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Openers for now-cancelled Motopony shows take action

Kelli Schaefer helped organize a benefit show at The Sunset

Dan Ray October 19, 2018
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Openers for now-cancelled Motopony shows take action October 19, 2018

Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).

Daniel Blue of Motopony on stage at The Crocodile. // Photo by Dan Ray

On October 6th, local band Motopony was pulled from its headlining slot of the same night at Tacoma venue Alma Mater due to accusations of sexual assault against former band member Terry Mattson and frontman Daniel Blue’s handling of the accusation.

Rachel Ervin, co-founder and co-director of Alma Mater, confirmed to Dan’s Tunes that Alma Mater was contacted through social media the morning of the show about the accusations. The venue spoke both with the victim of the alleged assault and with Motopony and decided it best to pull the band from the show in solidarity with victims of sexual assault.

A few days later, Motopony announced that it would be cancelling the remainder of its tour dates for 2018.

Seattle’s own Sunset Tavern was set to host the band for a two-night finale to the tour, and Adam Prairie, booker at The Sunset, in conjunction with Kelli Schaefer, who was the opener for night two, decided instead to host a benefit concert for Proper Groove, an organization that supports sexual assault survivors, on October 26th, the originally scheduled first night of the Motopony bill. Along with Shaefer, local female artists Cumulus and Whitney Ballen will perform. All ticket proceeds will be donated to Proper Groove.

Josiah Johnson, who was set to open for Motopony at each of the four California tour dates, also expressed his support for sexual assault survivors in a statement made to Dan’s Tunes:

“In a broader context, post #MeToo, I’m glad there is momentum for and honoring of people sharing their stories. I am thankful for anyone who is coming with their whole heart to do this work and looking for restorative ways that we can learn, heal, and grow together.”

Johnson added that he hopes the time and space created through the cancelling of the tour allows both the victim and the band to heal.

“As I am neither of the people involved, I cannot speak to either of their experiences. But I do have experience disregarding the feelings of others, crossing boundaries without taking the time to ask, and dismissing concerns about my behavior until I had to be confronted for it. And in those situations, the apology that the other person wanted from me I could not give right away, since my first reaction was to get defensive,” he said. “The apology that they wanted from me, I could only give after I took serious time to reflect and to feel their pain as much as I could, be humbled, and let go of saving my pride. The apology they wanted from me, I could only give sincerely after doing work to make sure I would not make that same mistake to hurt another person in that way again.

“So, in this situation with Motopony, I see a situation I relate to. And I’m glad there is slowness and space created by not doing the tour, hopefully to do the reflecting that can become growth and healing for both people.”

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Raised by a single mother in the suburbs of Detroit, Dan discovered an early passion for singing, songwriting, and the arts as a whole. She got her BA in English and music at the University of Michigan, where she reported for the school’s paper, The Michigan Daily. She worked as a Senior News Reporter on the government beat, transitioned to arts writing, and eventually became the managing editor of the social media department. She moved to Seattle in 2017. After losing her job during the COVID-19 pandemic and discouraged about the lack of press surrounding Seattle’s music scene, Dan made the decision to turn Dan’s Tunes, a fully fledged music journalism website focused on showcasing the Seattle area’s musicians, into its own startup. There’s so much music happening in the city that spawned Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix — among others — and Dan’s Tunes is determined to find and expose those outstanding acts. The goal is to have satellites in every major US city, uplifting diverse and compelling voices and helping music communities thrive. In 2020, Dan was featured in the Seattle Times’s year-end music critic poll. Other than her musical endeavors (singing, playing ukulele, and auditioning for American Idol four times before the age of 24) Ray is passionate about food and education around the American food system, and she’s also a large proponent of eliminating the stigma around mental health. Ray loves cats, especially her own, who is named Macaulay Culkin (but she’s a lady).