Biography The author Stephen Roberts is the epitome of a "down to earth" writer. Brought up from childhood with a keen sense of all class struggles, he attempts to harness the common features of humanity, brought forth among all. An adept writer whose experience through customer service and sales-related fields has put him in touch with people from all sides: from the CEO of major corporations, to the simple Mom and Pop retail store; from the Starry Night martini atmosphere, to the Milwaukee Light homebody; he's a person to be watched. Whether he's found in attendance at fancy art openings, or your local dark tavern, his stories are wound with experience, imagination, and a love of expression. From poet to skilled writer, he portrays people in a light away from the common PC world in which we drown today; a voice among the common man.
Mission:
Sewn through the pages of this website are samples of my work. The novel excerpts, short stories and poetry are a means of expression meant to identify qualities in human nature we contain or are fascinated with. I hope to strike a cord with my readers, with use of my experiences, memories, and imagination. The key to life experience is communication and through that, we'll all learn our best ways of expression. It's important to embrace those moments where we are both strong, and vulnerable. For those moments, blossom into stories that guide our youth around obstacles that will always be. Music- The Lifeblood
Those of you, who know me, know how vital music is to my life. For as long as I can remember, I've always listened to a wide variety of music from jazz to punk, and through the years seen entertainer upon entertainer- I've been blessed. Every time my mood has plummeted, it's lifted me, even pulled me from the edge. I know I'm not alone. Writing has always been the channel from which I crawl, but only in the last few years has an inspirational new passage become available to me, one which I adore to say the least- music. Through a strange series of incidents this poet was thrust into the world of music- placed in the music world, if you want to be PC. It was a transformation from poetry to song- one song- which I wrote on a journey from the great Ohio destination- The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. My best friend, Brian and I had been to a writer's event in of all places Bellevue, OH (for those of you unfamiliar with NYC, Bellevue, New York houses one of the larger mental institutions). After our visit we perused the postcards in the gift shop and I discovered a picture of Keith Moon's Blue Suede Platform shoes. Enamored, I purchased it and sent it to Scott Margolin (a phenomenal bass player and HUGE rock & roll fan). Somewhere on my drive home, I penned a song about these things titled "Smooth Shoes". I hadn't thought too much about it after that- it got buried in a pile of paper- no vision of any music, but written in what I felt should be a song format. So one day, a couple of years later, I'm speaking with guitarist Joe Vella. He was upset about the loss of his bass player and I believe the same week, I heard Margolin complain about the loss of his guitarist. Now both men had CD's with their own bands and I decided to once again listen to them together. I found this incredible synchronicity with both- a pure acid like groove. I thought to myself, might be interesting to experiment in a studio and try "Smooth Shoes". I asked Vella and Margolin is we could try it and both agreed. Vella sent me five sample keyboard tracks as preparation and one fit the bill. When we got together, I expected him to bring a keyboard- much to my distress, I found he'd only brought his guitar and I come to learn it's his main instrument. Hesitantly, I said, can ya do that riff we talked about… and MAN! Could he play! I come to find, not only could he play like Hendrix, but he built his own guitar!! A technical genius in addition to condensed overall music package- complete and boxed! Well, the first rehearsal was so explosive we had no choice but to get together again. If only we'd recorded the first session- you'd see. We never forgot a recorder after that and those sessions (only 4 over the course of a year due to logistics) produced some incredible stuff. Unfortunately, with the demands of every day life on us all and the coordination of 4 men from miles apart, stopped the rock and roll machine we called MILC. Close to the end of it's duration -I went to master Vella's to work on some material for the band and in my two and a half hour drive I "funked" it up with James Brown, the Isley Brothers, LTD, and other good funky grooves. I shot in to his place so charged; I had to play some of it for him. Well, he picks up his guitar and BANG- we got GROOVE… FUNKIN groove.
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