words and photos by Nickolai Hammar
Over the years, Gerardo Meza has toured the United States playing music with his band, The Mezcal Brothers. Along the way, he's picked up stories from a Seattle radio station, a Tucson club and airports on the way to the West Coast or Europe, all stuck to his memory via a few stickers on his guitar case.
As a musician in the Lincoln music scene, he's earned the title of godfather to some in the singer/songwriter community. As performer and patron, Meza frequents The Zoo Bar, a venue where he was both honored by Bonehart Flannigan's cover of a Meza original and was applauded for his own cover of a Universe Contest song, recorded at Take Cover, Vol. 2 on Jan. 19 and premiered online below.
Although he's still active in the band and as a solo musician, Meza also teaches art to a small group of students at the Arts and Humanities Focus Program in the Lincoln Public Schools district. He took time during his lunch break to tell the tales of tours past, broken ribs and surly wenches.
Many stickers remain on his retired guitar case. Most of them peeling off at the corners. Others are faded with some of the writing illegible. Meza says that he can't even remember where a good deal of them came from. As his students chatted in the background, he laughed and remembered some of the stories that came with the adhesive.
Hover over the guitar case and click on stickers to hear Meza further explain its stories:
From Meza's performance at Take Cover, Vol. 2 at The Zoo Bar in Lincoln:
Nickolai Hammar is a Hear Nebraska intern. He wants you to email him and tell him all about that one time you left the seat up. Reach him at nickolaih@hearnebraska.org.