Slats, longtime Seattle musician and Capitol Hill denizen, has died | Arts & Culture

Found out through several friends this morning that longtime Seattle musician and Capitol Hill denizen, Slats (aka Chris Harvey), died this weekend, reportedly from cancer.

Best known for his work with '80s punk trope the Silly Killers and their resulting (and, in recent years, increasingly sought after) 7" single, "Knife Manual", he also played in the past decade with local band, Pain Cocktail.

With his ever-present black bolero hat, whippet-thin build and slightly comical visage, he was a familiar and ambling sight to Hill dwellers and stories of both his kindness and his authenticity (a word frequently bandied about, but in this case, apt) are stuff of Seattle lore.

I never met him and despite our mutual friends and acquaintances, I won't ask anyone for a quote: when my partner died in a public fashion five months ago, nearly every media outlet in town called and asked me to comment on his death and it merely compounded the horror of losing the person closest to me.

So I can't do the same to others. But I do wish all of Slats' loved ones whatever peace they can find in the midst of their grief.

Photo courtesy El Mendez via Gridskipper.