WWJKD: Seattle’s film and music scenes turn out to roast James Keblas

The Roast of James Keblas, the former director of the Seattle Office of Film and Music, had an auspicious start. The Showbox felt at first like a networking mixer, with people exchanging business cards and pitching their startups to strangers. Chatter was heard over the Master of Ceremonies, KEXP DJ Riz Rollins. He sounded frustrated when he began by asking if there were any other gay people in the crowd, and when the response was tepid, told the crowd he was getting an “Arizona” vibe from them and vowed to “convert a few of you motherfuckers.”

But eventually the cocktail chatter tailed off and the roast of Keblas began. He was given a crown and cape, before being escorted to his chair on stage at the Showbox. He removed only the latter. It was a roast, with VIPs from the Seattle arts community alternating between insults and heartfelt adoration for Keblas. Filmmaker Megan Griffiths did a karaoke performance of Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory.”

Keblas has a strong legacy and many accomplishments from his tenure that lasted 9 years (first being appointed by Mayor Greg Nickels), so it is easy to see why he is so beloved in Seattle. The City of Music campaign expanded the influence of Seattle music by making it be heard in places like the SeaTac Airport, and he gets a lot of credit for the $25 a day film permit standard (though his predecessor as the Mayor’s Film Office, Donna James, and Keblas, both noted happened under her watch).

A foundation was setup and announced at the roast. Called “The James Keblas Foundation,” in-person donations of $25 or more were rewarded with “What Would Keblas Do?” bracelets.

Ben London, the former chapter president of the Grammys, got in the first barb that made the crowd feel taken aback (in a good way) when he said, “They say it burns to get fired, but now you know how your ex-wife feels.” It may have been the first really pointed zinger, but it was far from the last.

Megan Jasper, vice president of Sub Pop Records, played the part usually reserved for Gilbert Gottfried at roasts. She had plenty of raunchy jokes. She was audacious and hilarious. For me, the most memorable one-liner was when she said “James thought SIFF was short for syphilis.” She also said that the perception was that Keblas, a founder of the Vera Project, didn’t have the same background in film as he did in music, but that that wasn’t true. She said, “James actually has a lot of experience in film… He did a fabulous job in Weapons of Ass Destruction, and who could forget Rumpled Foreskin?”

Videos were interspersed, continuing the theme of the roast. Rollins noted that most of the people who couldn’t attend and sent videos instead were probably working on Aurora Avenue at the time. KEXP’s Tom Mara, musician John Roderick, beloved filmmaker Lynn Shelton, and Sir Mix-A-Lot roasted Keblas by video. Mix-A-Lot’s got the most traction for saying that Keblas was “officially a black man” because he was “fucked by the man.”

Former mayor Mike McGinn, whose losing 2013 campaign led (indirectly) to Keblas not being kept on, was the final “roaster.” He got in a few good lines, like saying that there were a lot of jobs in Seattle now than there were previously. He noted that Keblas “could put a pink mustache on his car” or “open a medical marijuana dispensary.” But after each job he mentioned, he said, “for now,” proving that Ed Murray’s decisive victory last November still stings and that passive aggression is still the “Seattle Way.”

One thing that was notable about the evening was that almost everyone was subject to a ribbing, save for Kate Becker, who succeeded Keblas as director of the Office of Film and Music. Also, I think a reason that the Seattle film community has been so vocal about their disappointment of Keblas’ not being retained by Mayor Murray was that Keblas proved to be an ally for the film community even though is background was in music. That is going to be one of the major challenges Becker faces in the immediate future.

There was a lot of inside baseball throughout the night. Restaurant owner and nightlife leader Dave Meinert was on the receiving end of more than a few jokes due to his public support of Murray. In his speech, Keblas wasn’t sure if Meinert was there or not, but it turned out he was seated at a table in the middle of the Showbox floor. Keblas said, “Dave Meinert had to take a bus to get here because he lost his license for being asleep at the wheel when all of this shit went down.”

James Keblas closed out his long speech (which even included a shoutout for seeing Sandrider on “Monday Night Football”) by saying people have been asking how to get ahold of him. He finished by saying they could “e-mail me at kate dot becker at Seattle dot gov. And fuck all of you.”

{Donations can be made to the James Keblas Foundation here.}

Originally published at thesunbreak.com on February 27, 2014.