Steve Poltz - 06March09 - Cleveland, Ohio

I recently had the chance to head to Memphis, Tennessee to see Steve's touring with Ian McLagan and the Bump Band, but had to cancel my trip. So I decided that since I was off work, I'd make the trip up to Cleveland to catch them play at the Beachland Ballroom. This was quite a nice venue, but was in a terrible neighborhood. One wrong turn off the interstate and you are in a less-than desirable part of Cleveland. However, that didn't stop us.

I hitched a ride to Cleveland with a friend and fellow Poltz fan, Colleen and her friend Amanda. I almost didn't get to make this trip as some logistics almost made it impossible for my ride to pick me up on the way. We made the trip and got there with some time to spare.


The venue was nice as I mentioned. This show was probably targeting an older generation, but we still had a great time and enjoyed the show. Had a great time rocking out with a George Harrison look-a-like, and his friends. This was my first time hearing Ian McLagan and the Bump Band, but I had seen Jud "Scrappy" Newcombe in New Jersey in the past. So it was a treat to get to see him play with Steve on a few songs as well as playing with the Bump Band.

This was an eventful trip aside from the show, to say the least. Our ride home featured us playing a little round of "Jeopardy" under the category of "Things that happened last night in Cleveland", which included a lot of memorable moments to say the least. This was definitely a road trip and show that I will not forget any time soon.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW:

Steve Poltz - 05March09 - Dayton, Ohio

Canal Street Tavern... The historic venue in my backyard. Steve's been making the trip to Dayton, Ohio to perform here since his early days with the Rugburns.


Some lesser known local band was supposed to open up for Steve this night, but canceled. Sometime that afternoon, Steve's friend and fellow musician, Tom Flannery, left his Kentucky home to come up in hopes of catching Steve's set from the audience. By the time he got to the venue and met up with Steve, Steve was ready to have Tom open for him. Tom, not having any gear with him was left with playing an opening set with Steve's guitar, but that didn't stop him from putting on a great show.



This was my 2nd chance to see Tom perform, as he and his brother Tim, and son Dylan joined the stage with Steve at a show in Lexington, Kentucky in August of 2007 (Photo Gallery). He has a very musically gifted family, and it is always a pleasure to be in his presence and hearing his music. His song, Orion, must have left an impression on me in Lexington, because even after a year and a half, after only hearing it the one time, I found myself remembering the lyrics as I sat in my seat in Dayton. It is definitely a song worth listening to. If you would like to hear it and some others from Tom, jump over to his MySpace page and listen to some that he has posted there.



After Tom handed over "Ol' Smokey" back to Steve, Steve played another great set, and continued his antics from the previous evening in Indianapolis, keeping us all laughing and tied to his every word as he shared his humorous stories from his past and his travels.



Steve was also joined on stage again by Niki Dakota, the host of Excursions on WYSO, a Dayton public radio station. Niki had Steve on her show earlier in the day for about 45 minutes of songs and stories, so Steve invited her back to the stage to help sing a song with him, just as he did the last time he was at Canal Street Tavern, last summer.

It was again great to see everyone that came out. Beth, her husband, and the twins that are going to be scarred for life, thanks to Steve, made the trip. Matt and Terri Maylen made it down from Michigan for this show. Slack, the host of that Lexington show from 2007, came down, bringing some friends and co-workers from a job-site in Ohio. Of course, Frag, Nessa, Colleen, and the usuals came, keeping the family-like atmosphere in tact... well some weird dysfunctional family-like atmosphere anyways.

OTHER PHOTOS FROM THIS SHOW:

Steve Poltz - 04March09 - Indianapolis, Indiana

Steve Poltz at Local's Only... If you ever wanted to see just one show of Steve's and had to choose one venue, this would have to be the one... Well this one and The Barn in Michigan, but that's 2 shows, so just go to both. Anyways, there is something about the atmosphere at Dave and Michelle's venue in Indy that brings the best (or worst) out in Steve, but regardless makes for an amazing night with Steve. For some reason, Steve doesn't have the ability to end a show in a timely manner here, but for those of us in the crowd, we will NEVER object. His set lists in Indy somehow always end up stretching to 35-45 songs even on week nights, which is a remarkable feat for any musician.

Somehow this show became one to remember for me and my family. Having took the week off from work to travel home and see friends and family before catching some of Steve's shows, I was able to get to the club early to talk to Steve during his sound check. I had been talking to my brother, Kenny, in Afghanistan, on a Voice-Over-IP program earlier in the day. Kenny and I talked about the fact that this was his daughter, Fiona's, 5th birthday. Kenny and I thought that it would be cool to have Steve wished Fiona a "Happy 5th Birthday" and sang her a song, and then played a request for Kenny as well. On this tour, Steve has been recording the audio from the live show, and his road manager, Chris Modle's been burning live audio CD's of the shows and selling them as soon as Steve is done with the last songs. So I knew I had an opportunity to get the recording of Steve's birthday dedication to Fiona, and have something to send to Kenny in a care package.

So I approached Steve before the show and explained my thoughts, to which I got a reply of "No!" with a sheepish chuckle. Steve asked a few minutes later if I liked that answer, and I said, "We'll see!" and then I reminded him that my family has guns and we know how to shoot them. That was the end of that conversation, as I let Steve continue to get prepared for his show.

Coming to the show in Indiana is a great chance to catch up with my extended family of Poltz fans that I only get to see a few times a year. This show brought back some of my closer friends, in Spring, who brought her fiance, Eric and about 8 others from work. Rob came and lured some friends from Illinois. Got to see Colleen and Nessa, as well as April and her friend Heidi who both sat with me through this show. Chris and Dianne Wolf made the trip, as expected, and Jay and others made it who I hadn't seen for a few shows.


Steve had Chris Wolf join him on the stage a few times, not only to help demonstrate the choreography of one of Steve's songs, but also gave Chris the opportunity to play a few of his own songs, including "Spotless" which can be heard on Chris's MySpace page. "Spotless" is a very entertaining song about Chris' invisible dog. This song was just selected from 15,500 songs as a finalist for a International Songwriters Competition. I highly recommend everyone reading this to go listen to the song. If you enjoy it, go vote for it. To vote, just follow this link, then click on the word "here" in the box that says "Click here to listen ot the finalists songs and cast your vote."

Steve was definitely in his element this night, as he was more than entertaining to all in attendance. He kept the atmosphere loose and fun, and kept the crowd involved the whole night. Keeping us involved had an unplanned effect as he realized while on stage that he was going to sell more live CD's if he made some of his banter and songs more personal for each person in the crowd. Upon realizing this, he stepped up his game and made it a personal experience for several of us.


During Steve's break, I took the opportunity to leave a note on stage asking again, well more like threatening Steve to play "Marsupial" for Fiona and wish her a Happy Birthday. Steve returned to the stage and played a few songs, but other than an occasional glance, made little effort to let me know that he acknowledged my note. Then during his encore, he finally made the dedication, but made it in a way that was entertaining to his crowd as well as addressing my note.

Fiona's Birthday Request-UNCENSORED Part 1.mp3

NOTE: This audio file contains some language and references that may not be suitable for younger audiences.

Fiona's Birthday Request-UNCENSORED Part 2.mp3

NOTE: This audio file contains some language and references that may not be suitable for younger audiences.

Fiona's Birthday Request.mp3



I got back to Elwood sometime after 2am and spent a few hours editing the audio down to try to get Fiona her song without any offensive humor included, but also wanted to provide the uncensored parts to Kenny in Afghanistan, as I knew he would love to hear it, as well as Steve's greeting to Kenny and congratulating him and Kelly on the future birth of their next child in July.

SOME PHOTOS FROM THE SHOW:






Don't ask... You really "had to be there" for sure!

Weddings and Wars

Some people may have noticed that I have added a section on the lower right of this blog that links to the online material created by Michael Yon. For those of you that are visiting my website looking at me as a Wedding Photographer, I can see where this may be confusing.

Why would a wedding photographer have dispatches from a war-time journalist on his blog? Well to answer that, I would have to suggest that you not look at me as a wedding photographer, as much as a photographer that shoots weddings. I personally look at myself as a photojournalist that happens to shoot weddings. I enjoy documenting life in photography, as much as I do documenting weddings.

Also, as I have mentioned before, my brother, Kenny, has recently deployed to Afghanistan for a tour of duty as a military intelligence gatherer. He works as an interrogator at Bagram Air Base just north of Kabul, Afghanistan. So I personally have a reason to want to keep up on what is going on in the Middle East.

Now, who is Michael Yon? Michael Yon is a US Special Forces Veteran who travels the Middle East in war torn areas and communities. He is a journalist and photographer who reports things as it is in these areas, without any bias from politics and media. He has won numberous awards for his photographs and his writings from his travels throughout Iraq and Afghanistan. His photograph entitled Little Girl was voted as Time Magazine's Online Photo of the Year for 2005, capturing 66% of all online votes. That picture alone tells such a story and perfectly depicts exactly what Yon does in his travels. You can see that picture on his site by clicking on this link.