Pals, music, art, gelato, etc

Art opening and live music

Steph Davies Art Exhibition
Friday night at 7pm
with music from folk troubadour Matt Davies

Saturday night at 8pm
Lea Holz
"...something familiar; something ancient; something raw and gentle; a dichotomy here, a polarity there. The sound of something smooth as skin or glass that ripples like water when touched. Lucidity. Liquid. Does spooning have a sound? How about the color red? ...passionate, melancholy, inquisitive, and confessional."

Last Sunday morning was fun. Koz kept his gear here from his gig the night before and performed a bunch of clarinet tunes for a few hours Sunday morning.
Mike & Kelly with Molly.

Lucy; Koz performing in the background.

Started making gelato again today for summer: made
blueberry, chocolate, raspberry, mandarin orange.
Yummy!

Friday the 13th & Valentine's Day

Another very cool poster from Tina Kugler...Tina rocks it, no doubt.

Friday night at 7:00 we have a double-header of sorts. Lloyd Rohr will be performing. If you've seen Lloyd before you know that his music makes for a very mellow and enjoyable evening. He's an accomplished guitar player and plays songs that just about anyone and everyone enjoys, with a mix of his own songs and familiar favorites.

Lloyd Rohr

Also, Friday is the opening reception for "Local Color: A Panorama-o-rama," featuring photographs by Nate Walkner. Click here to go to the HTR Lakeshore Update page with a nice description of Nate's photography for this show.

Nate Walkner photo

Saturday, the 14th, is Valentine's Day. We're having a very nice wine and specialty pizza thing that you can participate in if you RSVP. Click here to see Kim's blog with the details. And then at 7:00 we're excited to have snorb! performing their brand of jazz and fusion. I've been listening to these guys via their myspace site. They are good, real good. They hail from West Lafayette, Indiana and apparently have won all of the cool music awards a band can win in that region. It'll be a great way to spend Valentine's evening.

snorb!

Tina Kugler ROCKS!

The uncolored Stumpjack

Ok, I've been meaning to post about this for a week now, but haven't had the time to write the kind of post I want to write...and even now I have to skedaddle, but I have to get something in about this now even if it is just a brief prelude to a lengthier musing. Tina Kugler, who along with her husband Carson ran the former Tweedle Bros. Children's Bookshop ultrafun store in Manitowoc, rendered her version of the Stumpjack critter for us. It is SO cool!

Stumpjack colored by Tina Kugler herself.

Tina drew the beastie as a coloring page for kids (young or older...I've colored three so far), and we'll be printing a bunch off to have available at the Stump soon. I don't have time to ramble on about all I want to about this, but please go here to visit one of Tina's blogs (Tina Kugler Illustration) and down to her Friday, March 28th post to see and read a little about it. Then, keep rolling through all of her posts and you will thoroughly enjoy her art and her wit (visit her other site, The Tina Show, as well...links over in the right hand column right here). I have long enjoyed and appreciated Tina's work and sense of humor, but her rendition of our mascot has me totally enchanted and made me an even bigger fan.

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.

Nudity! Censorship! Protestors! Bears Smoking Cigarettes!

The coffee buying public expresses outrage at Stumpjack art exhibition!

(well, maybe not the "public," per se...
...and maybe not exactly "outrage"...
...and maybe not...ok, ok, it was one lady,
and she politely scolded me...
...but it could've easily gotten out of hand,
with stuff getting broken and picket lines and tear gas and paddy wagons...
...hey, coulda happened...)

Click here for the story.

The Photography of Nikki Nischke

text to follow...tomorrow..too tired...to...write...now...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz............







Ok, it's Saturday morning as I add this promised additional text. These are a few pictures from last night's opening reception for Nikki's show. That's all I'm writing because...had...too much...vino...last night...and...am too...tired...to do...more...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

However, I do notice this morning that Allie is in an inordinate number of these photos...she's always jumping in front of the camera...sheesh! That's all...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

This weekend: Art & Music

Friday, May 10:
Art Opening Reception for the
Photography of Nikki Nischke
5:00-8:00
Open to everyone
Refreshments, Art & Conversation...
What more do you need?

Saturday, May 11:
The acoustic music of Happenstance
8:00-10:00 or so...
the only cover charge is a coffee, beer or glass of vino

Art, Music and Coffee at Stumpjack

Man, I have got to get our web site up and running! I'm accumulating so many photos from stuff at the Stump and don't want to clog the blog with them all. Here's a few from this past weekend though.

Friday, Feb 16th - The Poster Art of Wade Marks.

A busy evening and great fun seeing people respond so positively to Wade's art. He was the king of the evening, holding court and explaining his work to appreciative folks all night. We sold several pieces, which is always a great thing, and everyone enjoyed the loose improv playing of The Lonely Sound, unplugged (thanks Derek and Dylan). Kim and I had a fun post-reception dinner at the Element Bistro with our friends Paul and Laura from Oconomowoc (Thanks Paul!).

Wade explaining his working process...or pretending he's on his Big Wheel again...

Wade and his Mom...very nice...

Saturday, Feb 17th - Live Music: Happenstance

After last weekend's raucous party with Marcella and The Lonely Sound it was a great counterbalance to have Happenstance play a mellow acoustic set on Saturday night. Becky and Debbie were great, with lovely vocals and guitar work. I continue to be pleasantly surprised at how much coffee we sell in the evening at these events, even though most of them are mochas and other flavored drinks. People are definitely digging the coffee.

Happenstance: Becky and Debbie

It was also the beginning of a week's vacation for yours truly, during which I intend to get some house work done, finish reading Barak Obama's book The Audacity of Hope (and try to decide if the guy is legit or too far left for me), get ready for CoffeeFest this coming weekend, do a little cooking, walk the dog and enjoy some Puerto Rican coffee with a couple of Torano cigars (although as I'm writing this, just a few minutes ago I received a package that I'm hoping are the ACID samplers I won on auction last week).

Kim tickles Glen...Glen responds with the beginning of the Chicken Dance...

TURN THAT THING DOWN!!

This past Saturday night was so hot at the Stumpjack that the front windows were steamed up enough to prevent passersby from seeing the place packed wall to wall with people gettin' into Marcella and The Lonely Sound. Several people came in Sunday morning and told us that when they drove by Saturday evening they could barely see through the windows but that the music pumping out into the street and the people outside in front told them that something was goin' down at the Stump. I couldn't say it in my last post announcing Marcella but the night really came together because of our friend and poster artist-extraordinaire Wade Marks (the opening reception for Wade's showing is this Friday night). The party and band gig were a surprise birthday gift from Wade to his gorgeous wife, Melissa.

Wade & Melissa

So the place was loaded with people invited to the party and people who came in just to hear the band (everybody yelled "Surprise!" when Melissa came in). Even though we had a half-barrel of Sleeman Honey Brown, bottled beer and wine available, we served a lot of coffee early in the evening, with a number of single and double shots of espresso, which was both a little surprising and very cool.


Marcella was simply awesome. Anna, Ben, Dana, James are a well oiled machine, play their own tunes and have a really unique jazzy rock sound. Trust me, it probably won't be long before Marcella has a national recording contract and is getting a lot of critical acclaim. These "guys" are that good.

Marcella

They're so good, in fact, that the local police came by a couple of times to see and hear the band (yes, many of our local police officers are blessed with good taste in both coffee and music). The boys in blue responded to a noise complaint (we were loud and proud) and they handled it with class, humor and professionalism. We did have to turn things down a notch or two to jive with the city ordinance and decibel meter, but that had no affect on the energy the band generated. We play Marcella's CD in regular rotation now, and you can get a copy either directly from them (visit their web site) or from us here at the Stumpjack.

The Lonely Sound is a duo of Dylan Koch (drums) and Derek Czekala (guitar) and these two cats are unbelievable. All instrumental...like the best tiramisu you've ever had, ethereal and very heavy and rich at the same time. We were totally blown away. We quit and went home a bit after 1:00 a.m.. And a good time was had by all...

The Lonely Sound

This Friday (the 16th) is Wade's opening reception for his poster art exhibition; it's open to the public, of course. The local paper is coming to interview him today. Then, this Saturday (the 17th) we have Happenstance, an acoustic/vocal duo playing here. Then next weekend it's off to Chicago for CoffeeFest for me and Kim (the Stumpjack will be open, manned by my charming partner, Glen).

Wade Marks Exhibition Poster