I was a wee bit nervous at the launch of the TVD 'First Date' feature--what if I run out of new bands to highlight? Can I keep the feature consistent each week? Well, happily it turns out that there's no shortage of suitor/songwriters out there for us to 'date' once a week, and as such I've put together a mini theme week for what will ultimately be a short week here at ol' TVD. (Yep, TVD head's to Bayou Country to take in the the charms that be: New Orleans. But some more on that later...)First up - that shrinking violet JL Stiles!
"Do you really give a shit about my goddamn bio? Well, here it is: I was raised by chimpanzees and cut my teeth on the streets of Philadelphia, belting it out in the subways, living for a dream, laying it all on the line, yeah! Then I moved to New Orleans where I became immersed in Mathematics, had sex with the students I was a TA for and got kicked out due to sloth, pot-smoking and opium consumption, while playing the underground scene like a spring of fresh water up-welling into the madness. The madness! After that I moved to SF and opportunistically crashed in on a friend whose chick had just left him. His chick left and he got me, a slovenly and inconsiderate egomaniacal asshole. Then the voice of God came to me and I wrote the best fucking songs ever.
"Love's lost and they say it's a waste but I'm never gonna throw it away. That's my downfall, in everything and the source of my euphoria with music and everything else. Nowadays I'm doing a show at Cafe du Nord in SF October 21, for Cindy Sheehan's campaign against Nancy "five facelifts" Pelosi for congress in SF. SF people don't know they can actually vote Nancy out for a true progressive. Perhaps they know but Cindy just doesn't fit the frame of a politician. Anyway, Nancy's Bush's best ally in disguise, which is why Sheehan got so pissed that she moved to SF to take Nancy on, perhaps fruitlessly. But I don't give a shit about barking up the wrong tree.
So enough about politics. The less my shows and music are about me, the better. That pretty much sums it all up. We all only want to get a chunk of inspiration and joy and that's why I do music. It's an opportunity for me to be that chunk and for that, it's actually worth being here.
Oh, shit, almost forgot: Thanks for TVD for putting a raving idiot on here. You guys must be real schmucks. Kudos!"
Best,
JL
JL Stiles - Renewal Song (Solo Stiles Off 'Solo Sessions')(Mp3)
JL Stiles - Still Without You (Unreleased off Landmark EP 2008) (Mp3)
JL Stiles - Rushing For The Gates (Unreleased of The Landmark EP 2008) (Mp3)
