Cool City Car Show

Here's a couple pics I took a few minutes ago outside the Stump. This car show gig grows bigger every year...300+ cars this year...

Sandy, Terry and Kim

Friday night

Wine Tasting with Von Stiehl Winery

Friday the 29th at 6:30 pm
Free and open to all
Come in and try some of the truly wonderful wines that this great winery puts out.

Latest Newspaper Ad

This month's print ad

This week at Stumpjack Coffee

Chess Club (all levels of play welcome)
Thursday the 28th at around 6:30 pm

Wine Tasting with Von Stiehl Winery
Friday the 29th at 6:30 pm
Free and open to all

Cool City Car Show
Saturday the 30th

Great Coffee
All week long...

This Weekend's Happenings

Before closing shop tonight I wanted to get a few pics on here from the Cigars in the Park powwow. Joe had two great cigars picked out: a Rocky Patel Edge Corojo and a Punch Gran Puro Santa Rita, which we paired with two coffees: a nice Guatemalan and a really fine Papua New Guinea (oh so good...). Pete Honzik serenaded the small gathering with a myriad of acoustic selections, a veritable plethora of eclectic tunes from his fertile mental catalogue of songs (italics=inside joke). Pete is always good, but tonight was a real treat as he pulled out a bunch of tunes he hasn't performed in a while, and played some great stuff from, to name just a few, Michael Hedges, Leon Redbone, The Pogues and even a little Who medley of sorts...very spontaneous and enjoyable. Man, what an absolutely gorgeous evening in downtown Two Rivers...just what the doctor ordered to close out the week. I'm really looking forward to the next Cigars in the Park...nice job, Joe.

Pete's playing over at Element right now, so Kim and I are heading over for a little more R&R right now. Y'all have a fun weekend!

Saturday evening (the 23rd):

Cigars in the Park
Central Park in Two Rivers

Friday Night (the 22nd):
They're back! Dos hermanos, Andy and Greg, aka Pick & Squeeze
8:00 p.m. These cats are a lot of fun and have a very unique sound.

A few shots from tonight (Friday) - Pick & Squeeze

Saturday follow-up: Poetry & Nine Days

I'm off to Green Bay in a couple minutes (driving Kim up to the airport), but when I get back home I'll post an update on yesterday's funnitudiness (and yes, funnitudiness is spelled with two n's...look it up!), with Kathryn's poetry and the cats from Nine Days at MetroJam. Have a grand morning y'all!


OK, we're back from GB...lunch at Noodles & Co., an hour at Barnes & Noble (got a few items, including "The Brew Master's Table: Discovering the Pleasures of Real Beer with Real Food;" a book about Cat Woman, full of images from comic books, TV and the movies); and a stop at Kavarna coffee shop on Broadway.

Well, yesterday's poetry reading with Kathryn was great...had 15 or 16 people, young and older, in attendance and who really enjoyed Kathryn's poems and her style of recitation. A very nice turn-out for our first poetry reading, and we got several comments on what a cool thing this was and that we have to hold poetry readings regularly from now on (which we plan to do).

Earlier in the day John Hampson and Jeremy Dean from Nine Days stopped in before their headlining gig at MetroJam last night. These two guys were real genuine, down-to-earth and were a real pleasure to chat with. Jeremy told me that besides his band duties he's also into graphic design (he dug our mugs, so they left with a couple) and John said that his wife has been wanting to open a coffee shop near their home in Long Island. They gave me a copy of their latest CD, Slow Motion Life (above) and a cool looking T-shirt (thanks guys!), and said to make sure to say hi if we made it to the show after closing (Kim, Cheyenne, Jesse and I closed a little early and sped over to Washington Park to catch the performance). Man, what a great show! Watching Nine Days live it is obvious that these guys love what they do...lots of energy, great tunes, solid musicianship (love the sax, Jeremy...outstanding), and a fun and sincere rapport with the crowd...if you missed them, well, you need to turn to the person nearest you and politely ask them to kick you in the arse right now.

Another cool thing was when John spied me in the crowd and gave a shout out to Stumpjack..."Is that my friend, David!? We have to thank some people...including Stumpjack Coffee in Two Rivers, where I had a great espresso today..." Thanks, John, that was much appreciated.

After the set ended we hung around for a few minutes and chatted with John and Jeremy again, bought a couple of CD's, and got our coffee egos stroked a little more. And I don't want to get too far ahead of myself but we chatted briefly about booking the guys for a gig at Stumpjack sometime (maybe an acoustic set). We promised to follow up on that, and I'll give John a holler this week to see what needs to be done to make it happen. Thanks John, thanks Jeremy...you guys made my week.

Check out Nine Days' website and MySpace site, and check out Kathryn's site as well, the girl has some serious writing chops...man, it's been a great weekend for the art of music and poetry. Peace!

Our First Most Excellent Reading

Free and open to everyone who enjoys the well-written word...

Saturday at 7:00 pm

And your first cup of coffee is on the house if you mention that you read this blog post.

This promises to be a most enjoyable evening, so mark your calendar and make sure to stop in this Saturday for a cup of coffee and to hear Kathryn recite from both her published and her new works.

Quote of the day

Most success comes from ignoring the obvious.

Trevor Holdsworth*

I have my laptop homepage set up to each day give me a bunch of article headlines on things I'm interested in (business & marketing, arts & travel, lifestyle stuff, home & food, and a little historical trivia). There's also a different quote each day from someone deemed quotable. I found today's quote by Trevor Holdsworth to be neither especially new or innovative, but it is nicely succinct and speaks to a philosophy or mindset that I find attractive. I also found Holdsworth's quote inspirational today in particular, as Stumpjack Coffee prepares to move forward in a few different areas of the business.

* Sir Trevor Holdsworth, is a distinguished British business executive, former chairman of National Power and of the Bradford-based Allied Colloids international chemical business, and Chancellor of Bradford University. He believes that invention and innovation are at the heart of wealth creation and economic prosperity. Knighted in 1982, Sir Trevor is a firm believer in the importance of lifelong learning.

A busy Saturday in Two Rivers

The Kurtz family stopped in for coffee on their way through town riding up to Wausau and then on to Minneapolis. Riding up north on a beautiful day like today...I'm envious. This crew was fun...helped make the day enjoyable.

I myself like the top image best, but Kim liked this one (and Josh voted with her) because it had their bikes in it. So I decided to put both pics in. We've got a friendly debate on which shot is "better," so make a comment and vote for which one you like best. There's a big payday riding on this (loser has to make lunch for the winner).

Busy lunch today, with lots of iced coffees and smoothies (both fruit and espresso based), paninis and scones. Ran out of soup and ingredients for two paninis. Lots of cars and cycles rolling through town (some going way too fast too...someone is gonna get gacked one of these days).

Ode to an Espresso Puck

Oh what shall I make of thee,
Puck of coffee spent?
Dry and void
Of oils and flavors,
Lacking aroma.
Yet you look too cool to casually discard
With the straw wrappers and dirty napkins.
What good are you now,
Impotent coffee puck,
Soon to become compost
In my small herb garden.

The End

TONIGHT!

Road trip to Algoma again

On Monday, Kim and I drove up to Algoma just for the heck of it. Stopped at Cafe Tlazo for a sandwich, soup, couple of beers, espresso (me) and mocha (Kim). I've mentioned Tlazo before...very nice place...relaxing decor, a good lunch menu, satisfying coffees. My espresso was good...tasty and presented in an attractive demitasse...the crema was a tad lacking, but still a very enjoyable follow-up to our meal, along with a cup of their delicious gelato. They do a nice job at Tlazo; it's become something of a "must stop" for us when traveling north along the lake and time allows.

The Havenly Inn

From there we popped in over at Shaun and Brad Schmiling's new B&B, Havenly Inn. If you've read earlier posts on here you know that the Schmilings are owners of the Von Stiehl Winery in Algoma. Shaun gave us a great tour of the B&B, complete with ghost stories... It''s a beautiful place and we intend to take advantage of it sometime soon.

Next stop on the way home was the Flying Pig, where we had another good cup of coffee and some nice conversation, while enjoying the art and garden.

Best Coffee in Manitowoc County...

Well, the votes have been tabulated and the results are in in the "Best of Manitowoc County" poll conducted by the Herald Times Reporter. Here's how the now "award winning" Stumpjack Coffee Company did:

3rd place for Best Lunch (that's a very pleasant surprise...for a place that does only a couple sandwiches each day...excellent sandwiches, mind you, but still a very limited menu)

3rd place for Best Soup (maybe an even bigger surprise, since we only have one soup available at any one time...a very nice compliment)

3rd place for Best Atmosphere (behind the Courthouse Pub and Element American Bistro)

2nd place for Best Coffee ('scuse me whilst I giggle at this...first place goes to...Starbucks! It does make sense that in our area a fast food franchise would garner more votes for name recognition alone, and for people who aren't in the coffee loop, so to speak, it's the most logical vote). So I can live with that, because it is also then fair to say that Stumpjack Coffee received:

1st place for Best non-Franchise Coffee in Manitowoc County!

1st place for Best Live Entertainment (tied for first with the luxurious Capital Civic Centre...a surprise, a pleasant surprise...)

So, we get a plaque, some PR diddlydoo, and braggin rights...it's all good...

Thank you very much, everyone who voted for this place...that is very cool indeed.