It\'s that look on people\'s faces when they first discover the Fiasco that\'s really priceless.
Since the early 90\'s, Wesley Willis has been producing a lot of art. It\'s easy to argue that he is probably the most prolific artist of our time. Since he embarked on his music-making journey Wesley has continued to record multiple albums every year. When this was written Wesley told us the number of albums was at 42; he has recorded far more albums than most artists do in their entire careers. In addition to the music, he is an accomplished ink and pen artist. He\'s been known to knock out drawings by the hundreds on a yearly basis. His drawings have a style all their own with a consistent theme of Chicago cityscapes in classic perspective, almost always portraying the city\'s public transit buses.
It has been difficult for most not to come across some facet of Wesley\'s artistic trail. Wesley\'s unique energy and repertoire show patterns in the way he makes his music and art. He\'s known, first and foremost, for his signature keyboard solo recordings and a few lyrical themes in particular.
However, before ever picking up a keyboard, he recorded and released with the legendary Wesley Willis Fiasco, \"Spookydisharmonious Conflicthellride.\" Truly a classic album. He was backed by a band that belted out jams bigger than most arena rock bands. In 1995, the Skunk Records staff conceived a monster called the 3 Ring Circus Tour. This brought the Fiasco out from Chicago to play a string of dates throughout the West Coast with Sublime and Lordz of Brooklyn. A lot of lifelong fans from the extended Skunk family were earned on that tour. Sessions of sitting around and reminiscing about the days of that tour and the explosiveness of the WWF live show led to this eventual step. More or less, this disc is an audio aid for conveying the story of the Fiasco\'s brief reign.
This CD you hold in your hand encapsulates a hint of the energy from the few years the Fiasco got on stage and blew up the area. Pieced together from recordings of shows from 92-95 in Seattle, Chicago, New York, and Nebraska, this Live e.p. is a precursor to the forthcoming deluxe version reissue of \"Spookydisharmonious Conflicthellride\". The reissue contains some tracks not included on the original release along with an enhanced CD portion for your computer with a virtual Wesley Willis art gallery, live video footage, a game, and other fun.
When learning about Wesley Willis\' life as an artist, one tends to hear an honor roll of the same names coming up pretty regularly: Jello Biafra (notably responsible for helping Wesley\'s music reach a wide audience through releases on his Alternative Tentacles label), Mike Diamond, Dave Grohl, Urge Overkill, Sublime, Rick Rubin (also brought Wesley to a bigger audience through his American Recordings releases) and plenty of others. This effort by Cornerstone R.A.S. (the record label since sprouted from the roots of the Skunk Records tree) to bring the Fiasco\'s music to a wider audience serves a distinct purpose: to highlight some names on that honor roll. Dave Nooks, Brendan Murphy, Pat Barnard, and Dale Meiners --the Fiasco-- must never be forgotten.
Sadly, since the Fiasco\'s demise, Pat Barnard passed away. We miss you Pat.
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