Live music photos, CDs

Ethan Keller

It's just a few hours til Pat Zyduck plugs in here tonight. This is one of the cooler double-header weekends we've had...last night Ethan Keller was the bees knees with lots of new tunes and some totally funkified covers (e.g., kellerized Thomas Dolby and Junior Walker). It was a fun night for Kim and I, as we had Cheyenne and Glen here to help out and we both were able to just chill and enjoy the music and conversation.

...with melodica

We have a few copies of Ethan's new CD, "One Way," here too and a handful of his "Face Light" CD...been playing them both all day.

cool image of Ethan, although I wish it had a bit more light

Click here for the Ethan Keller Flickr set from last night.

Adam Morantez

Click here for the Adam Morantez set from a couple Friday ago. Adam was great...his first solo gig (you would never have known...he was confident and smooth). We've set another date with Adam for Friday, Oct. 3rd.

Pat Zyduck

Click here for the Pat Zyduck's set. What a totally enjoyable show from Pat last night...he's such a great guitar player and really fine songwriter. Had a couple of folks stop in this morning (Sunday morn) who were here last night, who said what a great time they had listening to Pat. We have a few of Pat's CDs availabkle too.

great color in this image of Pat

Three things

Uno: We have a few copies of Tina Kugler's most excellent SputnikFest poster on hand, featuring her cool retro SputnikBabe. These are numbered, limited edition posters (100 in the edition) screen printed on heavy stock, signed and numbered by Tina. If you're into excellent art work, all things retro or vintage, one-of-a-kind (or 100-of-a-kind) cool posters, or know someone who is (cool gift), then this thing is definitely for you. It's the inaugural poster for the very first annual SputnikFest event in Manitowoc county. The second best part of this is that they're dang inexpensive too...only $18...which is really kind of a crazy cheap price for something of this quality. I'm having mine matted and framed and it's going in my home office. Get 'em while they're hot, baby!

Dos: We have a really exceptional weekend of live music scheduled this week. On Friday (the 22nd) Ethan Keller is returning from Milwaukee. If you saw Ethan when he was here a few months ago you know how exceptionally good this guy is. If you like jazzy, funky guitar and appreciate exceptional musicianship and songwriting Ethan is the man to see. Last time he played we had a bunch of local musicians in the house as Ethan "built" a number of songs from the floor up right in front of everyone...the local guys were mighty impressed and all raved about what he was doing. You can listen to some of Ethan's music on his myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/ethankeller. 8:00pm Friday night.

Tres: On Saturday night Pat Zyduck will be doing his first gig at the Stump. We're pumped for this one too, because Pat has been to a few shows here when friends of his were playing and has actually sat in once or twice during breaks to play his own music. He was excellent, and his CD ("I Never Wanna Meet Another You") is a kicker too, so we scheduled a date and this Saturday (the 23rd) is it. Pat's music is a tight mix of blues-based rock with an old time country vibe hiding underneath (I think his Dad was a session guitarist who worked in Nashville). 8:00pm Saturday. You can hear some of Pat's music on his myspace site at: http://www.myspace.com/patzyduck.

We have some new eurobrews in the beer cooler this week too, including the English Fuller's 1845 Ale and Blanche de Namur, a Belgium Witbier (it's a biggie, over pint in a cool heavy glass bottle).

Gig pics from last couple weekends on Flickr

Click on the links below each picture (or in the right side column) to check out the images from the last couple of weeks. Not going to comment on these nights next other than to say that they were all a lot of fun...check out the pics on Flickr and you'll see. I do intend to come back to a couple of these in the next three or four days and offer a brief review, so come on back.

Yacking with Kim, Terry, Sandy, (and Roger & Deb) during Bill's night.
Bill Martell 5/2/08

Ethan pushing through the pain of an injured eye...awesome.

Ethan Keller 5/3/08

Katie & Ric: security for Matt's show...putting fear into troublemakers.
Matt Schroeder 5/9/08

Image courtesy of Bill's son Nate Walkner...dang good photographer.

Bill Walkner 5/10/08

John Willy, Nick and Brian laying it down.

John Will Balsley/Whiskey Jars & Scandals 5/16/08
Nate's Flickr set of John Willy & friends

Ethan Keller tonight...check out these sites.

Tonight, May 3, at 8:00pm: Ethan Keller - jazz and funk guitarist songwriter from Milwaukee and performer at The Jazz Estate.

Here are a few sites where you can see and hear Ethan and his music:
http://www.ethankeller.com/ - Ethan's website.
http://www.myspace.com/ethankeller - his MySpace site.
http://www.mkeonline.com/story.asp?id=1398639 - A brief, albeit somewhat older article about Keller.

One drink minimum. No minimum on good time...

Ethan Keller & Koz pics

Image by Nate Walkner

Just finished loading up all the images from this weekend's musical funkfest. Koz just left the building, I'm dog-tired but stoked. It was a great Friday and Saturday. Ethan was fan-freaking-tastic and, as Ed Sullivan might say, a thoroughly all-right chap. If you ever are in Milwaukee and looking to catch some live music make sure to check Ethan's myspace calendar to see where he's performing in brewtown...then go see him. You will most definitely be glad you did (then, after doing so you will feel an inner urge to email me just to say "Thank you, David, for suggesting that we see Ethan Keller do his thing. We followed your sage advice and now are eternally grateful. Thank you oh infinitely wise one!" Ethan lays it down, brother! This cat played a marathon session and I mean just about everybody was coming up to tell me how good he was and how much they were digging his sound.

One little musical tidbit of many: After some joker (me) threw a request at him for something by the somewhat obscure Thomas Dolby, Ethan ended up doing the most amazing version of "She Blinded Me With Science." One of those "Dang, I wish we had that on tape" moments. Click here for the Flickr image set (included are photos from Nate and Marty).

Click here to go to the Flickr set of Koz's pics from Saturday night.

One of the fun things about having Koz perform with us is all the stuff he brings with him: lights, amps, backing music gear, the various instruments, even his own mini-stage...wires and cables and lights everywhere. I tease him about all the toys he brings but it's pretty cool to see him set everything up and to see the final set-up of all that gear in a small space. His song catalog is extensive and covers such a range of styles, there's something for everyone to enjoy as his binder of tunes travels around the room and people holler out requests that see him switching from guitar to sax to clarinet to banjo between songs. The diversity of ages in his audience is noteworthy as well...from junior high age to grandparents, and everyone has a great time...it's a very nice, mellow vibe in the shop when Koz performs.