cooper said, "No More Demons." The
voices in Wesleys head cant yell at him and put him down any more.
Wes was deeply religious. He was afraid that if he died he would no
longer get to go see bands play. If there is a hereafter I hope hes
right up front as Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, his beloved Otis
Redding and his dear friend Bradley from Sublime "storm the stage" as
the crowd "roars like a sea monster."
All opening for Wesley, of course.
It will be hard now that hes gone, but Im not going to let myself
stop enjoying the funny stuff, or the look on peoples faces when they
first hear "Rock n Roll McDonalds," or the memories of the good times
and Wesleys many adventures. He wouldnt want it any other way.
There are many down times when all I have to do is think of one of
Wess songs, something he said or simply marvel at his Wesley-isms,
and the clouds part and a smile comes to my face. I think he does
that for a lot of people. He always will.
Rock over London
Rock on Chicago
Sail on, Wes. I love you.
Jello Biafra
8-22-03
From rollingstone:
Wesley Willis Dies
Street musician was a favorite of indie rockers
Wesley Willis, the energetic 6'5", 300-pound Chicago street musician who
parlayed whimsical, spartan keyboard odes to his favorite products and indie
rock musicians into a cult following, died on Thursday night at a hospice in
Illinois; he was forty.
The garrulous rocker released more than fifty albums containing 1,000 songs
over the past decade, almost all of them set to the same hop-along pre-set
Casio beat and overlaid with his yelping, raspy vocals. According to a press
release from Alternative Tentacles, Willis was diagnosed with Chronic
Myelogenous Leukemia in late 2002 and underwent emergency surgery on June
2nd to identify the source of internal bleeding; the exact cause of his
death has not yet been determined.
Willis, who suffered from schizophrenia and was homeless for a time, was
discovered singing on the streets of Chicago in the early Nineties. He could
often be found outside venues and clubs standing behind his keyboard and
hawking ballpoint pen drawings of the city's streets, skyline and buses.
Instantly recognizable due to his size and a head of short, unkempt
dreadlocks, Willis was known for greeting fans with a hearty headbutt, which
left him with a permanent knot in the middle of his forehead. Rarely seen
without his beloved Walkman hanging from a bag stuffed with CDs around his
neck, Willis independently recorded and released dozens of tapes, many of
which he sold while braving the cold outside the defunct Lounge Ax rock
club.
His self-released 1995 album, Drag Disharmony Hell Ride, was packed with
homages to local scenesters and his favorite bands ("Veruca Salt," "Stabbing
Westward"), with Willis singing their praises in between yelps of commercial
taglines ("Budweiser, the king of beers!"), his signature phrase, "Rock over
London, rock on Chicago!" and lots of lyrics about whupping ass.
The ultimate outsider artist, Willis was embraced by such stars of the
city's rock community as the Smashing Pumpkins, with the buzz landing him a
1996 contract with Rick Rubin's American Recordings label. Willis released
his major label debut that year, Fabian Roadwarrior, hewing closely to his
minimalist style of praising other bands ("Porno for Pyros," "Silverchair"),
while injecting some light political commentary ("Rock Saddam Hussein's
Ass") and paying tribute to the smooth-talking A&R guy who signed him to the
label, ("Dino Paredes").
A second American album, Feel the Power, was released in late 1996 and
produced by the renowned Dust Brothers (Beastie Boys), though it bore little
of their influence and was packed with more tributes to his heroes ("Alice
in Chains," "Ice Cube"), as well as a few songs that dealt with his code
word for his schizophrenic episodes, which he called "hell rides." The
attention resulted in a profile on MTV that year, though Willis was soon
dropped due to poor sales. He was back in Chicago later that year working
with his short lived band, the Wesley Willis Fiasco, and was again releasing
his albums on indie labels.
"Wesley will go down as one of the most unique songwriters and entertainment
personalities in history," former Dead Kennedy's frontman Jello Biafra said
in a statement. "His music, lyrics, drawings, insight and the way he put
them together are like no one else. There will never be another. As I got to
know Wes, what really struck me was his sheer will power, his unrelenting
drive to succeed and overcome his horrifically poor background, child abuse,
racism, chronic schizophrenia and obesity among other things. He was the
most courageous person I have ever known."
A compilation album, Greatest Hits, Volume 3, is slated for release on
Alternative Tentacles in October.
GIL KAUFMAN
(August 22, 2003)
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