Paul Cebar and band at the West Theatre. Photos by Jill Fisher.

The Paul Cebar concert on Thursday, Nov. 5, was a marvelous event to inaugurate the reopening of the West Theatre and the Alhambra Lounge.

The preview by Jim Lundstrom in the Oct. 29 issue of the Reader both introduced me to this eminent musician and raised the bar for his performance on Thursday, Nov. 5. Thankfully, the show was everything one could have asked for or anticipated.

The four-member, hat-cladded Paul Cebar band from Milwaukee includes Bob Jennings (keys, saxophone, vocals), Mike Fredrickson (bass guitar, vocals) and Reggie Bordeaux (drums). Cebar is guitarist and lead vocalist.

Lundstrom’s article provided background on Cebar’s musical evolution along with analysis of several tracks on his eponymous album released  in September 2025.

We heard Cebar play eight of the 11 tracks on that album, plus tunes from five of his six earlier albums. Cebar made a point of saying we would be hearing all original material from his 40 years of music making. And we were lucky enough to hear a total of 21 of those songs.

The first song of the concert was “Like Loving People Do” from his 2014 album Tomorrow Sound—Fine Rude Thing. It had a nice reggae beat, with Fredrickson singing harmony. The second number, “Baby Shake,” was also from that album. These got some of us up dancing from the get-go!

The sound was excellent such that we could actually hear the wonderful lyrics of each of these songs and appreciate Cebar’s remarkably fine tenor voice. (He is 70 years old after all!) “The Brink of Things” from Paul Cebar was next and then came “The Gimp Sparrow” from the 2007 album Tomorrow Sound Now For Yes Music People. It had a danceable calypso beat that showcased Bordeaux’s exceptional and versatile drumming.

The rockin’ “Please Don’t Tell Me More” (“about my baby) from Upstroke For The Downfolk album released in 1996 followed. “Spread That Sugar,” another from 2007, with its fun and funky beat continued the excitement.

“We Sure Got Enough” was a reminder to us all not to get greedy. Then Cebar took time to preface his composition, “Marv’s Fluttering Guitar” (also from 2007 Yes Music People) with the explanation that it was a tribute to Marv Tarplin, who was the guitarist with The Miracles fronted by Smokey Robinson. The harmonies between Cedar and bassist Fredrickson on this were particularly sweet.

Three more rousing numbers were played before the intermission: The New Orleans sounding “Hold Me To Your Bones,” (1996), “I Got Trouble” (2007) and “You Make Me Feel So” from his earliest album, That Unhinged Thing (1993). The intermission gave time to bring the dancers’ heartbeats back down to normal!

The second set started with Cebar soloing on three songs. “Can’t Blame a Lover,” which advises one “can’t blame a lover for loving.” Nice!

Then Cebar admitted he was breaking his promise of an all-originals concert by singing a cover. And what a song it was! “The Book of Love” by Stephin Merritt of the band The Magnetic Fields had wonderful lyrics, including: “The book of love has music in it. In fact, that’s where music comes from. Some of it is just transcendental. Some of it is just really dumb.” A truthful statement if ever there was one.

Cebar’s acappella rendition of “Keep On (Lookin’ Like That)” was unpretentiously impressive — again, his voice was strong and true. He had the audience assist him with clapping to keep the beat on this one — a  lovely communal experience.

The rest of the band returned to close out the show with more upbeat numbers, including “Didn’t Bring It Up” with the added phrase “to bring you down” from the 2009 One Little Light On and reprised on the 2025 album. Then they launched into three more from 2025: “Dreaming Back,” “If You Lead Me” and “Back in the Wind.”

They also gave us some more funky music with the James Brown-inspired “Didn’t Leave Me No Ladder” from the 1996 Upstroke.

Cebar ended the concert on a high note with the reggae-infused “How’d You Get Like That?”
All in all, I heard only praise for Cebar’s band from everyone I spoke with afterwards. The band was obviously tight but in a relaxed, even casual, manner, as evidenced by lack of a pre-determined setlist that allowed the players to change the order of the songs when warranted.

Tommy Wotruba and Susie Appelgren at the Alhambra Lounge.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other special music event that Thursday evening. It was Tommy Wotruba entertaining us at the Alhambra Lounge both before and after the Paul Cebar concert.
Here too, it was a wonderful welcome back to folks who have bemoaned the closing of this place during the summer.

Tommy sang some of our favorite songs and on this occasion was joined by Susie Appelgren (member of the Potluck String Band based in the Twin Cities) singing harmonies on a couple of them. He closed out his gig with his version of one of our favorite Dylan tunes: “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.”
Tommy will be sticking around for a while before taking off on his annual trek to Florida. Catch him this Friday, Nov. 13, at the Belknap Liquor Lounge in Superior (7-10 pm) or Sandrocks in Sandstone on Saturday, Nov.14 (6-8 pm).

As if these two performances weren’t sufficient music intake for the week (really, they were) the Curmudgeon and I also got out on Saturday, Nov. 7, to take in three other shows, shortchanging each a bit.

Janie and the Spokes at Sir Ben's.

We started out at Sir Benedict’s On The Lake Tavern to hear Janie and The Spokes doing their rock and roll thing and celebrate birthdays of the band members (Janie, Garth and Britt) with cupcakes for all. FYI—they added fiddler Britt Johnson to the crew back in April.

We got to hear quite a few of their original songs. Janie did a fabulous job on one cover, Lucinda Williams’ hit “Can’t Let Go” (written by Minnesota-native Randy Weeks).

After several numbers, The Spokes were joined by Daryl Yankee, a favorite once-local musician who moved away and is relocating to Texas. Fortunately we get to hear him in his wild and crazy ways during his regular visits to the Northland.

Amy Speace at Wussow's.

Next stop was Wussow’s to hear Amy Speace. The C and I got to Wussow’s just in time to hear opener Ashe Berton sing just one song, not enough to comment on — didn’t even get a title.

Speace, who was born in Baltimore, is now a Nashville-based singer-songwriter and poet. She interspersed her songs with her poetry and the background for various numbers.

Of course she sang her original compositions, including “The Cardinal,” “God Came To Me,” “Ghost,” “Nothing Good Can Come From This” and “The American Dream.” This latter number was inspired by her childhood experiences when living in Wayzata, Minn., which she did for several years before moving away with her family when she was in 7th grade.

She gushed about getting back to Minnesota for the first time since then. Speace has a strong soprano voice that was most pleasant.

Paul Bergan and Becky Kapell at Cedar Lounge.

Finally, we got over to Superior to see what was happening at Earth Rider’s Cedar Lounge. We arrived in time to hear a couple of numbers by Becky Kapell and Paul Bergan. One of them was “Here’s To Happiness.” Bergan is familiar to us as having played with Erik Koskinen. Kapell is a singer-songwriter based in St. Paul. I was sorry not to get to hear more of this duo.

Then came the folks we were especially wanting to see: Rich Mattson and Germain Gemberling. They sang their original songs, which we always enjoy, beginning with “Wild Hutch’s Crutch” plus a Jessie Colter cover.

They seemed to have great fun with their guitars on “Be My Baby Tonight” before ending with Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”!

ERRATA: A mistake in my profile of Todd Eckart in the Oct. 22, 2026, issue of the Reader was brought to my attention: I wrote that JP Rennquist was a bandmate of Todd’s for a while. JP responded to correct this misinformation, saying that, while he had been called up to sing with Todd “in a pinch,” he was never a member of Todd’s band. My apologies for the uncalled-for assumption.

UPCOMING: Don’t miss the multi-day celebration of the West and Alhambra reopenings. It starts on Wednesday, Nov.18, and runs through Sunday the 22nd, and will feature a whole slew of performers you won’t want to miss. See thewesttheatre.com for all the details.

Sadly, I won’t be able to join you since I will be traveling out east during that time. See you in December!