My singer songwriter friend Michael Allen (who has been the bass player for local rock act Jericho Turnpike) has most recently been writing, recording, and playing (solo) a whole bunch of shiny new songs. Funny, but it seems that we had been seeing and hearing each other around the town at various open mic events for months before we finally got around to talking to one another for any length of time about who we were, what we were doing, and who our common friends might be, it's such a small world sometimes! So, anyway, after hearing Michael play and sing on many occasions (and at the Barking Spider very recently) I invited him to play a Friday night solo set at the U.C. Arabica and this past weekend and he had a cozy and intimate audience that included his lovely young baby daughter Eva and her mom (Michael’s wife) Jennifer and also a few of their close friends - including Rodger Mendez and his wife, Beth. It was a good solid solo show, a real nice bare-bones reading of Michael’s new tunes - and afterwards Michael and I had a chance to talk a little bit about the 'demo' tunes he has been working on up in Detroit at Rust Belt Studios - and I admitted to him that I had an illegitimate copy (how appropriate!) of some of those tunes and that I have been listening to the mixes quite a bit recently, and the current opinion on my part is (drum roll please) that the mixes really rock! Mike has said that most of the vocal tracks are not 'final' in that they exist more in capacity as 'scratch tracks' however steve2 has noted with much stereo-turned-way-up-loud-during-morning-shower glee that the majority of the mixes sound really huge and totally professional just the way they are (scratch track vocals or not) so good in fact that they can be cranked WAY up LOUD because the guitars growl, sing, and twang just shimmeringly and the bass guitar sounds are sweeeeet and tiiiight and the drums are sounding, like, huge and perfect – sounds like with only a little more work on the voice parts Mike and Rust Belt will have put together a real nice slamming piece of rock and roll Detroit style by way of Cleveland!! Is that cool or what??

PS: You have no idea how badly I want to post a nice single MP3 from the oh-so ‘illegitimate copy’ of the tunes I have on hand – it takes allot of self control not to do so – and every day I listen to the mix I feel that self control slipping away… Agh! I cannot promise that I won’t DO IT!

Open Mic Shenanigans!!

Thanks to all recent participants in the U.C. Arabica Open Mic Night - lately its been a really happening event with anywhere from 8-11 performers contributing songs and stories. Last week Todd Wieder played a few poignant original songs on his beautiful Larrive - wow, it was a real shiny guitar and it sounded fantastic, made my Larrive look like it has been around the block a few too many times! Todd had until recently been playing with 'Lost in America' and he tells me that the group has disbanded. I look forward to hearing Todd again real soon. Jim Snively also dropped in and illuminated the room with his gracious voice, playing three of his original tunes - always good to hear you Jim keep up the good work out at McNamara's! Ben Jacobs played several high-energy original songs and he brought along a nice cozy crowd of Case Western listeners with him - great to have had your company Ben, hope to see you again!! Miriam Mendelson also stopped by and played a few songs, as always it's a delight to have Miriam's company on Wednesday night. Thanks to all the other participants - Josh, Matt, Dan and a few others who I may have only met once or twice - please keep coming out and bring your friends!

Have you recently hit my home page? Or do you just click directly over to this weblog from parts uknown - the reason I ask is, well, I make effort to change the content of my home page frequently, every week at least. And thanks to my regular visitors, when I type steve2 into GOOGLE I get my own site (my home page no less) as the number one return result!! Doesn't that call for some kind of a celebration? I will drink in honor of your increased visits! And I did do some drinking this past weekend, ended up drinkening big Pabst cans at the Grog Shop last weekend for John Petkovic and COBRA VERDE - I only heard the last few songs but they rocked! There was a fellow there making a live recording onto a mini-disk and I have his contact information and I hope to hear some of the recording. The 'headliner' was this band called NEBULA and they site Mudhoney as one of their influences. Granted, they were velvet heavy, and the guitar sounded really great, but as a band not exciting enough to remind me - much - of Mudhoney. Of course lyrically I had NO IDEA what was going on - I had to wear earplugs for most of the evening, and that does NOT mean I am getting old, it means it was REALLY FUCKING LOUD in there! I once was at a show and saw earplugs sticking out of the head of the cutie pie lead singer of VELOCITY GIRL. I wonder if any other well known 'rock stars' wear em on stage. Whatever, I figure I need my hearing and I don't care to abuse the priviledge. More later -

Last nights Open Mic was terrific! I brought my own P.A. setup for a change of pace (the big Peavey speaker is a drag to move around but its the killa') and yes indeed it tunes up real nice into the room and sounds just way better then the lil' house amp could ever hope to. Many thanks to all participants: Beth Hyland, Mark Ronan and Bob Gibbons turned in a kind of a mini-song-circle style performance as "Flip Side" each taking turns at the mic singing and backing each other up with Martin guitars and really pleasant folk style harmonies - very nice! Chris Nekvinda and Veronica Darby came by and Chris played a few songs (with his shoes off heheh - now thats totally freaking acoustic of Chris ain't it) later heading of to the spider to help Will Cheshier out - it was really good to see and hear Chris and Will and Veronica! Congratulations to Will C. on what by this time must be the brand new babies!! Twins no less, wow, the party is just getting started over at the Cheshier's place!! Samantha (Guitar and Voice) rocked out on several numbers with Bill (Piano and Sax) , Terry Writz sang a few of his quirky and jazzy sounding original 'folk' songs, Jim Snivley treated the room to his mellow voice and original songsmithing (and then he went over to the Barking Spider and probably stayed up way past his 'bedtime' - Jim, your kind of a party animal), Miriam sang a few songs and also recited a poem (I liked the Eliza Gilky song, dunno the name of it though) Alex Brandy chipped in with a closing song, and acted inauspiciously as the un-official 'amp turn off' dude.

Unfortunately, Adam Zadok of Buffalo New York has had to cancel his performance appearance at U.C. Arabica this Friday. Ditto that for guitarist Moises, who has had to cancel his appearance this week as well. Both of these artist will be re-scheduled for future dates.

Yo! You might appreciate a little poetry and also some insight into my personal history. I am giving you just a little here and only a little, this poem is a cool lil' ART-tifact from my past, it was written by my one-time wife Michelle T. (now my lovely ex-wife) and as one of several "Poetry on the Buses" winners it hung inside Seattle buses for a long while, riding around the city being read and re-read by I am sure hundreds of people:



"You take on the shape of the things you swallow. Be careful of people who are kites, who make you rise so sweet, tangle you in trees & wires: the same shocks that give you ecstacy can steal your life. Swallow horses if you feel strong enough to gallop for miles across landscapes,tossing your mane in the sun. What I am saying is: you are what you eat. Eat oceans. Eat the moon with your eyes, the wind with your skin. Do not eat too much. Do not be so full you cannot swim the rivers or wake when it is time. Better yet, take the world into you in smallest bites, only what you need. Leave the rest. You take on the shape of the things you swallow. Swallow rainbows. They suit you. Swallow love."

I met Michelle in front of a 'Kinkos' copy shop way back in the summer of 1997 in Seattle WA on University Way. How time flies.

THE MIGHTY TASTY SONGSMITHS OF CLEVELAND! The Song Circle on the Local Stage at the Taste of Cleveland this past weekend was well worth the modest admission price of the entire event (I got in for 5 bucks with a coupon - a lady next to me bought tickets from some dude for four bucks and so gave me her coupons). Jim Miller was fresh off the road from a tour and he was singing big songs in a true and mighty voice - he also added some tasty licks here and there to others songs. This was the first time I had heard Jim play and I was suitably impressed! This songwriter circle was orchestrated by none other than Cleveland's own Annie DeChant as an extension of the Winchester rounds she has been putting together out in Lakewood (at the Winchester on Madison of course) and if you have not heard Annie recently please remind yourself what a powerfully engaging talent she is by coming out to hear her play - she shines her songs like diamonds and delivers them with a fierce conviction and I like her style more and more each time I hear and see her play and sing! For her performance last Sunday she was waering her cowgirl hat and some rose colored sunglasses and she had her accomplices singing harmony and playing guitar with her, wow, she is really real!! And speaking of talent, this was the first time I heard young Kate Voegel sing live - previous to this past weekend I had only heard her 'demo' recordings on Broadjam - and does she ever sing sweetly, with a beautiful enchanting and quavering lilt to her voice! She is playing Farm Aid this year in Seattle with the likes of Willie Nelson and Neil Young - heh, can you say wowy zowy?? I don't really know who to compare Kate's singing and or writing style with to give you an idea of who she 'sounds like', my advice to all you live music lovin' Clevelanders is listen to Kate's music, get her CD, and go to her shows when she is in town. Oh, wait, what's that you say you have no K.V. CD and its cold and raining and you are NOT going out NO WAY to ANYTHING you are staying right there in front of your warmly glowing PC?? Ok, no problem I have done all the work for you - here are some DIRECT LINKS to some 'demo' K.V. tunes hosted at Broadjam.com - just kick back and turn em' up loud now, ok?? Kate Voegele - "Footprints" Kate Voegele - "Wedding Song" Kate Voegele - "Facing Up" Kate Voegele - "Good Old Self" Kate Voegele - "Where The Sidewalk Cracks" OPEN MIC WEDNESDAY AT ARABICA U.C. Last nights Open Mic at U.C. Arabica was good but attendance by artists was light compared to last week. It's only the attendance of musicians, singers, poets, and writers that make the Open Mic night happen. I just want to thank a few Open Mic participants (if your name is not in here then you should come by on Wednesday night) : Alex Brandy Allan Madej Audra Kubat Brent Kirby Brian Catherine Clyatt Chelsea Ryan Chris, Liz, and Stella Danny McNamara Dick GERMAINE SCUDIERE Jeff Jeff Lakatos Jim Snively Laura Webster Mark and Jack Mark Ruppe Mike Allen Naomi Peter Smakula Ryan Anderson Viola Xela Special thanks to Miriam for playing this week and last week, and the weeks before that - I look forward to hearing her sing and always grateful to have her talent and company on Wednesday nights - hope to keep seeing and hearing Miriam! Special thank you to Chelsea R. and Allan M. for playing at many of the Wednesday Open Mic events, and other Open Mic events around town - they are two really talented artists/players/singers and nice company as well!! Come and see them at the UC Arabica when they perform!!

So, you might know from previous "PS" entries (I usually have a PS entry of some kind on my home page) that I have had this very interesting audio interview with Audra Kubat stored on my PC hard drive for a few weeks now, and I am in need of a secretarial service of some kind, because I want to have it transcribed 'professionally' - the last interview I transcribed took a long time. Until I get the interview transcribed (assuming I ever do get it done) I have extracted a couple of really pretty songs from the bulk of the interview: "Rainbows and Butterflies" and "Lost to You" were both recorded mono at my apartment in Lakewood during Audra's September visit, she explained "Rainbows and Butterflies" as one of the first songs she wrote and "Lost to You" as one of her most recent - heh, pretty juicy interview material, dontcha think?? I don't know if Kubat has much recorded 'bootleg' material out there, well, if she does then here is something new to add to her bootleg history!!! (PPS: Sept. 14th I have pulled the link to these two MP3 files for now, both files have a very obnoxious overdriven spot in them and I don't want to blow out anyones headphones - I might try to 'doctor' the waves up a bit and re-post them later. Sorry!)