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.