To the friends and family of Mickie Jones,
     My name is Joel Steven. I am a fellow musician and friend of Mickie's from the Hollywood Hills. Let me begin by expressing my deep condolences to you all, and wish you all the best in recovering from your loss.

     I met Mickie late in his life when he was in need of a friend. My girlfriend Kathy and I saw his good-hearted nature, and invited him to stay in our home for a short period, in which time I came to know a man with a beautiful heart and dreams of once more reaching the stars as he had already done more than once. He was a good person through and through, and I am saddened by his passing.

     Mickie moved some belongings into my home and garage when he lived with me. most of it is just old paperwork and some clothes, but I kept it long after he moved out and I lost touch with him. If anything I might have is of interest, please contact me. I would be happy to return and memories that may reside for you in his things.

     It is with deep regret that I did not get to say goodbye to Mickie, but I will hold on to the memories of our short time together fondly. To a true musician and rock and roll star. Rest easy my friend.

Sincerely,

Joel Steven

“The world is broken.”

In a dull gray apartment just off the smog-laden streets of the city, a man sits alone with his head in his hands, thinking. It’s 5:00 A.M., a time in the season when the sun begins to sneak its eyes over brick tenements to the east and peers into his window. But not today.

A television murmurs in the background, chatting like a lonely friend. His only friend. The news. Crises building, one on top of the other. Growing like a cancer in the uninsured. War, poverty, pollution, overpopulation, housing crisis, banking crisis, food crisis, fuel crisis, rampant unemployment, rising crime rates, prime rates, murder-suicide, suicide bombings, religious warfare, nuclear conflict, earthquakes, tsunamis, global warming, change in jet stream, altered gulf stream, melting ice caps, drought, flood, increased hurricanes, world leaders unable or unwilling to affect change.

He’s numb and beaten. Depression is a phantom on his heals. He thinks of an old friend from high school, killed somewhere in the Middle East. Remembers a girlfriend, his only love, how she left him for Jesus. Maybe this is his problem. He doesn’t believe in anyone higher or mightier than himself. He laughs an uneasy laugh, like a modern day Hawkeye Pierce up to his elbows in blood.

For hours he sits staring. The patterns in his rug melt into hallucinations. He dreams of mountains and clear flowing water. Wants to get away. Needs to. Wishes he could be a child again, where the worst thing to face was the town bully or an empty playground on a Saturday afternoon.

It’s 7:38 A.M., a time when the clamor of the awakening city should be alive and seeping through the cracks in his windows. Nothing. The only sound is his creaking chair and his heart beating tar through his veins. The TV has gone black. His chest puffing in the muted sepia light. He blinks hard, reaches out like a drowning man, picks up a pen, and writes…

“The world is broken, but I’m still here…” he begins.

I am a filter. . . .

Never before in my life, has it been so easy to let the events in our world bleed through the fabric of my artistic mind and pour out the other side in my music. With the world in turmoil and with no real end in site, it is no wonder that my newest album "The Dark After Dawn" should reflect the bitter struggles of people like you and I in a world of plunged into crises from every angle.

I invite you to take a musical journey into the mind of one such individual, who is living out his days in the battle between hope and despair. His is the story of many of us. His struggles are common themes in this world of uncertainty and chaos. Dark though the tale may be, there is a thread of hope woven through these songs. I believe that only in seeing the darkness will we be able to appreciate the light.

If you are a fan of thoughtful lyrics or a lover of concept albums like Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', you are sure to find a certain enchantment in "The Dark After Dawn". Although many of it's songs will stand nicely on their own, It is really meant to be heard as one whole unbroken piece of art where each song is just one segment of the journey. I hope you will put aside one hour of your life and sit down with my latest creation, "The Dark After Dawn”.

Housing crisis, financial crisis, fuel crisis, food crisis, stock market crash, bank failures, home foreclosures, bankruptcy, rising unemployment, global recession, global warming,  fire storms, mud slides, melting ice caps, mass extinction, war in Iraq, war in Afghanistan, slaughter in Darfur, war in the Congo,  rise in terrorism, suicide bombers, religious fanaticism, WMD's, depression, chemical imbalance, loss of hope, suicide, poverty, famine, OVERPOPULATION.

“The Dark After Dawn". . . coming June 2009

The Dark After Dawn – (New CD to be Released June 2009)

Powerful and true to life, The Dark After Dawn is a haunting journey
into the mine of one man caught in a world of war, environmental
destruction and financial ruin. The year 2009.

The follow up to Joel Steven’s second release Fathomless, The Dark After Dawn
was conceived and written in the troubled years of 2008 and 2009, a time
when fear and uncertainty became the fabric of everyday life across
our faltering world.

A conceptual collection of songs comparable in scope to great
albums like Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” and Sting’s “Ten Sumner’s Tales,
The Dark After Dawn pulls the listener through deepening tunnels
of hope and despair, where each song adds a new element
to the tale, yet can still stand amazingly strong alone.

True to his form, Joel Steven’s the Dark After Dawn is remarkably diverse.
From the crushing and sinister “Time to Bleed”, to the soaring acoustic guitar
driven “Listen”, and on to the tongue and cheek sarcasm of “Assisted Suicide”,
Steven’s songs reflect the winding pathways of human emotion and twisting
moods of its narrator.

Joel Steven
A lover of the English language from an early age, Joel took his
talent for writing poetry and fiction into the realm of songwriting.
His strong sense of imagery which he crafted as a poet and storyteller
was infused with his love for melody, creating a sonic landscape where
words and music reinforce one another, taking the listener on a
journey where each song has a setting all it’s own.

"North Coast" Live Video
Hi Friends,
I hope you'll drop by my video page and check out my live version of "North Coast". This instrumental guitar song was featured on MTV's Real World, and is the top grossing song on Octagon Records. I threw up a camera in my studio and took the best of three takes, then edited it together in one afternoon. It's the hardest song I have ever written to play, and afterwords I had torn skin hanging from my third finger. Looks like I am slacking on my finger conditioning! I also played it live before Good Morning America on Channel 2 News in Sacramento to a viewing audience of 2 million people!

Anyway, it was inspired by an amazing guitarist named Preston Reed (you must see him to believe him), who encouraged me to voice my guitar in open tunings like my hero Jimmy Page did on most of Led Zeppelin III and many others. The result was this song, "North Coast", my first attempt at playing in an alternate tuning. years later, I am now releasing a 12 song album where only one song is in a standard tuning. Thanks Preston! And moreover, a special thanks to the incredibly talented Nancy Jones (see my friends page) who's love and support encouraged me to shoot this song live. She's incredible.

The song is available through http://octagonrecords.com, and on itunes and CD Baby where It first appeared on the album "What Man Was". Leave me a comment, and hope you enjoy!

Joel