John Statz tonight...listen!

Tonight at 7:00, via Madison, Wisconsin: John Statz will be performing at Stumpjack. Check out John's sound at his myspace site here. This will be John's first gig at the Stump and we are really glad and anxious to see him tonight. Listen to some of his music at the link above and you'll see why...he has something special, a sound that hints at Ben Harper, Tom Petty, John Prine, Phil Ochs, a little country, a little rock, a little folk. He's got a great voice, and a sincerity to his music that is warming to the heart.

Sharking Hour Tonight

Go here to read the very fine article in yesterday's paper about The Sharking Hour performing tonight at the Stump. Listen to them at their myspace site here.
We are closing shop from 3:00 to around 5:30 or 6:00 this afternoon. Sharking Hour tonight at 7pm. Be here or have horrible nightmares tonight...it's a voodoo hex sort of thing.

The Blues, Dairyland Esquivel and Good Time Rock n' Roll

FRIDAY NIGHT

Nick Weiland Returns
8:00pm

Yes! Nick Weiland is back to perform at Stumpjack. Although he's popped in a few times to say hi, the last time Nick belted out his excellent blues tunes was at our anniversary party last year. Well, he's been a busy man, recording a new CD and writing some great new music. Nick is one of our favorite musicians. I guarantee that if you like raw and passionate blues music you will love Nick Weiland. So come on down and start your weekend right.

SATURDAY

Electric Lunch with

Greg Pagel

12:00 noon

According to Greg: "Come eat lunch at SJ, while I play a bunch of electrical music thingies. The pizza is awesome, and the music will probably be just as good, or at least as good as what's in your fridge."

Electric Lunch has become my favorite Saturday of the month. Greg's keyboard ramblings are always interesting, sometimes inspiring, occasionally odd. Sometimes I get the tiki vibe, sometimes the lounge vibe, sometimes the hopped up on mushrooms vibe. It's dang enjoyable.

The Sheryl and Tom Duet

8:00pm

From Sheryl and Tom's myspace site: The Sheryl and Tom Duet is a fun based pop rock band formed in the north suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. "I believe that a dose of vitamin jam is good for the soul!” says Sheryl. writing style provides a sweet harmony pop song with simple but meaningful lyrics and a catchy hook. Her writing inspirations come from being together, the experience of life in Chicago, and being near Lake Michigan. they set a fresh contemporary standard for close two-part harmonies infused and influenced by early rock and roll.

Sheryl and Tom are coming all the way up from the Chicago area just to perform at the Stump. If you like good time rock n' roll you'll like these two. Give their myspace site a listen.

Cool Jazz Trio to play the Stump TONIGHT

We are more than pleased and excited to have Saxi Dan's Peas-a-Pye Trio performing at Stumpjack tonight. It's a bohemian rhapsody kind of night. Come on down and mellow out to some good jazz and a Fat Tire Ale.
Saxophone: Dan Schielke
Guitar: Craig Peaslee
Drums/Percussion: Eric Pye
From Craig's Myspace:
Composer/Arranger/Guitarist Craig Peaslee has been impressing audiences for years with his compositions and guitar prowess. Craig's compositions reflect his interest in all genres of music: from Middle Eastern Folk to American Blues; Western Orchestral to traditional Chinese music, Jazz, Rock, Country and combinations of all the aforementioned musical styles. Musicians have enjoyed performing Craig's works to the extent performers have declared that they would "Perform Craig's music at anytime." As a guitarist, Peaslee is primarily a solo performer, playing originals as well as his takes on pieces from nearly every genre from Bach to rock; including his arrangements for double neck guitar of such famous and popular tunes as: Bohemian Rhapsody, The Pink Panther and If I Only Had A Brain. Listen to Craig at www.myspace.com/threeneckbeast

Then, Saturday night at 8...Z-Man brings the Scat Acoustic Funk.

Z-Man (Zach Cleven) hails from Green Bay and this will be his first gig at the Stump. From Z's myspace: My musical journey began in 2008 when I was experimenting with the acoustic guitar and finding my meaning of life. The first song I learned was Bob Marley's "Redemption song" and it took off. I decided my musician name of Z-MAN with my real name being Zach Cleven it fits well. My music has grown to become a huge part of my life as I continue to become stronger as I mature as a songwriter. As I evolved on the guitar I began to develop my own style that many describe as ONE OF A KIND. The Z-MAN wouldn't be where he is, if it wasn't for his friends & family supporting the good vibes of his music and keepin' the spirit ALIVE. He brings a unique twist of skat acoustic funk to the world and isn't lookin' back.

On the stump...or porch...with Scott Hanson

Tonight at 8:00pm, Scott Hanson of Milwaukee's On the Porch will be here. We're very excited about Scott's gig tonight. It'll be his first at Stumpjack and his appearance was actually booked by our friend Steph Davies (yep, the artist & musician who's work is hanging on the walls of Stumpjack at this very moment).
One of the fun things for me is listening to an artist's music online before they perform and then hearing those songs that I've become familiar with performed live at the café. Scott is super-talented, one of those musicians who you would go out of your way to see perform. Please check out Scott's myspace site to listen to his music: http://www.myspace.com/ontheporchmusic.

Every weekend with live music is a fun weekend, that's the truth, but I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those really special weekends where we get to listen to some great new music and make some new friends. Please join us if you can.

Tony Memmel at Stumpjack tonight

I'm generally not into telling anyone what they should or shouldn't be doing, but in this case I'll make an exception. You really need to be here this Friday night. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Tony Memmel is going to be here at 8pm. Go to Tony's myspace site and check out his music: http://www.myspace.com/tonymemmel.

His folk music is catchy and cool and excellent enough to warrant lots of enthusiastic applause and a loyal following. But the man plays guitar with one hand...by necessity, because he was born with only one complete arm (his right one). Tony is one of those cool stories of a person with talent who didn't let circumstances get in the way of doing what he wanted to do, and doing it excellently.

And the man has a healthy sense of humor too, as witnessed by his promo image above. So yeah, you should come and see Tony perform this Friday. Besides spending an hour or so listening to good folk music (which is always worth it) you might just hit the weekend feeling pretty uplifted and inspired to give your own challenges a swift kick in the crotch.

Performing with Tony will be Connor Sands La Mue. Here's Connor's myspace link: http://www.myspace.com/connorsandsandthewayout

Every weekend with live music is a fun weekend, that's the truth, but I get the feeling that this is going to be one of those really special weekends where we get to listen to some great new music and make some new friends. Please join us if you can.

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!

JoAnn Rocks; Koz Rolls

JoAnn Riedl
Friday the 29th
7pm

JoAnn Riedl is a Stumpjack favorite. We always have a good time when JoAnn comes to perform. She's bold and brassy and belts out her own tunes with such passion and fearlessness. It's impressive what she does with just her voice and an acoustic guitar.

"JoAnn combines folk, punk and rock into her at times gentle yet percussive guitar style. She is a self taught guitarist who lures you in with her sultry voice and her rhythmic tendencies."

www.myspace.com/joannriedl

Koz
Saturday the 30th
7pm

Koz, the man of big songbook and multiple genres. From pop to folk to big band to jazz to even a little country, he does them all. He plays sax and clarinet, guitar and banjo, has more stage gear than Aerosmith and is prone to wearing loud Hawaiian shirts. Plus, he's my high school wrestling coach and as such has a good sense of humor toward all the ribbing we give him. That makes for a very fun evening.

Joann Riedl poster by Zac Jacobson

Flickr sets of recent music nights

Image by Nate Walkner

I'm up editing and loading images and videos from the last couple weeks. Still have a bunch to load from a few months ago when I was wrestling with computer demons and had to transfer a lot of stuff onto Kim's laptop...I'll get to those sometime soon I hope. But for now here are some Flickr sets from me, Nate Walkner and Brian Powell (Nate and Brian have other sets that I'm not listing here...check out their Flickr sites) from the past couple weeks. I'll add the YouTube video links to this same post once I get those uploaded onto YouTube.

I don't have the time to do reviews of all these performances. Suffice to say that each and every one was great fun. We've been very blessed to have such talented musicians play the Stump, and every single one of them has been unbelievably thoughtful and a joy to work with. Click the various links below to see the pix.

Brian's Flickr set of Dan Walkner

Lillie Lemon. Image by Brian.

Brian's set of Lillie Lemon

West of East (Tim and Sara). Image by Brian.

Brian's set of West of East

Dan. Image by Nate.

Nate's Flickr set of Dan Walkner

My set of West of East

Ethan Keller by Eric Vandeveld. Check out Eric's photography here.

Ethan Keller & Kelly Underwood

Matt, Steph & Orly say Happy Birthday to Cheyenne. Image by Brian.

Matt & Steph Davies and Orly Bendavid

Hopscotch Wonder packs the place.

Hopscotch Wonder

dankennedy (yessir, that's how he spells it) and Joseph O'Seph belt it out in downtown TR.

Dan Kennedy & Joseph O'Seph

Lillie Lemon

Dan Walkner

That's a lot of pictures. I've been loading for several hours and now it's past 2:00am. As the great Red Skelton used to say, "Goodnight and may God bless."

Lemonheads Unite!

Tonight

7pm

Lillie Lemon returns

...be here or go suck a lemon...poster by Kim Geiser

Thursday Noon Soapbox Tour

Thursday (April 9) at 12:00 NOON
Dan Kennedy with Joseph O'Seph.

Dan is currently in the middle of his 2009 Great Midwest Soapbox Tour throughout the Midwest. He and Joseph will be at Stumpjack tomorrow at noon. Come on down for lunch and some tunes. Check out Dan's music at www.myspace.com/dankennedymusic. Been listening to Dan's tunes a lot in the past couple weeks...his songs are very seductive and sticky (voice and rhythms sticking in my head). Good, unusual stuff.

Joseph's music...I'm not quite sure how to describe. He lists it as J-Pop (Japanese Pop), Folk Rock and Minimalist. I guess that's as accurate as anything. It's raw, aural landscape. His voice creaks and squeaks, guitar sounds jangly and rough (I suspect he's a crappy guitar player, which I say with a measure of admiration...it's punk, man), it's immediate. I like it. Here's Joseph's site if you want to give a listen.

From his site:
Combine the soft lullaby-like young man that used to aspire to make people cry with an angst-ridden youthful exuberance and you have Dan Kennedy's recent music. Gone is the idea that he wants music to sleep to - messages that keep you awake. Now, the Detroit-born singer/songwriter expresses what he feels with a passion that takes most first time listeners by surprise. Frequent listeners are consistently drawn to his deeply personal, no-holds-barred lyrics and the stories behind them.

Although a Dan Kennedy album will put you through the emotional wringer, the overall experience is soothing and calm. While Kennedy questions the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the sanity of Man, there is one thing he never seems to doubt: Love. Even in his more sorrowful songs, love reigns King of all, staying afloat in a sea of uncertainty. Perhaps this is the reason his music is so effective. There is something reassuring about the man who seeks love above all things.

West of East to appear Saturday

This coming Saturday, April 4, Milwaukee duo West of East will be at Stumpjack at 7pm. I would strongly encourage you to go to their myspace site (http://www.myspace.com/westofeastmusic) and give them a listen. If you like the kind of thoughtful, smooth and beautiful music of, say, John Prine or Norah Jones, you will indeed like West of East.
A snippet from their website (http://www.westofeastmusic.com/):
"Simply put, it is two guitars, an amazing voice, and a bunch of great stories about life and its many meanings. West of East is a mostly acoustic duo comprised of Sara Moilanen and Tim Suchocki, who's music borrows elements from Folk, Country, Rhythm & Blues, and Rock & Roll. They have had a successful early career playing and creating lasting impressions in the Milwaukee and greater Wisconsin area."
I am bummed because I personally won't be able to make this performance. I've been looking forward to meeting Sara and Tim and seeing them perform since we first booked the date. But my dear uncle Ozzy passed away this past Sunday and I'll be at his memorial service in Rhinelander on Saturday. Glen and Kim will be working the Stump together so come on down, have a fun time and enjoy what will be some really great music from this talented duo. Seriously, go to their myspace site and give a listen...then come on down Saturday night. You'll be glad you did.

Ciao!
David

Music and Art Show follow-up

Carson's art show opening was a kick. Everyone loved his and Tina's work, kids big and little had a good time, Doc & Joe provided excellent tunage, we sold 8 or 9 pieces, and we are thinking of having a second opening in two or three weeks just because we didn't really have time to announce this one properly (we'll see how energetic I feel, and how energetic Carson and Tina feel too...but it was fun and I don't mind repeating fun).

Friends of the artists turn out. Carson w/ little guy on the right.

Jim and Tina view critically but Eric gets the Oscar.

Don expresses dismay to Jane that that piece was sold, threatens to kneecap buyer.

Tina overseeing rugrats' dominoes construction.

Jess and Glen

Fun time Saturday night with Doc & Joe and everyone who came to hear them. Great stuff from those two guys, and they're dang good people too. A darn nice double whammy (they performed both Fri & Sat night). Gotta do that kind of whole weekend gig with them a little more often I think.

Nothing but pure aural goodness.

Larry, Peggy, Pat and Jayne

Carrie, Roy, Lisa, Dale and Glen

Jackie, Wencel, Debbie and Brian

TONIGHT (Sat)

Saturday night, March 28 at 7pm Live music with Doc Every-Day's-A-Holiday.

Mike "Doc" Retzinger with his lackey Joe LaForce.

(kidding, of course, about the lackey thing...har!...Joe's really more like Doc's roadie...ouch!...no, seriously, these two are as smooth together as, oh, I don't know, Simon & Garfunkel...or Seals & Croft...or Burns & Allen...or Captain & Tennille...or Abbot & Costello...or Keith & Mick...or Sacco & Vanzetti...or Ren & Stimpy...or Bill & Ted...or Angry Beavers...or...I could go on forever...

Dang good guitar work and singing by these gents...always excellent.
Doc & Joe were here last night (they were really rather amazing) and they demanded that they be allowed to return tonight...truthfully, I had to scramble to fill the slot tonight and pretty much begged and groveled asking Doc & Joe to play tonight too. Doc, being the more thoughtful and better looking half of the duo, readily agreed, while Joe tried to leverage my predicament to his favor and demanded more pay. I begrudgingly agreed, and had a contract quickly drawn up and will be paying the guys each a buck-&-a-half tonight (we don't hardly pay anyone anything anyway).

Seriously, you would do yourself a favor by seeing Doc & Joe perform...they truly are outstanding and a lot of fun.

Last night (Fri) This piece of Carson's isn't in the show, but it gives you an idea of his talent.

The Carson Kugler Art Opening. Most of you know that I love Carson and Tina Kugler's art, and they are such wonderful people too. I'm not exaggerating, this stuff is truly skillful, surreal, whimsical, humorous and fun. Had a very fun opening...kids runnin' aroun' everywhere, plenty of artsy fartsy types acting like they know what they're talking about, arguments over which pieces were favorites, small bidding wars, plenty of "harumphs" and "what is art?" jibberish, wedgies for the nerds, the old art vs illustration debate, etc, etc... Carson and Tina sold eight pieces...sweet. Might have a second opening in a few weeks even.

Pat DiNizio follow-up/Hopscotch Wonder/Madison

Ok, we're back from Madison and am trying to get caught up now on all of the blogging, Flickr, YouTube, Scat, online updating that needs doing.

Pat DiNizio at Stumpjack. photo by Nate Walkner

A brief follow-up to Pat DiNizio's performance here last Friday night. In a word, it was fabulous. Another word: fun. Another: fantastic. You get the idea. Check out some of the comments on the other, earlier post "Dinizio is the real deal" from people who were here. I haven't seen a guy put as much of himself into singing songs like Pat does. The guy sang his guts out and was just freaking amazing with his passion, sincerity, and ability to connect with people. Maria was talking about it this morning, about how Pat made her feel like he was singing to her. He's both a showman and a regular joe who truly cares about doing the very best he can and giving people something to remember.

Pat under the spotlight. Image by Nate Walkner.

We're hoping to catch the whole band, The Smithereens, in Naperville (outside Chicago) in June, and Pat asked that we get ahold of him beforehand if we do and that we may be able to hook up for dinner or something. I'm hopeful of being able to get The Smithereens here to perform. It'd be more than the shop itself could handle but Greg (Buckley, TR City Mgr) has expressed his support for events like that and I'm sure we would have city support and may even be able to block off main street for a full blown street party. Keep your fingers crossed. Like my friend Brian Powell said to me the other day about getting to meet Pat and have him perform here, "You realized one of your dreams. Make sure to enjoy the moment." Truth. Thanks, Pat, for a totally awesome performance, giving us all something to yack about for a while, and for being a good bloke all around. What a trip.

Signing a CD for Maria. Image by Nate again.

And thanks to all of our friends who came and helped make the night fun too! I'll have some Flickr pics and a youtube video or two up soon. Marty and Nate also each have a set of images from the night on their own Flickr sites:
Nate Walkner Flickr Set
Marty's Planet Neon Flickr Set
Stumpjack Flickr Set

Pat also signed some CDs for us to sell, his solo work and a couple of Smithereens albums. We've got 20 left. They're brand new but we had to remove the outer wrap so that he could sign the sleeves. Get 'em while we got 'em.

Saturday Night

Busy Saturday night w/ Hopscotch Wonder

Crazy busy night with Bethany and Hope from Hopscotch Wonder. Man, it was like a couple busloads of folks pulled up in front and everyone just piled into the shop. For an hour and a half Kim and I were like coffee makin'/beer poppin'/wine pourin' cyborgs. Unbelievable, and it was all due to those two super-sweet and talented young ladies Beth and Hope. We didn't really even get to enjoy their performance because we were sweating it behind the counter up until they finished...so I called for an encore and heard at least one tune. Very, very nice. Gotta have them back soon.

Hopscotch Wonder (Hope & Bethany Lindemann). Image by Brian Powell

Click here for Brian's Flickr set

Madison
I'm going to post with images our little two-day trip to Madison over on the Stumptoons blog, which you can also access at the top of the page by clicking on that link.