Life between the lakes, part 7

The sun avoided Deer Park during the first part of the week as the lake froze. Now the snow is sticking around because of the temps. When the sun came back it arrived with a vengeance, bringing glorious color in the morning and casting long shadows in the afternoon.

When you are in the wilderness you are given the unique privilege of watching the constant motion of our sun, literally unfolding in front of you by the second; versus just sensing that the sun is rising because the sky is getting lighter. There is a huge difference.

Tiger Jack Burke and Needa have adapted well to their new temporary home. Needa made the trip to town today with me today and had her head out the window for the 40-minute drive there and the 40 minute drive back.

I had a mental double-take when today on the radio someone said that it was only a week until Christmas.

Nobody was in the Newberry Post Office as I went to mail a package. I had to ring the bell to get someone to the counter and I could tell she was smiling at me under her mask as we chatted. 

There were no idiot drivers cutting me off as I drove through town, no vibrating cars blasting hip hop at the filling station, no crabby people at the uncrowded grocery store, and a woman at the drug store wished me a Merry Christmas.

Small town life. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Today was the greatest day of my life

Despite being under the weather this weekend, I am excited to share with you that today was the greatest day of my life.

I didn’t get married or have a child. No woman fell in love with me and I didn’t win the lotto. But today, someone I have long admired gave me the most extraordinary compliment about friendship when I found out that he dedicated a twenty year chunk of his creative life to me with his new record. This is the greatest honor that has ever been bestowed upon me. Thank you Stewart Francke.

His new record "Midwestern" will soon be available at all worldwide digital stores and in retail stores. If you’ve never heard his music, you are missing out on something special; just ask Bruce Springsteen who was a fan before he recorded with Stewart a couple years ago or ask the legendary member of the Rolling Stones, Mick Taylor who said Francke was the best songwriter he’d heard in a long time after we played a gig at the legendary Bottom Line in New York City. Or closer to home, ask Bob Seger, who handpicked Stewart to open for him on his Downtown Train tour in 2011 and again in 2012.

Wheeeew. . .My back is achy after dropping all those names and having to pick them up again. But unless something extraordinary happens to me in the future, I do not see how this day could be topped.

The greatest day of my life? Yep. I am sure of it, and I hope something like this happens to you too.
Thank you for letting me share this note with you and your friends.

Happy Birthday Stewart Francke. . .sort of

Sixteen years ago today I got a phone call in the middle of the afternoon from Stewart Francke. After being diagnosed with leukemia a couple months earlier, he eagerly took up residence at the Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit because he wanted to live. He needed a bone marrow transplant and on that day was literally in the middle of it when he called to ask me how I was doing. How I WAS DOING!

I asked him to describe what was happening and he told me it was like a huge strawberry Slurpee being pumped into him from clear bags. This wasn’t how I imagined such an important medical procedure would look. It wasn’t how he imagined it either. But when the Slurpee machine stopped churning, everything changed. 

Ten days prior to this procedure we had a huge event at the Fox Theater in Detroit. It was the first of many fundraisers for the Stewart Francke Leukemia Foundation. The foundation that used his name was not for him or about him because he was a lucky guy in an unlucky situation. You see, one of Stewart’s sisters was a perfect match for this transplant.

 The strange thing about bone marrow transplants is that Doctors shock you with chemotherapy to within a hush of death in order to give you the new marrow, hoping your body will not reject it and hope instead, you will be healed. Everything went well for Stew for the first several weeks and then it turned bad . . . real bad. Most people don’t know how close we came to losing him around Thanksgiving. I got a call from his wife and sister and I wept and I prayed.

Many people did not know what God would say or do and I think his wife, sister, best friend Billy and myself were the only ones who knew he would not be giving up.

He was weak, thin and his diet consisted of only two things: warm Cream of Wheat or cold Cream of Wheat. It continued to be a tough road back. We had just recorded and released his record, Sunflower Soul Serenade. It was selling well and getting a lot of attention on the national stage and airwaves; something impossible to think of today for an artist not on a major record label. But we did it in the way nobody seemed to notice; which was by hard work.

Stewart had a ton of support from family, friends and fans, but there were still many people who didn’t get it. They’d call me inquiring if he could play a gig, or a party or if he could open at a venue. They thought getting a bone marrow transplant was like getting your oil changed and you’d be back on the road quickly.

After a tough winter for everyone, I got a call in the middle of it from someone who heard about Stewart’s illness and we understood each other. After a long, warm conversation they apologized for asking, but had to ask me if I thought he’d be strong enough to play a couple songs (not a full concert) at an upcoming event called “Creative’s for a Cure, which was to be held in March, just two months away.

This was a high profile event put together by Detroit’s advertising agencies to raise money for cancer and related illnesses. I thanked them for the call and told them I’d get back to them.
When I reached Stewart I knew right away how much he was struggling. He was bald, skinny, housebound, and bedridden and in a lot of pain from mouth sores and various other ugly and painful things, post-transplant. He was also still eating Cream of Wheat.

I was working and was not home until after midnight. He had a habit of calling me at “early-thirty.” When we connected I asked him about the gig and his response was a whispered: “Hell yes, I’ll play it. Tell ‘em I’ll be ready,” and then he hung up.

He’s never hung up on me since.

The winter was depressing. I was working a job I hated from 4- Midnight, but from 9AM-3 PM, I was doing the best I could to “work the record.” Meanwhile, Stewart was still eating cream of wheat. There were other complications that ebbed and flowed; each one scary in its own right. If getting well again wasn’t enough motivation for him, returning to the stage was. He began playing his guitar or piano every day.

When the curtain eventually rose at the State Theater in Detroit, his voice filled the room. I sat alone and wept.

The people were there to raise money, awareness and/ or find hope for someone they loved who might be suffering from some form of cancer. When the applause died down after the first of his three songs, Stewart uttered the most profound words of the night: “I want to thank you for what you are doing,” he said. “And I want you to know that I am living proof this works.”
We understood how Stewart knew the difference between being alive and living.

In the sacred brotherhood of friendship, Stewart and I had already exchanged blood through our veins. How he had willed his way back to the stage again so quickly is something I‘ve never understood. But he assured me that Rock and Roll held a trans-formative power. It has the ability to not just send you; but it change your circumstances.

And I thought to myself shit, I’ve known that for ten years. 


Unfortunately a lot of momentum was lost in his career during his time of illness because rock and roll is a fickle business. Suddenly he was known as Stewart Francke, cancer survivor. But this was a badge he was proud to wear. As I and others lined up interviews on radio, TV and in the newspapers I found myself reminding the writers that he was a great musician long before he had cancer and that he would continue to be a great musician for a long time to come. What stuck with them; I don't know.
Since his transplant and recovery he has spent thousands of volunteer hours in people’s homes, in other hospitals and of course at Karmanos where he’d talk to people while sitting on the edge of their bed, telling them: “I’ve been where you are and you will make it just like I did.”
Most of them did; some did not.

Stewart has never turned down a request to play a benefit concert, make a visit or talk to someone who found themselves in the same situation where he was when he took ill. And every penny I will ever make in my lifetime says he never will.

The Detroit media who once wrote about his brilliant music and lasting impact on the Detroit music scene has unfortunately ignored his last few records and so have those involved in the Detroit Music Awards. This is a fact that doesn’t bother him nearly as much as it does me. But we’re moving forward and getting ready to release “Midwestern” his sixteenth record. You will love it.

There has never been a songwriter from Michigan as consistently prolific, relevant and who has released as many critically acclaimed and audience approved records in their lifetime as Stewart. And I promise you; that will never change.

Sixteen years. Wow. Where has the time gone?
Please Tra-la-la l-la-la la-la with me and Neil Sedaka. . .even if it’s cheesy. After being infused with his sister’s DNA, these words ring true. . .even though he is not the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.

Happy Birthday Sweet 16 Counselor!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBpuIym1F6w

"This world will wash you away just for asking something of it."
From "All the Love in a Day"

In the past twenty years I have had the privilege of being closer to Stewart Francke’s music and career than anyone else has wanted or dared to be.

In 1994 I coaxed him out of “retirement” to record “Where the River Meets the Bay.” It was a record what was embraced by commercial radio, public radio, television, the film industry, critics and fans and was the start of a career that has been nothing short of amazing. It has been a career filled with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows while the things found in between have shaped his life, his music, his character, humor, soul and wit. Twenty years in any field is a long time; an eternity in the entertainment business and in these last two decades I have seen many musicians come and go. But I am here to tell you that Stewart is still ascending.

Now, twenty years burnin’ down the road he is still making great music and getting ready to release what I can already tell you is another amazing collection of songs. But this one is different; this one is special and this one is something you need to hear about now so you can literally be a part of it as it is being made.

Though this is Stewart’s record, we began talking about this 20th anniversary retrospective a while ago. We kicked around some ideas and finally came up with one that we think you will love. Whether you are a longtime fan or have only heard him on the radio, TV or seen him live, the new compilation; “Midwestern” is culled from his 14 records released between 1995 and 2014.
Stewart is a rock and roll story teller and his music could be the soundtrack to your life as you encounter your hopes, dreams and fears. It is a song cycle that reminds me how lovely, funny, somber, interesting and beautiful life is. No other musician in Michigan has assembled such an incredible amount of quality work over the last two decades; not even Seger, certainly not Kid Rock, Jack White or Eminem. . .nobody. It’s a gutsy thing for me to say isn’t it? With the obvious omission of Seger in this statement, do you really think anyone will be “rhythmically reciting the ephemeral words of those artists I mentioned, around a campfire in the years to come?” The answer is no; but Francke’s songs and his career have become a model for perseverance, humility, creativity and integrity in a fickle business full of snakes, thieves and unscrupulous people. . .and those are the good guys.

This conviction and is not mine alone. It also comes from some of Francke’s own rock and roll heroes like Springsteen. Bob Seger hand picked him to open his 2011 tour. Mitch Ryder has recorded with him and Bruce Springsteen was a longtime fan before he recorded a duet with Francke on his record Heartless World. Francke’s last record was ignored by the Detroit media and will no doubt be overlooked when it comes time for the Detroit Music Awards. But rather than campaign within the DMA crowd for an award (he’s won plenty) or get "likes" on facebook, his sole focus remains being artistically relevant and continuing to remain connected with his ever expanding audience.

As a music journalist he wrote for dailies all across the country as well as the Detroit Metro Times. People forget that Stewart Francke is to thank for bringing attention to much of what was going on in the Detroit music scene back in the 80’s when nobody was paying attention. He was an ambassador of the music movement whose reporting of Detroit’s burgeoning music scene was paramount to the success of many great bands and some that weren’t.

Rock and Roll still holds trans-formative power to me...it still has the ability to not just send you; it can change your circumstances. Very few musicians can pull off one style of songwriting well, much less several of them over time. Francke has excelled at this throughout his career. He is singer/songwriter; heartland rock meets blue eyed soul meets something intellectual with the beauty of a Van Morrison melody and the complexity of the lush harmonies of Brian Wilson. There’s no songs with “love” and “dreaming of.” “sorrow” and “tomorrow” in his catalog and the faith he recites in his musical narratives has not been cheapened by overused clichés.

Those who know his music have seen themselves in his songs. From Gusoline Alley in Royal Oak to the end of a long drive up north, his characters have grown with us and become part of our lives. With the social consciousness of Marvin Gaye his soulful music will take you on a ride through Saginaw, where he grew up. Next you’ll journey to perhaps his favorite place on earth, the view from Point Lookout on Lake Huron and finally through on the back roads and blacktop where lovers meet by the pylons late at night and determine the price of their souls.

They are a sunflower soul serenade, revisiting the feel good sounds of Motown written and performed by one of Motown’s favorite sons. They are about being here right now and living between the ground and God.

Being in poor health earlier this year prevented Francke from playing a lot of dates to support his most recent record, “A Familiar Fire;” one that was recorded about with pre-sales raised from a kickstarter campaign. So many of you generously supported my last kickstarter and I thank you. I am asking you now to please hit the link to Stewart's new Kickstarter and support this project. To sweeten the deal I will send you a free copy of my latest book with a donation to Francke's project.

If there is one Stewart Francke record you need in your collection, this one will be it. This new CD will be the definitive song cycle, with each tune carefully sequenced and re-mastered presenting an intimate and detailed snapshot of the amazing body of work Stewart has created over the years. He is a living legend to folks of Saginaw, MI and remains a gift to the rest of us.

As a cancer survivor and advocate, Francke’s songs are a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. He’s survived the good times and fought back through the bad. Francke’s been there and chronicled his joys and struggles with his amazing body of work. He would not ask us to follow him into the mystery without first solving it himself. “Midwestern will be a record that is proof that he has.https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stewartfrancke/midwestern-the-very-best-of-stewart-francke-1995-2?ref=nav_search

Determining the Price of our Souls

I’ve had the pleasure of having a ringside seat in Stewart Francke’s career. As he gets set to release his 14th full length release I cannot help but marvel at the incredible amount and quality of work he has assembled over the years. I have never been disappointed in any of his records, though I must confess after hearing his latest, “A Familiar Fire” it did not meet my expectations.

It exceeded them.

It’s not often that I get to toot my own horn about my brushes with greatness and delicate geniuses (one of my many jocular nicknames for him) but after being blown away in the early 90’s by three cassette only releases, it was me who got him out of retirement in 1995 to make his first “real record.” The rest has been a body of work that has only become stronger with time as he has done what very few songwriters can do; compose and perform in several different styles, combining Motown, Bob Seger, Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Marvin Gay, Van Morrison and a little bit of Sondheim to round things out.

His first recordings were really nothing more than 4 track demos, but they embodied a sound and vision of a learned young man living life on rock and roll’s terms. Once he started making records and devoting himself full time to his art, he no longer had to make excuses or explain what he was really trying to say with his songs because their musical and lyrical prowess spoke for itself.

Early in his career Francke was taken under the wing of Boogie Bob Baldori, who was playing with Chuck Berry. He called Francke to play bass on some of Chuck’s gigs as a teenager and was schooled in Rock and Roll. Many people may not know this but Stewart is always writing music and constantly drawing on influences like those days playing with Berry. There are a lot of songs that have never been released while others have stuck with him and morphed into something else over the years. I always tell people that Stewart is one of the few people who is constantly ripping himself off musically and is not afraid to borrow a line, phrase, chorus or verse of a previous song and reinvent it. The opening song “Wave” on his new record is proof.

Through the years I’ve heard rough mixes over the phone, bits and pieces of songs played on piano or guitar in his living room or in mine as they were being written. Each one of them would leave me wanting more. In addition to the hundreds of live performances, I’ve been with him for long nights at the studio, in our homes, or on the phone talking about something important even when the talking doesn’t come easy.

The most recent example of this was being parked in my driveway listening to the final mixes of the new record earlier this week in the middle of the worst snow and frigid temps to hit Michigan in 20 years.

On this record Stewart returns to the sparse instrumentation of his earlier recordings (Where the River Meets the Bay and Expecting Heroes) and he recorded many of the guitar and bass parts himself. Co-Producer B. Rilley did a great job of putting the vocals to these poignant narratives up front in the mixes so nobody will miss a word; and you won’t want to. His voice is clean yet rugged; strong and honest and these new songs will stir your soul.

Unlike so many of his contemporaries, Francke has never been a songwriter who cheapens things like faith and love with thin, fluffy words for the sake of a perfect rhyme. There are no clichés and no fan is ever cheated when they shell out their $15 for a CD.

"Starlings gather in the yard the way they always do when they feel a storm is breaking
Darling this is very hard, that you & I are through, and I fear my soul is aching
I’m getting to know this loneliness. . .I guess."

-From “Love’s Very Marrow”

His story is not woeful, but rather empowering; something the national media could really sink their teeth into but won’t and something the Detroit area music media could sink their teeth into but hasn’t in several years and when they did they only gave us a taste. That’s the sad price we pay when editors are beholden to Kid Rock, Eminem. Jack White, ICP or whatever the new sound of the day may be. The people I just mentioned may have the numbers of Hollywood stars in their I-phone, but how many of them have Bruce Springsteen as a fan? Springsteen recorded with Francke on his record “Heartless World” in 2011 and it was virtually ignored by AAA radio and the Detroit media.

Stewart was an ambassador of Detroit music long before most of today’s Detroit stars were making music. He reunited the legendary Funk Brothers for their first recording session in decades (recording his music) back in 2004 after the release of the movie “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” but has remained largely shut out of the Detroit Music Awards for years. I guess that happens when you’re not young enough or hip enough or don’t have enough “likes” on facebook. . .so much for possessing artistic acumen.

But for Francke, it’s not about awards and it never has been. It’s about the connection with his audience; one that has grown with him over the years and remained steadfast amid the clutter of people who have suddenly become musicians with drum loops, ephemeral writing and free downloads.

There’s a song on the new record called “Raining in Saginaw” which to me is more about the spirit of Detroit than it is the city by the bay. Let’s hope someone in the Michigan media picks up on it because Detroit could use something beautiful and uplifting about now. All the songs that make up “A Familiar Fire” have heart, guts and significance. They present something courageous and dare I say, “Poetic.” But they are not just a bunch of pretty ballads where “love” rhymes with “of” and “from the heart” rhymes with “from the start” like we’ve heard a thousand times on the radio. They possess something greater, which is the ability to change the way we think; which ultimately leads to how we accept this world and how the world accepts us. Within the songs are the secrets about how we live, what we keep, give away and the amount of grace we maintain when we lose.

"Now you say you’ve lost your faith;
You say you’ve lost love for the human race
You’ve had too much to carry and grief too large to bury
Suzanne this town is hard but you've gotta play your card
Your beauty's your lock and key; it still can set you free."

-From “Wave”

Francke weaves beautiful and unpredictable melodies that soar with story lines that go head to head with some of the great songwriters of our generation. They are created for the people who have followed him on his journey and allowed their journey’s to include him. He may not have moved units like Eminem, Kid Rock or the White Stripes, but instead he gives you something you can hold onto in this beautiful, messy and often slippery world.

"We are not what we were when but I’ve got this feeling that we’ll feel that way again.
Kiss me and I’ll whisper to ya what I’ve learned
Oh it’s nothing next to what I’ve burned."

–From “The Pylons”

Stewart Francke is one of Detroit’s most reliable gems and with each new record his story becomes fuller, richer and more deserving of wider recognition. Through his music he tosses questions into the wind that most people are afraid to ask, much less answer with honesty. And though some answers are implied, you’re going to have to discover that implication for yourself when the record comes out sometime in March.

Francke would not ask us to follow him into the pain-filled, joyful and mysterious places he’s been without first returning from them himself. “A Familiar Fire” is proof that he has.

Stewart Francke, new CD coming in 2014

I own the dubious distinction of getting Stewart Francke out of retirement in 1994.

He was a successful journalist making a living, but I thought he was a better musician.  “Come on man,” I said to him one day.”Get a band together, go to a real studio and make a real record.”

He listened.

In 1995 he released his debut CD as a solo artist. The reviews were over the top, the live shows exciting and very quickly the light lit on the national stage when the hit TV show “Melrose Place” licensed his regional hit “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.”  The song was the title episode and the exposure boosted Francke giving him instant notoriety as the bona-fid recording artist he already was. 

He continued to release award winning records until a leukemia diagnosis sidelined him. But it didn’t keep him down. Since then he has continued to release great music and earned the admiration of the toughest music critics in the world and performers like Mitch Ryder, Bob Seger and a guy named Bruce Springsteen. Bruce tipped his hat and recorded with him on his CD Heartless World.

Francke is back at it, finishing up a new CD for release in the spring. It is being funded through Kickstarter and I hope you’ll consider backing him on it. As a journalist he was an ambassador of the entire Detroit music scene before guys like Eminem, Kid Rock and the Whitestripes were getting attention and helped change the way the rest of the country looked at Detroit born Rock and Roll.  Please visit his kickstarter page to see how you can become a part of the next phase of his amazing career. 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stewartfrancke/a-familiar-fire-stewart-franckes-new-cd-project