It all started at Enzo's.

I was looking for some new venues. In an issue of Me Head I saw an ad for their Show Us Your Shorts film festival, which that time around was being held at this little pizza shop in Brookside. I thought, if the place is hip enough to host that kind of thing, maybe they'll let me play there sometime.

So I dropped off a demo, and talked to Marc, the owner, who thought it sounded like fun. There was a big annual Harley celebration going on a few weeks away, and they'd be closing the street and setting up several stages for live music. Marc, on his own, had booked two bands to play out in front of Enzo's to draw some of the crowd that direction. He decided to tack me on the bill too.

And that was that. One gig leads to another, and another, and soon I find myself playing a bunch of different venues with a bunch of different bands. I eventually connected with the Me Head folks, and even got to play a future edition of that same film festival.

So basically, that first gig at Enzo's was my Giant-Size X-Men #1. If you know what I mean.

And before long, I even had a stage name.

I had always just called myself ROSS. In talking to the other two bands before that first gig, Marc apparently referred to me as 'acoustic Ross,' just describing me to them, I think, but they took it to be my stage name. So all of a sudden, I'm "Acoustic Ross."

For a little while I tried to go back to the original name, but the new one just took on a life of its own. Soon the flyers said 'Acoustic Ross,' the papers said 'Acoustic Ross,' the clubs said 'Acoustic Ross,' the bands said 'Acoustic Ross' -- I was Acoustic Ross already, I just didn't know it yet. I even called myself ROSS on the first pressing of News From Around The Bend, but I was starting to think the accidental stage name was actually an improvement.

I was starting to think about putting together a website, and although Ross-dot-everything was already taken, my friend Chuck pointed out the ready availability of acousticross.com -- and sometime after that, late spring 2002 I guess, I made it official. There were occasional uses of plain-old-Ross after that point, but by the end of 2002 it was all Acoustic Ross, all the time. Put up the website, changed the press kit, adjusted the art for the second pressing of News From Around The Bend, networked with other AntiFolkies nationwide, got things rolling and never looked back.

I think the last real use of the 'old name' was by the Tulsa World, when they nominated me for a Spot Music Award in September. (Although the first week's mail-in ballot spelled my name "Rosee.") I didn't win, but "Best None of the Above" is a tougher category than you might think, and it's an honor, as they say, just to be nominated.

Anyway, the whole thing could have been a lot worse. Marc could have called me "Fat Ugly Ross."

Click the pic to go back.

"Acoustic Ross" & "News From Around The Bend" © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization. All content not otherwise specified is also © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization. While we're at it, "Northcraft Entertainment Organization" is also © 2002-3001 Northcraft Entertainment Organization.