Bill Martell pics from Saturday night

Here's the Flickr link for images from Bill's gig last night. What a fine evening...Bill was fabulous, even got a bit of a standing-O at the end, which was very cool. Pat Zyduck sat in for a few songs during Bill's break. Thanks Bill...really excellent stuff.

Last night's art pics/tonight Live Musica!

Here's the link to the Flickr set of pics from last night's art soirée (the cool pics in the set are from Nate). It was a great night, with lots of Kim's (Kim Geiser...not to be confused with Kim Smith...or Kim Basinger or Kim Novak or even Kim Possible) pals and art lovers joining the party to give her a thumbs up. Lots of fun and laughs and glowing compliments for her creations. On the hoped-for-but-unrealized red carpet Kim looked fab in flowery dress, newly made dangly necklace and snazzy high heels. Hubby Glenn was dashing in new jeans and a cool black & white octopus tie. And just fyi, the owner looked frumpy in coffee stained flannel and Levis covering new Spiderman underwear. And we sold 10 pieces, which is awesome!

Don't forget! TONIGHT at 7 bells...Bill Martell will be bringing his guitar, warm vocals and a passel of songs to entertain. Be here or you will unwittingly drink sour milk on Monday morning at precisely 7:01 a.m....the curse is in place!

TONIGHT: Artsy Fartsy (emphasis on fartsy?)

TONIGHT - 7:00 - Big honkin' Art Opening for my personal irritant, I mean dear friend, Kim Geiser. Be here to partake of the conversation and pretentious art ramblings...watch me force Kim to mambo in front of the cheering throng...have a cup of super-power inducing coffee...

Art & Music - Friday & Saturday nights

Friday night at 7:00 we will host an opening reception for "Stuck Behind Glass" featuring the art of our own Kim Geiser. Kim owns Persimmons art and vintage gallery in Manitowoc and she has created a bunch of really funky, fun and beguiling shadow boxes and dioramas. Friday night (tomorrow night) at 7:00...come one, come all.

Saturday night at 7:00 Bill Martell will bring his earthy brand of acoustic guitar and singing to Stumpjack for hi first solo gig here. Bill has been around for quite a while, performing with various people and bands throughout the area. He currently performs with Becky Markvart in the duo "6 Degrees." Bill has a very nice, smooth and solid style and we're looking forward to a mighty fun evening. Come on by and have a beer or latte.

The usual gang of idiots...

Saturday morning hooligans...Svatek clan.

Musical chairs for tonight.

Here's an extreme close-up of Becky doin' her thing.

Unfortunately John Will Balsley has had to cancel his gig at Stumpjack due to the snowstorm they’re getting to the south of us today. But we are most fortunate to have Becky Markvart close by and she has kindly agreed to take on the night. You all know what a beautiful performance Becky always does so some on out and join us in what should be old man winter’s last hurrah for this year.

Here's an even more extreme close-up of Becky...she smells like yummy raspberries.
This is a notation added after the initial posting: If you look at this picture of Becky for, say, 20 or 30 seconds straight, she begins to take on the aura of someone who might have gone over the edge...is that a big ax in your hands Becky!?

Becky’s almost done recording her new CD and she’ll be playing a number of tunes from that project tonight. Great drinks, great music, great friends…will be a lot of fun. 7:30 start time tonight.

Here's some friends from Becky's last gig intoxicated by her beautiful music and raspberry aroma.

Coffee & Chocolate rescheduled

The Coffee & Chocolate Tasting that we had scheduled for this Saturday is going to be rescheduled. We'll let you know when.

The blues at Stumpjack Coffee

This Friday night at 8:00pm John Will Balsley will be returning to Stumpjack Coffee. John performed at our big 1-year Anniversary Costume Party last November and was outstanding. Everyone was saying "How can that guy play the blues like that!? He looks like a computer geek!" (no offense to John of course...he's just one of those unusual vessels of creativity whose outward appearance belies an inner John Lee Hooker...wait one darn minute!...John Lee Hooker...John Will Balsley...coincidence??). Anyway, be here or be square. 8pm Friday night.

The customer is always right, right?

A measured response about "having it your way."

Ethan Keller & Koz pics

Image by Nate Walkner

Just finished loading up all the images from this weekend's musical funkfest. Koz just left the building, I'm dog-tired but stoked. It was a great Friday and Saturday. Ethan was fan-freaking-tastic and, as Ed Sullivan might say, a thoroughly all-right chap. If you ever are in Milwaukee and looking to catch some live music make sure to check Ethan's myspace calendar to see where he's performing in brewtown...then go see him. You will most definitely be glad you did (then, after doing so you will feel an inner urge to email me just to say "Thank you, David, for suggesting that we see Ethan Keller do his thing. We followed your sage advice and now are eternally grateful. Thank you oh infinitely wise one!" Ethan lays it down, brother! This cat played a marathon session and I mean just about everybody was coming up to tell me how good he was and how much they were digging his sound.

One little musical tidbit of many: After some joker (me) threw a request at him for something by the somewhat obscure Thomas Dolby, Ethan ended up doing the most amazing version of "She Blinded Me With Science." One of those "Dang, I wish we had that on tape" moments. Click here for the Flickr image set (included are photos from Nate and Marty).

Click here to go to the Flickr set of Koz's pics from Saturday night.

One of the fun things about having Koz perform with us is all the stuff he brings with him: lights, amps, backing music gear, the various instruments, even his own mini-stage...wires and cables and lights everywhere. I tease him about all the toys he brings but it's pretty cool to see him set everything up and to see the final set-up of all that gear in a small space. His song catalog is extensive and covers such a range of styles, there's something for everyone to enjoy as his binder of tunes travels around the room and people holler out requests that see him switching from guitar to sax to clarinet to banjo between songs. The diversity of ages in his audience is noteworthy as well...from junior high age to grandparents, and everyone has a great time...it's a very nice, mellow vibe in the shop when Koz performs.

Tonight: KOZ!

Tonight KOZ: The Man of a Thousand Songs (well 273 maybe...) and 4 Instruments (sax, clarinet, guitar and banjo).

7:00pm at Stumpjack Coffee Co. ... Everything from ragtime, jazz, folk, pop, and maybe even a polka or two (two polka a year is our limit, so tonight's the night).

Art & About

Here's a cool pic from last night's Art & About powwow here at the shop. Image by Nate Walkner.

Don't forget...tomorrow night: Ethan Keller here at 7:30...be here, drink beer and cheer.

Ethan Keller this Friday...Koz on Saturday.

Friday night at around 7:30 - Ethan Keller...very nice spotlight on Ethan in last week's Weekend Edition of the HTR (the title is a bit of a tongue twister, but it is also one of Helen Clarke's usual well-written pieces...she has done a wonderful job in these brief articles spotlighting musicians and local talent). Ethan is coming up from Milwaukee to play his unique brand of funky jazz and indie rock guitar. Trust me, if he performs to what I've come to believe is his usual high level of musicianship you will be very impressed indeed. Come on out, help pack the house and keep talented musicians like this coming to town.


Saturday night at 7:00 - Koz. Guitar, banjo, clarinet and sax...ragtime, folk, old time jazz, skiffle, pop and even a little country...Koz does it all.

Kerry and Bill Flickr pics

Bill Walkner...photo by Nate Walkner.

Just finished putting the images onto Flickr from the weekend...Kerry Michaels from Friday night and Bill Walkner from Saturday night (the last four gorgeous photographs of Bill in that set are by Bill's son Nate's hand...beautiful shots aren't they.) Again, Flickr sets are also in the right hand column.

Beer...the other nectar of the gods.

Part of the current Stumpjack beer selection...

Stumpjack has, in my humble opinion, the grooviest, albeit small, selection of bottled beers of any coffee shop around. Searching for and evaluating the microbrews and few select imports we offer has been a lot of fun. I'm a sucker for attractive packaging (cool bottles specifically) and that, combined with the very distinctive flavor profiles of these beers, I believe adds to and reinforces our overall image and philosophy of offering only the very best products for the price (coffee, beer, wine, pastries and food).

I'm thinking about this now as we just received a delivery of several cases of beer, including one case of O'Hanlons Ruby Stout, from the folks who make the justifiably famous Thomas Hardy's Ale. The Ruby Stout is a lovely, darker beer enriched with the addition of ruby port wine, and comes in a great, beefy thick bottle. I love changing up the inventory; getting different beers in and mixing things up periodically. Tonight and tomorrow we have live music and that always means we'll be enjoying a couple of good beers.

This Friday and Saturday night

Kerry Michaels - Friday night at 7:00 pm. Last week, I think it was, Kerry was spotlighted in the Herald Times Reporter Weekend Edition. He remains one of the real special talents in the local music scene...every time he plays with us it's a fun time and the music is always outstanding. Kerry's working on a new CD right now, and he'll likely be playing some of his new songs Friday night.

Bill Walkner - Saturday night at 7:00 pm. Bill performed for his son Nate's photography opening last month...and we had to have him come back for his own gig after listening to him that night. Bill wrote a most excellent folk song about Stumpjack Coffee too and that alone is worth coming to hear Bill play on Saturday night.

Pictures from the weekend

Flickr pics from this past weekend:

Wencel getting schooled in Checkers by his granddaughter, Sunday morning.

Kelly Underwood - Friday, 2/29/08 (click here) Kelly was fun and silly and sounded great again.

Kim and John, Friday night.

6 Degrees - Saturday, 3/1/08 (click here) Becky and Bill...love the way those two sound together. Becky was a trooper...on crutches and lost her voice near the end of the night. Bill took over and closed the night...he was great, with awesome versions of Gordon Lightfoot and Johnny Cash.

Marty & Lori, Saturday night.

Sunday morning, 3/2/08 (click here) Had a busy morning on Sunday. Kim made breakfast paninis. The usual Sunday morning gang of misfits and several new faces...a lot of fun.

Sunday morning

Tagged...and forced to comply...jeesh!

Last week Kim (Persimmons Gal) tagged me and this blog. Not knowing exactly what being "tagged" meant until informed that I had been tagged myself, I assumed it was just a harmless and silly little online game. It is, however, much more sinister than that. I thought if I just ignored it (hey, I'm a very busy man!) I could slip under their radar and my nonparticipation would soon be forgotten. Apparently that ain't gonna happen, as I have been tagged twice now, the second time by Jin from Uniquely Yours Pastry Shoppe, herself a tagee from Kim's blog.

So, now I have two women (that's one strike against me) who each own eclectically cool, artsy-fartsy businesses with attendant female voodoo vibification (that's two strikes) that could seriously and negatively effect my own good mojo if I don't comply. Jin even implied as much by her revelation that she uses tarot cards...I know, I know, that seemed like nothing more than a bit of harmless personal trivia about herself...but I'm smarter than that (you don't fool me pastry lady!)...that was a direct unspoken threat directed at me that I had "better comply or else!" Coming from a self-confessed "Food Porn Goddess" all you need to do is put two and two together (tarot cards plus goddess combined with sinfully delicious chocolate truffles equals unpleasant consequences for those who don't obey). I'm no dummy, so here goes: 7 things about moi, and 7 other losers...I mean dear friends...that I am supposed to tag.

1. I am intrinsically lazy. While you can find me working every hour of every open day at Stumpjack Coffee, and also most of the days we're closed each week, I would be entirely content with doing nothing more demanding than deciding if I should put a new worm on the hook of my fishing line, whilst lounging all the day long on a river bank with a fishing rod cradled loosely in my hands...or lying on my back atop a pine-needle-covered forest floor, looking up at the sky through the trees, only getting up to make a sandwich or pee on a nearby tree...all day, every day.

2. I'm a pretty handy guy concerning building and fixing things. I have the ability and skills, generally speaking, to make or create things that one would need to survive and live fairly comfortably if lost in the wilderness or a deserted island. Set me on an island with a well crafted sharp knife and a length of rope and we'll be living like Robinson Crusoe.

3. I know next to nothing about computers or any kind of electronic technology. People think I'm computer savvy because I do so much work on my laptop each day, but I'm strictly a copy-and-paste guy. 19th and 20th century mechanical technology I can do, 21st century technology leaves me looking vacantly off into the distance with a bit of spit dribbling out the corner of my mouth as I mumble incoherently.

4. I don't suffer fools or rudeness very well. I have very little patience or tolerance for "it's all about me" attitudes and, while I understand that each and every one of us (myself included and sometimes myself especially) is occasionally selfish and thoughtless towards others, if you behave that way in our shop you will likely be somewhat sarcastically reprimanded (though with a smile I hope).

5. I don't remember holidays or oftentimes even what day of the week it is right now, and yet I am somehow able to store and recall the most trivial aspects of movies I've seen. I also cannot not finish watching a movie once I've started, no matter if I've already seen it several times before...I must watch it all the way through.

6. I am a foodie without fear or prejudice. I can and will eat, and have eaten, most anything and everything, and am very keen on the food of different cultures. Hot and spicy, sweet, salty or sour; plant or animal; alive or dead; cooked or raw...you name it, I'm eager to eat it.

7. I am generally more conservative in my political and social attitudes, which made me something of an odd duck in the academic and art worlds that I moved in. I nevertheless am quite comfortable with the undeniable fact that all of my more liberal friends are woefully misinformed or just plain stupid if they don't think like and agree with me. I love you guys anyway.

Ok, part one completed. Part two of this laborious task is to inflict 7 other people with the curse of having to reveal 7 things about themselves and then name 7 additional losers...I mean dear friends...that have to do the same thing. It's like an even more irritating chain letter.

Here's my 7 Dwarfs: Kelly Zimmer; Allie; Becky; Kelly Underwood; Bobbi; Amy; Heidi (yup, all chicks...because women will do this, while guys will just flip me off...don't know what that says about me doing it though).