she may be batshit crazy but she is also HOT!

Seems like coming up with false pretenses to interview someone in their home (to talk about home recording, supposedly) and then writing a full-page article is not only shitty journalism, but just plain shitty. Are you in the running for "Designing a Nervous Breakdown, Part Two", Grandy?

Woah, there, "friend." First of all, there were no false pretenses; I wanted to get the fullest possible picture of Spiess' life and music, and she suggested that seeing where she does all her recording might be helpful (and we did talk about home recording—it's in the full interview). Secondly, the details described in the story aren't being used for or against anyone, they're just part of that picture (like her choice of tea or cigarette).

Oh, and the title is a reference to the album of the same name by the Anniversary and meant to allude to the tension between honest confession and self-mythologizing that exists in any such personal artistry.

hey everyone.

this is jamie. i'm thankful for the honest article by grandy, and hoping it will help close the book on that hard chapter of my life, i know that it would be easy for someone to take that interview in a far different direction that wouldn't have been ideal. . . although i disagree with the "batshit crazy" comment, yes, it has been a crazy period in my life....but i can tell you i know a lot of people who are going through similar experiences and i would rather have gone through this now so that i can have a better future and learn from the jolts life can throw, and use it as material in music to separate myself from it, and also gain appreciation for the many many GOOD thing in my life. i hope that people will just see that i am a regular person who is a bit sensitive, writing songs about my life, for myself, and if it can help you or if it resonates with a chapter in your life, then i am thankful for that.

other than that, i'm just doing the best i can guys, and i hope you are doing the best you can at living your life and making what you make.

nope, forgive me, now i have commented twice.

sorry. not smart with the internet world.

haha you're the best.
let's get pho soon.

Jamie Spiess is one of the most unspeakably talented musicians I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. Her lyrics are extremely thought provoking and her vocals are more soulfully saturated with true emotion than nearly anything you'll hear on mainstream radio in today's shallow market.

To people who don't understand the deepness and the beauty of Jamie's music, or this article, it's your own loss.. but don't come on to comment boards and be asses about it like this just because you have nothing better to do with your time. And you certainly shouldn't expect the real fans to sit back politely and take it.

Grow the hell up already.

Kindly,

Serena Matthews
Nashville, TN.

No More GRANDY

if anything, Grandy's article was TOO respectful. Jamie is by all accounts a nice lady, but her music is astoundingly banal, full of insipid gestures like singing the last verse acapella for "dramatic effect", yet ultimately ineffective because of the songs' lack of substance musically & lyrically. It's great if it helps her through her hard times, and I wish her all the best, but there's no reason for the rest of us to endure it out of sympathy.

This is the best profile I've read on one of the most intriguing artists we have making music in Seattle. Bless you, Damien (once more), for helping Jamie, and bless you, Eric, for bringing us as deeply into HLYW's world as much as her songs do.

It sounds like Jamie yearns for the normal life of Woodland as opposed to the heroin addicted schizoid crowd she's used to being around in Seattle for the past 5 years. Good luck Jamie, you won't find happiness in this city.

Phil Mickelson just sunk the putt on 18 to win it all. That reminded me of Grandy.

Grandy is like Phil Mickelson. A winner.

Go Grandy! Woot Woot!

it's honestly sad that society has conditioned us to the point where a phrase like "batshit crazy" is automatically interpreted as a pejorative.

I'd love to meet you some day Jamie. I thought the article was beautiful and really made me feel something. I hope to hear your music sometime as well. I've written songs as therapy before, I get that. Not a hint of crazy to me. jml is a wonderful soul. I'm glad your paths have crossed

Thanks for the honest article Grandy

Life is substance. Keep pouring your life out through your heart Jamie, some of us need to hear it. Miss buying bread from you though.

My jury is still out about her. I saw her once when she used to play on 15th street w/ Throw me the statue. All the songs were about how she wanted to break up with her ex, but was too passive to do it. I'm pretty sure the dude was in the room. Pretty bizarre considering the name of the project.

It kind of reminded me of that old SNL sketch where a guy with a harmonica asks a guitar player if he could jam with him. As he starts to, the guitar player starts singing about how he wished the harmonica player would just go away. When the harmonica player says he could leave if the guitar player wanted, the strummer says "Oh no, that was just art. We have good chemistry. Let's keep playing!" So they do, and the guitar player starts singing about how he hates the harmonica, and wishes the guy would just go away, how the song is not a joke, and is even thinking murderous thoughts about him.

Jamie's songs remind me of that sketch. Is it art? Eh.....mmmmmaybe.

I'm probably too old, and still resent the Eliot Smith formula since his suicide.

From my perspective the crowd really warmed up to Jamie the time I saw her at Q, you could feel the resonance building. My experience was marred only by an ex trailing me there uninvited, wtf. Funny that someone here mentioned Elliot Smith. Jamie's voice makes me think of his in a way, and as a harmonica player I have to thank her for turning me on to him. I know from DL Bakery she's an awesome baker but I hope she keeps writing and singing... Go Jamie!

songs about wanting to break up? that is funny, have you ever heard any of my songs? i have never written a song about breaking up.......and i have never played on 15th?

nice try though, asshole.