Never give up! never! never! Winston churchill
...there are places & feelings I've known... from "Willing To Go On"
Just a few words on the past...
Jim Steager was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1953. The 4th of 5 children, he grew up in a loving household where music was encouraged and enjoyed by all. Family sing-alongs were a common holiday occurrence, and someone was always taking lessons or practicing. Except Jim. He hated to practice. A big early influence was his brother Brian, who in the mid-60's performed with a folk act "The Wayward Three". Brian taught Jim a couple of chords and locked him in the closet to get him out of his hair. Jim emerged smiling and calloused-fingered, prepared to dazzle everyone with the 1 song he knew, just in time to catch the family crisis about whether or not to let the kids stay home from church youth group on Sunday night to watch the Beatles on Ed Sullivan!
(fast forward a couple of years) Jim was one of the original latch key kids as his English mom (mum?) was always busy helping others. But while she was out driving mentally & physically challenged kids to and from school (in her car, before school districts got those short yellow busses), Jim was at home wearing out sister Pam's Sergeant Pepper album. In high school, after burning out on the sports scene (he still holds the record for the most negative yardage), he turned his attention back to music--Led Zeppelin, The Who, CSN&Y, Hendrix, anything with great guitar and harmonies.
The 70's proved to be his most formative years. A study in contrasts (specifically lost & found), Jim found himself falling in & out of bands (and love). He never wrote enough material to carry his own act (until now) but he was always a creative contributor and a powerful voice on stage. Most bands didn't last more than 6 months to a year, and there were many, many one night shows. The age old conflict--play cover tunes or starve--seemed to rule, but Jim was always happiest doing his own thing. On and off the road, playing in clubs and hotels mostly in the northeastern US, he struggled with his inability to sound like the other guys. Acutely aware that he had a talent, he just didn't know where it fit in.
In 1978 he left Pennsylvania for sunny California, where he eventually settled in Berkeley where he stumbled on a community of misfits just like himself. The band Jack was formed out of a bunch of open mic participants from LaVal's, and some of the best music ever to not come out of California was written. But, alas, creative minds working together in a free society don't always see eye to eye, and the project was reduced to tapes and memories. (great tapes, great memories!)
While in Berkeley, Jim married Susan and they started a family, eventually moving back to Pennsylvania after the birth of their second child. They now reside in Bethlehem, PA, where they enjoy the challenges of every-day life adventures in 21st century America. Support of the family took precedent, and led Jim on a trail of employment that included carpentry, landscaping, steel laboring, and currently guitar manufacturing. (Susan, meanwhile, was the primary care-giver for the children, and also worked many jobs outside the home, all the while supporting Jim's musical inclinations and putting up with huge amounts of his frustrations! God bless her!!
In closing, Jim says: "I am happy to be able to keep pursuing this dream after all these years, but what choice do I have? A flower has to bloom, and water flows to the sea! My gift to this life are my songs, which are celebrations of life itself. Thanks for the opportunity."
history of bands:
Knight's Anger BlueLight Milady This End Up Open(eastcoast) Travesty InsideOut Windchime BluePlateSpecial Gateway Halfgate Jack BandOfAngels Victums OfTechnology Open(westcoast) Metropolis Starlites Kemistry Aria Troiani-Steager Band MaybeMonday Jackie Tice Frankie Alazar
plus lots of duos, trios, fill-ins, jam-withs, too numerous to mention...please e-mail us with your memories!
