Went last Thursday to Arabica Westside (Rocky River) for the Coffee and Comfort Series to hear some music, and I had hoped to see a good sized crowd. What I found instead was only a handful of listeners sipping drinks and kicking back in the comfy couches and chairs. I bought a mug full of tea and read the Scene mag. and when Patty came in I tried to ask her about resurrecting the Wednesday Open Mic night - Patty indicated disinterest or at least she wasn't willing to discuss it with me in any detail saying only that she was 'working on some ideas' with Jim. However, I couldn't help notice that she WAS willing to spend several ten's of minutes chatting with Mr. Joe Rohan, one of the regular Thursday Night performers.

This night Joe was not performing and had instead come to hear his friend Annie Boxell, singer songwriter and piano player - she was in from 'out of town' (I think she said Charleston SC) - maybe that had something to do with the micro sized crowd.

After a night like that one I have to ask myself why the new owners of Rocky River Arabica continue to pay for top-tier talent when the crowds don't seem to be turning out in great enough numbers to support them - Annie Boxell was a perfect example of an up and comming 'out of towner' with a great voice who looked and sounded terrific but who obviously has little or no following in CLE. Maybe the new owners need bigger ads in The Scene or the Free Times?? Course, big ads cost big bucks - or maybe the owners ought to reconsider both the direction of the music program and the size of the budget - unless of course they plan on putting themselves out of business by hemorrhaging money into an upstart music schedule that appears to be producing little crowd response.

A smaller budget could be put to greater effect by bringing in more talent from the next tier down in the talent pyramid (so to speak), there are just so many talented amateur or semi professional local artists who want and need a greater degree of exposure, and many of them willing to work for less than half what a Joe Rohan or an Annie DeChant want for an evening of entertainment. In fact, the Open Mic concept is one inexpensive method to consistently and inexpensively draw attention to the fact that the cafe HAS regular music at all! I seem to remember seeing locals Tim Fry, Unsub, Xela, Mary Clare and Jim Snively at the open mic night and where are those cats now?

At this time, it does not seem that the Rocky River Arabica has developed a suitable reputation as a music venue. Paying for top tier talent to play there once a week is not going to build that reputation any faster than playing host to a variety of less expensive local musical acts.

C'mon' Jim and Patty get it together already - how many more money-losing Big-Top Thursday nights do you two need to schedule before you get with the program!!

Bring back the mid week Open Mic night and start booking some amateur and semi-professional local talent into the cafe for Saturday nights!!

New MP3 files posted to steve2.net!

I have finally broken down and paid for a FULL YEAR of web hosting - sixty bucks - no more banner ads, sigh. What a flippin RELIEF to be out from under the brick like banner ads at the top of every page, whew. I posted a PAYPAL DONATION button on the site allowing any who care to donate a buck or two to the Steve2 Recording and Hosting/Promotion Fund - heh, pretty clever huh? Yeah I thought so to.

You will now find that the site is looking pretty sharp and that there are BRAND NEW FRESH MP3 files up there to listen too - yup, and if you are making a movie, maybe you can toss me a soundtrack bone?? Hmmmm? I am itchin' to get into some soundtrack recording so if you like the two songs and you are MAKING A MOVIE then drop me line wontcha'??

Cleveland Music Festival

Looks like these guys (whoever 'these guys' are) now have a new web presence - hmmmm, the email newsletter sign up feature is broken, it looks like they are trying to program the feature in PERL - whatever, its broken - and I wonder how long it will take them to get it working.

The site has lots of great information about the fest. and of course theband registration information.

Hope we see Xela and Matt Gerovac Implosion, Brent Kirby, and Infinite Number of Sounds all getting good prime playing times and spots.

Oh, and how about those Vanity Crash guys, don't they have a record deal yet?? Gee, they are practically ooozing rock and roll glory from just about every angle and pore, whats the frickin' hold up??

The Return of the Evil Martian Bunny Ears!

A few days ago I found myself surfing and blogging about the Opportunity Rover and the Martian Bunny Ears photos, and I posted a few links to photos and articles that I thought were funny - and just the other day I found an official' version of the story posted to the JPL website regarding the mysterious "Bunny Ears". This is a nice article, very analytic and official - basically, the antidote to all the foolish nonsense that was posted when the ears were discovered in the panoramic photos.

I had gotten caught up in the bunny ears hype - Martian Bunny Ear Fever - and linked up a couple of cute websites that were riffing on the Ears, but missed posting this link to Martian Crabs Dot Com which is site design and concept completely devoted to the Martian bunny ears - sweet.

At this point I think I have pretty much worn this whole concept out, however I am writing a song called Evil Bunny Fuzz

Course, none of this has ANYTHING to do with open mic, but I was at PHO Open Mic last night - it was great - they have a house PA now!!

More later...

The Open Mic scene down at the old Mudhouse on Madison in Lakewood has really picked up just recently, no surprise, Spring is on the way and the birds and bees will all be buzzing, the folk singers will all be, well, humming strumming and folksinging about the town - I have attended a couple consecutive Friday nights and have found that the whole scene has re-invented itself - in a good way - you might remember that things had gotten a little crazy/cozy over there at one time - depending on what night you were there. All that has changed, the bartender Joe regularly wears a tie, its all very high-fahlutin - nah, just pulling yer leg (Joe really does wear ties though).

What I have seen is a parade of talented hosts (so far no hostess) for the Friday night show: Have heard/seen Tim Fry, Darren Branch and Kevin McCarthy host the Friday Night Open mic. In addition to those guys, have seen and heard from the usual stalwartly individuals (including myself and Josh): Jim Snively, Terry Writz, a couple of other guys - a guy named Brian playing/strumming really confident guitar and singing Americana style folksy cow-polksy originals in a most refreshing and assuredly room-filling tone - recently had the pleasure of the company of one Tim Keo who plays a really tuneful Martin acoustic bass AND a little squeeze box accordion, super cool sounds from the Squeeze box hope to hear Tim play again real soon - heard a handful of poet's (most of whom I find don't have a very exciting delivery or stage presence - but there have been a couple of exceptions although none yet have come anywhere close to reaching the heights of bombastic delivery of one of Bearcats kids - I can't remember his name, Julia's brother, whatever his name is).

Anyhow, Jim Snivley is also running an Open Mic now - I don't have the flyer handy, oops - will get that information up here as soon as possible.

Perspective:

OK, today one of my fellow co-workers (Mr. Glenn) tells me he watched the Mel G. movie (The Passion) over last weekend and that its entirely accurate and true to the actual story - so, now I am just going to have to put the effort into reading the new testament in order to get some additional historical perspective. I still feel like the sheer gory detail was a little too much, at least it was for me, but I am kinda wimpy in that regard. If the Mel movie is portraying the event the way it was supposed to have really happened, well it was cruel and awful and bloody.

On an entirely different topic, however relative to perspective in general - the crater at Meridiani Planum that the rover Opportunity is exploring is only about 65 feet in diameter (20 meters or so) and the rim of the crater, where all the interesting rocks are, is supposed to be about 10 meters (32 feet) from the rover - and I thought it was allot bigger - heh - well, it looks bigger in the pictures ive seen so far.

I have found this discussion thread regarding the search for water and and somewhere in there another thread with a reference to evil bunny fuzz on mars, very strange.

Here is a link to an official JPL/NASA panoramic shot of the inside of the crater with the evil bunny fuzz in the lower right corner of the shot.

Here is the link to the very funny evil mars bunny story that was written up in the NY Times - my kiddo keeps two bunnies as pets so this is especially funny to me.

Heh - just found a couple of blogs linked to this one, but I am leaving work and dont have the time to add the links right now - check back later! Oh, and ouch, watch out for that Mel Gibson Passion of the Christ movie - oooh, its a painfull one to watch, long on style and detail (lots of gory detail - too much for me) and yet short on innovative story telling, why not just read 'The Last Temptation of Christ' or my co-worker Glenn suggests simply reading the New Testament - my suggestion is, if you dont read the book 'The Last Temptation of Christ' then at least rent the movie with William Defoe and Harvey Keitel - or how about just renting Ben Hur or or something along those lines.

I sure have not written much over the past few weeks, and during that time there have been at least a couple of significantly notable musical happenings, the most recent of which was the Planned Parenthood Benefit at the Grog shop last Sat. Night - wow, it was a really great show and it was my pleasure to have opened the night up with a solo set of material culled from my none-to-organized stack of lyrics and music. The show featured Andrew Rothman playing a solo set and then the remainder of the evening was devoted to bands: And all of the bands kicked some serious ass!!! The PA at the Grog is just so big, drums and bass sound as good as you could possibly imagine through all those huge speakers and it takes me a few days to get that infectious huge sound out of my heart and mind. And of course the guitars sound so sweet with all that clarity - in short, all of the bands just sounded real tight and great, here is the basic run-down:

The Brazen Rogues
These three dudes were playing balls out punk rock - and they kept asking how they sounded, which I found totally ironic considering we had a 'really real' sound engineer (Case Western graduate with a Sound Engineering degree - heh) mixing the board - and of course the sound was CD quality - at least from the audience perspective it was, not to loud not to soft - I have no idea how it sounded on stage. Anyhow, yeah, the sound was PERFECT and that's probably what was throwing the dudes off, maybe they aren't used to sounding so well mixed! They had a really rockin' drummer who kept hitting FANTASTIC roles - and the bass player was working hard even though he had a broken finger and leg, no doubt about it these guys were hard (two of the dudes are firefighters - go figure)! And they rocked up some hard jammin' tunes!

Word of Mouth
I can't remember if these guys played second or third - whatever, they had a woman bass player and a dude drummer and, whew, they hit HARD and ACCURATE together - digging a groove tight and deep, the sound was so huge the rumble from the bass was pitch perfect - I could go on and on, what I am saying is ... is ... gosh, the SOUND was just so great that I think the bands were really rolling hot it certainly wasn't the crowd size, because there just wasn't much of a crowd and they were mellow too. These guys had a couple of guitar players one guy played lead and the other was playing the rhythm guitar parts mostly - and then another dude was singing, he was a sparky singer guy and entertaining to watch. It was the first time I had heard this band and mostly I was listened to drums and bass that's just the mood I was into and this band had a both a creative drummer and a driving bass player and they were just hittin' the sweet G spot with the groove nuff said?

Brent Kirby and Band
Brent's band packs a most focused and wicked punch - I have said it and I have heard others say it (maybe no one has said it like this - but here goes): Brent's band is tighter than a virgins pussy! Yeah!! I said it!! They have twin huge bright thick slabs of bitchin' rock guitar sounds, snake-charmer lead breaks, a FABULOUS drummer and a KICKING bass player - again I just cant say enough about the sound of the HUGE bass and drums on this night what a TREAT to hear such great rhythm from all these bands - - and finally the songs stand up well under scrutiny, and this I know because I have heard Brent play them solo and he is a charming troubadour capable of delivering songs tunefully into the ears of those listening as if he were releasing brightly colored baby birds into a room - a complete formula that brings musical joy to these listening ears!


XELA with Corby and Will
Oh my gawd where do I start - Hey!! How about the FUCKIN HUGE DRUMS AND BITCHING BASS GUITAR SOUNDS AND WORK! Yeah fuckin YEAH!! Of course, what were YOU thinking about there for a second or two!!!! Oh, allow me to elaborate: Yeah, Corby is a FUCKING GOD of bass playing - he can play ANYTHING that has thick strings on it - He plays CELLO, he READS MUSIC - he plays with FINESSE he plays with POWER he has all sorts of beautiful TONES at his nimble fingertips - he can probably play ANYTHING!!!! You might say he is the schiznit (you might say that or you might say something else - it all boils down to bad ass). And naturally Mr. Corby plays with a drummer who can hit as accurately and elegantly as he needs to in order to not only convey the song but send it soaring like a rocket! Can you tell how much I like these guys? Then there is Xela - he was singing some Police songs - he sang 'Roxanne' and he had his throat making full throttle all the way to toneville!!!! When Xela wants to really peg a voice part and lyric, he just nails it, its amazing what the guy can do with his voice!!

The Matt Gerovac Implosion
Wow, I have NEVER heard these guys sound SO GOOOOOD!! But, right out of the gates here before I write ANYTHING ELSE I am gonna go WAY OUT ON A LIMB and suggest that these guys need ---- a horn player! Yup, don't you think they would really round themselves out with a nice tenor sax player person? Anyhow, Phill and Amp (drums and bass) sounded like they were really enjoying themselves up on the stage playing with power, accuracy and a relaxed stage presence that I had not had the pleasure of witnessing before this night. When I have heard them play at the Southside they sounded a bit too relaxed, like four guys sitting around on a couch watching a ball game - but this night they really dug into a phat and tight groove, Amp Phill and Banner got into and under the songs as if they together formed a magic carpet - they played together in a way that made them sound like they had been playing together for years!! And this red carpet of rhythm structure allowed Matt G. to tune up and turn up and into a serious guitar tone and a series of sweet ass rhythm guitar parts that could be heard clearly over the Georges rhythm sounds from Mr. Banner, Phil, and Amp - in fact, The Implosion was the only single guitar band that played that evening and its was a nice change from the two guitar sound. Matt's singing was powerful and soulful and could be heard very clearly in the mix. Matt Banner turned up the keys work and played some parts that really sparkled through the mix - overall this group has allot of potential and I think that they have a shot at some really good gigs IF they can get the kind of industry connections that they need to succeed.

More later, I gotta get out of my work place now and on into what remains of the day!!!

I am pleased to report that the Rocky River Arabica Wednesday Night Open Mic Series for January was an overall success, if only for those of us who showed up to play and enjoy each others company.

We had a great first Wednesday with several performers showing up to play, but attendance tapered off until this last Wednesday when it was only Tim Fry and I playing the entire two hours – and we liked it that way because we LOVE to play our guitars. And that is one of the main reasons to even have an Open Mic night, simply to get together in a nice space with a few people who’s company and playing you enjoy. Not that it is as simple as just that, there must be a thousand reasons why people attend and enjoy a good Open Mic night – and I would like to hear from any of those of you who are interested in supplying any of you own reasons to enjoy and Open Mic, send me an email!

Several people have asked me if the Open Mic night is going to continue into the next month and the coming months and I don’t have a firm yes or no answer at this time but I should be able to produce one within the next week or so, stay tuned.

The second Wednesday of Open Mic night last night at Arabica was (insert drum roll WAV file here) .... uhm, great for the four of us who played (Ryann Anderson, Unsub, Tim Fry, Steve2) otherwise, it was pretty quite. There was a dude doing some blogging (Steven Goldberg of Evo Tech) and he kindly mentioned this blog in his blog and for that link I am most thankful perhaps I will get some TRAFFIC through here for a change! You know, if you are reading this you should really let me know so that I can get up some motivation to add some goodies to this site - I don't want it to get to boring for those of you who come back again and again. Anyway, I really am hoping that this next Wednesday will bring in some fresh talent - not that I don't TOTALLY LOVE my buddies that ALWAYS come out to support Open Mic Nights ALL around town I do love them supremely they are the guys and gals that make this scene tick tock like a clock - but we do need to attract some new faces out at the Rocky River Arabica, that's my point here. So, get on out here on Wednesday would you please??

A big warm thank you to the friendly and talented artists who graced the stage on the very first night of the Westside Arabica Open Mic, everything went just fine and could not have been any more pleasant if Neil Young himself had stopped by to play a set. It’s so nice to have such a polite and groovy bunch of Cleveland artist friends turn up for the first night; we had sets from Mary Clare, Xela, Jim Snively and Lenny, Unsub, Mark Sherepita, and my co-host Tim Fry. Fortunately, everyone who showed up to play was able to play, although we ran just a little longer than we had planned too, wrapping things up at just about 10PM as the bar tenders were turning down the lights! I hope that you will drop in to play one of the remaining three Wednesday night sessions in January so that we can do the whole thing again – and if you do plan on doing so, drop me an email to let me know to expect you. If everything continues to go well, then perhaps the Open Mic Night will continue into the month of Feburary.

The Open Mic Underground
By Steven M. Wilson

It is a Tuesday night in downtown Lakewood Ohio and the scene outside the Phoenix Coffee Café is typical of what you might see on any night: There are patrons lingering outside the café under the awning of the alcove. They are smoking cigarettes, standing around and chatting beneath the glow of the neon signs. Inside the café the folks sitting around the tables are mostly hip looking artist types with notebooks and guitar cases, they are gathered for the Phoenix Open Mic.
The Lakewood Phoenix has undergone multiple changes of ownership over the course of its existence with the past seven years having been successfully navigated by owner operator Julie Hutchison. With the introduction of the Tuesday Night Open Mic one year ago, Julie has found a way to connect the patrons of the cafe to the underground art and music scene. Those who gather to listen regularly hear a cross section of Cleveland poets and musicians some well known and others completely obscure. Some artists are heard week after week while others show up infrequently. Though the performances are unpredictable, one element of the Tuesday night event remains consistent: Xela, the dynamic and affable host. Xela usually rolls up in his Muthaship (a grey station wagon festooned on the inside with stickers and decals) and unloads his gear into the cafe at about 8PM or so, setting up a single amplifier and microphone. Xela has been playing music in and around Cleveland for well over a decade now and is an immediately recognizable figure as he unpacks a small omnipresent suitcase filled with his wares: Three full length professionally produced CD’s (Cartoonopolis, Clumbsy Luv, and Luv Mutha) and various stickers and promotional materials. On this night, the suitcase is opened up, the amp is turned on, and Xela begins to play the opening set.
At 9:30PM the small café is jammed with people and the energy is high. The espresso machine hisses as the bartender steams lattes and mochas and there is the cacophony of multiple animated conversations. Xela finishes his opening set and is joking around, making character voices, and cajoling audience members to ‘take the Mic’. It is not unusual for Xela to address members of the audience by name; many of the attendees religiously make the weekly Tuesday night pilgrimage to listen and to perform. Xela calls a beautiful young woman out of the audience and she sits down at the house piano and begins to play an original song – the audience is mesmerized, her voice is lovely and the melody is ethereal - most of the conversation is hushed as the young lady plays deftly while singing in a sweet and high voice. After a short three song set the young lady briefly introduces herself and her CD of original compositions, turns out that many of the performers have original CD’s and a few sales are made.
By 10:30 we have heard flute, piano, guitar and poetry and Xela is wrapping up the evening by playing a few choice selections from his “Clumbsy Luv” album. Guest bass player Bearcat sits in with Xela: Playing through a chunky glowing tube amp that looks like it may have been extracted from a 1940’s science lab he expertly rumbles, snaps and pops with finesse the strings on his ancient Fender P bass like they were rubber bands. Xela sings with gusto to the remaining audience who by now are wiggling and dancing around the small café as if it were a Mississippi juke joint.
Closing time is 11PM and by that time almost everybody has filtered out of the modest space and Xela is packing up his gear while chatting. A slim young man has set himself down at the house piano and begins to play a melodic series of chords – he is singing in a whispery voice as Sarah, the bartender, begins to sweep up the shop. With help from a few of her friends it’s a snap to clean up in the aftermath of another magical night of musical revelry at the Lakewood Phoenix. See you next week!

===========================
The author hosts Open Mic Night every Wednesday evening in January at the Rocky River Arabica from 7:30PM to 9:30PM THE ARABICA IN ROCKY RIVER is a smoke-free, WiFi-enabled coffee house and wine bar in Westwood Town Center, 21605 Center Ridge Rd., Rocky River. For more information, contact the ARABICA at 440-356-6625.
Or contact Steven Wilson (AKA: Steve2) via his email: music@steve2.net
===========================

Xela Hosts these Open Mic events around town:
All venues are NO COVER

EVERY*SUN*10:PM-2:AM
@the FLYING MONKEY(bar)
corner JEFFERSON/professor
TREMONT 216.861.6659

EVERY*MON*10:PM-2:AM
@THE RHYTHM ROOM(bar)
corner of S.TAYLOR/cedar
CLEVE.hts.216.321.4073

EVERY*TUES*8:-11:PM
@PHOENIX COFFEEHOUSE
corner DETROIT/gladys
LAKEWOOD 216.226.4401

EVERY*THURS*9:pm-12:am
@CELLAR DOOR(coffee)
26 W.MAIN MADISON
440.428.3689

The Enclave turned out to be a really good time!

Arriving in Willoughby I pulled up to a great parking spot almost smack dab in front of the coffee house, almost as if someone had reserved it for me, very cool. Went inside, got a big hot cup of green tea, introduced myself to the barista, sat with local guitar player talent Mark (sorry, but Mark’s last name escapes me - me thinks have it written down somewhere) who was there doing some drawing. It’s always good to see Mark around the town, especially at Open Mic Nights when he has his guitar in tow, he is fun to listen too and play guitar with. Anyhow, proceeded to scope out the PA, and got to work getting things setup. This was a new room for me, and it’s a long room at that – I didn’t know what to expect in terms of what equipment would be available, I had brought all my own stuff to work with (and set it all up anyhow for the bass and monitor whatever etc.) it turns out that the Enclave house PA is a really a decent setup (they even have microphones and extra cabling), so no equipment problems.

Steve Pohl arrived shortly after the PA was turned on and he got right to work setting up his contraption kit. S.P.’s kit has always been one of the most unique contraptions, what with all the decoration and vintage parts and mini sized cymbals - but S.P. has really outdone himself recently by adding lights to the kit. Now, the bass drum lights up on the beat, and the snare head glows with this really cool blue light. Very nifty! A brief history: S.P. and I have played music together on several occasions and that’s how we got the “Steve Squared” nick name, all those Open Mic nights with Mary Clare and Sarah Schinko dontcha know. Eventually I decided I liked the nickname enough, changed it slightly too just plain old Steve2, and bought the domain name. So, we got to work playing some tunes. We sounded pretty good in spots, and also a little rough at times – we could use more practice as a duo. Steve really hung in there for the entire evening and did a fine job of playing even though he said his knee hurt real bad, I know all about that, that’s what happens when you start to degenerate into middle age. Probably the highlight of the evening (and some of the best playing) was the jam at the end of our set featuring Tim Fry on electric guitar and Alex Brandy sitting in on bass guitar – they really sounded good and made Steve P. and I sound really good too. Thanks dudes!

My buddy Ryan Smith (Guitar player singer songwriter with Miranda’s Moon) is hinting around that he is coming out to the
Arabica this Saturday to hang out and sit in on a few tunes, and I am looking forward to getting into some jams with Ryan he is one of my earliest Cleveland friends. If he can make it, it will be an extra special evening! This Saturday will be the second time out for the ‘new’ PA (one Peavey PA cab and an amp – early Christmas and birthday gifts to myself – and only a small pang of guilt to go along with the purchase which I put on my credit card – hey, some things you can’t live without) it’s going to be nice to finally have decent equipment out there at Westwood Arabica, in the past I have used ‘problematic’ guitar amps as PA gear and all that nonsense has come to a stop now – no more equipment hassles! Yeah for me!

See you out there?

PEABODY’S DOWN UNDER MONDAY NIGHT NOV. 17TH 2003

Edwin McCain
Brent Kirby
Will Hoge
Connor O’Brien
Mason Jar

Monday evening’s Edwin McCain show at Peabody’s Down Under turned out to be an exciting and well attended event, one of the more entertaining shows I have seen or heard in a mid-sized Cleveland club in weeks. Black painted, cavernous, beer soaked, and smoke-filled with two rooms for music (the main room and The Pirates Cove) Peabody’s is a conveniently located downtown venue in which to enjoy 20 Oz. well drafts, watch beautiful woman, and catch rising talent. This bill was chock full of all three of those most essential elements.

The evening began with Connor O’Brien belting out a selection of songs from “Soliloquy”. The current band assemblage sounded loose, apropos in that Connor has been on an extended performance hiatus for a number of weeks. Well-known chrome domed local hipster Dr. Bob sat in on electric guitar, while another fellow wielded a beat up, duct taped acoustic guitar. A bass player completed the lineup while Connor’s drummer Dave Cottrell sat watching the show with manager Rick Smith. Apparently, Cottrell came prepared to setup and play a full drum kit; however, promoters must have decided (at the last minute?) that this did not jibe with the acoustic singer songwriter theme. At any rate, Connor sang in a clear strong voice, radiating charm and showmanship, while more or less ignoring the occasional experimental sounding rhythms and parts. And while there is no doubt that Connor is a fine voice talent, and that the songs on the album are strong, the music this night did not reflect the crystal clear vision of perfection that is “Soliloquy”.

Next on the bill, we were treated to the sounds of Will Hoge. Up from Nashville Tennessee, wielding an acoustic Gibson Guitar and accompanied by a Piano player, Will played songs from “Blackbird on a Lonely Wire” (released on Atlantic Records). Since I was entirely unfamiliar with his music up to that point, and did not know what to expect, the first couple of songs hit me right where it counts: Great voice, stellar solo delivery. I found his story telling (and the brief blues rendition of “Ittsy Bitsy Spider”) disarming and charming. In spite of the albums huge and precisely orchestrated sounds, Will’s wonderfully spare Peabody’s performance gave the distinct impression that he has rolled hundreds of miles through the deep blue country night with only his voice, a guitar, and a piano player for company. His mist smoked whiskey soaked vocal delivery quavers and glides along well-crafted country tinged songs like a coal train around a Colorado mountain bend. This is some fantastic new music, with immediately accessible hooks and strong writing that demands repeat listening, check out a verse from “Second Hand Heart”:
“Here it comes another lonely night I’m waking up in my clothes – I know this place is poison but I’m coming back for a lethal dose
I got fist full of chances and a washed up angel to fill me up with bad advice – sex and god and lust and I just hope that maybe I can get this right”


At about the same time that Will had the big stage; Brent Kirby was rocking the Pirates Cove with his four-piece band. Brent is a recent addition to the Cleveland stable of singer songwriters, relocated here from Nashville Tennessee. Brent came up to Cleveland to GM a local Sam Ash music store, when he is not on stage you can find him out in Lyndhurst. I have heard Brent Kirby play his songs unadorned and Totally Freaking Acoustic with Chris Nekvinda at the Mudhouse in Lakewood, and I have heard him rocking out on stage with his band. Either way Brent is a charismatic character capable of delivering well-crafted slabs of American Rock and Roll. Brent’s band is certainly beyond reproach, they are well rehearsed and expertly maintain a deeply solid groove with two guitar sounds (Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul) intertwining and sizzling between the bass and the drums. And although I enjoy a good rocking band as much as the next guy, I did not specifically attend this show to hear bands, I had come to hear songs and voices. As voices go, Brent’s possesses a distinct fragile quality, one easily buried under a band sound, and I would have rather enjoyed listening to Brent (and his band) deliver an acoustic set.

Who were those crowd-pleasing guys of “Mason Jar”? This was the first time I had heard them; they played with three acoustic guitarists, one pleasantly hyper bass guitar player, and a drummer. Right off the mark these guys were playing low key up-tempo acoustic rock with clear vocals and a bouncing danceable vibration that seemed to emanate primarily from the kinetic bass player guy. And the audience was into it – they connected with the music and crowded the Pirates Cove, bunching up to the stage like true believers. I noticed that the crowd encompassed many beautiful young professional women (well, the entire facility was packed with beautiful ladies). I spoke with a young corporate lawyer just a few hours removed from a long day slaving away at contract law, somehow she began to fret over her ‘nerdy’ eyeglasses – which (she said) she could not see without. I did my best to reassure her that her sleek, black framed glasses complimented her fabulous good looks, and she in turn made certain that I had the name of her band: The Curve. At about the same time, an attractive and buff young lady had started something with someone (further highlighting the crowd complexity), and for just a minute I couldn’t decide if I wanted to flirt with her or get the hell out of the way. If this is the kind of crowd that Mason Jar is bringing round, then count me in. Just don’t punch me out.

The headlining act, with a voice sounding at least as big as the Montana Sky and as dusky as a Texas sunset, Edwin McCain took the stage accompanied only by his guitar, and a sidekick Baritone Saxophone player who also wielded a magical slide whistle of some kind. Although Edwin is a platinum recording artist with hits "I'll Be," "Solitude," and "I Could Not Ask for More" that have brought him to the attention of fans nationwide, I, (once again - the whole reason to have gone to the show in the first place) was unfamiliar with the songs. Listening for the first time to the voice of Edwin was a revelation - he comes well armed with great songs. Apparently, Edwin is drawing inspiration from multiple sources. His web site indicates he maintains relationships with at least a couple of other Nashville songwriters (Neil Thrasher and Wendell Mobley) who have helped McCain write "I Want It All". And it looks like this guy has at least a few other irons in the fire, he is currently working up a ‘for cable’ TV series “The Acoustic HighwayTM" that will feature the singer songwriter touring around the country in search of songwriters, great songs, and stories. On the web site the pilot is described as 'Austin City Limits' meets Comedy Central's 'Insomniac' - sure sounds more interesting than about 70 percent of the basic MTV schmaltz.

Overall the Peabody’s Edwin McCain show was an entirely successful offering featuring mixed musical elements and some of the best local and national voice talent that can be heard in medium sized clubs, well worth the small ticket price, they even ended up giving tickets away at the door. If you are a fan of great songwriting, charismatic voice and acoustic guitar, then I heartily recommend catching Edwin and Will Hoge the next time they are in town. In the meantime don’t miss the opportunity to hear our local talent Brent Kirby, Mason Jar, and Connor O’Brien when they are playing next. After all, it might be one or more of our local artists lighting out for point’s unknown and returning to Cleveland with a few platinum hits and a Grammy or two!

This past week the OMNL team attended three Open Mic events that we had not previously visited:


DECENT PIZZA TUESDAY NIGHT OPEN MIC
The first event was a Tuesday night with Charlie Mosbrook at the Decent Pizza on the corner of Mayfield and Coventry roads next to the laundry mat. Given that this is an Open Mic hosted at a pizza joint, the first question to come to your mind ought to be something like “How’s the pizza?” and OMNL found the pizza better than decent, yep we liked it allot - it’s really good! We started the evening off with a sizable slice of plain cheese (in the style of thin crust New York pizza pie). Nibbling from the ‘Wide End’ first, we were impressed right off the bat with the nice, fresh, moist and tender chewy crust. Yum! With a lightly sweet, aromatic and savory tomato sauce, this first slice of Decent cheese pizza made an excellent impression on the entire OMNL staff! Thankfully, Decent Pizza also maintains a respectable selection of bottled beer, so the OMNL team imbibed several cold ones throughout the evening. In addition to ‘regular’ size bottled beers, Decent pizza also offers cutesy little ‘tiny’ bottled beers; we got our small cute beers for one dollar a piece.
The evening’s entertainment began with the Decent Pizza Open Mic host, Charlie Mosbrook, plugging his guitar into the PA and getting the room warmed up. Charlie is a well known and widely respected local singer songwriter possessing a strong, accurate finger picking technique, a smooth vocal talent, great original songs, and a sensitive ear. In addition to Charlie, we heard from the inimitable Aaron Bonk http://www.aaronbonk.com/home.htm). And although you might know Aaron primarily as a fantastic local juggling talent, it turns out that Aaron has a good singing voice and performs a respectable repertoire of songs both original and cover. OMNL also had its ears perked by the original songs of Scott Franklin and Nate Maloney, both of these singer songwriters played short sets of original tunes. OMNL has taken particular note of Scott Franklins plaintive, edgy singing voice, however, there is simply not a whole lot we can say after only one listen other than that we enjoyed the sounds we heard and we hope to have the company of these two performers again in the near future.

BARKING SPIDER OPEN MIC NIGHT WITH GUEST HOST RYANN ANDERSON
Finishing off a second slice of mushroom pizza (a great follow up slice with fresh mushrooms – a little small though) the OMNL team piled into the car and headed off to the Barking Spider for the Open Mic. Although most Clevelanders are familiar with The Barking Spider as a happening music venue, we would like to take this opportunity to remind (any of you who need to be reminded) that the Spider is a wonderfully warm venue with woodsy décor and low ceilings. It is intimate and cozy and with a nice warm fire burning in the ‘stove’ it is the perfect place to sit with a beer or two and enjoy the company of your best buddies. There are games in the Carriage Room and on summer nights the large Carriage Room doors are flung wide to the sweet summer night air. This nights Open Mic featured guest host Ryann “Guitar” Anderson http://www.ryannguitaranderson.com/. If you have never heard Ryann perform, hit his website for the event schedule and pick from among the dozen or so dates that Ryann is playing in November. Ryann has a few MP3 files posted to his site as well, so you can get a taste of what kind of music he plays. Truthfully, the OMNL staff had a 10PM date with a friend at the University Circle Arabica, so we made it over to the Spider a little late; and only heard a few performers. We heard Tim Fry kicking down a set of his songs, and we also heard Jim Unsub play a set of original tunes before taking the stage ourselves and playing several songs. Tim currently is working on his CD, and Jim has had his CD out for several months now, and the OMNL has posted reviews of both of these performers in previous issues, some of that material is available online at the brand spanking new OMNL web log, just drop by www.steve2.net and click the web log link. By the time we had finished our set, the Spider had pretty much emptied out and Ryann picked up his guitar for the last set of the evening. Ryann’s recorded material is available on his website, the CD’s “Hodgepodge” and “Patchwork” sold separately or together as a set for only 15 dollars.

FLYING MONKEY OPEN MIC NIGHT WITH XELA
More recently, the entire OMNL team managed to get itself over to the Flying Monkey in Tremont for last Sunday nights Open Mic event with XELA. Those of you familiar with the Flying Monkey need no introduction, however, this was the first time the OMNL team had been there and we were tickled to find the place really spiffy and bright with a super clean, woodsy, cozy look to it and a fabulous wrap around bar. The Monkey is tastefully decorated with a few choice custom HILL guitars framed and hanging on the walls! How super cool to see custom Jon Hill guitars hanging on the walls of the bar! The HILL guitar shop is right there in Tremont, if you want to know more about HILL guitars take a peek at the website: http://www.hillinstruments.com. Predictably, a number of cold and tasty Buckeye Brewing Micro Beers were consumed, and a good time was had with XELA running a high energy Open Mic night full of musical high jinx and shenanigans.


The OMNL team is currently composed of only one wistful dude who has dreams of writing this column for The Scene or The Free Times. The editor in chief and primary artistic director is Steve2 so please direct all inquiries, complaints, and praise to one of our two primary email addresses: music@steve2.net or smw@speedyweb.org


Here are the approximate addresses for the various Open Mic Events:

Decent Pizza is at 2768 Mayfield on the SW corner of Coventry and Mayfield roads in Cleveland Heights. The music starts at 8PM sign up for 20 minute time slots at 7:30PM

The Flying Monkey Pub is on the south-east corner of Jefferson and Professor in Tremont with live music on Sundays, and happy hour during the weekdays.

The Barking Spider Tavern is at 11310 Juniper Rd. Cleveland, OH 44106

Another great weekend of music out at the Westside Arabica with Terry Writz and our special guest Mary Clare. Mary Clare added some very tasty flute playing to the evenings song selections - and played a few songs of her own as well! Thanks Mary for contributing your talent! Once again, as has been the case, the crowd was very good, basically a 'full house' - the room is relatively small, so it only takes about 20 bodies to make the place seem happening. There was a nice consistent flow of patrons into and out of the place with most people hanging around at the tables with lattes and muffins for at least a couple or few songs. Terry played only a small sampling of his original tunes, including a song I had not heard before about getting stuck, sick, in a Russian hospital - Terry has respectable breadth of experience and a really long list of unique and original songs that reflect that experience so the next time you get a chance to come out and hear him play, you should do so!

Had a great weekend, went on Friday to meet a few new musician friends and we had a good jam session together - the gang were gracious enough to supply a sweeeeeet bass guitar for me to play - an old Gibson Artist series, maybe a Destiny or something like that? It was sweet, real nice to play with the action setup so very low that until the instrument warmed up the high G string was buzzing against the frets, after the beauty warmed up a bit it was just as nice to play as she could be! And what a great goup of people to jam with too! See, awhile back (abut a week ago) I had walked up to Ohio City to get my haircut at the barber college (only 4 dollars) only to find it closed - sigh - so I parked myself a Great Lakes for a beer and then went around the corner to the Glass Bubble Project and wow what a sweet space with nice hot glass kilns and two really cool guys Chris (the main operator fellow) and another guy Adam - they were gracious hosts, offering a beer and inviting me to play the House Guitar - very cool people. So, no sooner had we broken the ice than Chris was suggesting that he knew of a group of guys who were seeking a bass player - well, my interest was piqued and I was on the phone with Jason Richardson and invited to the very jam I am writing about here - and was it ever fun, Drew is a guitar player singer songwriter and Jennifer is a great violin player. Matt the drummer was real nice to play with the whole gang was great fun and I hope to see them again soon

The home recording project has escalated - in addition to the web site and the MP3 site, I am putting together a CD Booklet Concept in an effort to create a real DIY multi-media experience with drawings and song lyrics. I had initially considered my little portable black and white inkjet printer limiting, and still thinking about buying a color InkJet, currently working within the B/W paradigm, so the first couple of CD jewel case designs are black and white. More later -

DEMO/HOME RECORDING:

This weekend I made a relatively quick demo recording of "Time for Getting Stoned". I am sure some of you have heard me play this song more than a few times, it's one of my favorites, written by my friend Mitch Fraas (Portland OR). It was time well spent at the PC, I had fun and managed to nail some 'real good' 3 part harmony voice tracks. Also played three entirely separate acoustic lead tracks, mixing em up in the post production. It turns out the three entirely seperate lead tracks sound real good mixed up together! It's very strange. Will be submitting the song to the MP3 site this week and it should turn up by next week.

GOOD, BETTER, AND BEST
I am trying to determine which of the 17 or so 'home recordings' that I have put together so far sound, uhm you know, 'the best' and I think I have narrowed the feild down to about 7 or 8 tunes that will go onto the 'OFFICIAL STEVE2 DEMO DISK' - if you have one of the recent 'experimental' limited edition test burns (there were only five (5) CD's with the custom one of a kind hand colored Steve2 graphics that included the Tim Fry/Steve2 recordings) then you have heard most of the stuff that has been recorded so far at Studio 501. I figure no more than 7 or 8 songs will go on the REALLY REAL OFFICIAL STEVE2 DEMO DISK and so far the real standouts, you know, are the recordings with the best vocal performances. The nice vocal performances and simple guitar work good together.

At any rate, I have submitted the current demo disk (with waaaay to many songs on it) to a few folks for consideration in an effort to get some live shows around town (one went to the Enclave and the other went to the Arabica out on the West Side).

A REALLY REAL LIVE SHOW
I don't have a band or even a real consistent duo or trio thing yet. So the question in regards to a live show is 'how to create more sound and more excitement?'. Though the recordings are simple enough, there are still multiple parts - lots of lead guitar stuff - I am hoping that I can get a few of my associates out to some gigs - once I secure some dates - to fill out the sound a little. No practice sessions are planned at this time.

I LOVE THE PHOENIX TUESDAY NIGHT OPEN MIC

Yup, Steve2 is a HUGE fan of the PHO Tues. night scene - it's a happening event no question about it. This past Tues. was no exception and I hope that it stays that way.

Heard Terry Writz play a couple few songs, and its most obvious (after a few listenings) that Terry is UNQUESTIONABLY an accomplished and mature song writer. Originaly from New York City, Terry is writing and singing intimate intricate songscapes that sound 'folkish' while possesing some kind of unrealized poetic psychodelic undercurrent - this listner is not sure yet what Terry really has hidden up his sleave, but he is talking about doing some recordings so we might get a much better look at Terry's songs in the very near future.