Elizabeth Jancewicz and Eric Stevenson are a married couple from New London, Connecticut, who travel the country performing together. Eric sings while Elizabeth paints. Sometimes they sleep in their car.
On March 13 they’re bringing their show to Mansfield and the Fourth Street Bar. They go by the name Pocket Vinyl, and last week I spoke with Eric about their plans for the night.
First of all, I asked if they had a place to sleep or if it would be the car again.
“Oh .. we have somewhere lined up, I think,” said Eric, with just a slight amount of hesitation in his voice.
Perhaps he was worried that I was about to insist on them using my basement.
I told Eric about another band that comes to Mansfield and sleeps in their van with two cats.
“Well, that’s awesome,” he said. “Actually we just got some kittens ourselves. We’ll leash-train them and then we’ll be taking them on the road with us.”
I asked Eric what audiences can expect to see at their show. He explained that he’ll being singing a live set while Elizabeth creates an original painting on stage.
“I hammer away on a Yamaha CP300,” he told me. “I have it set up between two saw horses. It takes a beating.
“I don’t use backing tracks because I like the freedom of playing solo,” he added, “and I don’t want the songs to sound exactly like the CDs. This way I can speed up or slow down, or just stop in the middle of a song and change direction.
“And with the painting, if you really like it you can join the auction and maybe take it home.”
This is the silent auction for the painting that goes on during the performance.
“At the end we finish off with some live bidding,” Eric told me, “so we can have some drama and maybe have a few people get into a fight over it.”
I asked Eric the most a painting has sold for so far, but he was reluctant to name a figure.
“Because it could go for anything,” he said, explaining that there is no minimum bid. “Sometimes we don’t get out of single digits. And that’s OK. You can never tell.”
He went so far as to reveal that in the past they’ve gotten close to a thousand dollars.
“But you have to remember,” he said, “we’ve done a lot of these shows.”
How many?
“667,” he told me, after just a moment of calculation. “And I know that exactly because show 666 was at Salem, Massachusetts.”
Coincidence or something more sinister? I decided not to ask.
So Elizabeth has done 667 different paintings?
“Yes,” said Eric, “she’s never repeated a painting on stage. Although sometimes she gets into themes – like stained-glass window paintings. Or a short series that had a woman’s body with a different animal’s head.”
Given how extensively they tour, that’s a lot of artwork dotted around the country.
“Yeah,” said Eric, “and the nice thing is we’ve sometimes had people come to the show after they saw one of the paintings at a friend’s house and got curious.”
How messy does it get, I asked? Because I’d seen some of their publicity pictures with paint being flung about left, right and center. And I’ve seen shows like “Evil Dead – the Musical” where the first two rows get drenched in blood.
“No, nothing like that,” Eric assured me. “No ponchos required.”
I should be careful here, because I don’t want to give the impression that Pocket Vinyl are a novelty act. Their recorded output – a good selection of which can be found on their website – showcases some excellent tunes and strong performances.
So far they’ve released four full-length albums, as well as some singles, EPs and something called “mini plays” (MPs).
What are mini plays?
“Well, I got the idea from something I’d seen punk bands do,” explained Eric. “It’s a different format that we decided to call a mini play. I’d like the name to catch on.
“You get like 20 really short songs on a 7” record, just a minute or so long,” he said. “I liked the idea of writing songs of that length. And it saves you time when you listen to it.”
In keeping with the punk ethic, Pocket Vinyl often play “DIY” shows, popping up at an art gallery or a house party. They’re scheduled to play in Cleveland a couple of days before coming to Mansfield at what is listed on their website as an “undisclosed location,” although elsewhere I saw the location given as “Dingy Basement.”
I asked Eric if this is the name of a venue or an actual dingy basement.
“Well, both I guess,” he said. “It’s the venue. But it is also someone’s dingy basement.
“For shows like that we don’t always publicize the address. They find their own audience.”
Outside of music and art, Elizabeth and Eric have another goal – to have their own beer.
Any kind of beer, I asked? Or do you have something particular in mind?
“I’m thinking a white Belgian Ale,” said Eric. “Something for late fall, early winter. Kind of Christmas style.
“And I’ve even got the name: Pocket Vine Ale.”
I’ll have to see if I can hook them up with Duncan Macfarlane, head brewer of Mansfield’s celebrated Phoenix Brewing Company. Sounds like the sort of thing he could knock out on a quiet week.
Eric has also designed a “deep strategy” board game called Pushee Pieces, and is enthusiastic about the recent resurgence in board-game popularity.
“There’s been a lot more interest over the last few years,” he told me. “It’s something I’ve really gotten into. People aren’t on their phone, they’re physically playing the game, they’re touching the pieces. It’s great.
“Pushee Pieces was something we got going on Kickstarter. I made the board out of canvas so you can screen-print it and roll it up like a poster. I’ve sent copies out all over the world that way, as far away as Australia and Russia.”
Pocket Vinyl play the Fourth Street Bar, 296 E 4th St, Mansfield on Monday, March 13. Doors at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Check out their music and more at www.pocketvinyl.com.
