A few years ago I noticed a West Seattle Blog post about an event called West Seattle Soul at The Parliament Tavern. What? I thought. Who are these people with soul? I noticed a musician friend Bill Wolford posting Facebook notices about their shows, then I started meeting other musicians who mentioned playing with the band. One of these people was drummer Ollie Klomp. I told Ollie that I love to photograph drummers and I didn’t have any of him. Of course, he brought up West Seattle Soul - coincidentally on the same day, I met Maurice Caldwell Jr., who shared that he was their singer. I kept seeing photos posted of large crowds dancing. This is a strange phenomenon to me. No one dances at Seattle shows! All right, this band is circling around my orbit.
I finally made it to their last show of 2019. For the last two years they’ve been filling The Parliament, one of a handful of live music venues in Seattle - Thank you Tom Langen. The band is called The Pulsations, and it was started two years ago by Wolford, Klomp, and Tige DeCoster with a rotating cast of Seattle’s best musicians, which includes the vocals of Maurice Caldwell, Jr. They play for West Seattle Soul the first Thursday of every month.
I’ve photographed at The Parliament before and expected to be greeted by red lighting, so I brought a prime lens that’s happy in low light. The downside is it requires moving to a position for the shot. The crowd was kind and often asked if I wanted to move up front. Sometimes, I shook my head no, and other times I obliged. Everyone was having a great time. It was all about the music. Where am I? Is this really a Seattle crowd? I loved it! While I didn’t get the full band shot that I wanted, there were up to fifteen people on the stage, I did manage some nice portraits and group photos. I also got my first shot of Ollie playing. I will see you all again, West Seattle Soul, in 2020 and I will get my full group shot. Plus, I need to work off all that Christmas cheer on January 2, 2020.
