STEPHEN CLAIR TIMELINE

1970. Punched Jimmy Z in the gut. He lived across the street from me. He was the same age but thicker, bigger-boned and he squinted a lot. He had big brothers who must have tormented him. So, he took it out on me, his little neighbor friend. Finally, one day I saw him coming. I'd had it. I made a move out the front screen door and across the lawn. walked right up to him and popped him in the gut. I was three. We became real pals after that.

Got a record player. Was given a Bobby Sherman album. Still have not managed to get that Julie Julie song out of my head. Fortunately, I worshipped at the altar of my grandpa, who stood over his record player to Johnny Cash and Freddy Fender.

1974. Second grade: wrote a book entitled The Book of The Absurd. The front cover featured a dinosaur doing a headstand. My brother was born.

Spent summer playing air guitar using a badminton racquet as a prop with friend Mike K. A lot of Edgar Winter's Frankenstein, which led to decision that I MUST play guitar.

Started buying singles, 45s, if you will, such as Steve Martin's King Tut, and CW McCall's Convoy. (The combination of those two songs right there might just summarize my song-writing style.)

The Spirit of 76 Freedom Train came to my town. There, I saw a gigantic shoe that had belonged to a famous baseball player. We had barrel furniture and shag carpeting in our house.

1977. Saw the movie Rocky three times in three days. It cost $3 total.

Got an acoustic guitar. Learned jazzy chords.

Joined the football team. Played middle line backer. To this day, people can't believe I was the biggest kid on the team. Got stratocaster knock-off and Fender Champ. Saw Kevin Kline, whom nobody had heard of, in the Pirates of Penzance on Broadway, who was as inspiring as watching Rocky.

Found 100-foot-long extension cord in garage. Started jamming with drummer friend in back yard, then side yard, then front yard.

1982. Life changed forever: Saw the Talking Heads in concert with no prior knowledge of the band. Had never heard of them, had never heard a note from them before they came onstage. Until that July night, I had only ever heard commercial radio crap that had always made me want to gag. I was so passionate about music, even though I honestly felt like I hadn't liked any of the music I'd heard. The band started playing and my head exploded. My eyes rolled back, my tongue lolled around uncontrollably, I lost all feeling in my spine, my heart buckled. ... The luckiest thing about having had a watershed moment like that is the fact that, today when I think about it, I can remember how extremely good it felt. How exciting the world had finally become, as if I'd been counting on it all along. And nothing else has ever felt quite like that. To be fifteen and have the universe burst open like that. I went home and discovered the local college radio station, and with it, Elvis Costello, The Kinks, The Clash, Sex Pistols. The 80's were going to be okay after all. Thank god for the Brits.

Played first gig at my high school, a fundraiser. Couldn't find a bass player so I got a trombonist. Got paid in cake.

Listened to nothing but XTC, King Crimson. Started making demos and have never stopped.

1985. Saw the Dead Milkmen, Big Barn Burning. This marks the beginning of playing gigs in dives, bars, gymnasiums, on street corners.

Lived and rocked head off in Austin. Somehow I decided I was above getting a job. My first week in Austin I sat in at the Continental Club. Little by little hocked most of my belongings to pawn shops in order to eat. I traded my high school ring for a pair of cowboy boots at Cadillac Jack's on N. Lamar. When I ran out of stuff I moved back up north.

Moved to upstate NY. Managed and booked a bar.

Lived in New Orleans, wrote poems, songs, drank burgundy from a jug, rolled cigarettes, chased cock roaches, lived on $3/day. That was livin'.

1993 Released first solo cassette.

1994 Released another solo cassette, but now everyone's into Alternative Rock. Formed a dorky rock trio called Glaze.

1995 Glaze released a full-length CD, then quickly perished. Started going by the name Stephen Clair.

1997 Released first solo CD, Altoona Hotel, backed by members of the band Subduing Mara. Then went and lived in France. Walked to farm (now vineyard) where Samuel Beckett and his wife Sue had worked while hiding out from the Gestapo. Sat under the tree at trail head that led back to their house in Roussillon. Was this THE Godot tree? I want to believe it was. It's my little fantasy. It was an oak. I broke off a branch and brought it home in my suitcase. I have it somewhere... I can show it to you.

1998 Moved to Bay Area. Could not find Chuck Prophet. Played solo shows in the laundromat and went to the movies all the time. Drove north one Saturday, could not find Tom Waits.

1999 Landed in NYC and maybe got just a little bit serious. No, I didn't. It only looked that way.

2003 LITTLE RADIO was released, featuring the song "Jen In Her Underwear," which people, radio stations (thank you WFUV) and music critics dug. Was seriously playing around and around, in Texas, on west coast, the south, every month going out again.

2004 Toured and toured and toured and toured.

2005 Became a dad, which blows everything else away. A record label came along. UNDER THE BED was released which led to far better gigs. Was a panelist at the Americana conference in Nashville in the fall. And toured and toured.

2006 Toured as opener for Robert Earl Keen for a bit: Saw Brokeback Mountain while in Wyoming. Funny that. And toured and toured.

2007 Started accumulating power tools.

2008 Received ASCAP award and said goodbye to Drew Glackin all in the first freaking week of the year. Released WHAT LUCK, recorded in Austin TX with Rich Brotherton producing plus a first-rate cast of Austin players. Then, more power tools. In the summer a son was born. Next, somehow found time to ask some killer musician-friends to back me up and they said okay: It's good to be playing band gigs-especially with these guys:

Matt Lindsey, bass; Bill malchow, keys; russ Meissner, drums.