this is my last try, this is my first triumph

so we finally made it down to the "big city" last night and played our first show outside of wisconsin. for those of you who don't know or who, for some reason, didn't feel like coming to see us, even though you were in town that night, we played at uncommon grounds in chicago. it's a great little place with the most friendly people we have ever encountered. the sound guy--rich, let's call him--was unbelievably kind and patient and burned the show to disc for us. we will soon post songs online and some may show up at some point in the future in cd form.

uncommon grounds is very small and we were once again crammed into an area that could comfortably fit 2. we were 5 last night--jesse, kara, emily, scott, and myself. we opened with "leaving wisconsin", which was lukewarm at best, then played "stay hidden"--which is where that particular song will probably be in the future. "o lord have patience" continues to sound great as do "magnets and mediums", "medicate! medicate! medicate!", "she watches birds", and "hello, hospital". "ECR" is also sounding very cool these days.

there weren't many people there to see us, but some faithful few did show up. we sold a cd to a stranger--which means we made a new friend somewhere. i think we had $2 in the tip jar at the end of our show, but it's not really about whether we make $2 or $2002, it's about driving long distances and forgetting lyrics.

we're looking forward to playing with keshansky on friday, so show up, you kids! and bring the family! we'll be in appleton in full force:

jon-the drums
jessica-the piano
steev-the vocals and guitar
scott-the bass
emily-the cello
kara-the viola
jesse-the electric guitar

thanks for listening,
steev

we played a show, we played with amelia royko


on saturday night, we braved the elements and found ourselves crammed onto a little stage in madison's "willy street" community. namely, at mother fool's which i guess has been voted the best coffeehouse for live music in madison. i can attest, this saturday it truly was.

we got there early. scott helped me get the stage cleared and set up. we moved tables, chairs, plants, and put up the PA, the piano, and set our chairs for the rest of us. there was barely a foot of floorspace between each of us--we really crammed onto the stage. jesse found his way there, followed by emily and kara. we had time enough to do a sound check before amelia royko came up and did a sound check. then we were informed that she was opening for us, so we all found seats in the rapidly filling shop.

amelia put on a great show with just herself and her guitar. she is a wonderful singer-songwriter and i hope we get to see her again. she said several times that she was looking forward to hearing us play, so that was nice. i'm not sure if, afterwards, she felt like it was worth the wait.

anyway, she played for an hour or so, then we took the stage and rocked through a set of neo-folk noise. jesse droned, emily and kara stringed, jessica played piano, scott thrummed the bass, and i kept time with acoustic guitar and swaying. everything sounded good despite a few missed notes and forgotten lyrics. it was cold outside, but inside the warmth of the music spread from the front of the building to the back. some folks left during our set, but quite a few stayed. alas, this was mostly amelia's crowd--older, artistic-looking people--and i'm not sure if they knew what to do with us. i can't imagine a better crowd, though. they were very polite and quiet and gave us full attention.

our last two songs, "hello, hospital" and "magnets and mediums", were the most powerful of the evening. jesse's guitar theatrics added the perfect amount of drama and tension to our set.

so now it's on to chicago. we're storming the gates at 8!

steev

because it's friday and i love you

well this has been a slow day. i'm in the midst of one of my creative down times--wanting to write new songs but not having time or energy to do it. will there be practice this sunday at the coffin factory? who knows? no one from the band ever e-mails me back.

kara our violaist is coming back to the area soon and is interested in playing with us again. that would make 7 people in the band. i don't know yet who is playing on the 27th at mother fool's, but it'll probably look like this:

steev, acoustic guitar
scott, bass
emily, cello
jessica, piano
jesse, guitar and banjo
kara, viola

we'll be playing mostly "solo" material--the more folk-oriented stuff--with a few TIC songs thrown in. amelia royko is opening for us. she is an award-winning singer-songwriter from madison. i'm a little nervous about that because we have not won any awards.

steev

this month's blog reveals some rather interesting things--

the new kentucky quarter opened at the new moon last friday night. the guitarist blew an amp, then when i let him use mine, he said it was not loud enough. so i guess i need a louder amp. but they were very good--a singer/songwriterly americana-leaning bunch--i only wish they could have played a bit longer and not had the equipment problems. we will play a show with them again, probably not until late winter or early spring of 2005. so then this jazz band comes up--burt klein and the jazz vampyr arkestra. don't get me wrong, i like to laugh at ironic pop-culture references like the rest of the kids. just don't get me wrong. this band was costume-wearing, joke-spoutin', bass/piano/drums jazz. they didn't get finished until after 10pm, which leaves us to set up our crap and attempt to get our levels mixed right. anyway, we played until after 11:30 and the venue was only open until 11. sorry kids.

we sold some cds and made some new friends. our next show is november 27 at mother fool's in madison. this is a drummerless show, but will be a good time to come and listen to the music and lyrics and drink some fine coffee.

steev

little farmer highlights. new practice time. show changes.

well, we played at the little farmer. only one person from the mailing list showed up, which was a blow to our pride and faith in humanity. it was very windy. i scratched my car trying to cram the piano into it. emily played the bells on "if it be your will". our new songs, i thought, sounded good. we'll be playing "o lord have patience" as a rock song on the 29th. we'll also be playing "leaving wisconsin" on november 27th. which leads to. . .

. . .our show on the 5th of november has been rescheduled. we were double-booked, it seems. so now we're playing at mother fool's on the 27th of november. come on over after eating tofurkey!

and then we're practicing on sunday nights for the next few weeks so come up to the coffin factory to see rock music in the making.

october 29th lineup:
steev, electric guitar, vocals
scott, bass
emily, cello
jon, drums
jesse, electric guitar
jessica, piano

steev

more live music. some strange brainstorms.

well folks, we've added another date. this is at the new moon cafe in glorious downtown oshkosh. friday, october 29th is the date. i don't know who we're playing with or when, but that information will be posted shortly. this is conceivably an electric rock show where we pull out all the stops, then press down all the white AND black keys to create a cacophonous little fort where you can hide from your fears.

also i have been receiving these messages to give you--new songs mostly. in my mind, there are some new inkwell collective songs and some new solo "folk" music. on paper, there are less. performed live, there are even less. but we will be debuting stripped-down renditions of two new songs on october 3rd at the little farmer: "leaving wisconsin" and "o lord have patience". here is the tracklist so far for the new full-length i have in mind to start working on next year:

"leaving wisconsin"
1-leaving wisconsin
2-domestic fiction
3-o lord have patience
4-friend of a friend
5-did you find russia
6-ghost story
7-the fundamentalist*
8-this land was built on tobacco*
9-scientists swear*
10-everything that starts out good ends up a love story*

*these last four are just ideas at this point--just titles without substance until inspiration hits.

in addition to these, there are two new rock band songs: "aorta/interchange" and "i need you to fail so i can succeed".

thanks for listening,
steev

'nother great show added. conflicting reports. the haunted piano.

well, i've got another "solo" show lined up for you to come and see. i'll be in chicago at uncommon ground coffeehouse on december 12th. that's a sunday night at 8pm. i don't know who'll be with me, hopefully a few folks. anyway, come out and be there for live music in a new place.

there have been conflicting reports as to whether or not we are playing at mother fool's in madison. i'll let you know when.

my friend kevin slept at our house one night and he swears up and down he woke up to find a figure melting into our piano from the shadows.

steev

recording update. live shows. band member fluctuation.

hey kids. it's been a while. the inkwell collective is just kind of floating around in nothingness right now. the recording is done and here's where we're at with it:

-i have contacted starshaped press in chicago to do the printing of the packaging. they are reviewing our artwork and will get back to me.

-i have contacted sooper dooper in madison about the duplication and cd manufacturing. they will also get back to me.

this is a slow process so i hope you'll be happy with cd-rs and paper sleeves next time.

i'm still waiting to hear back from the venues i mailed our disc to--a few in madison, milwaukee, and chicago. i am slated to play the annual little farmer acoustic music thing in october. we won't be doing much (if any) inkwell collective music, but you'll find the line-up to be similar to what you'd see at an inkwell collective show, minus the electricity.

and speaking of line-ups, we were proud to jam a bit last week with an electric guitarist from the oshkosh area--the infamous "jesse from jacobstone". we're hoping to entice him to play live with us in the near future. . .once we get another show in a club or other place where we can be loud.

that's it for the update. we have a practice tomorrow night, although i don't exactly know where or when it will be.

lots o' heart,
steev

August is really the cruellest month. For real.

well kids, it looks as though the inkwell collective is on a brief hiatus. we're not playing anywhere in august but we will be surfacing in october at the annual little farmer acoustic music weekend. i'm not sure of the line-up, at this point things are a little hazy. anyway, we're taking orders for the new disc, which will probably be finished sometime in september. the cost will be $10 and we'll probably set up a show in oshkosh that will be a "record release show". that'll be a fun time.

we're also working on some new songs. at least, i am; the rest of the band has not heard them yet. but we might have at least one or the other ready for you later and blah blah blah blah.

churlishly,

steev

the new moon cafe: another night, another $12
  
we played to an appreciative crowd at the new moon in oshkosh last thursday. as the bulk e-mail noted, we had a guest string player with us--jordan santiago. the main points of the story are this:  we know someone who knows someone and jordan is that someone. he was an unexpected guest at tuesday night's practice and was kind enough to join us on thursday. jesssica also joined the band in a more prominent position as pianist. after our last organ died, we went out and rented a digital piano so now in addition to balancing the strings with the drums, we also have a piano competing for aural space as well. the extra instruments added a bit of vigor to "hello, hospital" and a much needed shot in the arm to the sometimes plodding "ghost story".  we played through most of our songs and ended with a spirited rendition of "ameriparanoia" where there was yelling. sound problems plagued us (as usual), but in all it was a good performance. our legion of fans grows.
 
we suddenly don't have anything going on for the remainder of the summer, although i'd like to maybe squeeze in a "coffin factory" show next month sometime. we're still mulling over options for the release of "falling signs" and we're still trying to figure out our sound. fortunately, the idea of the collective is to have a bunch of different people dropping in to complement the songs so that one never knows what to expect from a show. we'd rather be complicated than easy.
 
i'll keep you posted and all,
 
steev

BEST SHOW EVER!

if you were among the few who caught our show on june 18 @ the harmony cafe in appleton, you saw what was probably our best show ever. why? numerous reasons. aside from the sound problems (which should always be expected with an ensemble like ours), we played with a confidence we have yet displayed.

here is a quick run-down of the highlights:

1. Kara's mic didn't work, so she played into an "open" mic (pointed at her from a stand rather than clipped onto her instrument).

2. The organ died sometime between the loading and unloading of it. Noticing an upright piano against the wall, we opened the top, stuck a microphone inside, and jessica essentially improvised her way through the set. It sounded incredibly great and we wish we could have a piano all the time. That was our third organ in nine months.

3. We were cramped into a corner and scott turned his bass way down; jon also played with a frantic quietide (or possibly a quiet franticality).

4. I didn't forget any words.

5. We played every single song we had, ending with a rendition of the american misery classic "ttsnotwis".

6. It was our last show with kara as she is leaving before we play the new moon.

so what does all this mean? well i'm working on some new songs and hopefully we'll just keep playing. the harmony cafe has asked us back for september, so we'll be there again. otherwise, i'm still trying to finish my solo disc and we're pricing cd duplication and packaging (we can do a run of 100 discs for around $400).

see you in july in oshkosh for what may well be our second best show ever!

steev

'Nother recording update

we have finished all of the recording for our debut album--the organ was the last instrument to "lay down" (as they say). jessica and i went to the coffin factory late on thursday night to finish. to her credit, she created, practiced, and recorded a nice part for "hope without drugs" in the space of about 4 hours. although live she also plays on "my use of metaphor," "hello, hospital," and "she watches birds", we left those as they are for the album.

and speaking of "my use of metaphor," it's the oldest song on the cd--i wrote it while i was still in school at UW oshkosh sometime in 2000--and also the closest to a folk-type song. rambling lyrics, numerous verses, excessive strumming. we've whipped up a new version that, i think, is closer to our current sound--kind of droney and a little faster, slightly angrier, but also sweeter, less prone to tipping over.

steev

@ the New Moon Cafe . . . Again

this is the third time in as many months that the inkwell collective trio has played at the new moon. which is a good thing because i finally understand how to use their sound equipment and we're starting to get a local following (besides our friends). we'll be there next month as well, in full band mode, hopefully with our good friends inanimate carbon rod.

last night was good because emily, kara, and i played a varied set of old and newer material and the audience was appreciative. i guess it sounded pretty good, but you have to just kind of trust that it does because the monitor levels are never quite right. anyway, we had some help getting set up from a few people and we had a great opener (unfortunately i forget his name)--a a young musician who played finger-picking style acoustic guitar music.

anyway, i don't have anything real important or interesting to say about last night. we just kind of rocked out a little and didn't get paid. and that's what it's all about.

steev

@ The New Moon Cafe

the new moon is a study in contradictions--it's one of the only places for all ages local rock shows in a hundred-mile radius, but the sound system sucks, the bands don't get paid (except the door charge), and the baristas really aren't very helpful in getting things set up for a show. but the crowd is always good and the owner is cool, the atmosphere is pretty good.

we weren't supposed to play there last night, but emily, kara, and i made the trek over and set up as an opening band for some kind of fund raising show. the other bands there were made up of younger people with similar hair styles and tight vintage shirts, so i can only assume they were "emo" or possibly "punk" bands. we didn't stay to see any of them, although i would have liked to.

so we get there and we get tuned up and we played to a crowd of noisy high school kids. much like the show at the filling station in west bend, it seems like the high school audience isn't really interested in hearing live music so much as they are interested in having a noisy social experience: laughing, running in and out of the building, walking briskly to and fro, meeting and greeting other kids in tight pants. it's not so bad, but our music is a bit more complex than that and begs a closer listen which, of course, is impossible when the room noise is louder than the sound system. nobody really knew what to expect from us--a acoustic guitar, a cello, and a viola. one guy refered to us as "some jazz band". i think they were clearly surprised to hear me shrieking up there during some of the more emotional moments.

so we played through an acoustic set of material:

magnets and mediums
don't try
medicate! medicate! medicate!
ECR
my use of metaphor
she watches birds
hello, hospital

then we packed up and got out of there. clearly, the majority of people were there to just hang out. but, to be fair, it did seem like a lot of the band members from the other bands were listening to us and we got quite a few favorable comments including the succinct: "you guys are f*ckin' awesome!" which i couldn't have said better myself.

steev

Recording finished!

well, friends, we've finished our recording. we went down to my brother's house and recorded and mixed the thing in his basement over a period of about 4 days. it sounds really great, too. it is by turns noisy and introspective, although not nearly as riddled with sound problems as our live performances. here is the tracklisting:

1) They found a hand, they found an unburned bible
2) Magnets and mediums
3) My use of metaphor
4) Passenger Pigeon
5) Medicate! Medicate! Medicate!
6) The golden years
7) Hello, hospital
8) Hope w/out drugs
9) She watches birds
10) At christmastime i need you most

as my brother was generous enough to donate his time as engineer AND the use of his equipment, we have decided to spend some money on packaging and whatnot. hopefully we'll get a local artist to help us with the screenprinting and/or design. anyway, expect to see it available at shows sometime this summer.

steev

Interlude: 20 Nights, 20 Open Mics, $200 Gas Bill

well, this may be the end of the "20 open mics" tour. gas prices are soaring and i can't really afford to do this anymore. i will try and travel sporadically this summer, but it's just too expensive to do more than one open mic a week. anyway, it was really fun and etc. keep watching this site for updates on:

1 - solo dates
2 - the inkwell collective live dates
3 - coffin factory shows
4 - recording updates

steev

11

well, we played a short "cocktail hour" show for my 10-year high school reunion. it was a strange experience, but no stranger than playing at an open mic. we got the establishment at 5pm and set up our gear--drums, bass, guitar and cello. in a cavernous dining area, we were shoved into a tiny corner below a giant particle board tropical pan fish. people began to trickle in and we waited around at the bar until 6 before playing. there weren't many people there when we started, but as our set went on, i noticed taller, wider, balder versions of many of my high school classmates peering cautiously at us from across the room.

this was a painful show in many ways. first, we don't exactly play "high school reunion" music. second, my voice is suffering from a month-long cold/allergy/sinus-thing and i couldn't really hit the proper notes at the proper times. finally, the establishment didn't even turn off the jazz muzac being pumped over the house speakers, so we were kind of like background music to background music. if such a thing is possible.

i was nervous at first, but then i was struck by the silliness of it all. a few of the people there had had a bit to drink before coming, others were unnaturally tan, but most appeared to be fairly comfortable with the idea that we are now all adults. our set was about 45 minutes long and consisted of the following happy tunes:

magnets and mediums
ghost story
medicate! medicate! medicate!
they found a hand, they found an unburned bible
hello, hospital
the golden years

there may have been one more, but i don't remember. anyway, it was lackluster to play essentially to ourselves and be ignored in a corner, but in that sense it was at least like my high school experience. . . i also made a horrible choice of chords to play for one song, destroying all credibility that we knew what we were doing.

something you may not know: we almost didn't play the "reunion show" because of our tight recording schedule. as it was, we stopped recording at 9 on sunday night on account of my vocals not working properly. so we have a nearly finished album (tentatively titled "falling signs") of the kind of music we play waiting for vocals. it may be a sad record release party without kara on the viola, but we may not be able to put this record out until late summer.

steev

10

the best thing about playing at an open mic is watching the acts that come before you. for example, on sunday night we went down to milwaukee and played at "the coffeehouse," a little venue in the basement of an old church in the heart of downtown milwaukee. the whole family came for this one and emily and kara played with me. also dan was there to document and jackie came with her friend jim (hey, jim.). so it was nice to have a bunch of people there to see this place.

first off, it was very small. and dark. and there wasn't actually real coffee there. i mean, it was anodyne coffee, which is a local brew and very good, but it wasn't a real "coffeehouse," as you'd expect from the name. it was, in fact, the church's basement. a cramped, dark room in a church basement. even so, the atmosphere was great. . . in a dark, suffocating way. the smallness of the room was enhanced by the odd assortment of furniture: overstuffed chairs, mismatched tables, a fireplace, a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, strange hanging lamps from the 60s. the stage was small, but the sound was good. the audience was small but very friendly.

let me say before i talk about the other performers that i think open mics are wonderful places and that they retain their status as "underground" and "outsider" solely on the basis of the performers. i mean, an open mic can be in a pretty mainstream business, but when you have a bunch of amateur musicians and songwriters in a room together, things get pretty strange. and that's as it should be. and it shouldn't be any other way. there is something to be said for artists starting out on open mic stages, honing their craft, etc. but it's more vital that there be a place where people who wouldn't necessarily fit the popular "artist" stereotype can go and perform for an audience.

so on sunday night there was: a 10 year old girl who played the keyboard and sang the saddest songs i've ever heard that are not performed by a band on the "deep elm" label; a psudeo-celtic group who gave a shout-out to "vance" morrison before they played their take on "brown-eyed girl"; an electric guitar solo; a jazz guitarist; a consumate finger-picker; me, emily, and kara playing

magnets and mediums
ECR
hello, hospital

it was a fun night.

next we're playing a short gig at my 10-year high school reunion. yeah, we really are.

steev

hi kids, if you look to the left, you'll see a link for our page on purevolume.com. kind of like the old mp3.com, from before "the man" took it over. anyway, click on it and you'll find pictures, songs to download, show schedule, and some creatively-worded biographical information. and a link back to here.

s.

Interlude -- Don't try

i've always been one to analyze things about my life (and the lives of others, much to their consernation) and i've always taken myself a little too seriously. i'm perfectly willing to admit that i've wasted a lot of time worrying about stuff and trying to figure stuff out, trying to make sense of my thoughts and emotions. you know, a lot of amateur psychological profiling and whatnot. when i was a kid, i always felt like an outsider, like i knew more or thought more critically of things than the kids around me. then, when i grew up, i found that i missed being a kid and that i didn't take many chances.

like, i never played sports. and i never learned to fix a car. i never went to parties or smoked pot or drank beer illicitly. once i skipped school with my friend jackie and we went to the super mall "gurnee mills". i almost got arrested for shoplifting a hackey-sack (which i didn't actually shoplift). really, i just read a lot of books and learned a lot of strange facts about UFO abductions.

so what does this have to do with music? well, i'm not yet half-way through the "20 open mics" project, and i'm already starting to slip. i didn't go to any open mics this weekend, although i had two scheduled. i was too tired. i have a cold and allergies. i have excuses. i'm old and married and my wife misses me. i have two children who want to spit at me and jump on me. most of all, i just get lazy about these projects. so every once in a while i need to feel sorry for myself in public.

tonight, i'm not going to linneman's to play. so that's three open mics i've missed in the space of a week; that's three more i have to make up later. i'm disappointed in myself, but i hold out the hope that i'll use my time away from performing to work on my cd. of course, we just got our tv back (it has been out of the house since thanksgiving) and i haven't seen "lost in translation" yet.

i wrote the song "don't try" when i was 17, but everytime i sing it, i reidentify with it. i guess i don't really feel all that different about myself than i did at that age. some days i'm happy to be alive and "sometimes i feel like dying." and then i feel guilty for feeling guilty. so it's a fun kind of cycle and this whole blog thing makes it easy to make these grand pronouncements about my self-loathing. as if i don't do enough complaining in my music.

on sunday night, i will be in milwaukee at "the coffeehouse." i'm excited about it and hopefully it will lead to a gig there or something. i'll be asking the strings to accompany me, but who knows if they will. sometimes they have other things to do.

steev

9

most of the inkwell collective played last friday at the filling station in west bend. they asked us to play for 2 hours, but we don't have that much material (plus, who wants to hear a band they've never heard play for two hours?). we didn't want an opening band, so i decided to open with a set of acoustic material. i played basically the same songs i played in oshkosh last week:

wisconsin moonlight
she wants her little boy back
berry lake
friend of a friend
don't try
moth and rust
nerve
somebody's daughter
stay hidden

i attempted banjo, which worked out alright. i attempted harmonica, which didn't work out quite so good. it's been a while since i played harmonica and i didn't practice (it's like riding a bike, right? once you learn, you don't forget). so when it came time to bust out my harmonica solo. . .things went a little awry. let's just say it's always a good idea to wear non-flammable clothing to these types of events, and friday was no exception.

there was also din there. you know, that pervasive humming sound that dozens of teenagers make when you are attempting to play. so i was a little perturbed by the noise level and the monitors, which sounded great during sound check, didn't really help much. so i didn't get to "tell stories" between songs or anything. which, if you've heard me tell stories, is not necessarily bad.

but while the kids were getting restless, i had some friends from high school come up and see me. i hadn't seen them in 10 years, so it was interesting to perform in front of them. at the time (10 years ago), i had only written a handful of songs and had not ever performed. but they were very kind and laughed at my self-deprecating remarks and clapped at times.

so when i was done, scott, kara, emily and jessica joined me on the little stage and we plowed through (from memory, now):

small town skin
magnets and mediums
ghost story
medicate! medicate! medicate!
jesus on lithium
the prodigy
she watches birds
hello, hospital

which leaves out our more rock and roll stuff. because jon the drummer wasn't around. in all it was a good show i guess. it sounded muddy at times on stage, and the crowd was a little odd, but it's a nice little place to play. we made $28, enough to cover gas costs. emily left her ID in the truck, and she looks really funny.

steev

8

i played on friday night at the new moon cafe in oshkosh. i used to live in oshkosh and the new moon was the only decent venue in the area for intelligent rock music. so i've always been supportive of the new moon, despite changes in ownership and policies over the years. most recently, the new moon was purchased by aaron baer whom i remember best as singer and mulit-instrumentalist for the jug band "the jackson st. polecats". i was contacted by baer a few weeks ago when he needed to fill a spot for april 9th. over the course of a few e-mails, we decided on having a singer-songwriter night where a bunch of different people would perform short sets. the various acts were supposed to meet at the new moon at 7 pm on friday to decide the direction of the evening.

that's the set-up and i had high expectations. you know, networking with the local scenesters and whatnot--the type of outcome this whole "20 nights" thing was designed to have. unfortunately, through unknown circumstances, there ended up being only myself and a local singer/songwriter named dick. there were only two of us there and no aaron baer. this is the third time i've played at the new moon and not once has anyone from the establishment ever said a single word to me--the barristas don't offer drinks, there is never anyone around to set up the house sound equipment, nobody moves tables off the stage or offers suggestions for any kind of structure; it's kind of weird.

so dick and i were left to ourselves to figure out the sound board, find the cables and mics, attach the house speakers and monitor, etc. then we chatted about who was going to play when. emily was there and she and i opted to play second. then we decided that i should play a solo set first, then dick could play his set, then emily would come up and she and i would play a set. which is what we did. kara came in the middle of dick's set, so we took the stage as a trio to play through a set of singer/songwriter rock music for the dozen or so in the audience. it was a fun evening, but i was kind of pissed at the establishment. i got an e-mail from baer this morning apologizing for not showing up, so that made me feel a little better. i just wanted someone to offer me free coffee!

anyway, i played through a great many of my tunes including "wisconsin moonlight," one of two songs i wrote and perform on banjo. i don't have a setlist since we kind of winged it up there, but we ended with a nice take on "hello, hospital" that i think people liked.

this friday we'll be at "the filling station" in west bend. i'm doing a solo set, then scott, jessica, emily, and kara are joining me for a set of inkwell collective music. jon will be strangely absent. i may or may not be at the open mic on saturday night in appleton, but there is one on sunday night in fond du lac at the art center (another FAMA open mic) that i'll play at for sure.

steev

7

i'm not really sure how to start with this one. in fact, i've vowed to stand fast by the old adage, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." but at the same time, one of the reasons i'm doing this open mic crawl is to experience things like last night and to report those experiences to whomever might be reading this.

so "fairgrounds esspresso" is possibly located in some kind of alternate reality. it's in "the heart of downtown west allis" (as their website proclaims) and has this strange suburban vs. urban feel to it. the open mic last night consisted of exactly two types of performers--white people who sang "praise and worship" music (fairgrounds esspresso is evidently a closet-christian-coffeehouse, run by area churches) and colored people who either freestyled or dropped beats and rapped. it was like nothing else i've experienced. like most open mics, there were good and bad performers. i love hip hop when it's done well and a couple of the kids rocked the mic (as they say). conversely, i have a low tolerance for modern praise and worship music (as a genre) and this stuff was pretty bad. one person even sang to taped background music.

anyway, i was the only angry white person there, so i made good on that with:

my use of metaphor
jesus on lithium
hello, hospital

i really was confused as to what kind of songs i should have played and i think "my use of metaphor" was probably a mistake. i had wanted to play "friend of a friend", but i forgot the chord progression! i was very unnerved by the whole experience.

and they had bad coffee.

so next week i'll be in madison on thursday (at the uw union) and on friday night i'll be playing a special acoustic set at the new moon cafe in oshkosh. it's still in the planning stages, but it looks like i'll be sharing the stage with some other local singer/songwriters including aaron baer and kevin keshan.

one thing about this whole "20 open mics" experience so far: it's given me a lot more confidence than usual. the inkwell collective has some gigs lined up in april, may, and june, with hopefully more in the future. check the dates on the left for more information.

steev

6

it's always good to recognized and, to some degree, fame and popularity is something all rock musicians strive for. after all, what is the purpose of being up on that stage (beside the obvious release of aggression) if not to proclaim "hey girls! give me attention!"? so when we finished our set at arbuckle's last night, i was somewhat shocked and extremely happy to hear one person say, "hey, are you guys 'american misery'?" i answered that we had been that band, but had since changed some players and renamed ourselves "the inkwell collective". he said that he loved the song we played, that it was his favorite from our album. i had no idea who he was, and neither did anyone else. how did he get our album?

arbuckle's is kind a fond du lac tradition for local bands. the walls are plastered with rock posters from led zepplin to nirvana to bob dylan and the stage has been home to such local luminaries as monovox, reveal, something phonic, and amarum. we had played there a few years ago as american misery (a short, catastrophic set for the "band open jam" night) and walked away with a sour taste in our mouths. there had been instrument problems, sound problems, and jon the drummer had gotten scolded for hitting the drums too hard.

last night, however, after sitting through the house band's cover set and some uninspiring bob marley songs by some white kid with an acoustic guitar, jon, scott and i took the stage with gusto. we plowed through a 4-song set of crowd pleasing noisy rock and roll:

magnets and mediums
medicate! medicate! medicate!
the golden years
ameriparanoia

it was actually a lot of fun, although i abstained from liquor and tobacco for the duration of the night. jon bashed the drumkit with abandon and scott had a flawless performance as "the tall bass player". we got lots of beery-breathed compliments when we were done; it's good to know there are people in fond du lac who appreciate original music.

so i have no idea where i'm playing next, but after last night i feel reenergized. in fact, this was a pretty good week for my self-esteem. i'm good enough, i'm smart enough, and people like me!

steev

5

instead of traveling all the way to madison only to be met with utter disappointment, i called ahead and found out the sidecar open mic had been cancelled. so i'll pick up that one later. . .

in the mean time, i called up my reserve plan and emily and i went to the new moon in oshkosh to play. i've played at open mics there before and i've played shows a few times before, but it's still like a different venue every time. could be because it's fueled by the ever-changing college crowd. last night was no exception as jessica and i drove up and met emily, jon, and jenny there. the place was packed, although the average age of the crowd couldn't have been more than 24. it's hard to explain, but i wasn't very nervous and by the time we had sat through the first few acts, i knew that we were probably going to shake things up a bit. not that the other musicians were bad (on the contrary, the players were all well-practiced and capable)--i just felt like we had a fair amount of nervous energy ready to burn when the time came to perform. or something.

so we got our microphones set up and emily tuned her cello. then we launched into a short but fun set of:

"jesus on lithium"
"don't try"
"medicate! medicate! medicate!"

unfortunately the sound wasn't the best for the cello for the first 1.5 songs. still, by the time "medicate" was over, the sound dude had things figured out and you could hear things pretty well. the kids seemed to enjoy it and i made a couple of contacts who were interested in hearing us again. and jon got some footage and photos for this site (will be posted soon, i hope).

tomorrow night we're playing the late open mic at arbuckle's in fond du lac. it's always a colorful venue, so friday's update should be good for a chuckle.

steev

3 & 4

anodyne was a refreshing change. although there was not much seating, it was well-lighted and had great performers. here was an open mic to be proud of! there was an emo guy, a mandolin guy, a slide guitarist, a blues/jam guy, even a girl sang! so it was diverse and it sounded good--the two key criteria for an open mic. it even looked like the singers and the audience were having fun. . .

my friend "matt brown" came and brought a small group with him, so there was a nice audience. my brother dan drove and took pictures (which you can find under "Proof Texts" in the left-hand column). i played:

"my use of metaphor"
"she wants her little boy back"
"berry lake"

the sound was excellent, i thought, and although i'm battling a slight cold, things came off well. when i was finished playing, we went from anodyne to starbucks (i'm not sure why we couldn't just stay at anodyne; furthermore the prospect of supporting corporate coffee does not sit well with me. i did not order anything to drink there). when we got to starbucks, my friend matt brown suggested that i take out my guitar and start playing. i chuckled to myself, but didn't think it would be appropriate to just play uninvited. so he walks up to the counter and asks the barrista if i can play, then walks over to me and says, "you're on!" then the overhead music switched off. so i sat down on the couch, got out my guitar and played the following short set:

"friend of a friend"
"jesus on lithium"
"enigmatic cousin ruth"
"medicate! medicate! medicate!"

there were some people sitting on the other side of the shop who clapped for me and made some bob dylan comments. i don't really think i sound anything like bob dylan, but maybe that was the only kind of acoustic music they knew? anyway, i killed two birds with one stone and i'm counting this as another "open mic," even though i was the only one playing (and there were no microphones).

so it was a nice evening, except that i got a $50 parking ticket for parking in the alley behind my brother's house.

also, jon and i were able to finish "hello, hospital" on saturday, so that will be available on the new cd sometime this summer. i also confirmed a recording date with my brother ben for the last weekend in april. the inkwell collective will be heading down to pell lake to record 10-12 songs.

tonight is band practice (hopefully we'll have some pictures posted here soon) and tomorrow night i'll be at the sidecar in madison. it turns out "the string section" has to work tomorrow night, so i'll be alone again. on thursday night, though, jon and scott and i will be at arbuckle's in fond du lac to perform some loud rock songs at the band open mic.

thanks for listening,
steev

2

two nights into the 20 open mics, and i already feel like giving up.

as i was driving home last night, sporadically slapping myself in the face to keep from falling asleep, i had some time to think about what open mics are really about. it's more complex than i imagined, and it turns out we don't even have a word to describe it. it goes beyond humiliation, to stand up there in front of a roomful of complete strangers, telling them things even your wife doesn't know, spitting out pointed metaphors you pray they can't decipher. but then, if it's a good night, something changes halfway through and you are high off the adrenaline and the attention you are getting from everyone in the room. i'd go so far as to say playing at open mics is a sadomasochistic act not unlike self-flagellation. i mean, why else should i drag myself up on a dim, sweaty little stage and play my beloved songs in front of a bunch of inappreciative narcissists? because really, we are all just scared out of our wits but we're also in love with ourselves and with our music. let's face it, anyone can go and play at an open mic; you don't have to be good or anything, you just have to have enough guts to get up and be the center of attention for 15 minutes.

i drop off my car at my brother's house and he drives us to the bremen cafe. we get there a little early; the bartender tells us the sign-up doesn't start until after 8, so we drive around the city for a while. my brother points out places of interest and i mull the idea of moving to the city where our kids would have the chance to attend those hip little schools where everyone speaks esperanto or learns trigonometry by the age of 6. we came back to the cafe at a little after 8 and i was surprised and happy to see my old friend jackie there (with her friend jim; hi jim!). we sat and chatted for a bit before i signed up at number 3 on the open mic list. it wasn't real busy in the cafe and there didn't seem to be many people with instruments sitting around. we asked the bartender when things get hoppin' and he said not until after 9, so i changed my number from 3 to 7, anticipating a bigger crowd by that time and more energy.

finally the open mic dude came up and played three songs--two pseudo-blues modern rock tunes of his own creation and a cover of some song that i've heard before, but the title escapes me, you know, one of those songs you hear at target or in the background of car commercials. then this one guy came up--www.barryweber.net or something--he was a professional protest singer with a lot of energy for footstompin'. don't get me wrong, i'm all for protest, and i disagree with most of the environmental and foreign policy decisions of the current administration, but i just don't get this whole idea that equates what's happening now with what happened during the civil rights movement. it seems like blasphemy to me. for christ's sake we're a bunch of rich white people! we've got nothing better or more pressing to write about than how the horrible republicans are changing the national culture for a few years? please don't insult the struggles that african-americans went through--the fire hoses, the klan, langston hughes forced out of a cafeteria in cleveland, emmett till's pale disfigured corpse. please don't come into the bremen cafe open mic like woody guthrie on MTV2, grinnin' and shakin' and beltin' out your pilfered songs.

anyway, i got up and played three songs:

she wants her little boy back
book of job
berry lake

then i sat down. it was a very low-key appearance, but i wouldn't mind coming back to the bremen cafe on a thursday night open mic. they also have a women-only open mic on tuesdays, which would probably be cool to see. the venue itself is kind of murky but there's local art on the walls, computers in the back, a well-stocked coffee/bar, and a friendly bartender. also the sound was pretty good. so go check it out sometime; they have bands and singer/songwriters there quite a bit (including three alumnus of the kewaskum summer reading program).

so next i'll be in madison at the sidecar cafe. come out and watch as i hope to entice the string section to accompany me.

steev

1

the 20 open mics project began with a whimper last night at the windhover center for the arts in fond du lac. i played some new songs ("berry lake" and "she wants her little boy back") for a largely lathargic crowd at the fondy acoustic musician's alliance open mic. for the past 6 or 7 years i have been associated with the fondy acoustic musician's alliance (FAMA) and their monthly open mics have been a source of both inspiration and frustration for me for the majority of that time. FAMA has been very kind to me, allowing various incarnations to perform at their yearly fund-raising weekend at the little farmer (a pleasant apple orchard north east of fond du lac where the chickens wear pants and where the official mascot is a legally-questionable representation of a smurf with a wheel barrow), greeting me with a smile as i show up with my trusty guitar, often encouraging me in my songwriting quest. but their monthly open mic/jams have had little to offer me as a protest-music influenced performer. most of the acts at the FAMA open mic stage are either white-boy blues performers or covers of seventies soft-rock ballads. it seems there are very few actual singer/songwriters out there but many, many singer/guitarists. don't get me wrong, it's not the people that upset me (although there are only so many times you can hear a cat stevens song not performed by cat stevens before you want to hang yourself with a microphone cable), rather, it's a general feeling of fear, hesitancy and gloom that pervades the place. of course i expect and anticipate beginners taking the stage, stumbling through lyrics, half-heartedly plucking the strings, voices quivering; but i also expect an open mic to be the breeding ground of the up-and-coming, a place for practicing songwriters to ply their trade, a place of energy and motion and new ideas.

anyway, if you are an acoustic performer or know of someone who is, you could hardly find a less-threatening place to play than the FAMA open-mic stage. they always give newcomers a warm reception and the stage itself is in a wonderful old building with a great sound system. it'll cost you $2 to come and sit down, but it's worth it most nights. there have been some great performers and groups that play on the FAMA open mic stage; i don't mean to make it sound like a cultural wasteland, i think it just needs an infusion of new blood (to use a well-worn phrase).

i also want to thank my 3-year-old son samwise who not only accompanied me to the open mic, but came up and sat with me onstage for the duration of my set. he also kept the crowd rapt with his animated explanation of how we light little lanterns and hang them from the beams on our front porch.

so tonight it's on to the bremen cafe in milwaukee (i.e. "the big city"). i'm a little nervous, but then again i don't really know what to expect, so the sense of mystery somewhat balances the uneasiness.

steev

wednesday morning means a new inkwell collective update. we went acoustic last night, i even sat on a stool for one song. jon used only 3 drums (!) and kara, emily, and jessica were happily able to hear themselves. scott was absent on bass as his wife just completed "having a baby." congrats to them, they now have two wonderful little children. so we went through our usual set, tossing in "ameriparanoia" for kicks (and it sounded surprisingly good) and omitting a few of the longer, slower tunes ("ghost story," "book of job"). i introduced "hello, hospital" to the collective and we went through it a few times. in all, it was a good practice, but we really missed the bass--something i never thought i'd miss. scott is a very creative and energetic player and always seems to find the right notes to fill in the spaces.

after kara left, emily, jon, jessica and i switched instruments (as the three of us lads often do after practice) and we played some songs as the following combo: emily on drums (her first time and she did great), jon on bass, jessica on guitar, and myself at the organ. we played "listening for echoes," "nerve," "the prodigy," and an inspirational cover of nirvana's "something in the way."

so tonight jon and i will be putting the finishing touches on "hello, hospital" and i hope to have a few more mp3s to download from this site soon--possibly some early demos of "book of job" and "berry lake" (which i intend to rerecord soon).

steev

thanks for the suggestions on places to play, i'm still working on finding some open mics and whatnot to finish my "20 nights" project, so keep sending suggestions. i've hit a few snags so far: first, this is going to take me a lot longer than 20 consecutive nights, which was the original plan. instead, this will probably last through the summer after the initial two weeks of energy. second, there is no way i'm playing linneman's on st. patrick's day. no indeed, i'll be home with my wife that night rather than at a bar with a bunch of drunken revellers.

i'm hard at work on some new songs. "hello, hospital" is nearly finished. jon and i plan on recording some live drums, bass, and guitar on wednesday night. i probably won't post that song; you'll have to come out to a show sometime this summer to buy the cd. . . anyway, in keeping with the theme of the mel gibson song, "hello, hospital" is kind of an ode to mike knott. for those of you who don't know of him, he was a part of the so-called "third wave" of post-jesus-hippie christian rock artists, most of whom came out of southern california. he started releasing albums in the early 80s (Shaded Pain) and continues to make music, although his output has slowed in recent years due to a debilitating bout with alcoholism. it seems as though he has devoted most of his time in the past two years to painting; you can view his artwork at his website (see column at left). right before he entered rehab, he released an album called "life of david". the final track on that cd was a sparse acoustic number called "hospital" in which he croaks repeatedly, "i think i need a hospital." of course, it turns out he did need one, and he got one. thus my lyrics: "goodbye simple life / hello hospital".

here is the tentative tracklist for my work-in-progress, as-yet-untitled cd. if you have any questions or suggestions, please e-mail.

thanks,
steev

1-berry lake
2-mel gibson
3-she wants her little boy back
4-the great lakes
5-what nehemiah said
6-the prodigy
7-did you find russia?
8-jesus on lithium
9-hello, hospital

on the left you will see a link to my latest solo recording, "mel gibson". it was sampled with sonic foundry, beats created in frooty loops, then vocals and guitar recorded and mixed with my trusty fostex MR8. click the link to hear the song and/or download it.

thanks to dan and spaceland collective for hosting the mp3.

steev

the inkwell collective had a fairly lackadaisical practice on tuesday. i was tired, having just gotten off a 10.5 hour day at the library which culminated in a performance of dr. seuss's book "on beyond zebra" for the roiling 5th graders at kewaskum elementary school.

we went through our set, but things just didn't reel right--levels were off, tuning was off (always a difficult prospect when faced with 5 different instruments), etc. the only good thing about the night was the hint that we may be playing a show at peabody's, a nice little bar in oshkosh, and actually getting paid to do it!

next sunday is the starting point for my "20 open mics" project and i hope to contact some smaller coffee houses this weekend to find out about actual gigs that can used to pad out the tour. anyway, it'll probably last through the summer and i will keep updating this site accordingly.

steev

i'm working on recording a bunch of new songs at home. i've been experimenting with some beat-generating software; at first i was just looking to make a drum loop to record to, but while working on "the great lakes," i got an idea for a new song mixing acoustic guitar with electronics. i know, i'm not the first. i've been musically inspired by havergal's album "lungs for the race" and also by mum's "finally we are no one" and of course by radiohead's "kid A"/"amnesiac". anyway, it's a new direction and i'll probably alternate between acoustic and acoustic/electronic songs for this next cd. at some point in the future, look to the links at left to download a song. . .

and just so you have an idea of what i've been up to, the following albums are available in quality cd-r format with a quality paper sleeve:

steev baker "nerve"
american misery "american misery"
american misery "to the starving nations of the world, i'm sorry"
the dust bowl flowers "dust bowl demos"
the dust bowl flowers "christmas EP"

shoot me an e-mail if you are interested in any of these.

here's what i've collected so far. it hasn't been easy, but i think i'm up to the challenge. i haven't been challenged enough in life and this will build character. please note that all times and dates are still tentative and there may be restrictions on who can go where to watch me play--21 and older, cover charges, excessive bees, etc.

Sunday March 14 -- Windhover Art Center (FAMA), Fond du Lac @ 7:30pm C
Monday March 15 -- Bremen Cafe, Milwaukee @ 8pm
Tuesday March 16 -- the Coffin Factory, Fond du Lac @ 8:30pm (Inkwell practice)
Wednesday March 17 -- Linneman's Riverwest Inn, Milwaukee @ 9pm
Thursday March 18 -- UW Madison Union, Madison @ 8:45pm
Saturday March 20 -- Anodyne, Milwaukee @ 8pm
Monday March 22 -- the Coffin Factory, Fond du Lac @ 8:30pm (Inkwell practice)
Tuesday March 23 -- The Sidecar (Cafe Montmarte), Madison @ 8pm
Thursday March 25 -- Arbuckle's, Fond du Lac (band open mic w/ Jon and Scott)

Sunday April 11 -- Windhover Art Center (FAMA), Fond du Lac @ 7:30pm C
Tuesday April 13 -- The New Moon Coffee Co., Oshkosh @ 7pm
Friday April 16 -- The Coffee House, Milwaukee @ 8pm C
Saturday April 17 -- Bubolz Nature Preserve (Green Apple Folk Society), Appleton @ 7:30pm

that looks like a lot of dates, but it's really only 11 different open mics. i'm counting band practice on here, although really that's cheating (but you are invited to come and see us anytime). i've got a long way to go yet, so keep sending in suggestions. some of these dates will feature special guests--kevin keshan of inanimate carbon rod will join me in madison, emily and/or kara can be coerced to lend their talents in oshkosh, the lads will no doubt be on hand at arbuckle's on march 25. we plan on being a big noisy rock band that night.

some night in april the inkwell collective will be the featured band at the french quarter in oshkosh. i'm also trying to book some actual shows throughout the months of march, april, and may at conkey's bookstore in appleton, st. somewhere cafe in west bend, the bridge in egg harbor and the filling station cafe in west bend. also we hope to get the algoma club in oshkosh for a may show with some other local bands--we're hoping for happy, the new kentucky quarter, and inanimate carbon rod. details will emerge with low tide.

steev

well, the inkwell collective had a good practice last night. we arrived to find the ceiling dripping a murky substance and an ingeniously rigged catch-and-drop system that funneled the drips into a large bucket. emily, kara, and i set up our equipment while jon and scott experimented with pressure differentials. by the time they were finished, the string section and i had already went through a short set of acoustic material. jessica arrived and the lads joined us for a rousing rendition of "hope w/out drugs." things have been getting louder since i acquired a footswitch for my amp, so there was a good deal of ear-ringing on "my use of metaphor" and the ineffable "passenger pigeon."

we're working on a new electric version of "the landscape" (available acoustically on my demo cd "nerve") that seems rather amorphous. we just can't seem to pin down a decent beginning, middle or end (crucial to a good song). we almost gave up altogether when kara suggested that my riff at the beginning sounded like john cougar melloncamp. we're also perfecting a new song--"they found a hand, they found an unburned bible"--which is a bit more "post-rock" than anything we've done previously.

the girls left at midnight and the lads and i went through some american misery material: "bottle," "hope is not company policy," "last known words," "ameriparanoia," and "to the starving nations of the world, i'm sorry." ending, as always, with "listening for echoes in a dark room." it seems like the old songs haven't lost any of their immediacy as a three-piece, although they are rather short on atmospherics without kevin's guitar trinkets and baubles.

so i've gotten a few open mic suggestions from milwaukee and madison and i have strung together a possible 5-day itinerary; only 15 more days left! i'm not sure when i'll be doing this--probably in april or may. sometime before school is out, anyway. so keep the suggestions coming and be sure to check out the links to the left (your left, not mine) which will be updated bi-daily.

steev

The Songwriter's Confession

i am lazy. very, very lazy. i mean, you wouldn't know it by looking at me. i'm the director of a library, i have a lovely wife and little family, i own my own "digital alarm clock." but you know, success can't be measured by material things. . . sometimes you need to get away from that and look in your heart and see what really matters. to my heart, blood matters. blood and oxygen. there's also a bunch of red and pink stuff in there that i don't know what it is; it's very moist, though. and squishy.

so i come home sometimes and i write songs. i play them in front of people now and then, but the problem is this: i've never really seen myself as a rock star or a performer in any way. i, like most people with english degrees, am afraid of people. even kids scare me. not toddlers, but like those junior high kids. . .i hate them! particularly those really cool kids who have luke skywalker hair and t-shirts from "the gap" or something. i always think they're going to beat me up.

it works like this: i'm driving home and i'll have to turn the radio off because there's this other song in my head. and it's a song that nobody has written, but it's there--lyrics, melody, drums, sometimes even the string section. then i turn the radio off and i dig around for a pen and something to write on. i used to have a little portable tape recorder, but i lost it.

when you write a song, what do you do with it? what is its purpose? i believe that songs should be heard by as many people as possible. and there's the whole punk ideal that you create a piece of art by yourself, you get it out to the people without the aid of corporate greed. and etc. so i play my songs to people in churches, bars, coffee shops, apple orchards, open mics. . .

i've been writing and performing my music now for nearly 10 years, but i've always been kind of alone. i'm not really a part of any "scene". i mean, i know some people from some bands, but i'm afraid of them. so i thought it would be fun to just get the heck ["heck" is just a substitute for "hell" ed.] out of town and play some open mics by myself in some big (or small) scary places like milwaukee, madison, oshkosh, etc. then i could write about each experience and put it here online and people could read it and i could make them laugh or cry or stare at the lines in their hands uncomfortably and think about what it means to be 27 and a lot freakin' better than, like, those "american idol" jerks, but you still haven't gotten signed to any labels, even those small, hip labels with the punk buttons, the tight vintage shirts, the screen-printed cardboard sleeved albums.

so think about it. i'll get back to you.

steev

Steev baker is a singer-songwriter from Wisconsin. He also plays guitar and sings with the Inkwell Collective, a musical group consisting of cello, viola, bass, organ, guitar, and a drummer.