Ekoostik hookah (styled əkoostik hookah) is a

jam band A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational "jam session, jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to musical improvisation, improvise ove ...

from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. Formed in 1991, the band has made multiple national tours in the US, as well as performing in overseas locales like Amsterdam and Jamaica, although they may more commonly be found playing local

venues like

Newport Music Hall Newport Music Hall is a music venue located in the University District of Columbus, Ohio, across the street from the Ohio Union of the Ohio State University. It is "America's Longest Continually Running Rock Club". History The venue opened i ...

and Lifestyle Communities Pavilion. They are fixtures in many fine venues across the midwest. The band has shared the stage with many of today's top touring "

jam bands A jam band is a musical group whose concerts and live albums substantially feature improvisational " jamming". Typically, jam bands will play variations of pre-existing songs, extending them to improvise over chord patterns or rhythmic groo ...

", as well as stars such as

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

Arlo Guthrie Arlo Davy Guthrie (born July 10, 1947) is an American folk music, folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing protest song, songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his fa ...

Bob Weir Robert Hall Weir ( ; né Parber, born October 16, 1947) is an American musician and songwriter best known as a founding member of the Grateful Dead. After the group disbanded in 1995, Weir performed with the Other Ones, later known as the Dead ...

, and

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

. The band's name, pronounced "Acoustic Hookah", was taken from dictionary entries for the two words. The phonetic spellings were chosen, and the schwa (ə) became the band's official symbol. "Schwa" is also the title of a song by keyboardist and primary songwriter Dave Katz. The band endorses a number of charitable causes; among them, Pittsburgh's ongoing BurghSTOCK Concert Series that benefits area non-profits that assist homeless and disabled military veterans.

Hookahville

Hookahville is a semi-annual music festival featuring performances from local and regional bands and usually hosted and headlined by Ekoostik hookah. Formerly located at

Legend Valley Legend Valley (formerly Buckeye Lake Music Center) is an outdoor concert venue located in Thornville, Ohio, approximately two miles from Buckeye Lake. Events See also *List of contemporary amphitheatres This is a list of amphitheatres in ...

Thornville, Ohio Thornville is a village in Perry County, Ohio, United States. It is north of the county seat of New Lexington. The village had a population of 1,087 as of the 2020 census. History Thornville was originally called Lebanon, and under the latter ...

or at Frontier Ranch in

Kirkersville, Ohio Kirkersville is a village in Licking County, Ohio, United States, along the South Fork of the Licking River. The population was 471 at the 2020 census. Kirkersville was platted in 1832 by William C. Kirker, and named for him. Geography Accord ...

, it was moved to

Zane Shawnee Caverns The Zane Shawnee Caverns is a cave system in Jefferson Township, Logan County, Ohio, Jefferson Township, Logan County, Ohio, Logan County, Ohio, United States. The caverns are show caves owned by the nonprofit United Remnant Band of the Shawnee N ...

Bellefontaine, Ohio Bellefontaine ( ) is a city in Logan County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located 48 miles (77 km) northwest of Columbus, the population was 14,115 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Bellefontaine micropolit ...

, in 2017 where Hookahville 50 was held in September 2018 and was Ekoostik hookah's reunion show with eh2.0. Hookahville 51 was held at Brushy Fork Phamily Ranch in Newark, OH in May 2019. Hookahville 52 was held at Clear Fork Adventure Resort in Butler, Ohio where eh2.0 returned for one more performance. Spring Hookahville is held the weekend before

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

weekend; the end of summer version is held during

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend. In November, 2020, an event was held online due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

but is not considered the official Hookahville 53 which was ultimately postponed until September of the following year.

Members

*Dave Katz - vocals/keyboards/acoustic guitar (member inception–present) *Steve Sweney - lead guitar (member inception–present) *Eric Lanese - drums/vocals (member 1993–present) *Matt Paetsch - Bass (member 2018–present) *Eric Sargent - vocals/guitar (member April 2010 – present) *John Mullins - vocals, rhythm guitar (member inception–1996, 2006–2010, no longer with the band as of April 5, 2010)John Mullins Leaves ekoostik hookah for the Second Time
JamBands.com. *Cliff Starbuck - bass/vocals (member inception–2009, left band at the end of 2009 to pursue other musical projects) *Ed McGee-guitar/vocals (member 1996–2005) *Johnny Polansky-percussion/drums (member 2000–2005) *Steve Frye (aka "Octofrye") - drums (member inception–1993) *Don Safranek - percussion (member 1992–1994) *Matt Paetsch - bass (member 2018–present) *Phil Risko - bass, vocals (2010-2017)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1991 till:31/01/2019 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:1991 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:percussion value:claret legend:Percussion Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1991 PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Dave Katz from:18/04/1991 till:31/01/2019 color:keys bar:Dave Katz from:18/04/1991 till:31/01/2019 color:vocals width:3 bar:Steve Sweney from:18/04/1991 till:31/01/2019 color:guitar bar:John Mullins from:18/04/1991 till:07/08/1996 color:guitar bar:John Mullins from:12/04/2006 till:27/03/2010 color:guitar bar:Ed McGee from:25/09/1996 till:31/12/2005 color:guitar bar:Eric Sargent from:27/03/2010 till:31/01/2019 color:guitar bar:Cliff Starbuck from:18/04/1991 till:31/12/2009 color:bass bar:Phil Risko from:01/01/2010 till:31/12/2017 color:bass bar:Matt Paetsch from:26/01/2018 till:end color:bass bar:Steven Frye from:18/04/1991 till:26/08/1993 color:drums bar:Eric Lanese from:18/05/1993 till:31/01/2019 color:drums bar:Don Safranek from:18/06/1992 till:09/07/1994 color:percussion bar:Johnny Polansky from:01/03/2000 till:01/10/2005 color:percussion width:3 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:John Mullins from:18/04/1991 till:07/08/1996 color:vocals bar:John Mullins from:12/04/2006 till:27/03/2010 color:vocals bar:Ed McGee from:25/09/1996 till:31/12/2005 color:vocals bar:Eric Sargent from:27/03/2010 till:31/01/2019 color:vocals

Discography

* ''Under Full Sail'' (1991) * ''Dubbabuddah'' (1994) * ''Double Live'' (1996) * ''Where the Fields Grow Green'' (1997) * ''Sharp In the Flats'' (1999) * ''Seahorse '' (2001) * ''Ohio Grown'' (2002) * ''Under Full Sail: It All Comes Together'' (2007) * ''brij'' (2013) * ''Halcyon'' (2017) * ''31 West'' (2021) * ''The Schwa Album (2023)''

Filmography

* ''Spring Hookahville'' (2004), YBP * ''New Year's Eve'' (2005), YBP * ''Live at the Newport'' (2007), YBP * ''Almost Legal'' (2011), The film was recorded at the March 12, 2011 concert at the

in Columbus, Ohio in celebration of the band's 20th anniversary. It was produced by Desert Custom Photography Las Vegas.

References

External links

* http://www.ekoostik.com * http://www.hookahville.com

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Hookahville Ekoostik hookah (styled əkoostik hookah) is a jam band from Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1991, the band has made multiple national tours in the US, as well as performing in overseas locales like Amsterdam and Jamaica, although they may more common ...

2000
Ekoostik Hookah collection
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

's live music archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekoostik hookah Rock music groups from Ohio Jam bands Musical groups from Columbus, Ohio