My Interview with Dan Blakeslee
<- <- Ya’ll, I’m now on iTunes.
The first time I heard Dan Blakeslee play was in the Park Street T station over 8 years ago. I remember this voice reverberating around the columns. The best way I can describe his voice is it’s like standing in a field beside a train track and watching a train appear from a tunnel. It seems small but suddenly it’s beside you, forceful and loud — smooth, yet full of the places it’s been. It just so happened that I was getting married a few months later so I asked him to play a small show at my wedding and he did. We even performed a song together.
Dan is the type of person you could disregard as hipster with his beard and his plaid jacket if it weren’t for his authenticity and talent. After spending five minutes with him it’s difficult not to become enamored with his open heart. It’s a byproduct of spending the last 20 years doing something he loves.
busking -
(noun) the activity of playing music in the street or another public place for voluntary donations.
This is an extra-packed episode with music (all shortened a bit for time) and conversation about Dan’s many adventures busking in and around the subway, his/my thoughts about art school, music fundraising, beer label art, the kindness of strangers, and much more. It was really, really hard to edit our conversation down, which is why this episode is nearly 50 minutes long. Here are two of the songs you heard in the episode, the full songs via soundcloud. You can listen to Lazy Eyed Girl off of Tatnic Tails on Dan’s website www.danblakeslee.com. But while you’re over at Soundcloud, check out my profile and like, subscribe, review… every bit helps!
Guys, I’m getting closer with this whole sound thing. Fingers crossed. I know it’s awkward in places. Meh.
Episode 4 I’m sitting down with Nate Devarie, an amazing artists living in Somerville who paints about his strong and sometimes complicated relationship with religion as a gay man. Out June 10! Here’s a preview of his work:
