Wesley Willis R.I.P.

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this is like attack of mentalist novelty rockers.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:24 (twenty years ago) link

no one is condemning your dead genius!

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:25 (twenty years ago) link

Actually, I'm more in agreement with jess and amt about whether critical opinions should be offered on this thread. I just think he's being a c*nt about it.

― J (Jay), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:26 (twenty years ago) link

just let it go dude!

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:27 (twenty years ago) link

it's gone.

― J (Jay), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:28 (twenty years ago) link

also i know wesley could be really nice but something about the "ah wesley floating in the sky, so sweet, so soft" (a perhaps-unfair exaggeration for effect) strikes me as condescending. just how my friend's down-syndrome son is taken to be super-sweet and friendly when he is being nice and beneficent and the minute he acts up or starts freaking out it's the syndrome acting through him. the mentally ill should not be supposed to be cut off from their anger.

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:30 (twenty years ago) link

ok never mind that post i've instantly regretted making it.

sorry...

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:30 (twenty years ago) link

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

― chaki (chaki), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:36 (twenty years ago) link

Wesley is now head-butting God. Chicago is a colder town w/o him.

It pays to discover.

RIP.

― nonthings (nonthings), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:39 (twenty years ago) link

Personally, I feel you should say what you feel about Wesley. This is a celebration of his life, only, not. And his art was a part of his life... like it or not. I don't find anything really offensive, unless the message includes any of these:

OTM
grebt
"something something in something, shockah!"
or "x-post"

Then I get offended.

― David Allen, Friday, 22 August 2003 21:49 (twenty years ago) link

this is really turning into everybody's soapbox thread for some reason

― s1utsky (slutsky), Friday, 22 August 2003 21:56 (twenty years ago) link

michael medved to thread!

― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 22 August 2003 22:07 (twenty years ago) link

why are "x-post", "otm", or "grebt" offensive?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 22 August 2003 22:24 (twenty years ago) link

shit. i booked him for a show a long time ago. he was a really nice dude. RIP wesley.

― geeta, Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:13 (twenty years ago) link

This thread is going on the reel.

― dleone (dleone), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:29 (twenty years ago) link

so from ive gathered he seems to have been upheld as a sort of trophy victory for indie white supremicism??

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:44 (twenty years ago) link

For what it´s worth, if someone´s to have a derisive and ill-meaning attitude towards something so harmless, that someone´s a pretty sordid motherfucker any way you cut it. I can honestly say Wesley´s music made me laugh WITH him, and not the other way around. Regardless of the whole exploitation angle, the music still cheered me up, because underneath it all, (WAIT FOR IT) HIS motives were fuckin´ pure, maaaan.

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link

'we found an insane black guy to care about 'rock' and we call him a 'singer-songwriter'!! dont worry though hes not TOO white, he still sings about crazy shit and is stupider than us so we can dehumanize him!!' seriously all the RIPs in this thread make him sound like a fucking household pet or something

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:52 (twenty years ago) link

xpost, which has only added to the list...'and his motives were so PURE!! theyre such a simple people, maybe we could learn something from them....'

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 01:54 (twenty years ago) link

'His songs were simultaneously disturbing, hilarious, blunt, and intoxicating.' = 'we actually really could not think of one word to descibe him that isnt a racist noble savage-ism'

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 02:01 (twenty years ago) link

trife you have Punk'd this thread

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 23 August 2003 02:23 (twenty years ago) link

what does that mean?? btw i mean no disrespect to wesley willis, who ive never heard, but fuck the industry and his point-and-laugh 'fans'

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 02:32 (twenty years ago) link

god damn, trife. what do you want people to say? what is so wrong with rip? there are people on this thread who met wesley and truly liked him as a fucking person. god. i dont even know what to say, so i will say R.I.P. his music brightened my day numerous times, so thats what i owe him.

― todd swiss (eliti), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:05 (twenty years ago) link

yeah i didnt mean to sound so confrontational to ppl on this thread, im truly sorry if i did, and i wouldnt have said anything if the debate hadnt already been sparked by the iron man/dr doom teamup of jess and amateurist, but the exploitational and condescending bullshit surrounding wesley willis is here in full effect and its something that bothers me more than almost any other specific issue within modern music, and especially the tenets of 'indie music' which i generally find to be simply boring and harmlessly ascetic but, with wesley willis, crossed the line to actively harmful

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:15 (twenty years ago) link

i think i misused 'tenets' there, i was trying to say its their steez

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:19 (twenty years ago) link

trife you're the most condescending person on this thread!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:20 (twenty years ago) link

blount you did see that this thread has jello biafra saying mentally ill ppl are 'courageous', right??

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:23 (twenty years ago) link

the horror!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:26 (twenty years ago) link

no i meant what i said about being sorry for bumrushing it like that, i really am!! i was sorta on autopilot but it is kinda sickening to see all the 'he was truly punk rock with his fat black crazy lyrics!! hes headbutting up in heaven now' posts though

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:26 (twenty years ago) link

who used the phrase "fat black crazy"?

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:27 (twenty years ago) link

when i played the the dude,his manager/caretaker seemed to genuely respect and care for him, and the crowd at the show seemed to not be the slightest cruel,but i dont know,maybe that was my perception.im not denying that theres a certain level of explotation on wesley,but if he wasnt doing music,he probably would of remained homeless for his entire life.when its all said and done,i think that doing music did a lot more good than harm for the man.

― juiceboxxx (juiceboxxx), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:28 (twenty years ago) link

i mean im saddened that he died, and that his life was considered a cruel joke to so many ppl, im not going to paint the fans on this thread with that brush but blount if you want to go into defending the conceptions about race, obesity, and mental illness, that created the cult of wesley willis, please do

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:29 (twenty years ago) link

I mean the sentiments on this thread don't seem any more or less condescending than on any other RIP, with the exception of a handful of posters who think that to acknowledge the mentally ill at all it inevitably involves condescension (see also: indie rock's attitude toward black culture - 'we don't wanna be disrespectful so it's best to just not engage at all')

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:30 (twenty years ago) link

no i agree totally, ive got a lot of baggage coming into this thread and im probably talking about things that arent actually explicitly said here

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:33 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, I mean there's enough bullshit around here to get riled up about for people to get so angry about people saying RIP.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:38 (twenty years ago) link

hey blount did i email you last night? i emailed MARCELLO for some reason!!

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:41 (twenty years ago) link

haha - why in god's name would you do that???

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:43 (twenty years ago) link

haha - I once wrote something in flagpole comparing momus and wesley willis (I once also wrote a feature on willis I wince at now, particularly since parts of it confirm in the worst way some of your accusations)(ie. I quote fucking Macbeth)

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:45 (twenty years ago) link

blount please stop me from quoting faulkner in my bubba sparxxx feature

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:47 (twenty years ago) link

haha - "madam, I was the corncob"

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:51 (twenty years ago) link

bubba is a kinda wesley willis-style novelty for black ppl, especially in atl

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:58 (twenty years ago) link

dont fuck with that faulknerian idiot manchild when he gets to doing his hillbilly dance!!

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 03:58 (twenty years ago) link

sorry i just realized that sweeping generalization is based on only one person, though in the rap game he still is sorta a joke

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 04:01 (twenty years ago) link

also black ppl, when not taking bubba sparxxx seriously, drive a car like THIS

― trife (simon_tr), Saturday, 23 August 2003 04:01 (twenty years ago) link

women be shopping!

― cinniblount (James Blount), Saturday, 23 August 2003 04:03 (twenty years ago) link

RIP vs. critical discussion = dumbest argument in ILM history

― some guy, Saturday, 23 August 2003 18:20 (twenty years ago) link

the anonymous pussbag has spoken, folx. nothing more to see here.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 23 August 2003 18:34 (twenty years ago) link

This thread has destroyed some of the last shreds of respect I might have had for a couple of you people. God fucking damn it.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Saturday, 23 August 2003 20:38 (twenty years ago) link

we bleed.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 23 August 2003 22:12 (twenty years ago) link

Did your mother give birth to all fuckwits Jess, or just you?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Saturday, 23 August 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link

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