steve bartek fan blog

hello folks, as you can see, this is a fanblog of the composer/ orchestrator Steve Bartek (though more well known for being the lead guitarist in the band Oingo Boingo) i personally love his work and listen to it on the regular, whether it be Oingo Boingo or film scores, so i had the bright idea to make a blog to yap about him!! i will be talking about literally anything from buffington rhodes to baring all (until this cursed hyperfixation ends) / / / / / / / / / / / / / / posts will be slowing down

hey, I appreciate it! unfortunately, it's more of an archive than blog now because the demand for steve content on tumblr is so low, but I'm still quite active in other parts of the steve bartek/oingo boingo community. If you're looking for more photos, I occasionally offload some on pinterest (under "steve bartek") from a storage I have. If you're more interested in the music, you can head on over to the instagram ( [at]steve.bartek.fanpage-- which steve follows!) where I post more music related stuff of his.

[Steve Bartek, live with Fejj at The Keystone Corner in San Francisco, September 24, 1979] Fun fact: His (nearly) 3 minute long guitar solo does not appear on the album version of the track "No Reservations" (off their album "Alive")

This video contains a Steve Bartek interview that I had previously thought was partially lost media, but turns out I was just looking for it in a completely different Batman related thing.

Photos from all around the 70's. Did you know Steve used to play bass guitar?

"this means?" I'm ngl the instagram is doing much better, it's been steadily growing so I'll probably put my effort into that instead-- and besides, I prefer it over there because I actually get to post music clips and yap about it, instead of just posting pictures and shitposting ( that type of content does really well on here!) i think a few more scheduled posts (i think in the queue is fejj photos and a carvin advertisement) and this blog will wrap up. happy holidays, and thanks for showing support!!

The last two images seem to be from a performance taped on VHS but I couldn't find a video anywhere. Maybe I'll ask around and see if anyone's got it in an archive or something.

. . . and if anyone's curious as to what guitars they're holding, I believe the models are jim bartek (left): 1950-57 Gibson ES-140 3/4 (steve still owns this one) steve bartek (right): 1950-57 Gibson ES-125

we've got another possible Steve, folks. I'm on the fence about this as the guy crouched in the front is rocking the same hairstyle as him, and wearing an outfit we've seen him in before... but this was taken in Utah. Steve would've been 16 here, and he said his mother would not let him tour with the Strawberry Alarm Clock just a few years prior when he was 14, so... it's a 50/50 here. If anyone's got any info on what the lineup was like in 1968 and if Bartek was tagging along, feel free to comment and I'll add the correct info!

There was a guy who spent a long long time looking for info on this guitar and actually asked Steve himself about it (re: last photo from his blog) Go check out his blog if you're more interested on the specs + what happened to Steve's Mercury! https://jbplayerusa.blogspot.com/2021/06/steve-bartek-of-oingo-boingos-mercury.html and here's a reddit post he made on r/obscureguitars with more pictures: https://www.reddit.com/r/obscureguitars/comments/1h8hojb/absolute_cryptid_guitar_the_jb_player_mercury/

here's a video with them playing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AuRQIO9UVg&list=RD5AuRQIO9UVg&start_radio=1

from facebook

Fun fact: In 1980, as Oingo Boingo was coming up and had just gotten a deal with A&M records, Steve was in another band (with George Bunnell) called Speed Bumps. Speed Bumps was also on the come up, with lots of material already written and interest from A&M records. Both bands would require a lot of commitment from Steve, so he couldn't manage being in both at the same time. He chose to stay with Oingo Boingo.

I was surprised this wasn't going around more as it's such a great shot! Fun fact: I don't currently have one*, but I found this gem of a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQowz4BIB6o *(well, I do, but unfortunately I can't fact check it because the interview got taken down...)

and the fun fact: Steve Bartek was born in Garfield Heights, OH, but grew up in Woodland Hills, CA. He attended *Taft High School and was a part of the Taft High Jazz Band. * on Taft High School's website, he is listed under the "Famous Taft graduates" section on their "Achievements" page.