August 28, 2025
Hello, dear readers.
Some tough news, that is probably not news to most of you: Levi is moving to New York City at the end of next week.
When I was 21 and taking time off school, working as a substitute teacher and living with my parents, I decided to drive to California by myself to work on a farm. My parents, instead of asking reasonable questions like “why?”, gave me me a little folded up piece of paper that had two quotes on it, one from each of them.
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“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” - Louisa May Alcott, via my mom
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“Go west young man, and come East when you’re done” - Horace Greeley? (not sure. probably just my dad), via my dad
I tucked it into the visor in the car, and looked at it often on the drive. It’s now pinned onto the wall of my bedroom. What made that piece of paper so special to me wasn’t the quotes themselves (which, no doubt, are good), but rather the feeling that my parents trusted me. They believed that I had to go, even if they didn’t understand why. I felt loved.
This is certainly not the same situation. Haha. First and foremost, we are not Levi’s parents. Also, he’s been planning this for a long time, and he grew up near NYC, and his family and girlfriend and many of his friends are all there, and he has an exciting job there, and most of his people from college have moved away from Chicago. And people move all the time, especially after they graduate college. So of course, it makes sense. But my instinct here is still: what are you doing, idiot.
So I’m going to dig deep and try to follow my parents’ example, and trust him. He is loved, here in Widemouth. He’s a great bass player and a brilliant writer and the funniest one of all of us by a mile1 and a generous friend and brother and boyfriend. I’m really glad we recorded the album before he left, because he’s all over it; some of my favorite songs of ours are written by or with Levi. We won’t be the same band without him. But we trust him, and New York City should be excited about acquiring a fine new specimen.
He was going to leave on September 1st, but we booked a show at Martyr’s on Saturday, September 6th, and convinced him to stay for it. So it’s our last show with Levi on bass for the foreseeable future. We’re playing last, and gonna try to have as much fun as we can.2 Tickets here. Hopefully he will feel loved. And hopefully he comes back west when he’s done.
1 There are a lot of Levi stories out there, and most of them are funny. A couple quick ones:
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We were on tour last year, on the ferry to Vinalhaven, looking out at the little islands with pine trees on them, talking about how good the air feels and the gorgeous rock formations and things of that nature. Levi gets a call from his friend Peter, picks up the phone and says “Hey Peter I’m on an idyllic ferry.”
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On our first night at the studio Indiana, Jack and Sam had spent the afternoon setting up mics and drums, and at dinner the two of them and Charles (who was hosting us) starting talking about gear. They were saying things that the four members of Widemouth could not parse at all, talking about the mics and plug-ins they liked the most, what they were saving up to buy. Levi gets his little smile he gets when he’s about to unleash something, and turns to Mak and Lily and I and goes, “yeah I just got the Blimpy-Dimpy 3000. Changed my life.” Tears were streaming down my face, I was laughing so hard. Charles, Sam, and Jack didn’t hear him, and just kept talking about gear.
2 It’s also Ur Mom’s album release show! which is very exciting. We played with them at Winnetka Music Festival last year, and they rip.
