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.

DiNizio is the real deal

Here I am, lying in bed at 2:00am Saturday morning, laptop on my belly, totally exhausted from several days of little sleep and way more to do than time in which to do it. I'm just home from a long, exhausting and wonderfully weird day and night with Pat DiNizio playing at the Stump. Pat arrived at around 1:00pm today, in a car smaller than I expected and with so little gear that I couldn't help but be impressed at the economy of it.

Pat was great from the word hello, greeting Kim and I with hugs and a smile, some silly jokes, and a sense of purpose and pride in what he is doing with this surreal Living Room Concerts Tour that he is in the middle of.

His performance this evening was stellar, filled with humorous stories and anecdotes between songs, and musically a real ball buster as he delivered each tune with what seemed like every ounce of energy he could muster. This was no laid back, loosey-goosey affair. No hesitation or uncertainty. He knew exactly what he was doing, and played every song with a certainty and confidence that you would expect from someone who owns a gunny sack full of hit songs and more "war stories" from life on the road than you can shake a stick at. The guy is a pro, plain and simple, but one who's also able to mix it up with folks and display a genuine gratitude for those who appreciate his work. And there were plenty of people at the coffee shop tonight who did indeed appreciate what Pat has accomplished in his career and what he was putting out on the stage tonight.

I'll write more about the show itself tomorrow (today); right now I want to say a couple of things about Pat's Living Room Concert Tour before I pass out. I just finished reading his post from the road titled PAT DINIZIO: Notes From the Road #1 "NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD" off his website patdinizio.com. This is a thoughtful, somewhat melocholy, and well written essay about growing older and trying to find meaning in what one does. This tour he's on makes me wonder. It's got to be weird, running into all sorts of people and situations, up close and personal, in the homes of fans and people you're meeting for the first time, performing in front of them without the "protection" of distance or bandmates. I'd think you would need a good sense of humor, a little bit of "hard-assness" and a fair amount of both humilty and healthy ego.

Frankly, I find it to be an astounding undertaking. I'm bone tired myself right now...I can't imagine how Pat feels at the end of a week of driving hundreds of miles and performing several shows with the intensity that he showed tonight. I find myself feeling concerned for him on this tour, hoping that the people who see him perform appreciate what this guy has done and what he's doing with this adventure. It seems both magical and ridiculous, ridiculous in the sense that he's even doing this, putting this kind of thing on all by himself, and magical in the sense that we're experiencing this amazing and wonderful music, that many of us dug so much when we were younger, live with Pat himself at a local coffee shop or in a friend's living room. Wild stuff.

I chatted with people at the shop tonight during the performance. It was so gratifying to hear all of the wonderful compliments that were being made about Pat, his music and his being there tonight. He was a hit. Again, more on the show later today. I gotta get some sleep.

Matt & Steph & Orly in 5,4,3,2,...

It's 5:20 now. In 40 minutes Matt & Steph Davies and their special guest Orly Bendavid will be stepping up to the invisible microphone to entertain us with soe mighty, mighty wonderful folk and indie music. Come on down! MATT & STEPH DAVIES

ORLY BENDAVID
7:00pm tonight

Love live music in a little while

Chelsea Z. returns to the Stump tonight.

Tonight (Friday the 13th) at 7:00

Chelsea Z. & Becky Markvardt sharing the rug at Stumpjack.

Becky Markvardt joins the party.

Kim put some mixed drinks on the board for tonight...come on down and lift a glass with us.