Nina Morningstar Bear
With a virtual audience of over 500, Steve’s Guitars kicked off its first Streamin’ Steve’s livestream Friday with Wes Engstrom, William Steindler, Jeremy Isenhart and Jackson Emmer. The concert was the first of what will become a series of streamed live concerts from the intimate music space in Carbondale.
The series will continue this Friday with singer/songwriter/guitarist Dan Sheridan, longtime valley favorite Valle Musico, and a taped presentation of the Taylor Scott Band from early this year. The concert can be seen starting at 7:30 p.m. at http://www.grassrootstv.org or http://www.youtube.com/stevesguitarspresents.
Steve’s Guitars owner Steve Standiford called Sheridan a supremely talented songwriter who has played throughout the valley for over 20 years.
“He’s been playing in the shop since we first started, even when we were upstairs in the little room,” Standiford said. “He’s crafted some of the most beautiful love songs. He’s one of the few singer-songwriters that went way beyond covers.”
Support Local Journalism
Valle Musico is a quartet consisting of guitarists Pat Winger and John Ramo, bassist Bruce Imig and drummer and percussionist Larry Dutmer.
The band “fuses interpretations of classical, jazz and world-beat music,” and “explores the confluence of these genres in exciting and new musical ways,” Standiford said.
Valle Musico has close ties to Steve’s Guitars as Winger, who was a tailor and sculptor, as well as a musician, was Standiford’s first roommate after he opened Steve’s in 1999. The band was actually formed in the “shop” where Winger and Ramo first began collaborating.
The Taylor Scott Band show in January was “outrageously cool” Standiford said, “with the organ and one of the best drummers we’ve ever had here, and Taylor is just off the charts talented.
“You look at these taped shows with a full rockin’ house and you go “awwww… can we get back to that?”
Standiford said last Friday’s Streamin’ Steves premiere went better than he could have imagined, with fans tuning in from as far away as Costa Rica, Hawaii, and both the Eastern and Western U.S. coasts.
“The new HD cameras were spectacular and we got great feedback about the ‘beautiful quality’ from people watching,” Standiford said
The concert was presented with a nod to coronavirus with each musician performing individually, a mask-wearing Standiford introducing the acts, and everyone in the production team maintaining social distancing.
Standiford said his team, which includes soundboard operator Ralph Pitt, and videographers Jeremy Isenhart, Brad Manosevitz, and newcomer Mike Lavker, have spent many hours installing and tweaking the cameras and lighting system.
“It was pretty easy for me, I just had to clean the place,” Standiford said. “All the shots on the new HD cameras just look sparkling, so it’s a good thing I did clean. It’s another one of the ironies of this age that I’ve got the place looking the best and I can’t have company.”
GrassrootsTV.org is still taking donations for upgrades to Streamin’ Steves, and Standiford said he received several hundred dollars in contributions during last Friday’s show.
“We’re trying to create a revenue stream so we can start hosting acts,” he said. “I’m starting to get emails from good touring acts who want to play here.”