Shine Music Project is Born Under a Good Sign: Brandon Wisely & Johndus Beckman Revive An Andrew Wood Demo as a Special Holiday Toast!

Poor little Capricorn, it's not his fault Mercury is in retrograde with Pluto!

Born under a good sign my ass, every Capricorn I know is fighting their demon this year, so far we're blaming that yellow bastard Pluto. Capricorns just can't seem to get a break or want to give themselves a break. See more in our astrology blog tonight at 6! 

All joking aside, last night Seattle and everyone watching our live stream got an early Christmas present, and got treated to a cover of an unreleased demo of Andrew Wood's, "Shame on the Farm." I always loved the song. I remember exactly where we were when he wrote it and it would pop in my head now and then. So after hearing it for the first time in years on a bootleg youtube video, I knew I also had for the first time in 23 years happened to have recently met the perfect guys to cover the song. 

Classic Northwest boys, Rock and Roll fantasies begin and end 

and where you're most at home, in their case the forests of Seattle 

Brandon Wisely has been the front man for several great Seattle bands. In the year that I got to see him sing, he was the front man for Black Diamond. He's so professional and classy when he performs. I remember the night they played at Seattle's Sunset Tavern -- it was getting really hot inside, and we were all regretting wearing jackets. Brandon probably did too, but as he waited to go on stage, you could practically hear him thinking "I said I'd wear this velvet coat, and I'm wearing it, even if I'm drenched with sweat." It was so endearing, and totally reminded me of something Andy would do. 

Yes, Black Diamond was a lot of fun. Some of Seattle's die hard fans will welcome and anxiously await a reunion show the many friends who are musicians will make, and singers' heads spin at the choices of great projects though, so we expect to hear something great out of all of them individually real soon! 

This year the two of them got together to bring this Andrew Wood favorite back to life. Like I said, once I heard it, and had recently met and got to spend some time around both Brandon's bands, and Johndus's band The Mothership, and after seeing a few acoustic shows of both of theirs, I knew they were the guys.

Post Grunge Brothers in Arms 

Brandon Wisely and Johndus Beckman

Brandon reminds me of the side of Andy that was all about his performance. He cared how he looked, sounded, and most of all the fans. It was the people in the non-existing balcony that were important. 

Johndus Beckman and Troy Lambert jamming at Troy's birthday party 

Johndus is most definitely like Andy in his writing and storytelling style of writing, and like I said, like Andy, was also born under Capricorn, and could be a very bad monkey at times! But when he sang, it was hard to stay mad at him. Johndus has the same affect on people. 

Brandon and Johndus performing "Shame on the Farm" 

This comes at a special time since we have formally licensed Shine Music Project as a non-profit and have already started accepting offers of instruments for kids, with a goal of someday opening up a West Seattle School of Rock, so thank you boys -- I'm sure this gesture from both of you will be a very rewarding moment you can look back on in your life, as well as influencing future musicians. Let the gift of music lift our spirits now and throughout the new year! 

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