It occurs each time Hamell swings through DC. I’m imploring my friends, “You gotta go see this guy…” and I find myself trying to sum up the experience—and invariably I’m falling short. Is it a night of music, or comedy, or something in the middle? I can’t say for certain and the 25 or so times I’ve seen Ed live (and ran lights for him—twice!) aren’t helping a bit. I DO know I’ve laughed myself to tears and went home with a tune wedged in my head. So, that’s a solid night out, I’m thinking.
Last year when Hamell was in DC I asked him if he could sum up his show and he took a stab at it for TVD. But whether or not he himself gets it right—would it kill ya to come out? Yea, I didn’t think so.
“TVD’s asked me to blog a bit as to what you can expect to see if you were to choose to see my show. Hell if I know. First of all why are you reading this? Do you have too much time on your hands? Are you scrutinizing each and every blog by each and every fringe act? Are you familiar with my work and wanna see what kind of wackiness I’m gonna write? I’ll give you some basics and I’ll shoot from the hip.
It’s a one man show, pretty biographical, got a lot of hard hitting music, a bunch of social commentary, and you should, if all goes well, be pretty entertained, challenged and laugh your ass off. It’s a reality show. Not like the ones on TV that are scripted and insult your intelligence. I’ll respect your intelligence and tell you the truth, albeit in a humorous way.
I’ve been kicking around doing my potty mouth anarchistic folk punk for about 10 years and decided a couple years ago that I would script and mold it into a more theatrical setting. Hired a really great director, Kate Valentine who was a heavy hitter in the New York City Art/Burlesque scene and signed onto new management, “The Invasion Group” who brought the world the great comic genius Bill Hicks. My good buddy Ani DiFranco produced the entire venture and we brought our show over to Scotland for The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest in the world. I was honored to have won the coveted Herald Angel Award. Three thousand acts and they only pass out seven of those babies so it was extremely flattering.
Now we tour the States and Europe with the production and we’ll be bringing it to Washington. Looking forward to it. But the real deal is as follows: Opening night will be a fair showing. How big is the venue? 120 seats? I’ll have 40. But those 40 will tell their friends because maybe they’re punk rockers and they respond. Or maybe they’re artists with a dream who toil away at a thankless job and they need a shot of inspiration and so they get it that night and tell their friends, “I don’t know how to explain it but you got to see this guy.” Because were you to tell me, “Hey, he’s bald, he plays the guitar like he did a kilo of Red Bull, he yells at the crowd, he’s got a foul mouth and I laughed until I pissed my pants but then he made me cry and sing songs about genitals with my parents” I don’t know that I’d be buying a ticket to wait in line either.
Or maybe you got elderly parents and you don’t know how you’re going to afford to take care of them or you just lost your job and you don’t know how you’re going to keep your house and you just want 75 minutes, (or how ever long they’re going to let me explode) to forget all your troubles. Then I’m your guy.
And you’re going to tell your friends and I can guarantee by the last night we’re gonna have a full house. Blogs ain’t gonna sell it. I could wallpaper my bathroom with 5 star reviews from the New York Times, Playboy, Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, The London Times and if truth be told that ain’t gonna sell it. Word of mouth sells it.
So…I hope you come out, I give 150% every night and I hope you spread the word. Watch the sparking demons escape from my brain.”
Hamell on Trial Tour:
November, 2011
11/5 fallFringe – Washington D.C.
Fort Fringe – The Shop 8pm
11/6 fallFringe – Washington D.C.
Fort Fringe – The Shop 7:30pm
11/11 La Vie Boheme Bistro – Oneida, NY
11/12 FUSION MUSIC & ART FESTIVAL – Syracuse, NY
11/18 fallFringe – Washington, D.C.
Fort Fringe – The Shop 11 pm
11/19 fallFringe – Washington D.C.
Fort Fringe – The Shop 7pm
11/20 fallFringe – Washington, D.C.
Fort Fringe – The Shop 11pm
11/25 Art Exhibition at THE VAULT – BUFFALO, NY.
WEST COAST TOUR
12/2 HOTEL CAFE – LOS ANGELES, CA
12/4 HOTEL UTAH SALOON – SAN FRANCISCO, CA
12/9 THE TEMPEST LOUNGE – TACOMA, WA
12/10 GREEN FROG TAVERN – BELLINGHAM, WA
1/21 MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE – JIM THORPE, PA
1/28 WINTERFEST at ABC – HARRISBURG, PA
