Jeff Stehr, Mark Soriano, Eliza Hanson

media release: This is a date rescheduled  from COVID-intense January.  Please call 920-563-9391 to reserve seats. Check with us about COVID protocols. Masks and proof of vaccination WILL be required if we are not out of the woods.

It is not surprising that JEFF STEHR, a twenty-first century, glass half-empty cognoscenti songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, enjoys stage names. Hunter Gatherer. Matthew McCudahy. Rich Caramel. In dark times, entertainers need more than melodies and rhymes to conjure up the good times.

The songs are mostly wordplay atop a bed of Jamaican one drop rhythms, explicit and implied, and dusted with powdered sugar, cocoa and diatonic doom. All styles and influences are on the menu. All genres are accomplices.

When he’s not doing solo shows, Jeff plays the piano with The Best Westerns, The John Sieger Combo and The Mike Benign Compulsion. He led Milwaukee-based rock steady ensemble, The Tritonics, from 2009 – 2020, and is an esteemed alum of local ensembles World Roots, Brave New Groove, Mark Truesdell & The Lost Pioneers and C-Food Buffet, who once accidentally opened for Jimmy Buffet at Alpine Valley Music Theater in 1990.

ELIZA HANSON knows how to smooth out life’s ups and downs by covering them with melody and charm. After releasing her first EP in 2016, she has been very fortunate to enjoy acclaimed success around the Milwaukee area playing stages such as Turner Hall, Milwaukee PrideFest, Evanston SPACE, The Frequency, among many other venues. After a postponed 2020 tour, Eliza got back on the road in 2021 bringing her music to places it’s never been before, collecting new stories and friends along the way. Now home, she’s gearing up to get back in the studio to record a full length record sure to combine the honesty of a traditional singer/songwriter, mixed with an indie folk flare to project a style all her own. Eliza blends soulful vocals with carefully crafted lyrics to create an emotionally authentic listening environment.

Over the last decade, MARK J. SORIANO has played for many of Milwaukee’s favorite bands like Dropbear Collective, The Oxleys, Fellow Kinsman and The Hatchets. When the world shut down in 2020, Mark stepped out of the drummer’s role and began recording as a solo artist, releasing a handful singles and now his debut EP, So Strange. As a Milwaukee native, Mark not only pulls inspiration from folk, country and alternative rock, but from the unique experiences of the city itself.

“This song and the entire EP were recorded over quarantine and was my way of dealing with everything. Like many other people, I fell hard into my vices so all of the songs helped me reflect and ultimately, turn things around. Music has always pulled me out of the dark and I hope these songs can help someone else.”-Mark

Until Dec. 13th, all sales from this single, made on bandcamp will be donated to the Safe Harbor Program at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. The program is dedicated to helping men break free from addictions and provides both long-term and short term services.