The Sue Orfield Show

I’ve written and written and written and written Sue Orfield.  I’m writing her again and will most definitely write her in the future.  

Many musicians have a “day job.”  They need one, because making a living playing music is hard, unpredictable and often grueling. Talent in itself isn’t sufficient.  There’s tons and tons of talented, brilliant musicians and artists in this world and while some will rise to the public consciousness through pure luck, most will remain unrecognized and unappreciated.  Partly because they don’t or won’t put in the hard work.  This is not Sue.  Not only is Sue Orfield talented and prolific, but she’s the hardest working musician I know.  And she’s the best.

Sue is a smart woman.  Sue is flexible.  Sue is responsible. She’s punctual, grounded, assertive and a quick learner.  Sue could be successful in a variety of venues.  She could settle down, work her 9-5 and collect a paycheck, living contentedly with Randy, getting a solid 8 hours of sleep. But she chooses to chase her passion: Music.  And we’re darned fortunate, because we’re reaping the benefits of her hard work.

Her most recent project takes us to the next level.  The project is the brainchild of Donna Berry the Development Director of Chippewa Valley Community Television (CVCTV). Donna, like me, is a fan of the local music scene. Donna not only recognized Sue’s talent, but also all those other qualities needed to make a great idea solid. She teamed up with Production Manager Aaron Rigby, Rick and Maryann Wold of Studio One Teleproductions and Alex Kolb of Eau Claire Steadi  and The Sue Orfield Show was born.

The Sue Orfield Show airs on Chippewa Valley Community Television on Saturday nights at 8:00 PM on cable channels 993 and 994 or via digital tuner 93-13 and 98-14. The show repeats at 8:00 pm Thursday on 993,  It  streams live at 8:00 pm Saturday and if that’s all too confusing for you (it certainly is for me) or if you miss a show never fear, you can catch it anytime on your computer.  Just go here.  A new episode will air the first Saturday of the month.

I’m really hoping you’ve already heard about the show, but if you haven’t, let me fill you in.   The show is hosted by Sue Orfield and each show features a musical guest or guest from the Chippewa Valley and upper Midwest.  To date there have been six featured guests.

Eddie Beavers is a Nashville refugee with a renegade’s heart, now living in the Chippewa Valley.  He sings old-style country and blues as only a hard-living man can--with soul and conviction.  The show is beautifully filmed and captures Eddie’s musical style and his loveable bad-boy personality.

Greg Gilbertson is a reclusive family man.  His musical genius occasionally flashes across the Chippewa Valley like a meteor.  And, like a meteor, if you’re not at the right place at the right time, looking in the right direction you’ll miss him.  Sue has captured him in all his original glory.

The Mike Malone Jazz Trio is comprised of three gifted young men: Mike Malone on drums, Jordan Jenkins on bass, and Josh Gallagher on piano.  Young and passionate, they're all still in college and while I haven't caught the trio I've seen Josh Gallagher sit in with Sue in other venues and I'm looking forward to seeing The Sue Orfield Show's episode featuring them.

            

  The Michael Rambo Project is a 5-piece band offering a little bit of rock, a healthy dose of jazz-funk fusion and a ton of Soul.  Michael’s music is influenced by the 70s and 80s and while he looks to be in his mid 30s, he attracts young, vital and versatile musicians into his fold. His songs are a reflection of his faith and is accessible to people of all beliefs.

Softly, Dear is local 5-piece indie-band.  This is a wonderfully multi-faceted group of young musicians and singer-songwriters, all from the Eau Claire area.  Their music is fresh and interesting and their lyrics approach poetry: “I’m digging for colors by my fingernails find only black/the wings on my feet are matched by the weight on my back.”  Watch this band, it’s going to go places.

The very first taping was with Eggplant Heroes. The last music show taped by CVCTV in front of a live audience was years ago and most of the current team hadn't worked on this type of project before.  I’ve been pleased to be in the audience for three of the five shows and have watched with pleasure the progression of this show.  The first set was, to the layman's eye, a controlled chaos of wires and cameras. Many of the production team are volunteers,some in their teens, and it’s shocking to see how young many of them are and even more shocking to see how professional they are.  

Nonetheless, having The Heroes as the first taping was overly ambitious for a couple of reasons.  First off, it’s a 7-man band.  That’s a lot of sound to handle for a pilot.  Second off, there’s Joel Pace.  One of Joel’s charms is he has a hard time keeping still.  And he likes to climb.  The camera-people just weren’t equipped to follow him around the studio, nor was the lighting.  Sue told me later that the set just looked too messy and in the end they decided to scrap the first taping.  But it wasn’t a wash, because the team learned and adapted.  Sue called Evan Middlesworth, owner of Pine Hollow Audio, in to run the sound, the team figured out how to make the set look cleaner and, when it came for the second taping of Eggplant Heroes, Joel showed admirable restraint and--for the most part--stayed in place.

The finished product of these tapings, of The Sue Orfield Shows are amazing.  Professional.  Remarkable.  

The Sue Orfield Show IS the Chippewa Valley and it is a gem.  A treasure.  And it needs our help. Funding for Chippewa Valley Community Television has been cut drastically in the past few years and the show needs our help to keep on air. There is an Indigogo Campaign to raise $9000 for the production and airing of this show.  The campaign launched on Monday, May 5th and has already raised just over $2000.

Music adds color and texture and meaning to our lives. It reflects our emotions and our personal experiences.  It gives words to our inner thoughts.  Our local musicians add to our quality of life and the value of our community.  And The Sue Orfield Show spotlights us.  Elevates us.  Showcases the talent of the Chippewa Valley in all its glory. This is us.  

I’ll be donating a small part of my paycheck to support the Sue Orfield Show until it reaches its goal, because I believe in Sue, I believe in the show and I believe in the Chippewa Valley. 

I hope you will too.

 

Tune in.  

Watch Sue.  

Watch our people.  

Listen, enjoy and revel.

And be a part of it.

Please donate.

Listen to Sue talking about her show on WEAU here and here.

The Sue Orfield Band

Pizza Plus.

Friday night.

Sue Orfield. 

I could almost end this blog now, because if you're reading you've probably already seen Sue in one or all of her bands and you've experienced the magic. But I'm a gal of many words and while I won't do The Sue Orfield Band (SOB) justice, I'm going to go ahead and give it a whirl. And because I've written about her before, here, here and here, I run the risk of repeating myself but I don't mind and I hope you won't either. And here's an added caveat: I'm heavily, blindly and passionately biased. I love Sue and I love her music.

As previously stated, I'm a lyrics gal. Words are the way I define, relate and make sense of my world. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy instrumental solos, but unless they're attached to lyrics and the emotions those lyrics evoke I can't easily ascribe emotion to purely instrumental music. Or so I thought, before I met Sue and her music. I'd love to get into her head. She seems to hear the world differently, like her relationship with music is tangible. It's almost as if a note is a syllable, a musical phrase a clause, a musical stanza a paragraph, and each song is a chapter in Sue's story. And can she write a story. What initially made Sue's music assessable to me was her obvious generosity of spirit when onstage. She's the opposite of a spoiled Diva. She radiates goodwill, patience, happiness and passion, and it was these qualities that encouraged me to step out of my musical comfort zone and listen to her music in a different way. But enough singing the praises of Sue (for now) and let me move on to the rest of the band.

The Sue Orfield Band is composed of Sue with her saxophone, her honey Randy Sinz on electric bass, Dave Schrader on drums and Mike Schlenker on lead electric guitar. (I wrote about Dave when he sat in with Mojo Lemon.  You can read about that here.)

They have three CDs out: “Bonk” "Now Let Us Sing" and their most recent, “Fight The Good Fight.” Sue has an earlier CD with another incarnation of SOB titled, “Nobody's Looking.”

People who tend to arrive to events fashionably late will miss out on good seats at a Sue Orfield event. I got to Pizza Plus a few minutes early and was darn fortunate to find a place to plant myself. SOB kicked the show off to an enthusiastic audience with an Orfield original, “Sway.” Mike Schlenker was all tall and aloof in his denim button-down collared shirt with an American flag on the back and matching American flag guitar. His playing is effortless and while he's usually pretty straight-faced, I caught him having fun several times. Randy was distinguished and smiling on his bass and Dave kept enthusiastic time behind his drums—though he was hard to see back there, he made his presence known. While I was able to write down a lot of the songs, I was too busy dancing and won't be able to offer blow-by-blows of the action. Suffice it to say that this band puts on a great show.

Other songs played Friday night include: “Same Kind of Crazy” and “Wild Me” Delbert McClinton songs, sung by Randy, Steve Goodman's “City Of New Orleans” sung by Dave, what I believe is a Mike Schlenker original, sung by him called—I think, “Good Work If You Can Get It” and a beautiful instrumental originally by The Youngbloods titled “Darkness, Darkness.” Randy sang “Unchain My Heart” and a Jimmy Rogers' song, “T For Texas” and the band performed the Harlem Globetrotters' theme song and the song from the Andy Griffith show. There were more Sue originals: “Inner Pippy” was dedicated to the family of Sue's first music student in Eau Claire who donated an alto Buescher sax to the band. Sue introduced two new songs, “Hope For The Girls” and “Mesa's Boogie.” She also performed “Herd of Rubies” and “Two Cats Named Bob.” (FYI, both Mesa's Boogie and Two Cats are about....cats.)

My personal highlights were when the band invited Gregg Wheeler and his harmonica onstage to accompany Randy as he sang a gorgeous song by Greg Gilbertson, a Chippewa Falls native, titled “The Gold.” I wrote about this song here. It gets better every time I hear it. And it rocked when Gregg Wheeler jammed on his harmonica to one of my personal favorites, Sue's “Atomic A Go-Go.” You haven't heard harmonica playing until you've listened to Gregg.

Later another local guitar player, Luke Fisher, was invited up and he sang his original cover of Cash's “Folsom Blues” and his own song, “5 AM.” They also sang happy birthday to Olaf Lind, another musician. Both Olaf and Luke join Randy and Sue to make up the band, AcoustiHoo.

All in all, it was well worth braving the snow and cold to hit this event. If you missed it, you can redeem yourself and catch Sue with Catya's Trio at From The Vine on February 14^th and with Code Blue (Catya's 5- piece blues band) at Pizza Plus on February 21^st. Be there, I guarantee you'll love it!

You can buy SOB's CDs here.

AcoustiHoo

 

The polar vortex lifted on Thursday and by Friday the night air was positively balmy. A whole raft of cabin-fevered sub-zero refugees eschewed the snow and hit From TheVine to see AcoustiHoo. We were amply rewarded.

AcoustiHoo is a 4-piece ensemble and I've written about each of its members at least once. And I will probably write about each of its members again. And again. And again. Full self disclosure: I've got a huge bias toward this band. I'm a fan. I also have a social relationship with some of the band-members. In my defense, the relationships developed because of their music, not vice versa. I don't know if this lends credibility to the blog, but I doubt anyone who hit From The Vine for AcoustiHoo would disagree with my assessment of the band.

The band members include Sue Orfield on tenor sax, Randy Sinz on upright bass, Olaf Lind on violin, and Lucas Fischer on guitar. Superlatives will be added later.

They shook off the residual vortex-chill with “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a lively country-Hee-Haw-like jig that set Olaf's violin-strings a-smokin'. They followed up with “2:15,” a Sue Orfield original which started out with a lovely violin solo. The intertwining of the sax and violin caused my chest to swell with inchoate nostalgia—a longing to return to a place I'd never been. The next song was “Kansas City” featuring Luke, who kicked the number off with a down-low-and-dirty blues intro. You haven't really heard this classic song until you've experienced Luke's version. Olaf's violin enhances it with a Kentucky-Mountain-Justified feel. Next up was “Az Du Furst Avek,” a traditional Klezmer tune in which Luke's solo evoked the feel of old-world gypsy music.

Are you getting it? Klezmer. Classic blues. 1920-era pop-songs. Originals. And that was just the first four songs. Next Sue called for “My Heart Belongs To Daddy.” They have a set list, but Sue once confided that she's not very good at sticking to it. Consequently there was a tiny pause, during which she said, “You'll pick it up.” And they did. She blew Cole Porter's song like the May West-sultry, old-time jazzy tune it was meant to be. If her soul had a mirror, it would be the music coming out of her saxophone. Luke cooled us down with one of his originals, “Close,” a slow, sweet love-ballad and Olaf and Sue harmonized on “Ashoken Farewell” a Jay Ungar tune that left me remembering a childhood I'd never had.

Randy, all dapper behind his bass in a black beret, called the next song: “Fever.” I love, love, love the way Randy sings this song. It's new to their repertoire and there's no question that it's a love song between him and Sue. In the song he sings, “My heart burns for Sue,” and Sue's saxophone lets us know her heart burns for Randy.

Looking around From The Vine over the break I saw that it was standing room only. The establishment is owned and operated by Kathy Nuenke and has been open about 2 and a half years. It's long and open, and the lighting is perfect—low, without being dim. There's a bar running down one side and two- and four- top tables. The musicians are set up the middle of the place, in a living-room-style set- up with couches and deep, comfortable chairs. Behind the musicians is a half-wall and there's a darker, more secluded area in the back. It's a great place for music: avid fans can sit comfortably in a front row seat, music fans who prefer to socialize can sit at the tables in the bar area and lovers can cuddle in a dark corner. The service is fabulous; attentive without being overly friendly. They know you're here to see music or appreciate their wine or catch up with your friends, not to make new best friends with the staff. As soon as you come in you get a glass of water and it's easy to find a waitress when needed. They stock over 80 different wines and Kathy is always changing her stock. She offers wines by flight (I didn't know what this was and had to google it: tastings of multiple wines, which allow tasters to get a feel for breadth or depth of the selection), monthly wine tastings and wine and painting classes. I don't drink so I try to support local music venues by ordering food. I thought this would be a challenge in a wine room and was tickled to see From The Vine offers Legacy Chocolate truffles. They've also added snack mixes and a cheese-and-crackers plate. I spoke to Kathy, briefly, and while I can count the number of times I've been there on both hands, she remembered me. This wine room is a solid music venue and offers great service with great music.

AcoustiHoo's second set offered a couple of pleasant surprises. After Luke's cover of Tom Waits' “Make It Rain,” Sue called Gregg Wheeler with his harmonica to the stage to accompany the band on one of Randy's originals, “Desert Blue.” Randy's voice-as-instrument is wonderful and Gregg's harmonica was about as smooth as it gets. Gregg stayed on stage for another of Sue's originals and there was some fun call-and-response between his harp and Sue's sax. Olaf put down his violin in favor of the mandolin. After Gregg sat down the band launched into another Sue Orfield original, “Can't Shake The Sadness,” all forlorn and noble, with a classic violin-solo and delicate harmonic interplay between Luke and Olaf. Sue stood back, listening, an appreciative smile on her face. Olaf then performed his original “Caravans,” a lively tune with an old-world feel. I understand they're working on a music video for this song. Luke performed another original, “5 AM Blues,” all smooth, romantic and slow rhythm & blues-y.

Then Catya, my very best friend in the whole world, was asked onto the stage where she performed one of her originals, “I Like It.” Though it was unrehearsed, there was an ease and enjoyment on that is only seen when really good musicians play together.

The next number was “Bouf Chonsko” a Macedonian folk song. I spelled it phonetically and know it's wrong. I call it “The Clapping Song.” It starts up slow and every time around they speed it up just a little bit until they're playing faster then we can clap. So fun. Another Sue original, “Cut From Terry's Cloth” was next. The final number was Luke's amazing version of Donovan's “Season Of The Witch.” Luke played his guitar like a mandolin, Olaf played his mandolin like a guitar and Randy tried to play his upright like a violin and did a great job of playing it like a guitar. Sue's saxophone tied the whole song together and as the last note died away the audience leapt up in a spontaneous standing ovation. It was a magical night that left us all wanting more. 

If you're reading this blog you must be a music fan. Believe me when I tell you that if you haven't seen AcoustiHoo you're missing out. Big time. Check them out—you can find their self-titled CD on their website,  look them up on Facebook or catch them live.  You won't be disappointed. Promise.

You can read more about Sue and Randy as Two Rivers here.

You can read more about Sue, Randy and Catya in Catya's Trio here.

You can read more about Gregg Wheeler in Stage Fright and Randy, John and Gregg here and here.

You can read more about Olaf and Luke in Eggplant Heroes here.

You can read more about Luke as a solo act here.

Stage Fright 4. The Last Waltz

--> The Last Waltz: Arguably the best rock-concert-film in rock n roll history, directed by Martin Scorsese.

On Thanksgiving, 1976 The Band put on its “farewell concert appearance” at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. It was a free-for-all-musical-jam and a ton of great musicians came to honor The Band's departure from the road. In the past 30 years this concert has been recreated across the United States in California, Colorado, Texas, Pennsylvania and Minneapolis. Last Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving, Pizza Plus hosted the Chippewa Valley's very own Last Waltz—or “Stage Fright 4” featuring local musicians. And it was good.

This is Stage Fright's fourth year and the brain-child of The Rhythm Posse, “a funky rhythm and blues band” consisting of Billy Angell on keyboards, Lucas Fischer on lead guitar, Levi Felling on drums and Jeremy Holt on bass guitar. Because the original configuration had a piano and a keyboard, Eric Pierson of Last Open Road joins them yearly for this production. The Posse+Pierson forms the core of the performance—The Band—and each year different musicians are tapped to assume the role of their famous counterparts.

I headed to The Plus early, ate pizza (thanks Jean and Charlie!) and watched as the people trickled in. This was Stage Fright's first year at The Plus. Previous hosts include The House Of Rock and The Stone's Throw. This was, by far, the best venue to date. And, because The Plus is a restaurant, it was the first “all-ages” show. I was delighted to see teenagers in the audience. The show started at 9:00 and by 8:30 it was standing-room only. There was a $5 cover and the proceeds were donated to Feed My People. More about that later.

I had my little black reporters' notebook. When the music began I strategically settled in (read: cross-legged on the floor, right in front of the stage—old hippies don't die, they just fade and tatter like their blue-jeans), to enjoy and take notes. And I took a load of notes. I wrote down each song, each musician and added my personal thoughts and observations. My original intention was to give a blow-by-blow but, as cool as the event was, that would just be tedious for both of us. Instead I'm going to list the musicians and the parts they played and write about some of my personal, subjective highlights from the concert. I'm also going to link to as many as these musicians as possible: They donated their time, asking for no other payment except a lively, appreciative and engaged audience. They brought passion and energy to the event and deserve so much more credit than this little blog could ever offer.

This year began differently from Frights 1-3 and really touched me. When my son, Toby, was younger part of our Thanksgiving tradition was to listen to Arlo Guthrie's “Alice's Restaurant.” Toby is spending Thanksgiving with family in Alaska, but I still got a piece of that family tradition when Nick Foytik kicked off the whole thing with a rousing rendition of the song. Arlo was not part of The Last Waltz, but he's appropriate to include because it's of the era and a Thanksgiving song. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but if you give it a listen you'll better appreciate the idea of covering it live. “Alice's Restaurant” is a story-song that starts with a Thanksgiving dinner “that couldn't be beat” cooked by Alice, leading to the arrest and conviction for littering and creating a public nuisance and then to the Vietnam draft. It goes for 25 minutes and Nick pulled it off beautifully. At the end of the song the whole audience was singing the refrain. Thank you, Nick Foytik.

I would be remiss if I didn't toss in a big shout out to graphic designer, Amy Schmitz, Nick's partner and the owner of Amy's Custom Designs for this year's Stage Fright's poster.

Rhythm Posse and the King Harvest Horns took the stage and the show began.

There's nothing better than a good horn section and The King Harvest Horns rocked. They consist of Sue Orfield on sax, Dave Burki on trumpet, Jayson Collins on baritone sax, and Tom Carlson on trombone. Jayson, Tom and Dave play with TheSue Orfield Band (SOB) and The Chippewa Valley Jazz Orchestra (CVJO). They didn't play every song but, like Rhythm Posse, were there for the entire event, bopping on and off the stage. Their skill and enthusiasm made the show. I gotta say it again: There's nothing better than a good horn section.

Roger Dinardi played The Last Waltz Theme on a cool synthesizer-thingy. I really liked his set-up; it's all packed away in an old-style travel-trunk with attached fold-up legs. He was accompanied on guitar by a young man (I didn't get his name, but am happy to add it if you know it).

The Posse-Band took it away with “Up On Cripple Creek” and “The Shape I'm In,” getting the audience all revved up. There was a pause as the band called to the audience for “Ronny Hawkins.” My heart sank just a little, because I was looking forward to this particular song. Just when it looked like it wasn't going to happen, Peter Phippin strode through the crowd and onto the stage. Dressed all in black, long hair pulled into a pony tail he grabbed the mic and started belting “Who Do You Love,” all big, snarly, charisma-y and rock n roll-ego. And, like Ronny in the original, he left the stage before the last note, and was gone. A one-shot-Hawkins/Phippen injection. Like cocaine, it left me yearning for more.

Will Chopper from Mojo Lemon, all dappered-up in hat and suit coat owned the keyboards as Dr. John on “Such A Night.” Paired with Tom Carlson on Trombone, the song had a raucous, old-timey feel that got me bopping.

Next up was B Squat Woody as Neil Young singing “Helpless” with back-up vocals by Catya as Joni Mitchell. Catya fans know her primarily for her blues singing and might not realize she has a 3-octive-range that lets her voice soar into the hemisphere. The sound was a little spotty, but Catya nailed it, nonetheless. B Squat Woody is a member of The Riverbenders which hosts a local variety show in Alma, Wisconsin called The Big RiverRadio Wave. You can hear them on Wisconsin Public Radio or go to the Big River Theater in Alma and catch them live. Word is they have The Best Christmas Show Ever going on tonight and that it will be aired on WPR later. I think it's very, very cool that he agreed to take time from his Thanksgiving holiday to participate in our show.

Caleb Horne, mandolin-player-extrordinaire joined The Posse-Band and Harvest Horns on “Rag Mama Rag” and Megan Hashbarger, Kateri Farrell and Koryna Flores took the stage for vocals on “The Weight.” They looked nervous at first and seemed to have a hard time hearing themselves on the monitors, but quickly warmed up and did a great job.

Lucas Fischer took the vocals on one of my personal favorites, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Luke's voice is tremendous and he did an amazing job.

After the intermission Billy Krause mounted the stage as Neil Diamond singing “Dry Your Eyes.” The casting for this song couldn't have been better. Billy is a singer-songwriter, well-known in the area for his poignant lyrics and gentle folk-style. “Dry Your Eyes” could have been one of Billy's and, in my humble opinion, he did it better than Neil Diamond ever did.

Catya took the stage as Joni Mitchell, singing “Coyote.” Again, fabulous casting. Catya's style is perfect for Joni's complex phrasing and chord changes. I got a kick out of watching her: at the beginning of the song she couldn't hear herself in the monitor and made a series of hand gestures to the sound-man, Ben White, asking for correction without missing a strum. A consummate professional.

Another favorite moment was when Gregg Wheeler played Paul Butterfield. Gregg Wheeler is an unassuming, laid back kind of musician whose tastes tend toward old country classics and lonely-sweet harmonica-playing. He was astounding Wednesday night, belting out “Mystery Train” and jamming out on the harmonica. He stayed on stage and accompanied Muddy Waters on “Mannish Boy.” Terry Demars of Mojo Lemon was a fabulous mannish boy and Terry sang his heart out. Mike Schlenker of Speed Of Sound rocked the house with his virtuoso guitar-playing as Eric Clapton on “Further On Up The Road.” Lizzy Diane was all long-hair, blue eye shadow and lusty-70s-style dress as Emmy Lou Harris. Caleb Horne leaped back up on stage with his mandolin and they sang “Evangeline.” Lizzie is a skilled songwriter in her own right with a unique style. Definitely check her out. Brian Bethke, another local singer-songwriter was an excellent Van Morrison and sounded more Van than Van when he sang “Caravan.” There were cool little touches, homages to the original, throughout the show and Brian's was when he reproduced Van Morrison's odd leg-kicks on stage. Fun and funny. One of the things that appealled to me most about this show is that—unlike the original—no one took themselves too seriously and everyone on stage was having fun.

The show signaled the wind-down when local thespian, Nic Sielaff, took the stage for the irreverent “Loud Prayer.” Then Wisconsin's very own Poet Laureate, Max Garland took the stage as the music-world's bard, Bob Dylan. Again, amazing casting. Max played an electric guitar and sang “Forever Young.” Time slowed down. Scanning the audience I saw people of a certain age, swaying and singing along to an anthem of days gone by:

“May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young.”

I found it profoundly moving.

Finally, the whole crew mounted the stage for the final song, Dylan's “I Shall Be Released.”

It was an incredible night. Yes, the sound was a little muddy. Yes it was a bit crowded. Yes, there were some blunders. Yes, there aren't enough women on stage (although Faith Ulwelling from Left Wing Bourbon was Muddy Waters last year and The Rhythm Posse seems more than willing to continue with gender-bending).

And yes, it was fabulous. Here's the thing; these musicians and this event increase our quality of life in the Chippewa Valley throughout the year. They're from all faucets of the musical-spectrum: classically-trained Jazz horns; folk singer-songwriters; blues; country; funk; bluegrass; a grammy nominated flautist. Young and old, seasoned and new, their talent is remarkable, as is their willingness to share that talent. I can't imagine living in a world without live music and I'm so very grateful to all the musicians in the Chippewa Valley for their gift of music.

It was such a pleasure to see Billy Angell behind his keyboard, grinning like a demon at the scene he'd created. He told me later that he's able to back out of a lot of planning in the past couple of years and that Lucas Fischer played a major role in putting 2013 together. And I gotta stress this: all the musicians did it for free. The $5.00 cover charge went to Feed My People and the unofficial word is that they (we!) raised over $900 for that charity. As Billy pointed out, there are a lot of Last Waltz's around the country, many of them demanding a ticket price of $20 or more. And those musicians are paid. I'll bet our musicians have the most fun.

As Eric Pierson said, “This is the single greatest musical cross-pollination of the year.”

Other mentions include:

Mike O'Brien, photographer. For pictures of Stage Fright 4, click >here<

DMI Sound: These guys work their asses off for music in the Chippewa Valley. You'll find them mixing sound for The State Theater, Volume One's Sounds Like Summer ConcertSeries, Blues On The Chippewa and Tuesday Night Blues. They rock.

Eight-Foot Squid has a full recording of Stage Fright 4 >here<

Finally, I'm going to include a link to another Chippewa Valley Music Blog, Freaks and Geeks.  I've used some of his musician bios as links in this blog. We're getting the word out!