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Eric Nassau from 9/13/08 - What a totally enjoyable performance and nice guy Eric is...I think this was the third midday show we've hosted, and it has me thinking about doing it more regularly. Eric will be back on Saturday, December 6th.
Barb & Brian raise their glasses during Nick's gig
Nick Weiland from 9/20/08 - Nick's "Whiskey Jars & Scandals" partner, Brian, couldn't make it but Nick was fantastic all by his lonesome and we got a great recording of him. He was so good we asked him to play at our anniversary party (below).
Julie (and hubby Chad) loved Matt's performance
Matt & Steph Davies and Becky 9/27/08 - In just a short time Matt and Steph have become some of our most favorite people. These guys are so darn nice and so talented. Steph is funny...soon as she's done singing she's off doodling in her journal while Matt plays. Matt is the most uber-talented folk singer I think I've heard...right out of the Woodie Guthrie/early Dylan mold...great voice, awesome songwriter, and solid-as-a-rock guitar player. Becky rounded this night out quite nicely...what a fun trio these guys made. She performed her just-written Stumpjack Song and it darn near had me tearing up...AWESOME! And then the coolest thing...Matt, Steph and Bec did a few tunes together, including the old folk song, "This Land is Your Land," and everyone in the house sang the chorus! How great is that! Check it out on this YouTube vid below.
Anniversary Party from 9/28/08 - What a blast! We have the greatest friends and customers and supporters ever! Everyone had fun, the wine and tapas bar got off to a great start, took some casually fun video (on our YouTube page now), and Nick Weiland was the absolute perfect musical accompaniment to the party (a number of people used that very word about Nick and his music, "perfect"). I'll have to write a little bit more about the event in a follow-up post tomorrow and go through a few pictures with you, but for now here's the image set.
Tonight (Friday): the smooth and comfy acoustic stylings of Mr. Lloyd Rohr. 8:00pm. Come on down and unwind after a long week (it was long for me anyway).
Lloyd Rohr
Tomorrow (Saturday): Matt & Steph Davies in from Chicago. 8:00pm. Really wonderful folk music. Steph is an artist who will have an exhibition here on Nov. 7, and her hubby Matt is a heckuva fine guitar player and songwriter, and the two of them make a very fine combo. BUT WAIT, there's more! Our own Becky Markvart will be sitting in a bit with Matt and Steph too. Now that should be fun and I'm anxious to see and hear them perform together (Becky also told me that she has written a special "Stumpjack song" that she'll be unveiling Saturday night...gonna be a fun evening).
We've been working hard on trying to pull things together for the wine and tapas bar thingy (my excuse for the lack of posting this past few days). Have a few sets of images to put on from the last week or so as well...today I promise, maybe within the hour.
The knee is packed in ice and I am thinking that I may have to go see a witchdoctor after all (the "rub some dirt on it" remedy was only moderately successful).
Tomorrow (Saturday) is the big day...EthnicFest in downtown TR, the annual city party held right in the middle of downtown. They block off a chunk of the main drag (Washington St.) and approximately 10,000 people wander around enjoying the sunshine, variety of foods, live music, and community. It's a fantastic event, a lot of fun and also the busiest day of the year at the Stump.
Brule will be back this year
Besides hammering out a truckload of lattes, cappuccinos, espressos, smoothies and sodas we'll be dishing out gelato and probably more than a few beers too. And there's something else we're pretty excited about at this year's shindig: Jerry Heimerl of the Saxon Homestead Creamery will be set up outside the shop offering samples and selling some absolutely wonderful artisan cheeses that Saxon produces. We're excited about it because we will be carrying Saxon artisan cheeses in the next week or so, and Jerry is going to be here for the day to kind of let folks know that very thing. I'll post in greater depth about this later on, but be sure to stop by the Saxon Creamery table and try a little of their Green Fields or Big Eds or whatever other awesome cheeses Jerry might have with him.
And make sure to come into Stumpjack for something deelish to carry around with you at EthnicFest, which will undoubtedly mark you as one of the cool people on the street this day. But remember, just because you're a Stumper doesn't mean you should overtly flaunt your superior coolness to any lesser mortals that might around (while understandable, that would be bad form)...as a Stumpjumper you are there to set an example for the as yet unaware folks of the world.
Then at 8:00pm, Saturday night, don't forget that Nick and Brian of Whiskey Jars & Scandals wil be here to kick out some mighty fine blues rock. Be here or be square.
Currently on display through early November: The Landscape Photography of Keith Smith. We put these photos up last week and have received numerous compliments on them every day since then. These photos are quite nice, and have helped give the shop a very relaxing and comforting vibe. They make me want to get outside and take a walk through the woods or a boat down a stream.
Goose Family by Keith Smith
Saturday is the annual EthnicFest celebration in Two Rivers. It's a big deal around here with several thousand folks milling about and enjoying the food, music, weather and community. It's a busy day for us, so be sure to stop in for a coffee...jump in the long line that inevitably forms and you'll have a story to tell your friends (Stumpjack was busier than a beehive!).
Whiskey Jars... Nick and Brian
And then either stick around town or come back around 8:00 for the return of Whiskey Jars & Scandals, the Milwaukee blues rock duo of Nick Weiland and Brian Sanchez. These guys play raw, tough and rockin blues...their own tunes and full of with a lot of passion and energy. We're planning on recording them for a later CD release so come on down, shout and clap a lot and be a part of the recording.
Here's one of the beautiful Stumpjack models showing the latest in Stumpjack attire. We made a few of these primarily for us to wear, in sweatshirts (hooded and crew neck) and T-shirts, but a few folks have seen them and said they'd like one too...so, if you want one let us know and if we get enough total requests (a dozen altogether) then we'll print another batch (actually Dave from Lakeside Apparel will print them for us). Have some tie-dyed tees coming soon too.
"Blandiloquent?"...smooth-talking or honey-tongued.
Here's the link to today's column in the HTR. A couple small space consideration edits from the original and an unwelcome title change - I like being next to the BeerMan on the same page.
This Friday night (Sept 12th) Mr. Goodtime, Kerry Michaels, will be groovin' the Stump at 8:00pm. Fresh off of his successful and finely received SputnikFest performance with guitar whiz Tom Reynolds, Kerry will be playing some new tunes from the new CD he's working on.
Kerry Michaels
Eric Nassau poster...click to enlarge
Then, on Saturday (Sept. 13th) for a not-entirely-unusual noontime show (I think we've had three noontime shows now in the past couple years), folk troubadour and talented songwriter Eric Nassau will be performing at Stumpjack while on his current tour of Midwest cities. Eric is the real deal and you can get a taste of what I'm talking about by going to his myspace site and listening to some of his music (http://www.myspace.com/ericnassauandfriends). Eric has performed with a lot of well-known artists, a few of whom are mentioned in this release that the Herald Times Reporter published online here. So come on down for lunch and the chance to hear some mighty fine live music from a man with a beard that makes those guys in ZZTop jealous.
Received this cool poster image from Pat DiNizio (The Smithereens) this morning and had to share it. If you recall, I posted about Pat coming to the Stump to perform sometime early 2009. As it gets closer I get more excited with each passing week. Needless to say, Pat's visit to Stumpjack is gonna be the cat's meow, baby...
As some of you know, we've been conducting intense training sessions (that is, playing around) with roasting our own coffee. We got a great little machine, a Nesco Roaster (thanks to our friend Don Kozlowski...thanks Don!) that is really designed for the home roasting enthusiast. But we've been working the little beast like one of Hannibal's pack elephants and it's held up beautifully thus far. It takes a lot of green coffee beans to make a batch big enough to sell in the shop. It's an enjoyable process and I'm thinking of going bigger with it sometime down the road. For the time being, however, you might be seeing a few official Stumpjack in-house roasted coffees on the counter sometime soon, albeit it very limited quantities.
Just a few Flickr pics from Becky's gig last Friday. What a trooper...not feeling good and she still played a spirited set that was enjoyed by everyone. Have a few pics from Tina Kugler's Persimmons art opening a couple weeks ago mixed in with Bec's. Click here for the set.
Pat, Chad, David...I've been waiting for the three of us to all be in the house at the same time...
...just so I could take this picture!
Click here for way too many pics from Nick Venturella's gig on Saturday. What a blast...too dang hot in the Stump but dang fun regardless. Nick will be back in a few short months...if you missed this show don't be a chump and miss him again.
Eric Nassau
Barb & Brian raise their glasses during Nick's gig
Julie (and hubby Chad) loved Matt's performance
Friends at the Anniversary party
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