Two of the city’s better-known hip-hop acts are ending their careers this weekend, sort of.
Mash Hall, formerly They Live!, is playing what is being billed as “The Last Mash Hall Show?” at Columbia City Theater Friday night. The group will perform both its records, The Dro Bots Saga and They La Soul, in full at the show. And in case you’re curious, that question mark isn’t a typo. I asked Mash Hall’s Gatsby about the show a few weeks ago and wrote about it on Seattle Weekly’s Reverb blog and he had this to say:
“We are retiring like Too Short and Jay-Z. Like Ted Leo, like 50 Cent when he lost to Kanye.”
That response likely means Mash Hall isn’t 100 percent dead, although it’s likely the group will be going on one of those indefinite hiatuses that seem to be ever so popular nowadays. So if you want to see Mash Hall I highly recommend checking out Friday’s show ($7, 8 p.m.) because there’s no telling if you’ll get the chance to see them again.
The other hip-hop obituary is a bit more definite.
I’ve written about Victor Shade several times in the past so if you’ve been reading Guerrilla Candy you’re likely familiar with the superhero alter ego of Ra Scion. The final (without a question mark) Victor Shade show will happen Saturday night at the Vera Project and it will be a benefit for the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. Victor Shade’s backstory, which is detailed in the press release below (full disclosure: I wrote the press release), is the reason the Youth Suicide Prevention Program was chosen as a beneficiary.
Back in the days when I went by the name Ear Candy I was fortunate enough to host the debut of Victor Shade at the High Dive. I was also lucky enough to host a show featuring They Live! so these are two artists I pay close attention to and greatly enjoy.
On a related note, you don’t do what I do for as long as I’ve been doing it without making a few friends with some of the musicians you write about and I consider both the Ryan Abeo (Ra Scion) and Larry (Gatsby) to be friends. While I am definitely bummed these chapters of their careers are ending, I am very happy and excited for them to begin pursuing new outlets and I’m very much looking forward to the new art they create.
I rarely copy/paste press releases and try to pass them off as news items, but since I wrote this particular press release I don’t feel too bad about sharing it in full. So here are the full details of I Sing of Arms and Heroes: A benefit for the Youth Suicide Prevention Program:
Like any great superhero “origin story”, the tale of Victor Shade begins with tragedy (Shade is the latest artistic endeavor for RA Scion of Common Market). And, like any great superhero, RA Scion is fighting to prevent similar tragedy from impacting the lives of others.
On Oct. 30, 2010 at Seattle Center’s Vera Project, Victor Shade will headline I Sing of Arms and Heroes, a benefit for the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. Joining Victor Shade on the bill will be some of Seattle’s finest young MCs including Grynch, Sol and Militant Child; rounding out the bill is ska revivalist act Kind of Blind. The All-Hallows-Eve celebration will be hosted by 2010 Olympic medalist J.R. Celski, complete with full-on costume contest awarding a free Champion Party Supply costume rental as Grand Prize. Champion Party Supply will honor the event by featuring a Superhero section in their Queen Anne store beginning Oct. 1. Other sponsors include KEXP, Theo Chocolates and Jones Soda.
Youth suicide prevention is a cause close to the heart of Victor Shade, also known as Ryan Abeo. Abeo’s life was profoundly affected by the suicidal death of his father, and again with the death of his 26-year-old brother-in-law, Jimmy. Before his death, Jimmy, an avid comic book collector, thoughtfully assigned superhero identities to friends and relatives. Jimmy’s hope was that his family would look deep into this effort to find their own “inner hero.” Abeo did just that; research into The Vision, the character ascribed to Abeo, led to the development of Victor Shade, known in the Marvel Universe as The Vision’s alter ego.
Youth suicide is an issue that affects hundreds of families each year in Washington State. Statistically, an average of two young people between the ages of 13 and 24 die of suicide every week. A recent survey indicated one-in-ten high school students reported attempting suicide, and nearly one-in-four had seriously considered taking their own life. All proceeds from I Sing of Arms and Heroes will benefit the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. For more information about youth suicide prevention visit: www.yspp.org
Advance tickets are $10, available at ticketweb here. Attendees in costume get $4 off admission; an additional $1 discount applies is offered with a receipt from Champion Party Supply.
