By Jack Stephen
It’s spring break 2026, and I have become a feature comic. All it took was a solid fifteen-minute set, and I’m getting booked. Of course, it took about three years of consistent open mics and workshops, but who’s counting? This week I’m featuring for my buddy in Laramie, Wyoming. It was a really pretty drive up through northern Colorado at sunset on the edge of the Great Plains—rolling plateaus and striking vistas. All that and a couple of comics heading to do a couple of fifteen-minute sets, talking things out on the way.
A vignette: I am riding my bike along the west side of Boyd Lake at Boyd Lake State Park. I match speed and direction with a sea gull. I tried to identify the bird later and thought it was a Black Backed Gull, not that it matters but good to know anyway. This morning is as stunning as a spring morning could be yet depressing with the lack of winter we’ve experienced. Especially startling is the lack of water in Boyd Lake, it’s so low there are parts of it you can now walk, literally, right across the lake at several points. Terrifying! Well, no matter for the Black Backed Gull, he and his flock looked like they didn’t have a care in the world.
What album is in my head? Souled by José Feliciano.
This is one of those albums that no one really talks or knows about. It is a perfect album, at least by my estimation. It is produced by Rick Jarrard (producer for Harry Nillson, Jefferson Airplane, and many others.) José really finds a cool groove on this one. He’s most known for the epic “Feliz Navidad” track, but he did so much more as a musician. He often performed on stage with his seeing eye dog, pretty excellent! Check out the songs: “You’ve Got a Lot of Style,” “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” (Dylan cover), and “Sleep Late My Lady Friend.” Feliciano wasn’t the best guitar player or the best singer, but he always played with so much “soul.” Side 2 leads off with another great track, “Hitchcock Railway.” The opening lines: “Two train tickets to LA, one round trip the other way.” He’s singing about taking a train to LA and leaving his girl behind! Then the Hammond B-3 organ comes in, yes Rick Jarrard knows what he is doing and so does Jose for that matter.
The scene in the movie Fargo with Steve Buscemi out with a hooker at a Feliciano concert in Minneapolis really sums up his music for me. Give Souled a listen, it’s a real gem.
A vignette: I am in the organ chamber above the narthex at the First Presbyterian Church in Abilene, Texas. It’s the point in the service where the benediction is played. The church organ is quite the instrument. You play the chords with both hands and feet. There are massive organ pipes, some probably 10 feet tall or more. Really, when you get down to it, this whole church is designed for the organ. Sitting up high, the organist holds the real power in the church playing opposite the preacher, perched down below. The sound reverberates throughout the church, just like the architects intended, I’d guess. As the song plays, the whole congregation is standing in respect. Just once, I wish I could have been there to hear the sound—like my grandmother, who played the organ for over 30 years.
Songs I’m a bit obsessed with right now:
“Found a Job” by the Talking Heads.
This is an awesome track, on the B side of their album More Songs About Buildings and Food. Produced by Brian Eno, they crushed this one. The Talking Heads were one of those bands I really liked but fell out of favor with because I had a friend who made a greatest hits mix tape and it was filled with a bunch of their songs that were meh (see: “Psycho Killer,” “Take Me to the River,” and “And She Was”). Years later, I found an original pressing of More Songs About Buildings and Food and was a fan all over again. This album is so unique and fresh. It’s one of those records where the musicians are in the zone—don’t bother us with what you think. Choice songs on this album include the aforementioned “Found a Job,” “Artists Only,” and “With Our Love.” This album is a perfect example of a vision and the ideal producer/musician collaboration, quite the rarity with all those egos!
“She Lives on My Block” by Chicano Batman.
With Bad Bunny’s epic Super Bowl performance, I have been listening to some Latin artists trying to keep up to speed with the latest music. This track is off the Chicano Batman 2023 album Cycles of Existential Rhyme, which is a legit album. One song in Spanish and one in English, great textures and beats supporting both languages. I especially like the keyboard/guitar interplay. The lyrics on this song hit home, a time growing up and you had some school age crush on the neighbor girl. It’s sad story but a fun stroll down memory lane. Also cool, Chicano Batman covered the Talking Heads track “Crosseyed and Painless.”
“Empty” by Metric.
Canadian band Metric sets the bar with this track. Off the album, Live it Out, what an opening track! I don’t know much about record engineering or mixing, but this song seems like it would be the textbook example of how to properly mix and engineer a song. It sounds incredible on 180-gram vinyl. It has a haunting quality that kind of reminds me of Portishead. I mean, if Portishead ever dialed up the metronome and decided to shake their heads a little bit.
“Ostinato” by Herbie Hancock.
I’ve been super obsessed by Herbie and doing a bunch of dives into his catalog. As deep as it is; it’s taking a minute. This track is on Mwandishi, and it is pretty far out of bounds, so to speak. This song is so cool; it opens with a bass clarinet, who does that! While I missed the recent Sun Ra documentary on PBS, this song reminds me of Sun Ra. Maybe a song Sun Ra was envious of, or a track I can see Sun Ra playing as he was trying to find some inspiration. I’m no Sun Ra, and I like to play it looking for inspiration.
“Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” by Traffic.
I get it, most people think Traffic was a pretty stupid band. It was led by Steve Winwood, the epitome of 1980s cheese (see: “Arc of a Diver”). Perhaps, he is a bit maligned? I think his work with Traffic was top notch; I always thought they were a fun band. The saxophone (played by Chris Wood) was such a well-placed addition, especially to have it featured in almost all of their songs (notably, “Glad”). I think their real connection problem was the fact that Winwood’s voice was a bit grating, overshadowing his excellent piano playing.
On “Low Spark,” he crushes it at several points, and adding the fuzzbox to the song was quite the production choice! My brother and I caught Traffic at the old Fiddler’s Green in south Denver back in the day. It was cool to hear all their hits even though Fiddlers Green is not a great venue by any stretch. We did a bunch of blow, so it really didn’t matter all that much.
“B-Boy Bouillabaisse #18” by the Beastie Boys.
I was really late to the game on the Beastie Boys. They were one of those bands I chose to be a “hater” of, mostly because all my friends were playing them nonstop. “Brass Monkey” and “Fight for Your Right (to Party)” were on an endless loop. I was trying to mock the mainstream, but I maybe could have picked a worse overplayed artist. (I still stand by my hatred of Pearl Jam though, they’re like the Seattle grunge version of Coldplay.) “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” is done in brief snippets at the end of the epic Paul’s Boutique album. All these tracks have a little something, deep layers and experimentation. I think my favorite version is track #18 with the sample from the Isley Brothers song “Who’s That Lady”—a sample also used on the Kendrick Lamar track ‘i.’ It’s a super funky track almost guaranteed to have you “feeling it.” Sorry for the early hate Beasties, you and Rick Rubin made something special.
The Ruffed Up Duck bar in Laramie is about how I envisioned it. Their slogan is: duck in/waddle out. The shuttered WYO theater across the street looks like it could possibly be a better venue, but nobody asked us. Off the main drag, the bar was in some random lot. It was pretty packed on the last Friday of spring break. The bar was steamy warm, not sure if it was the 85-degree day or the sweaty drunks. The crowd was reticent when I got my set going, following the three opening comics. I had a good callback to the comic before, but I was going too fast, slow down! I looked at the clock, I had only done 4 minutes and whipped though a bunch of material. I cut my legal weed bit because another comic earlier tried some weed jokes and they bombed. Once, I was able to slow and relax and gel with the crowd, things went well. I went into my closer at 13:30 and finished right on time. After, I went outside and hit some fist bumps with the comics as we milled around a 5-gallon bucket filled with cigarette butts and whatnot. I went back to the bar and with one of my wooden drink tokens ordered a white wine. As I sipped from a wine stem glass, one of the locals said to me “Fancy!”
What song did they play after the headliner wrapped? “Shoot to Thrill” by AC/DC.
If I keep hearing AC/DC all over the place, I’m gonna have to drop the “hater” and come around at one point. I just find them annoying and so default. Almost always, there is a much better song that could have been played. Except for maybe, “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)?,” I’d say they have a good point there. I endorse this track because saluting those about to “rock” is about as good of something to salute as anything.
What would have been a good song as we walked out to drive back to Colorado? “Goodbye Stranger” by Supertramp.
Off the album Breakfast in America, my wife and I have always been huge fans of this track. I think it charted pretty good when it came out, but who cares? It’s an amazing song. I was discussing Supertramp with a guy I used to work with and I didn’t realize their accents were so thick they could hardly be understood in interviews (probably reminiscent of the works of Scottish author Irvine Welch). Nevertheless, they always added very unique vocal elements to their songs, such as singing in the round and whistling. Supertramp also had some songs that made you wonder what they hell were they thinking (see their biggest hit “The Logical Song”). But overall, Supertramp is an excellent band with some genre defining tracks. And, of course, most important, “Goodbye Stranger” had such a memorable chorus:
And I will go on shining
Shining like brand new
I’ll never look behind me
My troubles will be few
Goodbye stranger it’s been nice
Hope you find your paradise
Tried to see your point of view
Hope your dreams will all come true.
