This story seems in our Spring Artwork + Efficiency 2025 Concern, revealed on March 5, 2025.
Last October, I purchased a ticket to a efficiency by Posies cofounder Ken Stringfellow, set to happen at an undisclosed location in Pioneer Sq.. The tickets have been offered on Eventbrite, selling his new solo album, Circuit Breaker, which the positioning describes as “a journey from deconstruction to reconstruction, from dying to life.” The promo stated: “Finally it’s an album about how we heal.”
What was he therapeutic from? Three years in the past, three ladies got here ahead to KUOW with allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to Stringfellow. The Posies broke up, and Stringfellow has largely stayed out of the general public eye ever since.
Till this tour, which, on the afternoon of October 18, I had simply purchased a ticket to attend. Inside a couple of minutes of receiving my affirmation electronic mail, I obtained an electronic mail from Stringfellow himself. “I simply noticed your ticket buy,” it began. “Having a fast take a look at your credentials, I see you’re with the press. We actually don’t want any press protection of this occasion. Would you be prepared to have a fast name with me this afternoon? It’s required for entry into the present. Let me know your quantity. Word I can’t be answering any questions that you will have as a journalist.”
Twenty minutes later, earlier than I’d had an opportunity to reply, he emailed once more: “After a stronger background verify, we determined to refund your ticket.” When my editor tried to get tickets, the identical factor occurred. Then, ticketing was abruptly shut down altogether. (Stringfellow says the present merely offered out.)
This was a primary. In all my years overlaying the humanities, I’ve by no means been barred from a efficiency I actively tried to attend. Usually talking, artists need press protection. Their livelihoods rely on it. I’ve been invited to live shows in shared homes, performs in tiny arts areas rattled by passing trains, one-woman reveals held in in any other case empty storefronts in uncool neighborhoods. Irrespective of how area of interest the scene or how bizarre it’s to elucidate why there’s a reporter at your home present.
However for his Seattle present, the Eventbrite web page included a collection of warnings: “The handle of the present is for ticketholders solely. Any sharing or posting of the handle publicly or privately with non attendees will lead to rapid expulsion with out refund. Any try and disrupt or in any other case intervene with the present will lead to rapid expulsion with out refund. Any try and attend the present with out a ticket will lead to felony trespass costs.”
The identical warnings have been pasted throughout the roughly 30 reveals and listening events on his tour, which continues into March. The promotional copy for these reveals emphasizes connections with bands like R.E.M., Large Star, and Neil Younger and guarantees to reveal audiences to Stringfellow’s “most intense and private work.”
Since Stringfellow started touring once more, extra ladies have spoken out, some for the primary time publicly, in opposition to what they allege is an ongoing sample of abuse and assault involving Stringfellow that goes again many years.
The ladies’s tales all have widespread threads—undesirable biting, pressured kissing, groping, and initiating intercourse with out consent. In that first story, KUOW interviewed three ladies about their alleged experiences with Stringfellow: They reported abusive habits inside the context of an ongoing relationship, pressured sexual encounters, and interactions that left chew marks and bruising. The allegations led Posies cofounder Jon Auer and drummer Frankie Siragusa to depart the band. Auer described Stringfellow’s habits as “disturbing” to KUOW, and Siragusa advised KUOW he didn’t need to be linked with Stringfellow shifting ahead.
Stringfellow at all times denied the allegations, however he expressed some nuanced understanding of the ladies who spoke out in 2021. “I used to be extraordinarily fortunate to marry Dominique, who’s on the identical rhythm and residing the identical sort of life, an skilled rock veteran and fearless proponent of freedom, and in our open marriage, I by no means requested myself if this sort of life might affect different folks negatively,” he stated on the time. “Clearly, it did and now that I’m conscious of it, I actually really deeply apologize to the individuals who have been affected by my habits. The one particular person liable for my selections is me.”
However whereas selling his current tour, Stringfellow has been saying one thing very completely different. He’s referred to as the ladies’s claims “fabrications,” telling Eugene Weekly that the ladies who’ve come ahead have been merely responding inappropriately to being rejected: They “developed extraordinarily unrealistic expectations of the place the relationships would go,” Stringfellow advised the paper. “They took that rejection to a really darkish and immature place and used that as a justification to harm me in return by any means vital.”
When The Stranger reached out to him for this story, he denied the allegations once more. “All of my relationships have been consensual,” he stated. “No exceptions. I used to be in an open marriage, which gave me the liberty to have these relationships. I used to be up-front with every lady about what might be anticipated from every relationship.” Stringfellow stated that he had “tons of—1000’s—of messages from these ladies that contradict straight their claims.” We invited him to share these messages however acquired no response earlier than press time.
And Stringfellow rearticulated the identical place he took in Eugene Weekly final October: that since 2021, “these ladies have been colluding to proactively publicly harass me, my spouse, pals and followers, music journalists, and different colleagues via social media.”
The ladies he’s referring to don’t see it that means. This tour raised complicated questions on what it means for an artist to attempt to come again from what might be career-ending allegations, and whether or not such a reversal is even attainable. Might he ever play a extra public, large-scale present?
“Folks Suppose Cancel Tradition Is Actual”
Just a few days after his Seattle tour cease, Stringfellow was supposed to look at one other undisclosed location in Eugene, Oregon. However on October 14, simply over per week earlier than the present, it was out of the blue canceled. An article in Eugene Weekly handled it with some skepticism, writing, “His spouse claims the venue—which he was retaining secret till showtime—is present process renovations and won’t be prepared in time. Eugene Weekly requested for the identify of the venue to confirm the knowledge, however she declined to offer it.” That very same day, eight ladies signed a joint public assertion affirming the allegations in opposition to Stringfellow: “We refuse to be silenced,” they wrote. “As a substitute, we really feel compelled to talk out in denial of his accusations and assist forestall future potential abuse. We achieve nothing by coming ahead; in truth, we consider we’re inviting additional harassment from him, however really feel strongly that we have to converse up for the sake of different ladies who’ve suffered related experiences, lest silence be an enabler.”
They got here ahead in an try and broaden consciousness of the allegations within the hopes that it will assist potential supporters of the tour “make knowledgeable choices as as to if Mr. Stringfellow is an individual whom they’re snug supporting or offering a platform to.” The Stranger spoke with 5 of the ladies who signed the general public letter after he introduced his new tour. All of them had shut relationships with Stringfellow, and whereas not all of them say they have been abused, all of them stated they noticed echoes of their very own experiences with Stringfellow and wished to make different ladies with related experiences really feel protected coming ahead.
Among the ladies shared what they described as sudden, aggressive encounters, like Katherine Mengardon. She met Stringfellow in 1994 when she went to a Posies present at a small venue in Paris. She was 21. Afterward, the band was signing autographs and struggling to transliterate French names. So Mengardon, who’s from Toulouse and is bilingual in French and English, stepped in to assist. This became an invite to the band’s subsequent present, and Mengardon turned pals with them. She stated she was by no means eager about Stringfellow romantically. However in 1998, quickly after she moved again to Europe within the wake of a breakup that left her feeling susceptible, she went to a Posies present in Spain. She stated Stringfellow got here on to her aggressively. Although she didn’t see him that means, she stated, “It was fairly a robust factor to have this particular person coming to you that means.”
As Mengardon remembers it, Auer tried to intervene. “I bear in mind listening to Jon saying, ‘No, don’t do it, not along with her,’ which, on the time, I sort of simply thought was him saying, ‘She’s considered one of us.’ That’s how I interpreted it.” (Auer declined to go on the document for this story.) Mengardon went again to Stringfellow’s lodge room, she stated, and “he mainly simply launched himself at me.” The encounter was brief, with no communication, and left her “lined in bites and bruises and actually confused,” she stated.
The identical factor occurred once more on a visit to the US, she says, after a present in Los Angeles. Stringfellow invited Mengardon to a home occasion. Simply as with the earlier encounter, Mengardon stated it occurred with none communication. “There was no chat about consent,” she stated. “There was no chat about ‘Did I need this?’”
Solely many years later would Mengardon come to grasp these encounters as assaults, as she now alleges. On the time, she didn’t have the language for what had occurred to her. “I had no body of reference for what sexual abuse or sexual assault is,” she stated. “For me, this was somebody who was presupposed to be a pal.”
The Stranger spoke to 2 of Mengardon’s pals who she confided in after the very fact. One stated that it had taken a very long time for Mengardon to return to phrases with what occurred to her earlier than she spoke up about it, and that Mengardon “had been left feeling shattered” by her interactions with Stringfellow. In an electronic mail, Stringfellow denied Mengardon’s allegations.
Kate Fricke met Stringfellow when she was 22, and Stringfellow was in his thirties. She was an enormous fan of R.E.M., who Stringfellow performed with on a number of excursions within the late ’90s and early 2000s. They started a romantic relationship in 2017. Fricke stated Stringfellow was controlling and secretive all through their relationship. “I used to be simply an adjunct or a facet piece,” she stated. She would typically provide him rides to gigs or locations to remain, she stated, as a result of it was one of many solely methods they might spend time collectively—and since Stringfellow typically relied on ladies for these logistical wants moderately than arranging them himself.
Stringfellow maintains that the ladies insisted on doing these items for him. “They stated this, we’ve got it in writing, so it’s false to assert I ‘relied’ on them,” he stated. “They provided, I accepted. And I used to be and stay completely able to arranging my very own journey.”
Heather Bowen, who was an enormous fan of the Posies earlier than she turned concerned with Stringfellow, stated this occurred on a regular basis. “He will get as a lot out of it as he probably can, and assumes that what you get in return suffices, which is a blip of his adoring consideration,” she stated. “And it left me feeling actually used and actually gross.”
Fricke at all times knew Stringfellow was seeing different ladies, and sometimes puzzled what their experiences have been like. When the primary KUOW story got here out, she stated, “All the pieces got here into focus. All of us began discovering one another on-line and sharing our tales.” The similarities, she stated, have been “eerie.”
“There’s a false impression, actually on Ken’s half, that we’ve all recognized one another for many years and have been spending chunks of our lives colluding to destroy his profession,” stated Bowen. “And that couldn’t be farther from the reality.”
When the allegations turned public, Bowen stated, connecting was merely a option to course of what had occurred. “That’s once you begin to understand, ‘Oh, it wasn’t simply me feeling bothered by the best way he acted,’” she stated.
When Stringfellow tried, even quietly, to return to the general public eye, his accusers demanded that their tales be within the public eye as nicely. They suppose it’s vital for potential bookers and promoters and different individuals who could also be requested to provide Stringfellow a platform to know who he actually is. “The separating the artwork from the artist, that’s a private factor,” stated Bowen. “You make that call by yourself, however let’s be sure you have all the correct info earlier than you make that call.”
“Folks suppose cancel tradition is actual,” stated Seattle author Kristi Coulter, an ex-girlfriend of Stringfellow’s. “They suppose that these males are accused of one thing, and their lives are ruined, and it’s throughout for them. And to me, we’ve seen it again and again with Louis CK and Eric Adams. It’s not actual. They arrive again.”
“Ken Might Have Come Again”
The day after the Seattle present, Stringfellow posted a photograph to Instagram: He’s enjoying a keyboard in an artwork gallery with 4 folks sitting behind him watching. “Unbelievable present final night time,” he wrote. “Peaceable, shifting, lovely. Thanks to everybody who got here and to the nice workforce we had in place.” Gallery employees later confirmed to The Stranger that the efficiency was held on the Heart on Up to date Artwork. CoCA govt director Ray C. Freeman III stated that the group was conscious of the allegations in opposition to Stringfellow when he approached them about utilizing the house. “With out appearing as choose or jury, we declined to take sides, however turned down the chance to host the occasion however,” he stated. “As a substitute, we determined to easily hire him the house.”
Coulter knew Stringfellow was making a brand new album, she stated, and didn’t have an issue with that. What made the ladies really feel they needed to come ahead now, she stated, was that “he’s been utilizing this album as a option to smear them” via public remarks disavowing the allegations and dismissing them as jilted exes.
A few of his accusers argue there’s a world by which Ken Stringfellow might launch a profitable comeback, however he must both confront the allegations sensitively or just maintain quiet about them. “Ken might come again, might have had an actual redemption story,” stated Coulter. “He might have really proven accountability and apologized to his victims and are available again having actually labored on himself… his fandom would have eaten that up. Or he might have come again quietly, with out impugning the credibility of those ladies.”
However he’s someplace within the center: reentering his public profession on a smaller scale, but additionally dismissing—and maybe villainizing—the ladies alleging hurt, with no try at taking accountability.
Stringfellow remains to be performing in assist of his newly launched album. This spring, he’s working via the European leg of the tour. And the album does have listeners, however in numbers underwhelming in comparison with these in Stringfellow’s earlier neighborhood of followers—a neighborhood that after included the ladies on this story. On Spotify, Stringfellow has simply 7,098 month-to-month listeners. The Posies, by comparability, nonetheless have 55,600. They haven’t launched any new music since 2020.
So the query nonetheless stays: After such a public fall from grace, is there a option to come again? Is there a option to do it with out inflicting extra hurt? Stringfellow wasn’t allowed to easily uncancel himself. It’s clear his profession has been diminished due to the allegations in opposition to him, and the very non-public method to performing he’s adopted of their wake. What’s much less apparent is what his profession would possibly seem like now if he’d merely been prepared to apologize within the first place.
