keg salad

Outside at the Tiki Bar (in April!)

2005-04-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

We got to play our first show of the year outside yesterday afternoon at the Tiki Bar on Lake DuBay. Wow -- it's only mid-April! The temperature was in the low '70s and it was sunny for most of the afternoon. Mark & I were in the shade of the building for most of the show which was probably a good thing. Although my fingers did start to get cold near the end of our 4 hour stretch.
There were many bikers and boaters in and out of the bar and we had a core of fans at one table making for a very pleasant afternoon.
I would like to record a bet made between Jeff Stubbe and Dick Thompson -- Jeff claims it will snow one more time this season and Dick says no way. There is beer and snake for the winner. (We're all rooting for Dick in this matter, sorry Jeff.)

3/19 Show Report

2005-03-21T08:45:00.000-08:00

We had a nice show at Renee's on Saturday -- typically quiet for the beginning of Spring Break, but at least the weather was ok for a change. John Banta opened for us and instead of him doing one long set we decided to break up the evening and had him do 2 shorter sets before our 2 sets. Not sure if this was totally successful but we all agreed we felt and sounded better in our second sets.
I'm happy to announce that we finally made it all the way through the Kinks' "Celluloid Heroes", which had been giving me fits until I moved the key up a third last week.

Boswell's Better

2005-03-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

Mark took Boswell into the shop on Monday morning and he was back by Monday evening -- hurray! The problem was a ball joint in the front -- not something to be ignored. And with the sounds Boswell was making there was no way we could have ignored it!

#1 Fan to the Rescue!

2005-03-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Dick Thompson for acting as chauffeur and roadie and getting us to our shows on Saturday and Sunday last week. The show at CD Pub in Wisconsin Rapids was quiet, but enjoyable. The few people there seemed to like the music and our "Irish" set was greeted with much enthusiasm. We had already decided to keep it in the mix throughout the year, so the response was a nice affirmation of that decision.
Ironically, two of the couples who were there were from Stevens Point. Rick & Jenny had seen our listing on Jambase and decided to check out the show, and the other couple had dropped their child off at a skating rink and had seen the marquee as they drove by and decided to come back for part of the show.
Sunday at the Tiki Bar was a fine time as always. We started the show out a little differently -- with a nearly hour long break as there were technical difficulties with their sound board. Paul, the owner, had to call in another musician for technical help and we did finally get sound but it was not quite the right sound. Maybe we'll just pack our little sound system next time. It was nice to have a mixture of Wausau and Point fans in the audience -- and it's so nice when our songs get requested by audience members.

An Adventure

2005-03-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Our show at the Chez Marche last night in Waupaca turned into a bit of an adventure; and led to the debut of the M4 duo.
It was snowing lightly when we left Stevens Point, as it had been much of the afternoon, but when we stopped for gas when we were heading out of town it seemed to have stopped. We figured it would be ok as the weatherheads had predicted only light snow which was supposed to end in the evening. The trip from Stevens Point to Amherst wasn't too bad except for the traffic, but once we got just past Amherst the snow really seemed to pick up. This is where the highway turns into a four-lane and it's usually the most pleasant part of the trip; but not last night. For much of the way between Amherst and Waupaca we were only going 40-45 mph-- and only two vehicles passed us.
At one point I asked Mark if it was slippery and he said "uh-huh. " At that point we were following a vehicle that was going at a sedate pace and no one was trying to pass us. A couple of miles down the road the car in front of us turned on it's flashing lights and we realized it was a police car that had been heading to the scene where someone had gone off the road. Mark realized later that he probably had been going too fast even at 40 if the police car was going that slow too -- and we figured the police car was much newer and had better tires than our car! Once we had arrived safely, Mark also admitted that there were a few points during the trip where we had no traction.
We arrived at the Chez Marche shortly before 7 p.m. (we had left Point around 5:45), and called Bear, our bass player, to tell him not to come. We figured we had made the right call when some friends from Amherst showed up around 8:30 and said it was still pretty bad out. Another couple, Jerry & Julie, said they had driven only 3 miles and it was bad.
Anyway, we went with the M4 show with our original lineup -- Mark & me. We played our acoustic guitars with our electric pedal effects and I think it went over pretty well. We had fun and it was nice that anyone had shown up in the nasty weather. We were able to throw in some different things -- a few of the Irish songs we've been working on for St. Patrick's Day, and a few of the covers we do as Keg Salad.
When we finished up shortly before 11 p.m. it was still lightly snowing and blowy, and we had decided we would spend the night at a hotel instead of driving back. When John the friendly Book Cellar bookseller heard us say that he offered to let us stay at his house -- which he was not staying at, and which was only three blocks away. We packed up our equipment, grabbed our rabbit dinner (delicious, "better than chicken" was Mark's comment) and headed to High Street. We had had the foresight to put our overnight backpack in the car, and we always travel with our sleeping bags. We camped out in the front living room and had a cozy night.
We woke up early 6:30 -- and enjoyed the sunshine in the front room. We got our selves cleaned up and headed back to the Chez for breakfast around 9. Enjoyed another yummy meal there, got to chat with one of our audience members from the night before, Steve. He's a relatively recent transplant to the area from Chicago and seems like a really nice guy. We paid our "hotel bill" at the Book Cellar (which is right next door to the Chez) and picked up some classical CDs and some books -- it's always nice to have an excuse to buy more books.
We had a pleasant drive back on Hwy 54; stopped at St. Vinnie's in Plover (bought more used books), and trotted home. About 3 blocks from home Boswell, our intrepid Ford Escort, started making a rather horrible grinding, scraping noise. We limped home, unpacked the car and Mark trotted over to Jerry's, the auto repair shop a block from home. Jerry was just driving away... Mark then called Kent's Auto (where we had some work done on Bos a few months ago) and found out that no one could look at it 'til Monday. Sooooo...we'll have to cancel our show tonight at CD Pub in Wisconsin Rapids. We're still hopeful that we'll find a way to do the Tiki Bar show tomorrow. We don't have to haul all our equipment for that show, so basically we just need a ride.
Stay tuned...
Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I bought a Mickey Mouse painting on velvet at St. Vinnie's. Mark's comment was "looks like it should be the cover for a horror novel." I am now convinced it is evil.

Busy, Busy

2005-03-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

We have a busy weekend coming up. Tonight (Friday) we're at Chez Marche in Waupaca as M4. We're continuing to do M4 as a trio. Mark & I are playing our acoustic guitars with electric effects and Bear is playing his Rickenbacker through his bass pod. The sound is pretty good -- and carrying less equipment is really good! (Just a note: the 4 in M4 has nothing to do with the number of people in the band -- it's the number of Ms in the name "Mad Melancholy Monkey Mind")
Saturday night we're at the CD Pub in Wisconsin Rapids. It's a nice little mom 'n pop type bar. We played for a birthday party there in January and they liked us well enough to ask us back. We'll also be there for 2 shows in April.
Sunday afternoon is our monthly gig at the Tiki Bar. We always have fun at this show and look forward to it. I mailed postcards to some likely suspects, so hopefully people will brave our wonderful March weather and come out.

Open Mic Update

2005-03-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to make a note that the Tuesday open mic's at Renee's have been going very well. Karsten Crouse has been a wonderful, genial host and we thank him for helping out. John Banta also did a great job hosting and will be back as host on March 29th. We've had a few others express interest in hosting so stay tuned...

Sorry

2005-03-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry I was absent for so long and let the blog languish, as so many blogs do... We got fired from our gig at the Intermission (the owner said something to the effect that people prefer cover bands) and I was feeling burned out and just didn't feel like posting. Sorry.

Radio, Radio

2005-02-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

We'll be appearing on the radio show "Club Wisconsin" on the local university station, WWSP, today. We'll probably be on around 4:15 or 4:30. I think we're appearing as Keg Salad, but we have an M4 show tonight in Waupaca -- so we might be both!
If you hit the Radio, Radio it should take you to the radio station's webpage where you can find the webcast.

Valentine's Day Show

2005-02-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

We had a fun time at our Valentine's show on Sunday. Even the crappy weather that arrived in the late afternoon didn't put a damper on the show -- although it might have kept a few fans away. We had a small but appreciative crowd -- and most stuck around for most of the show.
I worked up a version of Jerry Lee Lewis' "Breathless" just for the occasion -- not knowing that he was getting a lifetime achievement award at the Grammy's that night. So it was even more appropriate than we knew.

2005-02-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Keg Salad at the Tiki Bar on February 13th. Photo by Jeff Stubbe

Kindness of Strangers

2005-02-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

We don't depend on it, but it's certainly nice when it happens...
While we were playing at the Intermission last night it snowed lightly and continued to snow on the way home. It wasn't snowing hard or blowing much, but enough that it made it kind of hard to distinguish where the lanes were on the highway. We were doing fine until it came to our exit for home -- Mark didn't see where the exit lane started and thought it was after the big green sign and had not slowed down enough to take the exit properly -- but we took it anyway. We did not hit the big green sign, much to our relief, and did make it onto the exit but we did start swerving around the road and ended up in the ditch. Fortunately, we had not spun around and we did not tip over -- possibly because we had our very heavy JBL speakers in the back seat.
Not long after we landed in the ditch, two young men stopped to help. We couldn't get the car out forwards and were just starting to push it out backwards, when another young man stopped with a pickup and a chain. One of the first two young men crawled under the front of Boswell (our car) and hooked the chain on, and we were out of the ditch in a few seconds. We expressed our hearty thanks and slowly made our way home. The car seems to be fine, and we were both suprisingly calm both during and after the incident. We both felt lucky that no one, including Boswell, was hurt, and we got out before any cops showed up because I'm sure Mark would have been cited for "driving too fast for conditions."

Quiet, Relaxed Show

2005-02-11T09:11:00.000-08:00

We knew it would happen sooner or later and last night was the night -- none of our "regulars" showed up for our show at the Intermission in Wausau. There were a few of the bar regulars in & out through the night and we were in a good mood and relaxed and (I think) put on a really good show. Because there wasn't much background chatter, we could hear ourselves really well and singing and playing didn't take as much effort as it does when there's lots of noise. The lack of smoke also made it a more pleasant performance for us.
Since we're now starting at 8 p.m., one of the bar regulars, Charlie, was able to catch almost all of our first set instead of just one or two songs (he has an early morning job and usually had to bug out shortly after nine). It's always nice to play to someone who's obviously listening and enjoying what they hear. Thanks, Charlie.
Since it was so quiet, we wrapped things up by 11:30 and were on the road homewards by midnight.

Open Mic Update

2005-02-11T09:09:00.000-08:00

I should have noted sooner that Karsten Crouse did a wonderful job hosting the open mic this past Tuesday at Renee's. He had everything set up and ready to go before 8 p.m. There was a nice line up of performers -- Karsten, Keg Salad, Joe Lloyd, John Banta, and Head over Heels (Patty & Zot). The sound was very good both onstage and off -- great job, Karsten!
Next week John Banta will host, and then I think Karsten will be hosting again on the 22nd and then it rotates back to Keg Salad. Nice to be able to relax a bit!

3 In A Row

2005-02-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

Yeehaw, it was open mic week. We did three in a row: Renee's on Tuesday, the Mission Coffeehouse on Wednesday, and Clark Place on Thursday. Good times at all three places.

2005-02-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

Unified Soul wrapping up the open mic

2005-02-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

John Banta rocks out!

2005-02-02T11:26:00.000-08:00

Mike Lila

2005-02-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

Joe L. Lloyd

2005-02-02T11:19:00.000-08:00

Karsten Crouse onstage at Renee's

2005-02-02T11:15:00.000-08:00

Keg Salad opens up the open mic at Renee's on Feb 1st 2005

Another Fun Evening at Renee's

2005-02-02T11:03:00.000-08:00

Another fun open mic at Renee's Red Rooster last night. We took the same suspects with us -- Karsten and Joe. We had Karsten do most of the set up again to prepare him for next week when he will be hosting -- hurray!
We ended up with a pretty full list for the evening. Keg Salad started the evening -- I think we played 5 or 6 songs, including the Fred Eaglesmith tune "Hey,Baby." I was a little nervous about doing that one with John Banta in the audience since he is such a huge Fred fan (FredHead?).

Next up was Karsten Crouse who did a trio of songs, including that great song by his friend Leroy about their hometown. Leroy will be playing at Renee's on March 11th, doing mostly original stuff . We'll have to try and get Karsten to do a few more songs next week when he's hosting. Maybe he can persuade Chaz & Gerry, his Moogie bandmates, to do a set. (They were in the audience last night but couldn't stay long as they had an anxious dog awaiting their homecoming.)
Joe L. Lloyd did a set of originals and covers -- including a really nice version of a Steve Earle song that I'm not sure of the title ("Rich Man's War"?). I hadn't heard Joe do his song "Objet d'Art" in a while and it always makes me grin. Thanks, Joe.
Mike Lila was next on the list -- doing mostly originals but also including a Bob Dylan tune. I think Mike gets better and more comfortable on stage every time we see him play. Last night he had his electric guitar and it sounded really good just going right into the system. As I already mentioned, John Banta was in the audience and was also one of the performers. He sounded great doing a couple Warren Zevon tunes, a Willy Porter song -- pretty neat work with 2 capos on the guitar, a Bob Seger song, and his own song called "Homecoming Week." The new pickup he had put in his Martin was working great and his guitar had a nice full sound. Great stuff.
The final performers of the evening were a trio from Wausau called Unified Soul. They had an impressive setup with two keyboards, bass, and drums. It took them a little while to set-up but were well worth the wait. The started out with an instrumental jazz number, and then did a variety of stuff including Stevie Wonder, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton to name a few. They will be playing out at Renee's on March 12th and it should be a fun night. For the first time we saw the clipping lights go on the GigRack, but Mark was able to adjust the sound and get it under control.

Short Show

2005-02-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Our show was unexpectedly cut short on Saturday the 29th at EmyJ's. We thought we were playing from 7 'til 9 p.m. --which is what we had on our schedules, had emailed to friends, and what we advertised on the posters. (Posters that we had dropped off at the coffeeshop a few weeks before the show). At about 6:45 the barista came over and told us that the owner wanted to let us know that they'd be closing at 8. Our reaction was "Huh?" and it kind of rattled us and made our performance a little shaky. Oh, well... We did record the entire 70 minutes or so on our Roland digital recorder, and Mark is working on getting them onto CDs. We should be able to get a usable demo.
We did have a pretty good size audience too, and even a few latecomers who came while we were packing up the car. We'll have to get the time thing straightened out before our next show...

A Lovely Evening

2005-01-28T08:44:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely evening at the Intermission in downtown Wausau last night -- our first time there this year since we cancelled two weeks ago. We weren't expecting any of our "regulars" and were delighted to see Dick Thompson and Becky & Jeff Stubbe. Our friends Gary & Julie also dropped by for a few songs and Maggie & Mike(?) who had heard us a few months ago came by later in the evening and closed out the night with us.
We played two long sets of almost two hours each -- my fingers were stinging a bit by the end of the evening as my calluses had peeled a few days ago. Good to be able to do it though -- and still have our voices fine this morning. Ah, the powers of licorice tea. Our two hour show at EmyJ's on Saturday should seem like a breeze...

Open Mic Jan 25th

2005-01-27T09:27:00.000-08:00

It was a quiet night out at Renee's. We were filling in as hosts as Randy Perlak has decided he has too much on his plate right now to commit to the hosting duties. We took along Karsten Crause, who has expressed interest in hosting, and Joe Lloyd another guitarist and songwriter. As it turned out, we were the only four who showed up for the open mic. We had Karsten do most of the setup so he could get familiar with the system. Renee has been renting the same unit that we own, a Gigrac by Soundcraft, so we are quite comfortable with the setup.
Even though it was a quiet night, we had a good time and stayed out til 12:30 or so. I had remembered to take our hand percussion -- a kokorikyo and a cabasah, and it added a nice dimension. It was interesting which songs Karsten and Joe responded to with the percussion.
By the way, Renee's is a finalist in a national contest called something like "best public restrooms." You can check it out at bestrestroom.com -- and vote for Renee's. She's up against some pretty fancy places and it's really great that she made the finals (and for those who haven't seen the new restrooms they are really quite stunning -- not often you say that about a bar bathroom.) I think last year's winner was the Kohler Art Center 0r at least it had Kohler in the name (and you would expect them to have a stunning bathroom, wouldn't you?)

Winter Weather

2005-01-27T09:25:00.000-08:00

So far this month we've cancelled two shows and one open mic that we were scheduled to host -- oh the joys of Wisconsin winter. One show was cancelled due to very cold temperatures and two were called due to snowfall. Since this is Mark's first winter of driving and Boswell is a small car, we've been playing it safe.
Next January we're going to schedule all our shows in fictional towns and ghost towns. We're already planning to play in Bird, Kansas (home of the Pines family -- we should have a place to stay), and Mogollon, New Mexico. If you have any favorite fictional towns, please let us know -- they seem to be very easy to book.

COLD

2005-01-18T08:52:00.000-08:00

The temperature took a precipitous dive on Thursday evening -- dropping from somewhere around 20 degrees to below zero in just a few hours. We had the car packed and ready to go for our gig at the Intermission in Wausau but decided that maybe it would be best to cancel. We're not getting paid much for that gig, but even so we didn't want the bar to lose money on us -- and on the first night of a predicted cold stretch we figured people might just decide to stay in. Mark called the bar, and the bar owner and all seemed to concur that canceling was not a bad idea. We hadn't tested Boswell (our trusty little 1991 Ford Escort) in thirteen below temperatures -- and decided we'd like to test him a little closer to home.
The deep freeze set in for several days, but by Saturday we were ready to brave the cold and made the short drive out to Renee's Red Rooster to see our friends Moogie and The Kissing Saints. Karsten was back drumming with Moogie after being gone a year, and they sounded great! The Kissing Saints put on another fine show as well -- hope to see them back soon.

We loaded up Boswell Sunday afternoon and headed out to the Tiki Bar on Lake Dubay about 3 p.m. to set up for our 4 o'clock show. It was very nice not having to haul our entire sound system as they now have a mixing board, along with their very nice JBL speakers. We were greeted by the rather unpleasant site of a pool table when we walked in -- displacing several tables where our audience usually sits. Mark got a little uptight but got over it pretty quickly.
None of our "regulars" had shown up by the time we started, but Becky & Jeff Stubbe and Dick Thompson did come in soon after we started. Chaz & Gerry (of Moogie, and former bandmates of ours in Djang) showed up during our break and stayed for most of the second set. It was much easier to play with some friendly faces (and listening ears) in the audience.
We tried out a bunch of new stuff in our first set. Actually new old stuff that we revived -- "Just Hold On," "New York," "We're Here," "Lost," and a new cover of a Fred Eaglesmith tune called "Hey Baby." I think they're all keepers. Our second set was two hours long and my fingers were starting to sting by the time we were done. Afterwards we hung out with Becky & Jeff and Bruce & Melinda Bartell and Dick and had a fun time playing songs off the bar's computer jukebox.

Upcoming

2005-01-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

Here's the rest of our schedule for January:
Thursday Jan 13th at the Intermission in downtown Wausau from 8 til midnight
Sunday Jan 16th at the Tiki Bar on Lake Dubay from 4 til 8
Tuedsay Jan 18th hosting the open mic at Renee's Red Rooster
Friday Jan 21 at From the Ground Up, an all ages coffee shop in Wisconsin Rapids (might do this one as M4)
Thursday Jan 27 at the Intermission from 8 til midnight
Saturday Jan 29 at EmyJ's in downtown Stevens Point from 7-9

Show Report

2005-01-11T09:31:00.000-08:00

The Saturday party show went really well (but I did forget the camera). The bar was a cozy little mom 'n pop place, the crowd was appreciative and the beef sandwiches were excellent.
The original birthday celebrant, Maria, was in New York so we celebrated Shelly's birthday instead. It gave us an excuse to dust off our birthday song and play that again -- I think it had been over a year since we had performed it.
It was a little strange that there were very few walk-in customers -- almost everyone there was there for the party, or because we had emailed about the show. The 2 or 3 people who did walk in seemed to get into the music as much as the rest of the crowd though.
I am sorry I forgot my camera since not only was there a birthday cake for Shelly, there was an M4/Keg Salad cake for the band -- complete with guitar and monkey decorations!
Thanks again to Dick Thompson for setting up the evening, and we hope to play at CD's again.

Saturday Show

2005-01-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

We're doing a show this Saturday Jan 8th, at C.D. Pub & Grill in Wisconsin Rapids (2650 Plover Road). Originally our electric band M4 was going to play, but we've changed it to a Keg Salad show -- it will probably end up being a hybrid of the two.

The show is supposed to start around 7:30 and there will be free food and free beer. Our friend and fan Dick Thompson set up the show as a birthday party for a friend -- but isn't sure if the birthday celebrant will actually be there.

Should be fun -- and I'll try to remember the camera.

First Open Mic of 2005

2005-01-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

We hosted our first open mic of the year at Renee's Red Rooster on Hwy P -- a funky little roadhouse bar just outside of Stevens Point. Renee asked us and our friend Randy Perlak to take over hosting duties after the last host band quit. This was our second turn to host (we're alternating weeks with Randy).
When Renee first asked us, none of us exactly leapt at the chance. Mark and I had hosted a weekly open mic at The Keg for over a year, and had gotten burned out on the weekly routine. Randy had hosted a weekly open mic at the Mission Coffee House and had likewise gotten burned out. We figured alternating weeks would make it more feasible for all and we also said we'd just do a trial run until the end of February and see how it goes. We all want to help out any venues that are offering and encouraging live music. So, we'll see how it goes...
Last night's turnout was small but the quality was great. Mark & I had a very pleasant suprise when we walked in and saw Ron & Carol Garski and their son Cody at the bar. Ron & Carol had run The Keg for the last several years and recently sold the business. They were wonderfully suportive of our music when they owned the place -- even letting our electric band rehearse in public and use their sound system. It was quite a blessing to have an air-conditioned rehearsal space in the summer, and wonderful microbrews on tap! We really miss Ron's Pilsner.
We played a short set of some of our orginal songs (I know "Old White Houses" "Down to the Ground" and "Fool's Paradise" were in that first set), and then our friend Jeremy Haimerl got up and did a few songs on his electric guitar. Jeremy is in the band The Kissing Saints, based out of Medford Wisconsin. They will be doing a show at Renee's on January 15th -- should be good! Jeremy did a great job on his set -- I especially liked the songs "Rumpelstiltskin" and the one with "zodiac" in the lyrics.
Next up was Randy Perlak -- he stopped in on his way from work and borrowed Mark's guitar to play a few.
Just before we were ready to wrap the list around again Yvonne Bricco showed up with her guitar and did a lovely set of originals and covers. I thought her song "One Last Cigarette" (not the name she calls it) sounded especially good last night.
Everyone then played another short set -- Jeremy played Mark's acoustic on the second set and it was cool to hear the guitar played by different players. We wrapped things up about 12:45 and were home shortly after 1. The latest I've been up this year -- I've been battling a cold for the last week but seem to be emerging from it.

Why?

2005-01-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

I've started this blog to try and keep a record of our shows and other activities as a band. We're actually (in) two bands -- Keg Salad is the acoustic folk rock band, and M4 (Mad Melancholy Monkey Mind) is the electric melodic rock band. As the name indicates, I'll be keeping track of Keg Salad here.
We'll see how long it lasts... It should make me better about taking our camera along to gigs, though.
Mark ususally does all the writing and promo stuff, so this may get me to help more with that side of things.