2020/9/26 Mike Jaskewicz Solo Acoustic @ Marckomitoville (Duo w/ Pete Tonti for Third Set)
Having been lucky enough to host three amazing music festivals in my backyard this summer with a fourth coming next week, the last thing I or the most amazing, understanding, and perfect wife on the planet expected was to host another one this past Saturday night. Though I’ve had a lingering thought about a chill acoustic night at home with good friend Mike Jaskewicz providing the tunes, nothing was ever planned, especially not now with our calendar being kind of busy with school and kids’ sports in full swing. The thought, however, was always there, sitting like a seed just waiting to be planted and watered. Well, I came home from my son’s basketball game at ten am this past Saturday with the thought that this weather was too good to pass up and asked the most amazing, understanding, and perfect wife on the planet if she would be okay with us hosting a last minute gig since we had no outstanding plans. She said yes. She said yes! Of course she did, because she’s the most amazing, understanding, and perfect wife on the planet.
Next step was a phone call to Mike who had been planning on a night of Netflix and chill with his wife and daughter but was more than agreeable if we could pull it all together. Okay … onward. Amy Jones was up next and wisely so as she assembled a crew of twenty #Cosmicnauts inside of eight minutes flat. Add another fifteen to twenty local friends and family and the party was on. Literally assembled on the day of between the hours of ten fifteen and eleven o’clock in the morning, this was the very definition of incidental music as I understand it. Suffice it to say that it all happened organically which would give the whole evening a layer of depth that just felt so wholesome and right. Holy crap this was really happening.
With the #Marckomitoville experience firmly in my hip pocket, prepping the space was a familiar labor of love with one additional detail from previous days, a lovely Cats Under the Stars tie-dyed tapestry that single handedly transformed my patio into a gorgeous performance space under the watchful eyes of its stunning backdrop. Being the only one with a mic, Jaskewicz provided the evening’s narrative and being so comfortable with those who turned out, he literally bared his soul to the lucky few of us in attendance. Sharing a very personal and spiritual experience, he set a tone of love and mutual admiration that would pervade the entirety of the evening. Mike is very self-aware and leads by example with his affable and engaging spirit. We were all intensely aware that gratitude is an action word and Mike underscored that point with the debut of “Walk Into the Light”, a song written “years ago as a gift for my future self reminding me that even when it was dark, this light was in me,” he sang, “If your heart is in search of reason to be grateful, you just gotta open your eyes.” Powerful. Thanks for being you, brother.
I think I speak for all of I when I say I was stunned in the very best way by the first acoustic “Foolish Heart” that I can ever remember hearing before MJ gave us another beauty from his original catalog with “Set Me Free”. An uninterrupted twenty-five minute stretch followed as Jaskewicz unleashed a torrent of all things Garcia with “Reuben & Cerise” > “New Speedway Boogie” as he quipped “I have an idea” midsong before segueing into “Bird Song” and back into “New Speedway”. Majorly dig. Wow.
A super quick sip of water and he was ready to go again, raising the hair on everyone’s arms with a chilling cover of “Goodbye Blue Sky” from Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
Let it be noted that the intimate crowd was equally engaged with the originals as the covers, partially out of love and respect for Mike but mostly because they’re awesome fucking songs. To hear “War That Can’t Be Won” in a setting like this, Jaskewicz crooning from the very depths of his soul, was a transformative experience.
And then it happened. For just the second time ever, a Pearl Jam song was played live in my backyard, this the first time since dear friend Dennis Bolger sang a life affirming “Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town” with his band Summerfeet at Marckomitoville: First Weekend. “Release” has been a favorite tune of my mine and bona fide tear jerker since debuting as the ultimate track on PJ’s Ten in 1991. Mike Jaskewicz entered my life just this summer but has quickly taken residence in my heart. To hear him sing this song at my home, in the presence of loved ones as I shared the most incredible embrace with the most amazing, understanding, and perfect wife on the planet, is a moment I’ll never forget. These are the things I live for, my reason for seeking. They happen when they happen, however, regardless of personal will, and the cosmos sure willed this one for me. As I wrapped my arms around Diana with my hands over her heart (and not inappropriately touching her boobs as I am wont to do), lightning struck and hit.
I’ll ride the wave where it takes me
I’ll hold the pain, release me
After a quick break, set two got underway with “Blackbird” before another debut of original material, this one called “Out Of My Hands”. Trey Anastasio wrote something like fifteen or sixteen songs during the first three months of quarantine, a seriously prolific output in just a few months’ time. Jaskewicz has written forty-four (!) in that same stretch, eighteen or so of which have been played with Cosmic and the remaining twenty-six (less Saturday’s two debuts) are just waiting for eager ears like those in my backyard on Saturday night. “This Life Is Fine” which has become familiar from Cosmic shows preceded a gorgeous cover of Leon Russell’s “A Song For You”.
The dance party got kicked into high gear with Jimmy Cliff’s “Harder They Come” before an outside the box cover of Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” that had every phone in the house out and recording. Folks (read: me) just eat that cheese up and unapologetically so. I fucking loved it and Mike fucking killed it. Lloyd Dobler ftw. “Restless Heart” closed the set shortly thereafter.
As it turned out, there were surprises in store for the third set, orchestrated by Mike and me in the eleventh hour literally moments before showtime. Pete Tonti, a common friend and recent collaborator with Mike, was playing a semi-local gig that I helped coordinate for a friend with money to burn. Knowing he was local and reminding Mike that Pete was out and about, he instantly jumped on the idea and suggested we tag team and text him from both ends. As luck and manipulation would have it, Pete was all too happy to swing by after his early show and the result was pure fucking gold. These guys have some recent history and they’re both such gracious players and listeners that this unrehearsed set may go down in history as the impetus for a long term side project for both of them. It was pure fucking gold.
The Acoustic Duo of Mike Jaskewicz and Pete Tonti opened the third set with one of the most beautiful covers of Jerry Garcia’s “Russian Lullabye” that left every one of us acutely aware that someting special was afoot.
What transpired next really tells the story of the spark between these two gifted musicians. They mesh perfectly on a musical level but it’s obvious that there’s something more there, too. Jaskewicz, a little older and more experienced, comes across as something between an older brother and father figure to Tonti and to watch their dynamic is truly beautiful; it seems like something that they both really need. So when Mike told Pete, “just follow me, it’s only three chords,” Pete fell right in line as they collaborated perfectly for the first time ever on a Jaskewicz original called “What Am I?”. Following suit, Pete called out the chords to his original song, “Feeling Upside Down”, which very well may have been one of the songs of the night. Great songwriting, awesome hook, and we were all just dancing it up and loving it. Yay, Pete!
Returning to the familiar territory of the catalog on which they were both raised, “Wharf Rat” > “Deal” was spot-on perfection. Thinking they were done, a request for “Back On The Train” was shelved because “we have a song to finish first,” as Jaskewicz said, even if I cut the video before he and Pete found the second carat.
“Chalkdust Torture” > “Get On The Train” > “Chalkdust Reprise” set the place ablaze.
Heeding my call for “Society” but without the benefit of lyrics, Jaskewicz gutted his way through this classic off of Eddie Vedder’s Into The Wild album. Kudos for the attempt even if I was unable to pull the lyrical sled as requested. {FWIW, lyrics are so much easier when singing along with someone else.} Circling around to Phish’s “Back On The Train”, the Duo had us all grooving hard.
“Cassidy” was just lovely, also worth a watch.
Appropriately, Jaskewicz circled back to a couple of now well-known beauties from his own catalog to finish the night. “We Are Divine” took us to curfew before we pushed the town’s (and my wife’s) limits just a little bit with “Crooked Tree”. Thankfully, this wasn’t MSG and we didn’t have to pay a fine for going over 😉
There’s a lot of video here and it’s all worth your while. Take what you want and leave the rest, it’s all good.
Spontaneous perfection on every level, not just this third set but the whole night. Goodness often happens when you least expect it and the universe certainly collaborated with my will to make this happen. Thanks again to the most amazing, understanding, and perfect wife on the planet for allowing this to happen, Mike and Pete for sharing their talent, Amy Jones for pulling our family of Cosmicnauts together on a moment’s notice, Joey Lugo for the pro pics, and everyone who came for being an intimate part of the magic — and not leaving a mess ;).
16,929 of the most unexpected steps of my career.
All the love, especially to my dog Charlie who was kind of the star of the show in her own way.
Setlist:
Set One: Walk Into The Light*%, Foolish Heart, Set Me Free*, Reuben and Cerise > Birdsong > New Speedway Boogie > Birdsong, Goodbye Blue Sky > War That Can’t Be Won*, Release
Set Two: Blackbird, Out Of My Hands*%, This Life Is Fine*, A Song For You, Harder They Come, In Your Eyes, Restless Heart*
Set Three (special guest Pete Tonti): Russian Lullaby, What Am I*$, Feeling Upside Down^$, Wharf Rat > Deal > Wharf Rat, Chalkdust Torture > MJ guitar switch > Get On The Train > Chalkdust Torture > MJPT Jam, Society, Back On The Train, Cassidy, We Are Divine*, Crooked Tree*
*Michael Jaskewicz original
^Pete Tonti original
& First time played
$ First time played as a duo
Thanks to Joseph Lugo (@eyes_of_the_world__) for this gallery of professional photos. You rock, brother!
