Author: Jon Pontrello
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Town Hall Family Concert 11/15 & spooky song for Halloween
Hi All, I’m excited to announce I’ll be performing at Town Hall in Seattle on 11/15 as part of their Saturday morning Family Concert series. The music starts at 11am. I’ll be bringing a variety of instruments, as well as sound effects to make an imaginative, engaging and memorable show for people of all ages.…
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Robert Kotta Memorial Songwriting Contest
I’m excited to announce that “The Bellwether Sheep of the Mosquito Fleet” has been awarded 2nd place in the Robert Kotta Memorial Song Writing Contest. Next Saturday, August 9th 2025, all the winners will be performing at the Port Gamble Maritime Music Festival starting at 1:45pm. The festival is free to the public. This contest…
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Roll On Kalakala on the radio!
Painting by Andy Pham at the Rabbit Box Theatre The idea to release “Roll On Kalakala” started out as a seed in the corner of my mind when I met the lyricist, Jack Broom, in late 2023 to borrow an old record while researching songs about PNW ferries. The seed blossomed into a room full…
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Roll on Kalakala!
I am excited to share “Roll On Kalakala” to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the demolition of the Kalakala. Lots of show details, articles, videos, and radio appearance info in this post! In addition to the song being available on all streaming platforms, I also made a collage/lyric video at the youtube link above…
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Two podcasts, new song release & upcoming show
In the last few weeks I’ve had two podcasts come out that feature songs I recorded about boats. The first is from the Unsolved Histories podcast that explores the story of what happen to the SS Valencia off the coast of Vancouver Island. Shortly after this 1906 tragedy, a song was written by a Seattle…
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The Bellwether Sheep of the Mosquito Fleet // Release Day!
Earlier this evening I was doing an interview on KPTZ 91.9 FM Radio Port Townsend and the guest before me was reading off the weather for the week. He mentioned that tomorrow was supposed to be windy, with gusts of 40-50mph in the strait. Kind of makes me think that maybe Billy the Bellwether Sheep…
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Seattle Times / Now & Then
A few weeks ago I met up with Clay Eals down at the Seattle ferry terminal. He is a local historian and writer for the blog “Seattle Now & Then” that appears in the Sunday edition of the Seattle Times. The story was published online via the Seattle Times yesterday, and will be in print…
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“The Bellwether Sheep and the Mosquito Fleet” / A Musical Tribute to the 120th Anniversary of the Sinking of the S.S. Clallam
50 Feet of Song present “The Bellwether Sheep of the Mosquito Fleet” for two nights at the Rabbit Box Theatre! On the morning of January 8th, 1904 the SS Clallam was making its regular stop in Seattle before departing to Victoria, BC. On this particular morning, the bellwether sheep who was responsible for leading the…
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Match Instrument to the Person & new Ribbon2Reel Session
A few weeks ago I participated in a Cut lineup where they asked a group of musicians to bring their instruments to come to the studio and lineup. The guesser would then try to choose who played what. It was a lot of fun, and a great opportunity to share some music with a new…
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Tractor Tavern show 4/11 opening for Jake Xerxes Fussell
I’m so excited to play this show. The last show I played was during the pandemic at Hotel Albatross (you can still watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/0ODKz1foo6w?feature=share) and before that I can’t remember the last show I played live solo. This is gonna be grand! I hear there are only 50 tickets left so you better…
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