STEVE2.NET

I have been on hiatus from work (took some badly needed vacation time) and have been listening to some music and I have some news items to share with you:

OPEN MIC:
Open Mic at the Arabica University Circle has been going really well this past few weeks and I want to thank all those who come to play and hang out: Matt Rayl, Terry Writz, Dan Rose, David Mansfield, Dan and Ben, and Dan and Lee and finally Dan and George. A special thank you to Jim Snively for not only making his own Open Mic very special but for making the effort to come out and make other events happen. And thanks to Ben Jacobs for bringing in his original songs and his friends. Thank you to Miriam for putting up with all the ‘cavernous’ sound issues - please keep coming to Open Mic, OK? Thanks Angelisa for coming out to play last week even though it was late I enjoyed listening to you and I hope to see you again.

AUDRA KUBAT:
You may or may not know that I am a HUGE Audra Kubat fan and that she is moving to NYC, I am going to miss seeing her here in Cleveland once in a while. I went to her biter sweet going away party this past weekend in Detroit and I got to say I felt only a little out of place not knowing anyone there (other than Audra) – I was the only out-of-state fan to be invited to the party. But everyone was friendly and nice, the crowd was composed of totally eclectic hipsters of all ages and the music, of course, was really fantastic. I noticed Audra was a little bit nervous – maybe because her parents were in the audience? I met Audra’s brother Chris, but I neglected to make a pointed effort to introduce myself to her parents. I got a really cool poster and I met a nice girl there by the name of Gwen Joy and I hope maybe she might read this and if she does, well I gave her my web site address, maybe she will contact me, but probably not. Anyhow, Audra is wrapping up her second full length CD release with Times Beach and she told me it would be done very soon – probably done by now. How exciting! I cannot wait to hear it!

SPECIAL EVENT:
I have an associate in Lakewood who owns and operates a really nice full-service recording studio – perhaps you are familiar with Strangelove Recording? Adam Probert is the engineer and the owner operator of Strangelove and he has done tons of work with bands around town, releasing several compilations CD’s along the way. Adam is interested in finding and recording acoustic talent and is looking for ways to promote his studio. So, after batting a couple of ideas around, we have decided to coordinate a live recording event at the U.C. Arabica and we have even decided a date: Saturday December 18 2004. For this date Strangelove and U.C. Arabica will co-host an evening of music at the café with anywhere from 5 to 8 acoustic acts (to be decided upon in the very near future). Each act will have about twenty minutes to play a TFA (Totally Freaking Acoustic) set. Each act will be recorded, free of charge and professionally, with a mobile 16-track studio setup. Please stay tuned for more details as to which acts will be included in this very special event.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN LISTENING TO:
Here are a few things I have been listening to:

NEIL JACOBS: Neil is a local resident guitar player of astounding talent – I heard him for the first time at the Lakewood Arts Festival this past summer and I won a CD and only recently started listening to it. It is full of the most amazing acoustic twelve string guitar playing I have ever heard. According to the bio, Neil has traveled the world playing the guitar and the music on this CD ‘World Blue’ is nothing short of simple brilliance.

JOHN MONTGOMERY: Just got this CD in a press kit from John and – wow! John has a really gorgeous voice talent and his writing is superb – maybe when he comes out here he will make a stop at the U.C. Arabica.

MIRANDA’S MOON: These guys are friends of mine and I just got a copy of the most recent complete ‘demo’ CD and it is a rock and roll boner for sure! The guitar sounds are alternately clear and springy (in that glass tube way, you know) then growling, lush and punchy crunchy with plenty of edge. The drums are sounding great, even from my little speakers, the cymbals get plenty of mix and the snare and bass drums are both really well represented. The bass guitar sounds are clear and tight punchy, course my home speakers are just itty bitsy things so I don’t get all that fat low end but overall this is a really great sounding mix. Finally, the raspy and keening whining vocals are delivered right into the center of everything just as pretty as a picture. These songs are all very different from one another and this is not your typical homogenous sounding rock music, it’s sort of equal parts bashing garage and melancholy geek rock and it takes a few listens to get below the surface of MIRANDA’S MOON. My only complaint is that the lyrics are not printed on the CD insert.

KATE VOEGELE: Kate’s CD ‘The Other Side’ has top notch production values applied to it – it just a huge sounding CD with crystal clear sparkling warm acoustic guitars and dirty clean Fender sounding electric guitars. There are sweeping keyboard sounds, accordions, organs and assorted ‘orchestrations’ – no effort was sparred in putting this work together, it’s a jewel with Kate’s sinuous voice glowing at its center. I can’t really say much more that hasn’t probably already been said, Kate has had this ‘demo’ CD heard by some of the music industries top producers and I guess she is well on her way to making a full length CD sometime in the very near future. I imagine she will sign some kind of lucrative record deal before she is twenty years of age.

BASICALLY BLUE/ACOUSTICALLY BLUE: I really dig Kristine Jackson’s voice and on this demo CD she sounds dusky, honeyed, serious, sweet and sexy and green enough to sound ‘cute’ in the way one might apply the word to a playful and purring young kitten. The full band cuts are clean and groovy funky with sweet orchestration and really nice big brassy horn parts and some horn solos (Kristine is also a trumpet player). I also like the relaxed sounding acoustic tracks on this CD and hope Zack and Kristine will be able to play the U.C. Arabica some night.


I am so certain there were some other things on my mind, but now I dunno what they might have been.
Until later, have a nice … whatever it is you have.