Music Scene at Lone Wolf

I am convinced that the Blues and music in general has creeped in to my riding time. Or, lets put it this way. The blues is filling in quite nicely when it is hard to get motivated to do anything. The trainer sits next to me with my road bike attached. It stares like a puppy at me, needing mornings kibble. I shrug it off and seek a couple more Allman Bro renditions of Statsbouro Blues on the computor, in the basement with my guitars.

At Lone Wolf we extended the stage successfully and had Paul Randheim play on Saturday to a packed house. I mean packed. So what kind of started as a dream has come to fruition. We are well on our way to establishing ourselves as a music venue, in addition to the breakfast and lunch joint that the folks in West St. Louis County have now started to "get". We are busy and getting busier.

So get this, while sitting in on the acoustic music jam Saturday a mother of a kid who was watching mentioned that her son wanted to audition for me. I looked to my right and then to my left as if to gather the opinion of Randy and Paula. Such a strange thing being asked if somebody can prove their music talent. I said sure, give me a minute so I can set the stage up for him. The kid got up and fell in to a trance and banged out a phenomenal original song that damn near put tears in my eyes. I am emotional that way, when I see something that cool, that pure roll out from somebodies soul. That is what it is all about. This kid has some severe talent.

He wants to play a show, invite his friends, charge a cover, split it with me, a win/win. I said sure. His Name is Sam Burtsmeyer and he goes by the stage name "LYRE" (from the old testament, he says). He is going to give it a go this Tuesday at 7:00 PM. Invited a bunch of his friends from church, from Webster, others from his band. His moms friends and family are coming too. 10 bucks gets you the show and a free drink ticket.

Brown Dog plays (practices) every Wed night and starts moving out in the spring with gigs out at the winery. We can be hired for just about anything except weddings, NO WEDDINGS! Nothing personal. Brown Dog Blues Band is my band and we are actually getting pretty good. We are a Southern Rock and blues band with soul, a lot of soul. I hadn't really intended on being a lead singer in a band. But when nobody else raised their hand when we lost our singer, it was me. Playing originally as "MIKES BASEMENT", we had the need to change the name when Mike, our key board player moved on. Brown Dog is named after my brown dog Amy, who is 14 and a bit diminutive in her old age but still can bark loud. And the Canid theme seemed appropriate with Lone Wolf being the house. We do a bunch of medley stuff, moving in and out of songs with a creativity, we are somewhat versatile but expect a lot of blues guitar with loud harmonica playing by yours truly. We all have stupid alias names too. Most of us a balding. But we crank it out rather nicely. Our CD will be out soon. Mostly covers stuff this first time out.

Paul Randheim is coming back in March. If you have not seen this guy and his group play, you have to see it. Indie rock, original and haunting, their style is folksy harmonic and smooth. Bring the family, the kids, the grand parents. This is a cultural experience. If you haven't met Paul, catch him host days studying theology at Lone Wolf Coffee Company, just about every day. A very soft spoken gentlemen, who has found his way with the expression of music. A gift from he and his band to the community. Inspiring.

Chris Campbell, our hippie coffee house employee has dozens of songs and he plays each Friday lunch on the Soapbox stage. Any more the blackhawk room is needed for seating and is booked quite often. Chris will play your favorites in his original way. We are proud of Chris and seek to have him do more holiday shows in the future.

Acoustic music jam, led by Mack and his group of folk artists. Bring a couple songs for the group to play, hand them out and we go. Play with fiddle, guitar, harmonica, mandolin. Learn the basics with Mack, me and a couple other regulars. This is a good test of transition from different styles of music. For me not an easy one because of this blues thing in my head. This has been a good way to explore the subtleties of different styles.

Either way, the Lone Wolf is the place to look to see and hear music. Look for some surprises soon. Acoustic sets from very popular artists passing through. I can't let the cat out yet, but there will be some very significant things happening this next year.