This weekend found us in Iowa.  Friday night we were at Gabe’s in Iowa City and on Saturday night it was Headliner’s in Ames.  As usual, Iowa treated us well.  The most exciting part of the shows was the emergence of two new originals into the rotation: “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Rock My Dee-ock” (co-written by Tim and Ted Stopulos).   The latter could be a fluke, but the former should be a staple for a long time running, so keep your ears out for it.
Quick anecdote: As we were packing up to leave Headliners, with literally two things left to pack, an epic storm erupts on us.  Like Jurassic Park style.  The van was maybe 10 feet from the door, and in one trip running to the van and back, I was dripping wet.  The band and some hop-ons (you’re gonna get hop-ons) piled into the van.  We pulled up some random address where we were staying and started following the instructions of the automated British woman’s voice.  Once we got going we realized we couldn’t see anything through the windshield.  We were going maybe 10 – 15 mph, probably less, and still could see virtually nothing.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen rain like this.  To go along with that, there were 60 – 70 mph winds and some righteous lightning.  We had to avoid countless trees, entire trees, and street signs in the road.  I’m pretty sure a cow went flying past us at one point.  Since we couldn’t see anything, we ended up in a construction site, swerving around bulldozers and mounds of rocks.  To get out of the construction, we had to jump a huge lip in the road with our van packed with pianos and people.  After a few unsuccessful tries, we all rallied together, yelled “GO!!” as loud as we could, and willed ourselves to victory.  Can you picture Washington crossing the Delaware?  It was a lot like that, just in a creepy purple van in the middle of a tornado.
Next weekend we’re back in Iowa, this time at the Redstone Room.  Be sure to listen to all our new songs posted on http://www.facebook.com/timstoptrio.  We’ll be playing them there.  Talk to you soon.
TS

We’re very excited to announce that we’re playing at the River Roots festival in downtown Davenport on Saturday, August 21. Get your tickets early and we’ll see you in the QC!

Check it all out here:

River Roots Live

Iowa City rocks. See you again this summer.

Setlist – 4/22/10 @ Gabe’s:

Love it or Leave It
Lie to Me
Malaga
New Acoustic (Not new, not acoustic)
Happy Birthday, Erin (feat. Steven ‘Classic’ Kretschmer)
Unconditional
Professional
Songs of Separation
Hip Hop Medley (Regulators, Ride Wit Me, Gin ‘n Juice, This is How We Do It, Senorita)
Count Me In
Loose Ends
Up and Down
Pride and Prejudice

Thanks to Stephen Liebscher for the video.

I’ve been fortunate enough recently to share the stage with some very cool bands on the national scene. As you may recall, a couple months ago we opened for Nine Days. Last night was a similar situation, but this time around, we only opened up for one day. Howie.

The 10,000 Hours organization, a volunteer group based in Iowa, was good enough to invite us to play at their annual event at the IMU in Iowa City. In the past they’ve had acts like Ben Folds, Guster, and Girl Talk, to name a few. This year Howie Day headlined, and we got to warm the crowd up for him.

If you’ve followed this blog at all in the past, you know well that the Tim Stop Trio loves to play in Ames. I’ve been very excited about the chance to play in Iowa City, home of my Hawkeyes, and I was crossing my fingers that it would be as much fun as playing for the folks in Ames (who are always so awesome, although sometimes violent). Thankfully, IC came through. So I now am an Iowan who loves Iowa City as much as Ames. That’s a hopeless paradox.

We came to IC as an actual trio, which is rare, and played acoustic. Here’s our set:

Malaga
New Acoustic (Gotta work on a name for this song. One night I played it and some girl yelled that I should name it Julie. This song doesn’t really talk about anyone named Julie. I think she’s just being selfish.)
I Got a Woman (Ray Charles cover)
Torn Apart
Professional
Sunday Muerning (Maroon 5 cover)
Normal
Love it or Leave it

I know that’s not how you spell ‘morning’. But every once in a while, I’ll throw in a ‘ue’ where an ‘o’ or ‘ou’ belongs. I know that probably makes little sense to you, but it’s a shout out out to my old band ‘Fourth’, which somewhere along the line got changed to ‘Fuerth’. You wouldn’t believe how funny changing those vowels can be.

Got to watch Howie Day afterwards, who sounded great. Really strong voice. I guess now all we have to do is open up for Green Day and we’ll pretty much be set. Why do I not see that happening?

Don’t forget, IC. We’re coming right back on Thursday, April 22 to play at Gabe’s. See you there!

It’s been a little while since I’ve (we’ve) posted, so I figured I’d put something up.

We’ve got a whole slew of shows coming up, hopefully to a town near you (let us know if your town isn’t on the list).

We have two pretty exciting gigs in Iowa City coming up; on April 11th we’re opening up for Howie Day at the IMU Main Ballroom, and on the 22nd of April we’ll be at Gabe’s Oasis.  We’re also working on putting together our big spring Chicago show.  Keep an eye here or at our facebook fan page for that announcement.

And finally, we’re also mixing some fresh tunes.

Stay tuned…

Nothing groundbreaking has occurred since last I’ve written, but as I’ve been wont to chronicle the happenings of our group, I don’t like to go long without doing so. Our trifles don’t merit too many words, so I won’t give them, but we made another trip to Ames and so a recapitulation seems in order. I’ve been reading a lot of Sherlock Holmes recently. May be of interest.

The most noteworthy part of this latest trip to Headliners was that nothing, really, happened. Nobody not in the band got onstage. Nobody went diving into the crowd. The ISU band didn’t make an appearance. Nobody in our band got soaked with beer. No disagreements turned violent.

That said, there was something special about the night, as there always is in Ames. I used to attribute my fondness for playing there for the things I just mentioned. After 2/5/10, that theory no longer works. I’ll continue to try to understand what it is about that city (and Headliners) that sets it apart. Until I do, I’ll just look forward to the next time we make it out there. The weirdest part is I’m a Hawks fan.

Due to poor show scheduling, we left Ames, IA to head for Indianapolis, IN. In case geography isn’t your thing, those cities are not close. Not only is it a huge drive, we lose an hour crossing time zones. So we were in the van from 10:30 AM until 8:30 PM. Thankfully, we shook it off and had a blast in Indy at the Carey Tavern. It was a chill blast: everybody there is totally laid-back, which is a stark contrast to the people of Ames, who just want to party. I’m cool with both.

You may remember a blog from a few months ago about the Snorgy. That was from the last time we were at Headliners. Learning from that whole ordeal, Justin and I decided that we cannot sleep in the same room as Mike and Sev and expect to function the next day. So, we officially snorantined them.

I promise I won’t mention snoring again. See you soon…

Last Friday, we were given the opportunity to open up for Nine Days at Legends of Notre Dame. Nine Days is the band that sang “This is the story of the girl…” It’s weird, that was one of the biggest songs of 2000, but by some strange phenomenon, nobody (that I know, at least) chose to associate the name of the band with that song. I tried telling people who we were opening for and, almost without exception, the conversation went thusly:

Me: “We’re opening for Nine Days!!”
Other Person: “Who?”
Me: “You know, (singing) ‘This is the story of a…girl’”
OP: “OMG I love that band!!!”

You know, if you really love a band, you should at least take the time to commit their name to memory, Other Person. In any case, the show was a blast. The students at ND are awesome. They are one of the most fun, attentive and gracious crowds I’ve played for. Then again, that may have been due to the fact that I didn’t announce our band’s name at first, and they may have thought we were Nine Days for a little while. We even talked about playing ‘Story of a Girl’ just to see what would happen, but decided that would be wholly distasteful. In any case, Notre Dame was great to play for and I can’t wait to get back there.

Setlist:

Love it or Leave it
Songs of Separation
Lie to Me
Professional
Count Me In
Hip Hop Medley (raucous crowd participation, thanks guys)
Pride and Prejudice

Eventually, the crowd got their Nine Days. And when they got to “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)”, the place went nuts. I think they played that chorus 6 or 7 times, and it never got old. They’re a really fun band, and they’re really great guys as well. If you get a chance to see them, make sure you do.

The next night we played an acoustic duo show at Alpine Valley. Yes, Alpine Valley. No, not the place Dave Matthews plays. The resort next to it. But whatever, I’ll take it. There’s actually talk of us playing there when DMB plays the real venue. If that happens, book your tickets to Alpine early, it’s gonna get wild. I would just feel bad for Dave, since he would lose a good half of his crowd to the resort.

Big thanks to the Matt Johnson house in Milwaukee (and Jill Bodensteiner) for unwavering dedication to good tunes, good times, and to sheltering the Tim Stop Trio when in need.

Talk to you soon

- Tim

The Tim Stop Trio is playing Elbo Room in Chicago (2871 N. Lincoln) on Friday, January 8th.  Doors open at 8 PM and the band goes on at 10 PM.   This is a showcase, so there will be other bands playing before and after TS3, so make sure you’re there on time!

And don’t forget to tell them you’re there to see the Tim Stop Trio.

See ya after the show!

Market is a classy little joint in the West Loop of Chicago, and they’re cool enough to bring us in now and then on a Wednesday night. It’s pretty close to the United Center, so it’s effected heavily by Bulls and Blackhawks games.

We played there December 9, which happened to be the night of a home Blackhawks game. When we got there (around 7 PM), the place was slamming, standing room only. By the time we started playing (7:30 PM), the place was pretty much empty. To quote Warden Norton, the crowd vanished, like a fart in the wind. It took me a little while to realize that it was the hockey game, not our presence, that drove the people away.

Aided by some of that West Coast noise (Warren G, Snoopy Dogg), the night picked up as it went on. Once the Blackhawks game was over, the swarm of fans reappeared. Two of those fans, Mark and Jaime Holden (close friends of TS3), were celebrating their 3 year anniversary. They slow danced to “Wonderful Tonight”, a request and dedication for the couple. Congrats, you two.

Picture this guy with a tambourine.

Somebody requested Peter Gabriel, so we tried playing “In Your Eyes”, which we’d never done before. The song was stumbling along until a Blackhawks fan, who seemed to be very moved by the rhythm, approached us. He started counting (shouting) along with the beat: 1!..2!..3!..4!..1!..etc. In a revelatory moment, he spotted Justin’s tambourine. Oh boy. Having seemingly curbed his inhibitions to a large degree already, he had no qualms with grabbing it. And, man, he went to town. I’ve played in a lot of bars, so I’ve seen some enthusiastic tambourine playing, but this guy took the cake. And then he smeared the cake all over his face and threw it around the room. It was a flurry of fortissimo accents and spastic activity that, amazingly, stayed pretty much in rhythm. After the “In Your Eyes” train jumped the tracks, exploded a few times and skidded violently to a halt, it was decided that it was a pretty fun ride. Thank you, Crazy Tambourine Guy.

Great night at Market – thanks to all who came out.

And remember – big show coming up at the Livery (http://www.liverybrew.com/) in Benton Harbor, MI on Saturday 12.12.09.  Do it.

Here was our set list at Birdy’s:

Profressional
I Gotta Woman (R. Charles)
Count Me In
Normal
Play it Cool
Torn Apart (just TS)
Magala
Love it or Leave it

‘Torn Apart’ is a new song I’m just bringing to the stage. I wrote it on the piano, and since I’m now rocking the V-piano, you’ll be hearing a lot more of that kinda stuff worked in. I’ll also be trying out a lot of new material at Savor the Flavor in Chicago, where I’ll be playing every Monday night at 6 PM from now on.

I’m very excited about this piano, by the way.  It sounds fabulous.  Movin’ on up.  This is, more or less, what my new horse looks like: