Time for a little Stephen Kellogg

This one sprang to mind, and I couldn't shake it, so I'm sharing it with you.



Enjoy.

A fine Friday night in Austin

After a frenzied round of email work, I headed to downtown Austin for a show from one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Stephen Kellogg.  He's on what he calls the Postcard Tour 2017, during which he's playing songs new and old with two supporting musicians, a guitarist and a drummer.

The show was fantastic, one of the best of his I've ever seen, maybe even the best.  The venue, the beautiful Stateside Theatre, had lovely acoustics and reserved seating.  I was in the second row, almost dead center, maybe 12 feet from Kellogg for most of the show, closer when he came to the edge of the stage.  He played most of my favorite songs, a few new ones, and even a couple of covers.  The audience didn't come close to filling the theatre, but it was loud and enthusiastic and clearly into Kellogg and his music.

As I was standing in line for the restroom after the show, a guy said, "Put him in Memorial Stadium with a hundred thousand people, and he'd get them all on their feet."  I agree.  I'm saddened by how small Kellogg's fan base is, but it seems to be big enough to support him, and I'm happy to be part of it.

Dinner had to be on the late side, because I'd needed to work until the last possible minute, so I headed to Holy Roller, a restaurant/bar with a solid late-night menu.  I split a huge salad and had a sandwich called "The Local," a strange concoction that included a biscuit, some fine Stiles Switch brisket, an egg, and other stuff.  It was huge but tasty.  This meal was my first at Holy Roller, but I would definitely go back and recommend it if you're in the mood for hearty fare.

As luck would have it, the nearby Amy's was open, so dessert was a small cup of their delicious ice cream.

Though I had to pay for it by working until the wee hours, it was a fine Friday night in Austin indeed.

Stephen Kellogg, artists, and audiences

As I wrote in yesterday's entry, Stephen Kellogg and his band put on a wonderful show at the Back Room at the Cat's Cradle.  His highly personal songs touched everyone in the audience, and the crowd responded to every tune enthusiastically.

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The problem is, the audience numbered about fifty people.  Only fifty people showed up to see one of my favorite musicians pour his heart out for nearly ninety minutes.  For my taste, if there was any justice Kellogg would pack huge venues and sell out wherever he played.

My taste, of course, is an extremely unreliable indicator of artistic success.  Josh Ritter would be filling stadiums if my taste ruled, and Ritter is not (though I think he's doing well).  Nick Harkaway would be a bestseller in the U.S.  (My own books would do rather better as well.)  I could go on and on.  I'm sure you could, too.

All any artist can really do is create the best work they can, put it out there, and hope for the best.  I know marketing and social media and all of that can help, but if the work doesn't happen to touch a large audience, then the artist won't sustain such an audience over time.

I find this truth disheartening, but it is the truth.

Nonetheless, I hope one day Stephen Kellogg gets the audiences I believe he deserves.

"Gravity"

is a song that Stephen Kellogg and his band played in a concert earlier tonight at the Back Room of the Cat's Cradle.  I was fortunate enough to be there.

I'll write more about the show tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the song.



I do love his music and his live performances.

A treat of an Austin evening

The temperature outside tonight stayed unseasonably cold, but it was still so warm compared to home that it felt like early spring, and I was happy to venture out.  I was doubly happy because even though it would cost me sleep, I treated myself tonight to a delightful Austin evening.

For dinner I went to one of the Kerbey Lane Cafe locations right near the University of Texas campus.  The food was as good as I'd remembered, simple, down-home fare that is just right on a cold night.  I opted for breakfast for dinner and had a Kerbey Lane classic, Eggs Francisco.

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What you're seeing is an English muffin covered with scrambled eggs, bacon, tomato, avocado, and queso, to which I added extra bacon.  Oh, yeah, it was as good as it sounds.

From there I headed to the Cactus Cafe in the student union building on campus to catch a concert by a performer whose work I love, Stephen Kellogg.  The small venue provided seating for almost everyone and was jam-packed with about 150 folks.

I'd not previously heard the opener, Anthony D'Amato, but I enjoyed his performance enough that I'm going to pick up some of his music.

Kellogg and his band played for about 90 minutes on the tiny stage.

Sorry for the blurry photo.  That's SK in the front, and the drummer is hidden behind him.

I loved the show.  Perhaps one night when it's not so late and I don't have early morning meetings, I'll write about where this show took me, but it was a wonderful experience.  The second song in the set was one of my all-time SK favorites, "Fourth of July."  He and his band also turned in a very powerful and very moving version of his "Thanksgiving."

If Kellogg comes anywhere near you on this tour, do not miss him.

After the show, I clearly had to grab some Amy's ice cream, so I did.  It was as delicious as always.

Had I been able to go back to my hotel and crawl into bed, my head filled with the songs, it would have been a perfect night.  Instead, I worked for several hours, but even so, it was still a great night and a true treat.

You missed a great show

if you weren't among the sixty or so folks watching Stephen Kellogg perform earlier tonight in The Back Room of the Cat's Cradle.  Kellogg played songs from many different albums, added a few new ones, told a few stories, and generally put on a wonderful show.  With a drummer whose name I did not catch (but whom Kellogg nicknamed "Suitcase") backing him on most songs, Kellogg's show was not quite a solo performance but still far simpler than his concerts with the Sixers. 

Click the image to see a larger version.

I'd never been to The Back Room before, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it a much nicer, albeit smaller, venue than the main Cat's Cradle stage.  With a new sound system and new lights and a nicer finish than the older space, The Back Room was a great place for a show.  The speakers were clear, the mix just about perfect, and the resulting sound lovely.  I never had a problem understanding Kellogg; every phrase was perfectly clear.

His show ranged from humorous to genuinely touching.  I was pleased that he played one of my favorites, a song I've linked to before:



As I wrote in an earlier entry, we all should support the artists whose work we love.  I wish only that more people had done that for Kellogg tonight, but for those of us who did, he played his heart out and put on a great show.

Support the artists whose work you love

As we head into the season of gift-buying, consider allocating some of your budget to artists whose works you love.  Many of them are probably doing just fine, some may even be incredibly wealthy, but it's just as likely that many of them are barely making ends meet.  Art, in whatever forms one practices it, rarely pays all that well.

I once had a client and friend say that he and his colleagues were wondering why I was still working at PT and with them when I was clearly making millions from my novels.  I assured him that if I was making millions from my novels, I would be writing full-time, but instead my sales are a couple of orders of magnitude lower.

I'm fortunate, though, to have a great job at a great company that treats me well.  Many artists are hustling all the time to make their art, and if you love their work, you should support them.

Consider, for example, Stephen Kellogg, a musician whose work I quite love.  I don't know him at all, though I've been to a few of his shows.  Perhaps he is making money hand over fist; I hope so.  The facts that he's doing a PledgeMusic drive to fund his next albums and that he's playing in the back room of Cat's Cradle this coming Tuesday suggest that he's working hard to make a good living.  If you like his music, support him.  Buy his CDs, or pick up some merch.  Come to the show Tuesday night; I'll be there. 

Or check out the work of Jain Faries, who works in fabric and found objects and other areas that rarely excite me, but who manages to produce strange, wonderful creations.  I do know Jain--she's part of my extended family--but that knowledge does not affect my opinion of her art.  She's working all day each day right now at a craft show in Greensboro, hustling with many other artists.  As far as I'm concerned, her work deserves to be in fine galleries drawing big bucks, but that's not how it's worked out for her, at least not so far. 

Aaron Vandemark, the chef and owner of Panciuto, one of my favorite restaurants, is another artist who deserves your support.  (Yes, if you haven't been paying attention to food, chefs are artists, too.)  As near as I can tell, Aaron and Panciuto are doing just fine, but at the risk of making it harder for me and my friends to get reservations, I would love more people to know and enjoy his delicious creations.  (Disclosure:  I know Aaron a tiny bit, but it's not like we hang out together.) 

I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point.  If you love an artist and want her/him to keep creating great works, support her/him as you plan your holiday spending. 

Stephen Kellogg and the art of joy

Long-time readers and friends know that I am a huge fan of the music and shows of Stephen Kellogg, both alone and with his former band, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.  Earlier tonight, a group of us went to see him and a small band of friends in concert. 

It was wonderful, a show full of joy. 

Kellogg and the three guys in the band--whose names I'm sorry to say I did not get, but the guitarist's nickname was Jet Pack and the bass player was Chip from the Sixers--delivered a night of lovely songs, some slow, some soft, some fast, some loud.  They played many of Kellogg's hits, some less well known tunes, and even a song that was totally new to me. 

What stuck with me throughout this show is the same impression I've gotten from every one of his performances:  he loves what he does, takes real joy in it, and he gives it back to the audience. 

I watched this show from right at the stage, because the Cat's Cradle was, to my sorrow, far from full.  I was maybe two feet from him and the band as they sang and played a couple of songs.  Here they are, talking right before a song.

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If you've ever wanted to know what I look like from behind while I'm watching a show, today, thanks to Gina, is your lucky day.

If you can't spot me easily, I'm the one with a neck the size of his rather sizable noggin. 

Kellogg's shows always serve to remind me that you cannot control your audience size, how many people buy your work, your reviews, anything--except the work you produce.  To my thinking, if there was any justice, Stephen Kellogg would be huge, a household name.  He's not, and I'm sorry for that, but I'm glad he keeps producing wonderful music.  

Stephen Kellogg is a performer whose work I and many others love, and he is a man who can fill me with joy.  I thank him for that.