Cornbread

Picture this: freshly baked cornbread, almond herbal tea, green carpet strewn with papers, clothes, ideas, loss, hope, denial, redemption, happiness, peace and serenity. Sometimes I feel like I'm the luckiest person alive and I don't particularly know why. I'm not rich or particularly stunning in any way, I don't have everything a person could wish for or want in a lifetime, I'm not enlightened or free of pain and suffering, I'm totally exhausted all the time. But I just feel like of all the things I could be doing, of all the people I could be, I'm really happy that I ended up here, doing this and being me. And I'm really thankful to all of you for being a part of this journey with me.

I've lost so many people in this lifetime, both literally and figuratively, we all have, such is life, but I just feel like there is a piece of each and every one of you in every single thing I do, and without you I could never have ended up like this. Cheesy- yes. True- also yes.

I love you guys. Thank you for sharing this existence with me. Hold my hand- smile, it's all gonna be okay.

October 20th @ Trash Bar

Wow. 1AM. When was the last time we played 1AM on a Tuesday? God, I don’t even know! It was a terrible time slot, but it just goes to show that I have the best friends in the whole entire world because you guys came out to see us anyway. Thank you!!! We had such a great time!!!

I was in Havertown Tuesday morning and my first patient was at 9am. My last one was at 6pm and I left by 8pm. Cruising along the Jersey Turnpike, listening to the set, trying to learn the words to some new songs we’re working on, thinking about everything under the sun, it was nice. Thankfully I got to Brooklyn with enough time to unload the car and breathe. But no shower or make-up for me! I was surprised that I wasn’t more exhausted. I thought for sure I was going to have to down some caffeine to make that show happen, but it turns out I was fine.

I was really pleased with everything- the sound was great, the crowd was great (again- I heart you guys so much, heart!) and you know I love Trash Bar more than anything. It was actually probably my favorite show of the year! And other than my chord breaking halfway through the set, I’m sorry to say I don’t have more to report, except it was one of those things, you just had to be there.

We’re actually taking a little break from shows though at the moment so we can work on our next recording, (that’s right!) December 4th at Trash Bar we’re playing the annual Stewart Holiday Party (our last show of the year) with our good friends No Shoes, No Shirt, No Dice, featuring some of our favorite people: Ryan D’Angelo on guitar, Green Andy on vocals and Mark Hugo on bass. As usual there will be an open bar from 8-9 and free pizza provided by me just as a little thank you to all my friends for being so sweet and supportive through the years. I love you guys.

Until next time!

Set List:
-This Happens
-Consider Me Gone
-Dance With Me
-Ride The Wave
-Gone
-3AM
-Goodbye
-Aloof
-Stuck in My Head

September 25th @ Toquet Hall

I love playing in general, the more the merrier, bring it! ☺ What I did not love is that it took me 3 hours to get from Brooklyn to Manhattan (lucky for me I thought leaving at 3pm was way more than enough time,) and then another 2 hours to get to Connecticut. Screw you google maps! 2 hours and 10 minutes in traffic my ass! John took the train up because he had to work, and I picked up Kevin because he had the drums.

Despite the traffic it was a really nice drive, gorgeous day, good company. I don’t really remember the last time I was in Connecticut for something other than driving through. I think it may have been that Bouncing Souls show that John and I tried to go to at Toad’s in New Haven and we showed up about 3 songs away from the end. Oops! My bad.

Anyway, it was kind-of weird being back in Connecticut. That place was home to me for so long- I used to know every exit, every town, every back road, and it’s just so pretty with all the trees and the winding roads, I don’t know if I’ve ever been anywhere else like it. It triggered all KINDS of crazy memories of all kinds of crazy things I had forgotten from my childhood. Good in some ways, but definitely weird.

I was very proud of myself because after we finally found the place, I was able to navigate back to the train to get John and back to the teen center again, no problem. It was awesome! Toquet Hall is huge! Although I guess if you’re used to playing in New York everywhere seems huge. But it was a really great place- huge stage, nice sound system, pool table, foosball, snack/coffee shop- it reminded me exactly of Katie’s old coffee house that she used to run at Hawley Elementary School where my old high school band Tim used to play. It was AWESOME.

We started playing about 15 minutes after we showed up because we were so late. I don’t even remember the set because we didn’t even write anything down, we just started calling out songs until we ran out of stuff that we had practiced. It was so much fun, and everyone was so great hanging out and dancing. I told the director that we’d love to come back sometime if they ever have any openings, so keep your eyes peeled Westport! We’ll be back in no time!

Set List:
-Dark Side
-Consider Me Gone
-Ride the Wave
-This Happens
-Dance With Me
-Use Somebody
-Guiltless
-Stuck in My Head

September 24th @ Fontana’s

For all those who know me, I am a laughing stock among musicians because I know nothing about music. Nothing. I mean, I’m definitely better than I was. I can pick out Rolling Stones songs now, among other things, even though last night I did think that Jimi Hendrix was Led Zeppelin before quickly realizing my mistake. But for this reason, trivia has never really been a strong suit of mine, hence I’ve never really been into trivia nights. I get it- it’s fun, but not when you don’t know ANYTHING about the subject matter. Just saying.

So when John and I pulled up in front of Fontana’s to unload and my old friend Todd happened to be smoking outside because he was running his Rock Trivia night inside, I was excited to see him but not really stoked about the game. But you know, thinking maybe 3 years is a long enough time for things to change I decided to take a crack at it. John and I sat down with some drinks, my buddy Sean came in shortly thereafter, and then Donna joined us, for apparently the most kick ass trivia team of all time! We joined in 3 rounds late and only played 2 games and came in third! Go Team Stewart! Now, I’m not sure if that says more about us, or more about the other players, but it was pretty awesome, I have to say. Even though John and Sean got most of the answers, I got one (and Indigo Girls question. Yes- yes, I know,) so I helped.

Turns out two of the other bands of the night canceled, so still bouncing from our triumphant trivia win, we decided to play an extra long set. Awesome! So many people came, you guys are great, and it was so nice to see everybody dancing and having a good time. It was a very special night because we premiered a song by our good friend Jim Behrle called “Aloof.” He wrote it, posted it on youtube, we loved it and decided to put the music behind it- we practiced it maybe 4 times the night before and then Jim joined us on stage for it’s first glorious showing. Big hand everybody- Jim did a great job! (Feel free to check it out on our youtube channel.)

All in all it was a really fun night and I had a great time with each and every single one of you. Thanks for hanging out with me after. Next time we’ll play some pool too.

Set List:
-Dark Side
-Consider Me Gone
-Why Bother
-Ride the Wave
-3AM
-Gone
-Use Somebody
-Goodbye
-Destiny
-Aloof
-Longest Time
-Dance With Me

We're playing CMJ!!! Tuesday Oct. 20th!!!

I know it's late, I know it's a Tuesday, but it's CMJ! I am PSYCHED!

1:00 - STEWART
12:00 - CHANGE THE STATION
11:00 - THE PHOTO ATLAS
10:00 - STEVE SHIFFMAN AND THE LAND OF NO
9:00 - DEAD STARS
8:00 - THE MATT TRUMAN EGO TRIP

Admission is FREE with CMJ badge or $6 without.

$3 PBRs AND $6 Jack & Back (PBR & Shot Of Jack Daniels) after 1 AM!

For more info check out:
http://www.thetrashbar.com/

Hope to see you there!

Love,
Stewart

Another glorious day

When did life get so busy? I mean, I guess it always has been, but lately it feels like I'm on fire! In a good way, although it's hard to imagine such a thing feeling good.

Gosh, I don't even know where to start. I guess the best place to start is by starting over. I'm still in the process of updating everything, but for the moment most of the online activity is happening here:

www.stewarttheband.com
facebook.com/stewarttheband
youtube.com/stewarttheband
myspace.com/stewarttheband
twitter.com/stewarttheband

Let me explain my thinking on these guys.

1. Stewarttheband is just a place holder for the moment to find everything: blog, videos, music, shows, tweets, mailing list (which is new- if you have signed up for the Stewart mailing list in the past, you may not still be on it, so if you'd like to know what's going on, but don't feel like checking all these other places, feel free to add yourself back on there.)

2. Facebook is where I'm trying to keep the major news- interviews, videos posted, new music, new shows, but just the basics.

3. Youtube = obvious. You want a video, you go there. I'm in the process of moving everything over from our old account.

4. Myspace I'm mostly using for the music player, the show calendar, and the post show blogs. But not much else. I send out updates when it's close to time for a show, but I don't do much else with it these days.

5. Twitter I update from my phone when I'm out, mostly to annoy John, but also just for silly things like the fact that the International Pickle Festival was crazy crowded.

And this blog is for me to ramble on and on and on like I do for anyone who cares enough to listen. I don't always have a lot to say about Stewart, but I generally have a lot to say about almost anything.

And there you have it! The new Stewart empire.

Stay tuned for new shows, new songs and new recordings- it's all gonna happen SO fast!!!

When it rains it pours-

I would write about all the stuff going on, but it's late and I haven't been sleeping and John and I have to work tomorrow- so I will say more hopefully soon. I just wanted to let everyone know I'm getting everything all back up and running, and we're playing CMJ!!!

For details, please check out our facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/stewarttheband#/event.php?eid=151330881694&ref=mf

Good night!