Musician and storyteller embraces Beacon
With a gun pressed against his ribs, John Blesso says his life flashed by in a “starry accounting.”
“In that instant, I felt unbelievable regret because I hadn’t done what I wanted to do — be some kind of performer,” he says. “I’d led a fun, interesting life on one level but never gave myself permission to go for my dream.”
The mugging spurred a move in 2013, at age 43, from Bushwick to Beacon, and the pursuit of the dream. “I’ve become a general-purpose performer in middle age,” he says. “To many of us, Beacon is like Huck Finn’s Mississippi River — a place of freedom, possibility and adventure.”
Beyond storytelling, acting in local productions, picking up the harmonica, learning to play piano and making creative wood tables and bed frames, he developed a drag act, Domina Tricks and the Hissy Fits, which doubles as a tribute to the Misfits.
Blesso blossomed nine days after arriving in the city when he discovered Beacon Music Factory, which he calls his “secular church.” Already a singer and guitarist, he wanted to learn how to play with a band. After enrolling in a three-month adult rock bootcamp, he went from strumming with friends on the beach to rocking on Ramones songs.
Now he fronts Devil Inside, an INXS tribute that will perform Friday (April 25) at Untouchable in Newburgh. From 1983 to 1990, the Australian group had eight Top 10 singles. “The younger generation has no idea who they are,” says Blesso. “I signed up to sing karaoke at Quinn’s and no one believed they were once as big as Prince and U2.”
The cover band’s alter ego, Trois Cat Sank, references a corny French joke about three drowning felines. Blesso lived in France for a few years and recruited his bandmates to don costumes and sing 1980s European pop in French.
The show also serves as a theater piece about the difficulties of being in a band. “You’re married to four people, argue all the time and have no sex,” he says.
Blesso identifies foremost as a writer. He has written a memoir and served for a spell as managing editor of the Authors Guild Bulletin, allowing him to rub elbows with Judy Blume, George Plimpton and Kurt Vonnegut.
Through the medium, he discovered storytelling, where performers get 10 minutes to tell a compelling tale onstage, sans notes (The Moth is a popular showcase). In 2019, Blesso launched a production company that merged with The Artichoke, run by Beacon resident Drew Prochaska.
Another project is a book proposal for The Art of Middle Age. It helps that he practices what he preaches. Ever since seeing piano icon Jerry Lee Lewis perform in 1985, Blesso wanted to play the 1957 hit “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” Was he too old to take up a new instrument? Not when he found out that a fellow Beacon Music Factory student learned to play bass guitar at age 62.
Last year, under the tutelage of Jennifer Justice, he learned enough boogie-woogie fundamentals in two months to perform at a recital with students still in grade school.
As he pounded out the bass lines — Blesso soloed with his right hand and put over a solid melody — Justice looked on with amusement and amazement. Pulling off a 2:41 rocker as a beginner takes stamina, and although he ran out of gas in a couple of spots, the feat was inspiring and he is still playing.
“Middle age is often associated with midlife crisis, but it’s the time to keep learning and evolve,” Blesso says. “At the end of their lives, people don’t regret the things they tried and failed — they regret the things they didn’t do at all.”
Untouchable Bar & Restaurant is located at 40 Liberty St. in Newburgh. Devil Inside and Trois Cat Sank — with Blesso, David Hollander, Chris Hutz, Dennis Ulatowski and Jeff Werner — will perform on April 25 beginning at 8 p.m.
