Tim Stopulos

The guitarist for the Tim Stop Trio, Michael Tahlier, is a silent killer. Actually, I would equate him to a great wide receiver. Jerry Rice. Jerry was a quiet, humble guy. He would run his routes, make his blocks, and after enough plays had gone by, you'd forget about him. He'd lull you to sleep. And right when you'd take your eyes off, it would be his turn. And he'd torch you. Burn you up. Then he'd do it all over again.

Michael fits himself into the songs. He doesn't play over me. He gives you the theme of the song, some embellishment to move it along, and does it tastefully so it's not in the way. But it's there. After a while of playing the simpler lines of the songs, you forget that he's capable of unleashing a rapturous, sublime solo at any given time. Right then, he explodes, and when it's over, you're left saying something like, "Yep. That was it. Wow." After a few moments you shake off the awe and you get back into the song. Then he waits in the wings, and does it to you again in another song or two.

Thursday night (1.29.09) at Martyrs', Mike was on fire. And when he is, the band's at a different level. The energy spikes. To those who were witness that night, we thank you.

Be a witness. Thursday, February 19. Cubby Bear, Chicago, IL.

Martyrs' 1.29.09

Too Kloze
Loosends
Abnormal, IL
Professional (new song debuted, actual song title)
Weak; Willing (chosen by applause-o-meter)
I'm O'er It
Vandering
Lie 2 Me

I hope you aren't expecting a video...

Anytime "Hot in Herre" gets thrown into an otherwise original set of music, you know you're in for a good night. Mike and I, with J Hooks holding it down on cajon for most of the night, played a short acoustic guitar/electric guitar set at the Underground Lounge Wednesday night.

What was supposed to be a half an hour of music turned into something closer to an hour, as more songs were requested as more people shuffled in. To add to the setlist, which included originals "Love it or Leave It", "Professional", "Count Me In", "Malaga" and "I'm Over It", covers "As", "Hot in Herre", "Ants Marching" "Change the World" were played, mostly by request. Despite some technical difficulties, which the crowd was really cool about, everything went smoothly and was a lot of fun.

Stayed tuned for pictures of the Underground Unplugged sessions and come see us Saturday night (1/24) when we play two shows in Wrigleyville, first at Lucky's (covers, solo) and then at Cubby Bear (originals, full band). Thanks for coming to the show guys! One love.

Generally, when I blog on this site, it's more stream of consciousness than anything, which I like. I can come on here and say more or less whatever I want. However, that can have an ugly side to it, if a time comes when I don't strongly consider what I say or who it might affect. Those who know me will agree that I am an amiable person and, even if I might not always consider exactly how my words will come off, I would never knowingly try to disrespect anyone. That is true almost to a fault, when I am unable to get my point across for fear that I might hurt someone's feelings. My last blog (which I have erased) caught some people off guard and, after further consideration, was decidedly antagontistic and unfaithful to what truly transpired that night. So allow me to try again.

My band and I played at the Red Line Tap on January 16. Overall, the set we performed had more relaxed feel than our normal shows. That is not a comment on the quality of the show, in fact we felt that in many ways it was superior to other shows we've played. We're still a young band in search of our identity and our sound. Each show we're growing up, learning to listen to each other, and attempting to do whatever is necessary to better serve the music. We're discovering which parts of the songs need to be showcased at what times, and in doing so learning to let the other parts stay out of the way of those more important lines. In this search, our shows will feel different from one to the next. We all agree that we played well that night and took big steps in finding out who we are as a band.

The Red Line Tap is a very strong music venue, and the sound guy was very attentive and did an excellent job. A great mix really energizes us on stage, and we had one that ngiht. We would be pleased to play there again someday. Especially if playing there again means another chance to play with the Josh Hill Band, who closed the show on the 16th.

The Josh Hill Band is a four piece outfit from Lincoln, NE. There made a stop at the Red Line on their cross country tour which took them as far as Atlanta. I generally reserve my praise, especially when talking about bands that are new to me, but I would be doing myself (and them) a disservice to not say just how great these guys were. Earlier I talked about a band finding its identity. Well here's one that has. And seeing it on stage is a special thing. Their live show is cohesive, merging musicianship with entertainment, and it's not lost on the audience. We'd had a blast playing with them. Give them a listen, because you might find them on a bill with the Tim Stop Trio in the near future. (http://www.myspace.com/joshhillorg)

Thank you to all who came out and listened, as well as those who talked to us afterwards. We truly appreciate each and every one of you. We know it's cold, and that makes your presence that much more meaningful to us. Take care and we'll see you soon.

Tim

And that's a wrap! We finished shooting the Wait It Out video last night at the very impressive Jira studio downtown. The video will premiere soon. Promise. Many thanks to everyone involved. Here's some behind the scenes shots:

As this was our first weekend with a new name, you might be asking "How does it feel to be the Tim Stop Trio?" (you probably are not asking that, but just humor me for a second). Changing your name is a big deal, and there are a lot of emotions that go with it. The best way I can think of to describe it is by comparing it to a birthday. Let's say you just turned 21. You had your party and chances are you got drunker than you should have, cuz every one of your friends made sure you did. You wake up the next morning, 21 for the first time, and you have a huge headache and you look like you were mauled by a small, relatively harmless animal. Once the hangover subsides and you clean yourself up, you walk downstairs and have a belgian waffle to clear your mind. Everyone talks about how this is such an important birthday and you're gonna be an adult and you're gonna be able to do this and that and it's gonna be great. And what's the question they ask? "So....how does it feel to be 21 huh?" And invariably, the answer to that question is "Ehh....I dunno, I feel pretty much the same." That is always the answer and always will be, even if you expect to be a different person for some reason. And everyone knows that's the answer, so I don't know why that question still gets asked. But it does, and will continue to be. Anyway, that's how it feels to have changed our name. We made this big deal about it, and now that it's done, I feel the same as I did before. So I guess I'm just looking forward to the smoke clearing and being done with it.

We received hundreds of emails after the Snuggies post. Apparently we've got some competition. The Slanket. www.theslanket.com Which is, according to them, "The Best Blanket Ever." I'll argue.

Point 1: The name. Slanket. Sounds like something you drape over yourself to hide from society. "It was a dreary night in New York City, rats the size of small dogs to my right, and cockroaches the size of...well...rats to my left. I could feel something bad was about to happen. My best attempt at anonymity was to not be noticed. So I put on my Slanket." Creepy, I know. Also, you can spell out snake with some of the letters in Slanket. Who wants to wear a snake? Not me.

Point 2: Their website doesn't have a super sweet video that portrays how much life sucks until you get a Snuggie.

Point 3: Costs more than twice as much and you don't get a book light. I don't know about you, but I'll keep the $25 and now I can actually read this book instead of pretending like I usually do.

Point 4: There is no "hands free" guarantee.

I've made my case. It's clear. We'll all be wearing our Snuggies on Saturday Jan 10th at McDunna's so stop by...

What's that?....OK the guys refuse to wear Snuggies on stage... Fine.

\m/

So Tim and I are sitting here in our Snuggies as warm as can be, with complete freedom to use our hands. Cause, you know, blankets are OK but they can slip and slide, plus your hands are trapped inside. I mean, what happens when you want to have a deep meaningful conversation on a cordless telephone and you're stuck in a NORMAL blanket??

As everybody knows, in the future, everyone dresses the same anyways so why don't we get it over with and just dress as warm monks. I feel like that's as good a uniform as anything.

Did you know that the world was black & white before Snuggies were invented?? Here's proof: http://www.getsnuggie.com/

Who wants to be cold and look stupid?? Nobody. Don't be a square, get a Snuggie.

So we named the band. TIM STOP TRIO. Commando is on. Gotta go.

J-Hoo

Change of venue for the show on 1.3.09:

Tim Stopulos
(with Special guests Justin Hooks & Seville Lilly)
Lucky's
3472 N Clark St
Chicago, IL
60657
(773) 549-0665
21+

It's the first rage-fest of the year, so don't miss out!