Music|The musician who plays at the Runeberg statue every day received a surprising invitation from actor-singer Jared Leto.
Such street musician by day John Westmoreland38, would never have known how to wait.
The singer-songwriter, who has been entertaining the people of Helsinki for a long time with his music, unexpectedly ended up playing at the Helsinki Ice Hall for the concert of the American band 30 Seconds to Mars on Tuesday evening.
This would not have happened if the American musician living in Finland had not gone to play at Esplanadi park in Helsinki once again. Westmoreland has been playing his regular spot at the Runeberg statue almost every day for the past few months. Only on rainy days has he stayed away.
Just as he was gathering his things and about to take a short break from playing, a man from elsewhere approached him. The man began to praise Westmoreland’s singing voice and the music she played. It turned out that the unknown man was also American and from Los Angeles.
“I told him that I was from North Carolina and what I was doing in Finland. He said he was the manager of the group of artists performing at Jäähalli that evening. I may have heard of Jäähalli, but I didn’t know what kind of events are organized there. I thought it could be a small club,” says Westmoreland.
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“I hadn’t heard any of their songs.”
Next he asked what band the man managed.
30 Seconds to Mars didn’t sound familiar to Westmoreland. He admits that he is not always very well informed about the popular music at any given time. Next, the manager asked if Westmoreland would like to come to the gig that evening.
“It’s quite tiring playing outside, and I knew I’d be doing it for a few more hours after the break. I told that I have a 6-month-old child at home, and I don’t know if I can come. I promised to send a message to him if I could come.”
During his break, Westmoreland began to study the man’s Instagram account and get to know more about the band he manages.
“Okay, looks like a pretty popular band, quite a lot of followers too, I thought. And that one guy looks a lot like an actor Jared Letolta”, Westmoreland times.
“I realized that it’s a pretty big show and a popular band.”
Jared Leto is not only a well-known Hollywood actor, but also the singer and frontman of the band 30 Seconds to Mars.
Westmoreland sent the manager a message and said he was interested in coming to the gig. After that, he went back to the statue to play, and suddenly he saw Jared Leto appear.
“He stopped in front of me and listened to my call. We started talking, he was very friendly. He said that the band has a gig in the evening and he would like me to come and play with them.”
Westmoreland agreed, although at that point he had no idea what was expected of him. What should he do in the evening? What would he come to play?
At 6:45 p.m., a message came in which told which song Westmoreland should perform with the band.
It would be The Killone of the band’s most famous songs.
“I didn’t know the song. I hadn’t heard any of their songs,” says Westmoreland.
He started listening to the song on the bus on the way to Jäähalli. He admits he was a little nervous. Once there at the venue, Westmoreland went over the course and arrangements of the evening with the musical director. It calmed me down. He finally knew what was expected of him and what he had to do.
“I’ve been on stage a lot as a musician, but I’ve never performed with such a big and popular band in front of such a big audience.”
When Jared Leto introduced Westmoreland to the audience and told the story of how he had fallen in love with her playing in the middle of a park in Helsinki, the audience burst into loud cheers.
Westmoreland came to Finland for the first time in 2018 to research his roots and distant relatives T-Bone Slimiä. T-Bone Slim (1882–1942) was a Finnish-American drifter, poet, activist and songwriter, real name Matti Valentin Huhta. Playing blues, rock and folk, Westmoreland became interested in discovering his roots while making his debut album Cast Fire (2019).
He has previously written about Westmoreland’s expedition to Finland Soundi magazine.
In the same year, Westmoreland met a rapper To Palefacewho coincidentally was currently translating T-Bone’s most famous song into Finnish Popular Wobbly!
Westmoreland ended up playing his first gig in Finland with Paleface.
Since then, Westmoreland has visited Finland often. He calculates that he has lived here for a total of two years. Today he has a Finnish girlfriend.
He also has an album with T-Bone Slim’s lyrics ready to be released.
It’s hard to fit Westmoreland into the mold of just a busker.
“I play in concert halls, on the street, wherever people want to listen to me and I can support myself. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow I will play again on the statue and then I will take a little break. I hope there will be indoor gigs as well.”