Music

STEW: Passing Strange

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StewI had the great fortune of seeing Stew’s new show Passing Strange this evening at Stanford.  The show, co-written by Stew and his collaborator Heidi Rodewald (who describes herself as "the thinner, lighter half" of STEW), is two hours of pure energy, thoughtfulness, poetry, and, of course, Stew.  Passing Strange is the story of a young man’s journey from church in Los Angeles to a hash bar in Amsterdam to an anarchist collective in Germany and back again to church in Los Angeles in his quest to find "the real" — what Rick Warren call’s The Purpose Driven Life.  Stew adeptly narrates the show from a podium on the stage; playing guitar and banjo, he drives the story forward through song and verse.  The results are nothing shy of spectacular.  If you live in the Bay Area and missed the show this time around, have no fear, Stew will be back in the Fall to perform Passing Strange at the Berkeley Repertory Theater.