Ladies and Gentlemen,

The long-awaited release of the Shoeless debut album "Speak Up" is finally upon us.  I woke up to 13 boxes of them on my porch yesterday morning.  I can say on behalf of the band that we are very excited to unleash the power of this album on the rest of the world.  You can now check out the "Music" portion of the Shoeless site which contains some information about the album as well as all the places you can get them.  Currently, I'm working on all the logistics but the album will soon be available on both iTunes and CDBaby.com as well as some independent record stores in both La Crosse and Minneapolis. 

Shoeless would like to thank all the people who waited for this album to be released as well as the people that made it happen.  Adam Mais and Sam Allen are two of these very important people and this album would have never happened without them.  Thank you so much guys.

So what would a CD release be without a CD Release Party?  Funny you ask.  This weekend at the Popcorn Tavern, Shoeless will be appearing both Friday and Saturday nights to rock and also support the release of "Speak Up."  Friday night will start at 10pm with Public Property and Saturday night will start at 8pm with Ali Washington & The Movement followed by Roster McCabe.  Shoeless will take the stage at midnight both nights.  Come down and join us!

Until then, everyone in La Crosse please have a safe Oktoberfest weekend.  We'll see you at the Popcorn.

-Eric Streske

 Man, we are SO EXCITED to rock out with everyone next weekend!  It's been a while since we've played a show, it's just a real adjustment from this summer when we were playing upwards of 2-3 shows a week.  I've got to say, we've got some new tricks up our collective sleeves for these two shows, including some new covers, new horn parts, and a hot-off-the-press debut album for sale for the first time at the show.  Add to that some killer bands that you may or may not have heard of starting off the festivities (check out Roster McCabe, Public Property, and Ali Washington and the Movement - links are posted under upcoming shows) and the fact that this is Oktoberfest in La Crosse, and you have a recipe for a fantastic evening!  So come on down/up/over/through from where ever your coming from, and enjoy a couple of nights with us in down town La Crosse!

-Jim

Well friends, it's that time of year again. That time where summer fades to fall, where school children turn in their flip flops for back packs, and when apparently God shows his wrath by dumping 10,000 hurricanes upon the east coast of the United States. That special, magical time when politicians run screaming their names from coast to coast, and college students return to their institutions to drink themselves stupid--I mean learn. But beyond the monotony of yet another fall approaching, there are exciting things afoot. Yes my friends, the Shoeless Revolution, in the course of just a few weeks, will be releasing our debut album; Speak Up. In less than a month, you and all of your friends can have your hands on this modern anthem of awesomeness. Exciting, I know.

Our summer tour is over, and the guys and myself are looking forward to a bit of rest. The band finished off the summer strong, though, I must say. Lake Geneva was a blast, and I'm sorry if you missed it. The theatre was classy as hell, with these great recline able movie chairs and a light show to boot. And I don't think we could have asked for a more enjoyable crowd to play for. Some danced, but a good part of the audience just rocked out seated-style and listened, which is a great complement to us really. The next night in Elkart lake at the Tiki bar was, in contrast, a huge freakin' party. We played on a deck overlooking the lake, and the crowd was rowdy and exciting. Good parts of Jack and Kevin's family showed up to support us, and it's always fun partyin' with the Shoeless family.

And then there was SoCo. I'm really sorry to all of you who, because of your under-21-ed-ness, could not be there. Because it was sweet. The Black Keys, The Roots, a huge crowd, MAN! Great times. We had a great sound mix (a blessing after some of the gigs we played in the previous months) and a great audience. We did get cut on our time, though, which sucked. It wasn't the fault of the event staff (all of which were just as angry as we were) but the main stage acts were running late. We rocked hard any way, in our 25 minute power set. If you're here from seeing us at that gig; welcome! Sit back, can I get you anything? Tea, Coffee? Poke around the site for a while, if you'd like. Myspace.com/shoelessrevolution has some more tunes for listening if you wish.

Anyway, our next show is Oktoberfest at the Popcorn Tavern in La Crosse, which is always a great time. Underagers stay tuned; the 17th of October on UW-La Crosse campus is an all ager - stick around for details on that one.

That's all I got for now. Keep rockin' and don't let the man keep you down!
-Jim

 Hello Folks,

Man, we had a great weekend.  We started off on Friday at Fat Fest in Wabasha, MN.  We played at 4:30 on the main stage opening for That 1 Guy.  It was nice to see the faces of so many devoted Shoeless fans.  Thanks to everyone that came out to Fat Fest to support the amazing talent and a special thanks to the members of Fat Maw Rooney for bringing us in to play the festival.  For those of you who didn't catch the Everyone Orchestra on Friday night, you missed out on a real treat.  It was the first time I had seen anything like that before and it was real sweet to see our main man Reed Grimm up there performing with those guys.  Never before have I seen such a great collection of local and professional artists jamming together.  I wish we could have stayed on Saturday to catch Moon Boot Posse, Fat Maw Rooney, and Garaj Mahal but the Shoeless boys had to travel to Rochester to play two more shows on Saturday.

We played MusicFest, a benefit for Autism Awareness, on Saturday afternoon.  Although it was a very windy gig, I saw many in the audience bouncing around and enjoying the wide array of music.  We got comped a free meal at Three 31 bar (which was delicious) and were given a free hotel room to stay in after our gig at Kathy's Pub that night.  A special thanks to everyone who came out to support us at Kathy's Pub.  I saw many people who attended the festival during the day out and about that night.  Roster McCabe opened the night and killed it as they always do and Shoeless took the stage after Roster's insane set.  I'm sorry to those who missed our set because I can honestly say that it was one of the best shows that Shoeless has put on during my time in the band.  The energy was high and things were tight.  Thank you so much to Dave Campbell for setting us up on Saturday and a very special thanks to our good friend Adam Mais for going on the road with us to engineer our live sound.

After out luxurious stay in the hotel that night, we went to breakfast at a dutch pancake house called Panakoeken.  I had never even heard of it, but I've never seen Ben Peterson freak out so much in his life.  I took his word for it, and it was marvelous.  But the hefty meal tired us out and the drive back to La Crosse was tiring.

More business:  Don't forget about The Machine Records show in Lake Geneva this Friday, Elkhart Lake on Saturday, Harvest Fest on the 4th, and the SoCo Music Experience on the 6th.  These will be some of the last chances to see Shoeless until our winter tour in January.  Tracking for the debut album is completed and we are optimistically hoping for a release date of September 26th.  New Shoeless T-Shirts will be available on August 29th.  

That's it for now.  Keep it real.

Eric and the Shoeless Revolution

Hello People,

The show at Siebkins Resort in Elkhart Lake, WI on Monday was awesome.  We had a great time slot and everyone was there to have a great time.  It was really nice to be back in Elkhart Lake again and we will be back there again on August 30th at the Tiki Bar at Siebkins Resort.  Thanks to all the Sheboygan/Elkhart fans that showed up and we hope to see you all on the 30th.

Some other orders of business.  Our Shoeless Grin T-Shirt has been taken off the website since we sold out of every single one in Elkhart Lake.  We have ordered a new shipment of shirts, with a new design, and a new color.  They should be available at the end of August, so stay tuned to pick up one at an upcoming show.  The Shoeless debut album is still in the making and we hope to announce its release very soon.

I want to take a moment to talk about a very important upcoming gig for us.  On August 29th, Shoeless will be appearing at the Geneva Theater in Lake Geneva, WI for the Machine Records Summer Concert Series.  We are headlining the opening night of the series, with Louisville, Kentucky-based band CABIN and local Lake Geneva artist Hayward Williams.  We are hoping to sell out the theater that night and show Lake Geneva and Machine Records what we are all about.  It's an all ages show and starts at 8:00.  Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 on the day of show.  I know at this time, nobody wants to take roadtrips because gas prices our so high, but this would be a great opportunity for our Madison/Milwaukee/Chicago fans to see us at an all-ages venue (which doesn't happen very often).  I'm also excited because the Geneva Theater has recently been renovated with new sound and lighting systems and we will be one of the first musical acts to play there in a very long time.

Also, keep in mind the SoCo Music Experience in Madison, WI on September 6th.  It's an all-day free show at Alliant Energy Center's Willow Island.  Unfortunately, for this one, you'll have to be 21. We will be on in between the Black Keys and The Roots.  It's gonna be sweet.

That's all for now.  Stay tuned for more shows in your area and our debut album.  We love you all.

Eric Streske and the Shoeless Revolution

Hey there all - I know it's been a while since our last update.  Hope everything's going well with you... how's the new tool shed you put out back?  And little Timmy, he's gotten so big since I last saw you guys!  When am I going to see those pictures from last Chistmas from that Hanson concert we all went to?

Ahem.  Sorry, I got stuck in family-reunion-speak for a second there.  The Shoeless Revolution has been workin' up a storm lately, topping off our recent shows with a headlining appearance at the Fine Line Cafe in the twin cities (hey wait is THAT why they call their baseball team the Twins?  I just got that.) and a two night apperance at the Popcorn Tavern in La Crosse with Bluestone Moon.  We have a doozy of a weekend coming up, with shows all over the state.  Check out our calendar for our upcoming shows.

There's also some sweet new bookings that you guys should check out.  the first is August 29th at The Geneva Theater in Lake Geneva.  Besides landing a sweet spot headlining the first show in their concert series, this show is espically cool because it's ALL AGES!  So if you are an age, you can get into this one.  Tickets are $6 pre-sale and $8 at the door.  There's more info on the show and the venue at their website.

The other really sweet show we're playing is the So-Co music festival in Madison on September 6th.  Check it; it's free, and we're playing right after the Black Keys and right before the Roots!  There's gonna be some great music goin' on that day, but unfortunatly this is only a SOME ages show, specificly ages that are greater than or equal to 21.

One quick update on recording; Oh yes, my friends, your wildest, shoeless-est dreams are about to be filled with sweet sweet nectar of sonic bliss.  The anticipation is palpable.  More to come my friends.

Say hi to the Hanson brothers for me!
-jim

 So Culture Shock last Friday was quite an adventure.  Those of you made it out to Romance for the festival, you might know a little about what I'm talking about.  In the Coulee region during July, there's a three day event that occurs every year called the Mayfly hatching.  If any of you out there are familiar with a book called the Bible, the Mayfly hatching is a bit like the when the plague of locusts that came after moses while he was in the middle of the red sea trying to gather two of every animal to watch the burning bush for fourth of July.  Am I getting my Bible stories confused?  Anyways, the Shoeless van effectively cut through the literal cloud of flies to get there.  It was much like rain, only instead of water, it was bugs.  Very gross.

We got to the festival and hung out for a while as the other band's played.  We went up to the stage to play about midnight.  The weather had been kind of sketchy all night, but the storm hit in a big way right before our set.  Fortunately, your humble narrator had both saxophones in his hand, because if one had been on a stand, it would have been totaled.  The initial gust of wind knocked over a bunch of sound equipment, broke some lights, and blew our 25 pound wireless case off of a table!  Then it started raining quite hard - and knowing that the Romance valley had flooded a few weeks before, we opted to get out while we could.  I think we all got absolutely soaked trying to get everything back in the van before we got flooded in, but we were successful, and got back to La Crosse safely.  Hey, I guess it could have been worse - there were no Mayflies on the way back and the van got a nice power wash (although Jack took it to a real car wash the next day.  Those mayflies are disgusting, man.)

Sorry to those of you who stuck around at Romance.  I hope everyone is safe and dry.

Cheers for now!
-jim

Ladies and Gentlemen! The Shoeless Revolution now has T-shirts! That's right, now you too can own a piece of the Revolution that's sweeping the nation. These t-shirts feature the wacky but sleek "Shoeless Head" design in stunning black and pale electric blue. They are priced to sell at $15, and are guaranteed to cover nearly all of your upper torso, including stomach, chest, back, shoulders, and with our custom "short sleve" design, these new and improved shirts will also cover those rippling biceps and triceps of yours (seriously, man, have you been working out? You look defined!) Get one at your local Shoeless Revolution show, or from your friendly neighborhood band member. Online ordering for these fine specimins of cloth will be up and running shortly, so just sit tight Alaska! Soon, you too will be snow-shoeing in style (although the Shoeless Revolution does recommend more than a t-shirt for those cold Alaska days and maybe a bit less for those HOT Alaskan nights). We'll keep you updated, friends.

Here's a peek at the design;


Stay fresh out there!
-jim

Hey friends!  I wanted to write a bit about the past couple of days to keep you guys updated.  I'm writing from the elusive 'road' right now, and the band is scattered around the state right now, so we will have more to talk about once we get a chance to catch our collective breath and get re-orginized.

Man, we had an awesome time at Summerfest!  It was such a cool adventure for us.  One of the coolest things about playing that festival was how friendly and down to earth everyone working back stage was.  Almost everyone we worked with was upbeat and did their job astoundingly well.  As for the crowd at both Summerfest and Hogs and Kisses the night before, you guys rocked the house down!  It was so cool to see so many people there for a band that was performing so early in the day.  Also, for those who showed up to the show and we didn't get to talk to, we're so sorry!  The stage crew needed us out of there fast, so we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.  Check out the schedule for our up coming shows where we will be able to hang out after the show a little longer!

Oh, and if you have videos for Nick and the competition, you can e-mail him here.  If you can get that stuff in quick, we would really appreciate it!

More to come!
-jim

Hey guys, I'm writing to you from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where the band has taken over Eric's parents' house and set up shop. (While I'm thinking about it, go check out the Forum) We're here for our Milwaukee debut show, which also happens to be at Summerfest!  We've had some kind of weekend so far, and it's just going to get crazier.

We played in Minneapolis at Mayslack's on Friday, which proved to be a fantastic show.  The Mayslack's crowd was awesome, and we are stoked about the new friends we made! We weren't sure when we arrived if the crowd was going to be receptive to our type of music, so we were quite excited when the audience really dug what we were jammin' on.  Personally, I thought it was our best showing in the area to date.  Stay tuned for more shows in the area coming soon; July 7th and 9th respectively.  Check it out friends!  We hopped in the van after the show, and it took us until 6 a.m. to make it all the way back to La Crosse that night, but it was a beautiful sunrise and I don't think Perkin's breakfast has ever tasted so good.

We have some really sweet upcoming shows, the first of which is TODAY at Lake Geneva's Hogs and Kisses.  We're playing an entire show, and it should prove to be a great time.  I think we've all been looking forward to this one for a while.  We haven't been down to this part of the state yet, and I think it will be a jammin' time.

Let's see, what else... umm... man there was something I was going to say... oh yeah, Shoeless Revolution at Summerfest July 1st! That's right, my friends, we're going to be there, rockin' the U.S. Cellular Stage starting at 12:30!  We also have a bit of a contest going, so check it out the Forum for the chance to win a free t-shirt and bumper stickers.  Oh and by the way, the t-shirts are being printed as we speak and will be on sale mid-July.  Stay tuned for updates, and get yours hot off the press!

That's all I got, I need to get some sleep here.  Man, it's going to be an exciting week!  You're sexy! 

-jim & (nick)

Hey guys;
So the Shoeless Revolution had a really unique chance to play at a music Clinic for middle and high-schoolers the last couple of mondays.  Yesterday was the high school session and MAN!  It was a fantastic show.  It was so great playing for you guys, just because you have an understanding and an appreciation of music at an aesthetic as well as a technical level.  If you were there, feel free to make some comments on the Forum page, there's already a topic goin' on about it.

Also, remember that your favorite barefoot septet will be playing at SUMMERFEST on July 1st, 12:30pm on the U.S. Cellular stage!  You can check out the whole deal here.  It's bound to be a lot of fun times.  I promise it will definitly be worth skipping work/school/sleep/anniverseries/best friend's wedding for.

Anyway, that's all I got for the moment.  Check back soon for some more interesting tid-bits that we have in the works (exciting, I promise).

Til' Then!
-jim

Hey there Shoeless fans!
Man, the band had a crazy weekend; we were all over the state! Our adventures started in La Crosse, as they usually do, Thursday afternoon. We left early evening for our first featured gig in Madison! Mr. Robert's is where it all went down, and considering the terential downpour in Madison that night (we unloaded the trailer in what was essentially a gutter turned river) we had a great crowd. Just between you and me, I'm suprised anybody showed up. You know that game Oregon Trail, where you're settlers and you get to hunt crap and you may or may not purposfully let your characters die of strange diseases (maybe that was just me)? Well you know the part where you have to ford the river and all of your oxen die because the river is like 400 feet deep but you forded it anyway (is that just me again?)? That was about what happened. Many many theroretical oxen died in the failed fording attempt that was Madison, Wisconsin last Thursday night. I think Uncle Thomas got dysentery that night too, but I suppose no one can be sure (it could have been from all that rotten meat I made him eat. Seriously, is it really just me that tortured all the Oregon Trail people? Did other people do that?). The people that were there were glad they came out, though, because the got the rain rocked right off of their backs! After, the band headed to my parent's house where my mom and dad were kind enough to set up a bunch of air mattresses and couches for everyone. We ate a great breakfast (thanks mom!) before we set out to face the flooded midwest once more.

Friday was off to the other side of the state, to Jack Sabol-William's home turf, for the wedding of Nick and Emily Ayers in Elkhart Lake. We played at this huge freaking resort with a main hallway that my entire apartment could have fit into AT LEAST 6 times, probably closer to 10. It was amazing. After they fed and 'watered' us (FUN BAND HIRING TIP: if you ever want a band to play for way cheaper then they're asking, open up a tab and feed them catered food. Of course, that will probably add up to about twice what you're saving, so maybe never mind.) We rocked some covers and originals for the happy couple. Jack's parents put us up for the night (complete with - you guessed it - food) at their place about twenty minutes away. In the morning we made delicious sanwiches (FUN SHOELESS REVOLUTION FACT: Eric Streske LOVES SANWICHES.) complements of Jack's parents (thank you again Jim and Deb for putting us up and feeding us).

After that, we decided, you know, just for the hell of it, to go all the way to the OTHER side of the state for the Bandit County Fair hosted by the Smokin' Bandits about 40 minutes out of La Crosse. The original site had flooded out, so we played on a brand new stage that had just been completed in time for the festival. I don't think I'm over exagerrating if I were to say that that stage kicked some major booty. It was really two stages in one, with a 5 foot incline between them. Our personal universal tour guide, Jack's Garmin, got Reed, Eric, Jack, and Ben lost on the way there and they ended up in the middle of a back country road and the van started smelling like burning rubber. With over half the band late, loading got hectic and Klemme was brave enough to attempt the tough job of backing the van and the trailer down a dirt driveway. He put the trailer within two inches of the Stealin' Strings van and almost lost it when our van starting slipping down the dirt road. He got it really close, but we had to wait for the 90th level Wizard Jack "World of Trailer-Craft" Sabol-Williams to put the moves on the trailer. If you wern't there, then you missed it; it was seriously sexy.

We opened with an unusually fast version of "Some Skunk Funk" and continued on with the standard Shoeless set. The crowd was very receptive and I noticed a lot of fans in the crowd singing the lyrics along with us. A special thanks goes out to Dave Orr for doing a phenomenal job on sound and lights. Most of the band stayed behind at the campsite and enjoyed some music, and free hot dogs. Fat Maw Rooney and Smokin' Bandits both killed their sets which was awesome because I had personally never had heard either band, despite hearing so much about them.

The last and arguably most exciting part of the weekend was our show on Monday at the UW-Madison Summer Music Clinic. The Summer Music Clinic is made up of 750 middle school students all there to study either band, orchestra, choir, or jazz band. I think I can speak for the entire band when I say that playing for that many middle school music kids was literally scary. I honestly don't remember ever playing for a louder audience. Ever. They were so loud and sincere even before we played, we thought it was some sort of sick joke they all decided to play on us. But we definitely had them out of their chairs and rockin' the auditorium in the UW-Madison's Humanities building. It was sweet to watch all the kids walking out of the hall holding their shoes in their hand. We're going back next Monday for the high schoolers clinic.

Anyway, that's probably enough for today. Check out our schedule for upcoming dates. Stay out of the floods, and we'll be seein' you soon!

-jim and eric