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).