Out Yonder

Out Yonder is an alternative band with a range of influences like classic rock, pop, and country music. Songwriting is paramount to this band, with catchy hooks and often surprising lyrics.

Jim Mazerik – Vocals and guitar
Les Talley – Drums and guitar
Steve Holzberg – Bass and vocals

Many years ago I was friends with…

Jimmy Mazeric

Of the songwriters I have known personally, I admire Jimmy most. I knew him as a craftsman and a prolific producer of exceptional songs. (I’m serious, I’ll write another post about him later, but his output and quality has always blown my mind). We played together informally before we had our own bands, and afterwards we even played shows together (well, at least one show). But life moved along and carried each of us away from active performance. We fell out of touch and haven’t interacted in twenty years.

Over the years I would try to see what he was up to. I could see that he had moved to the Sacramento area, gotten married and had kids, gotten a normal job, normal adult stuff. But it didn’t look like he was performing or playing regularly.

About a week ago I plugged his name into google and got the result above. Hey! He’s plays at a pub with his own band on the second Saturday of every month! I thought it would be fun to drive up there and catch the show, and surprise him.

Out Yonder Indeed

Sacramento is more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) away, and represents a fairly significant commitment.

Over the pass, beyond the giant reservoir, and into the Central Valley.

We were going to spend the night up there after the show, and had rented a room at a Howard Johnson. So we headed there first.

It was located right next to Discovery Park, at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers.

We had a lovely walk across a beautiful bridge into the park at sunset.

I took thirty photos of that Great Blue Heron to produce the one above.

We arrived early to eat dinner at the pub, and it’s a good thing we did! The first act had canceled so instead of coming on at 9:00, Out Yonder was already performing an acoustic set at 7:30 when we arrived. It was great! Maria and I had a wonderful time and it was really cool to hear Jimmy performing again. He is a fantastic songwriter.

At the intermission he walked by and I got his attention. He was so surprised to see me. Probably about the last thing he expected to happen at the show! As it turns out, this is only the third time his band had even played this gig!

It was a lot of fun to connect with him again and get to see him playing live. His band is great! They played a wonderful set with a lot of variety. I hope I can get a chance to see them again soon. Maybe even catch their show next month! (One of the band members even personally guaranteed me ~15 square feet of floor space to sleep on inside, including a dog to cuddle with to stave off the hypothermia!)

The Daily Stone