TELEVISION: The Wire

The just-completed fourth season of HBO’s The Wire was quite possibly the closest a televison drama has ever come on every level to a perfect season. And once again the show will probably not see a single nomination in any category come Emmy time. To the uninitiated, you really owe it to yourself to check this show out. The first three seasons are on dvd---probably the best way to dive in headfirst. A cop show is the last thing The Wire is...

And as a lifelong Paul Weller fanatic, it was great to hear his excellent cover of Dr. John’s "Walk On Gilded Splinters" playing to chilling dramatic effect over the final scenes of the season finale.

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel t-shirts

Finn's Motel t-shirts make great stocking stuffers and can be found at finnsmotel.com. Ho! Ho! Ho!

MUSIC: Ahmet Ertegun RIP

The eternal thanks we owe this man...

STEVE ROCK: Upcoming Finn's Motel Show

Finn's Motel play our final show of 2006 next Thursday, December 21 at Off Broadway.

The Wormwood Scrubs play first at 9pm, then us, and then The Rugs from Springfield, MO close out the show. Hope to see you there...

POLITICS: Obama Fever...

Catch it? Click here.

Happy Birthday To Me...

Yep, today is my & Jon Stewart's birthday. Guess who's older? I'm going to forgo any celebrating until Friday, when Little Steven's Underground Garage Rolling Rock And Roll Show rolls into Mississippi Nights with the New York Dolls, the Supersuckers, The Charms (yeah baby!), the Chesterfield Kings, and our home girls, The Misses.

Funny how time and the fates work. Last time I saw David Jo & Sylvain on a stage together it was 28 years ago at Mississippi Nights. Little Steven's efforts should be celebrated and supported, so hey everybody---go see this damn show already! At $20 it's the bargain of the year, and who knows, if it's well attended maybe St. Louis will become a regular stop on future Underground Garage tours. See you there?

POLITICS: Election Results

It all feels like a dream right now, as in did this really happen or are we gonna wake up and find the results to be the opposite? I imagine this must be how some Red Sox fans must have felt at first when they finally won the World Series....

POLITICS: My Vote...

My polling place on Juniata in South St. Louis was hopping with a lot of people when I went in to vote at 7am, but I was in and out in about 7 minutes. I stayed as far away from the wicked touch screen machines as I could, and went with the paper ballot option. This time out that option was a giant sheet that reminded me somewhat of how the SAT test looked back in the stoneage when I took it. You had to completely fill in the oval with ink next to the candidate's name or the yes or no choice for the initiatives. I liked that, again more like high school, and no hanging chads. Then instead of dropping it into a big locked box like normal, you had to put it into a slot that sucked it into a "machine". My heart sunk a little as next to that slot I saw in big bold letters the word: DIEBOLD. I thought to myself, "Gee, this thing sure looks like a big selective paper shredder..." And who can say it isn't?

POLITICS: Home Sweet Home

St. Louis is now the nation's most dangerous city. Read all about it, here.

STEVE ROCK: Laughter Lou

Me with Lou Whitney, Duck Room dressing room, 10/12/06




(Photo by Toby Weiss)


Last Thursday’s show at the Duck Room was the first time in our 30 years of friendship that Lou Whitney and I found us on the same rock show bill. Lou was playing bass for a great new “young” band from Springfield, Mo. called the Rugs. Over the years I’ve seen Lou play live literally hundreds of times, mostly with the three bands he’s partnered with Donnie Thompson: the Morells, the Skeletons, and the Symptoms. Whenever anyone asks me who my favorite bass player is, I’m always quick to reply, “Lou Whitney!”

Of course Lou was great with the Rugs the other night. He’s still going strong at age 63, still kicking total rock ass. I’ve been fortunate to have Lou as sort of my own personal rock professor all these years. Just from watching him play so many, many times, I’ve learned more about what to play and more importantly what not to play as a rock bass player from Lou than I have from anyone else. Each and every show I’ve ever seen Lou play, no matter who he was on the bandstand with, I’ve walked away from it with some new piece of rock knowledge I could then plug into my own various musical situations. And then there’s the countless offstage pearls of wisdom Lou offers as well, like, “When in doubt play what Dee Dee Ramone would have played...” or, “You can never go wrong naming your band after a car...”

I’ve also learned a hell of a lot from the man about life both inside and outside of this rock racket. Years before that “WWJD” saying crept up on us, I had a little private saying I would say to myself whenever I hit a particular musical or music career related brick wall, and that saying was “What would Lou do?” And whenever I stopped long enough to ask myself that question, the answer and path to take always became perfectly clear. Without lifting a finger and by just being himself, Lou’s been the best mentor one could ever ask for in this game, and more important, a really great and loyal friend. May he forever keep on keepin’ on...

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel At Duck Room Thursday Night

One last reminder here of our show Thursday night (10/12) at The Duck Room with The Hard Lessons from Detroit, and The Rugs from Springfield, MO.

School nighters please be aware that this is an early show---
WE PLAY FIRST AT 8PM!!!

Hope you can make it down, it promises to be a great evening of total rock. I had the pleasure of seeing the Hard Lessons twice in Cleveland last spring, and their Motor City high energy take on modern garage rock & pop is pretty kick ass. And all you local Skeletons/Morells fans should be aware by now that the Rugs live line up features Lou Whitney, Joe Terry, and yes, on the drums, Donnie Thompson!

Our Escape Velocity cd will be on sale at the show, and you can always get it rapidly online as well from Scat Records, here.

They grow up so fast...

Here I am with newlyweds Heather Oppitz and James Weber. I had the honor of being a groomsman in their wedding last night. I’ve often joked with James through the years that he’s “The son I never had...,” so I couldn’t be any happier for him and how he’s definitely hit the jackpot with Heather. Best of luck kids, and thanks again for asking me to be a part of the beautiful ceremony & celebrations on such an autumnally perfect evening...

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel At Euclid Records

Finn's Motel at Euclid Records: (left to right) James Weber, Joe Thebeau, Peter Lang, me.


(Photo by Toby Weiss)

Thanks to all who came to the Finn's Motel in-store at Euclid Records, and thanks to all who bought a copy of Escape Velocity. Big props to Darren Snow and the rest of the Euclid staff for making everything so easy for us---we had a great time.

Escape Velocity is out now and can be ordered directly from Scat Records, here. And if you don't see Escape Velocity at your favorite record store, do us a favor and kindly suggest that they might want to be selling it and should consider bringing some in. We'd really appreciate the gesture.

Next live show is Monday, September 25 at the Empty Bottle in Chicago, Il. Next St. Louis show is Thursday, October 12 at the Duck Room with The Hard Lessons from Detroit, and The Rugs from Springfield, MO.

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel CD Release Party At Euclid Records

(Poster by Darren Snow)


Finn's Motel will celebrate our Scat Records release, Escape Velocity, this Monday, September 18th, at Euclid Records, 601 E. Lockwood in Webster Groves. This will be your first opportunity anywhere to purchase the Escape Velocity cd. We play at 7pm and admission is free, so please come on out if you can...

POLITICS: The Mighty Olbermann...

...does it again, delivering the final and most important word on the anniversary of 9/11. Must reading and/or viewing for all patriotic Americans, here.

MUSIC: Bennie Smith RIP

St. Louis blues legend Bennie Smith has passed. I had the pleasure of seeing what turned out to be Bennie’s final performance, at the Big Muddy Blues Festival a couple of weeks ago. Every musician should be fortunate enough to go out on top as Bennie did, and have whatever turns out to be their last performance be as good.

STEVE ROCK: Love Experts At RFT Music Showcase

The Love Experts are playing at 1:40pm tomorrow on the Main Outdoor Stage, Leland Avenue and Delmar Boulevard (next to Vintage Vinyl), at the RFT Music Showcase 2006.

Here's the Main Outdoor Stage schedule:
1:00pm Magnolia Summer
1:40pm The Love Experts
2:45pm Glenn Kotche of Wilco
3:45pm Grant-Lee Phillips
5:00pm The Minus 5

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel In The Funny Papers...

A nice little piece in today's St. Louis Post Dispatch, here. If you're attending the sold out show at Pop's tonight, keep in mind we play at 8pm.

POLITICS: Keith Olbermann, Patriot

The great Keith Olbermann knocks one out of the park and tears Donald Rumsfeld a new one, here.

STEVE ROCK: levitatin'

The above is some original doodling that New Zealand rock legend
Phil Judd (Split Enz, The Swingers) added to an existing photo of the Love Experts. Heavenly, eh? :)

And do go to the "COMMISSIONS" section of Phil's website and click on the amazing portrait Phil painted of our fearless leader Mr. Carosello, titled STEVE...

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel At Off Broadway

Finn's Motel:
(left to right) James Weber, Joe Thebeau, Patrick Hawley, me.


(photo by Toby Weiss)


Thanks and big love to everyone who came out and saw us at Off Broadway last night. Our next live show is Thursday, September 7th at Pop's in Sauget, Illinois. We'll be playing with Kings Of Leon and The Stills.

STEVE ROCK: Finn's Motel Live Debut

Finn's Motel will make our live debut at 9pm this Friday, August 25, at Off Broadway.

And a little Finn's Motel publicity blurb, here.

STEVE ROCK: I'm Not A DJ, Vol. 2

I will be providing tunes at The Royale this Saturday night, August 26, 9pm to 1am.

Mike, Carrie, & Emily...

...not a day has passed where your presence hasn’t been felt.


And Toby Weiss has written a wonderful piece on our boy Mike, on her blog, M.E.L.T.

POLITICS: TerriPAC

If you can spare a couple bucks, help the brotha out, here.

POLITICS: Kerry Was Right

And George Will of all people, says so, here.

STEVE ROCK: Last Exit Brooklyn

Finn's Motel will be playing the Magnetic Field Cocktail Lounge in Brooklyn, NYC on Saturday, October 21. More east coast live dates to come...

POLITICS: Alter's No-Stem Pledge

With an initiative on the ballot this November, the stem cell debate is a big deal here in Missouri, and the rest of the country will be closely watching how we vote on it. As the debate heats up, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter offers a great curveball to throw back at those who are anti-cure and anti-science. Check it out, here.

STEVE ROCK: Upcoming Live Shows

Upcoming live dates I'll be playing with both bands:

THE LOVE EXPERTS:
Friday, August 11
The Canopy Club
Urbana, Illinois

Saturday, August 12
Midwest Music Summit
Indianapolis, Indiana


FINN'S MOTEL:
Friday, August 25
Off Broadway
St. Louis, Missouri
We play at 9pm

Monday, September 18
Euclid Records
Webster Groves, Missouri
We play at 7pm
This will be the first opportunity anywhere to purchase the Escape Velocity cd!

Monday, September 25
The Empty Bottle
Chicago, Illinois
We play at 10:30pm

MUSIC: Arthur Lee, RIP

He came in colours...