Seastorm.com

Summary for 2013

On July 11, 2013, Chris turned 60 years old. For his 60th birthday, he arranged a rock show featuring sets performed by each of his bands and side projects over the years. At the same time, Seattle label "Sub Pop" celebrated what they called their "Silver Jubilee" - their 25th year anniversary, possibly with a nod to Susan Silver. Between July 12 and September 4, 2013 I researched and wrote an article about Chris' band The Untouchables/Napalm Beach called "Introducing the Band that Taught Seattle to Rock." In the course of doing this research, I discovered a number of troubling anomalies with Chris Newman's career, specifically coordinated patterns of blacklisting and theft. Most of the correspondence this year was my inquiries to others involved in the regional music business having to do with these issues. Although none of the stories or explanations that I was told by others really added up, I didn't yet understand that there had been a coordinated conspiracy of deliberate blacklisting and exploitation, or that those whom we thought to be friends in confidants actually had befriended us for the specific purpose of deceit. How I experienced this was a sense of deep betrayal from those whom I had built relationships of apparently common interests and I thought common goals and mutual trust.