Stew & the Negro Problem and knowing good people

• Reprints

Stew and Heidi Rodewald have remained friends and songwriting partners despite ending their relationship as a romantic couple a few years ago, and chronicled it on their forthcoming album, "Making It." photo © Michal Daniel

Updated: November 21, 2011 7:22PM

With a name like Stew & the Negro Problem, you have to expect the band has an interesting story.

The singularly named Stew, a musician turned successful playwright, will bring his band, which includes songwriting partner Heidi Rodewald and some hired guns, to S.P.A.C.E. in Evanston in advance of the release of their newest album, “Making It,” on Dec. 1.

Stew & the Negro Problem will perform songs from the album as well as songs from the 2008 Tony Award- winning musical, “Passing Strange,” and from their catalog going back to the mid 1990s.

But first ... the name. It’s a question Stew has answered over and over, but gladly.

“That’s a really old question,” said Stew, who is African-American. “Like every band, you put a list of names on paper and whichever one makes you laugh the hardest, that’s the one you choose.”

He added the band has never been on a major record label and has not received any of the promotional push that comes with big label status, so the unusual name is helpful. One might argue Stew could add “marketing genius” to his credits.

“I’m actually glad that I have to keep explaining the name because it means it’s still something worth commenting on,” he said. “That was the whole reason we liked the name, because it seemed like something people couldn’t stop noticing and commenting on.”

Tony winner

Those who have an ear to the theater scene might be more familiar with Stew, and consequently, the Negro Problem.

Stew, a native of Los Angeles, penned “Passing Strange,” which won a Tony for Best Book of a Musical, and Spike Lee turned it into a movie in 2009. It’s about the artistic journey taken by a young African-American man, from his home in Los Angeles to Europe. The inspiration came from a surprising source — George W. Bush.

“When I found out George Bush hadn’t ever been to Europe before he was president and I thought about how much I wanted to travel to far away places ... ” he said. “I thought, ‘OK, this guy’s family owns airplanes and he never went.’ ”

The musical received accolades and the experience became surreal for Stew, who said he started receiving expensive guitars from a prominent guitar-maker and finding people show up to carry his baggage. Best, though, he’s been commissioned to write more plays and he’s currently teaching a songwriting class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Life was good until the heartbreak, which can be heard on “Making It,” due to be released Jan. 24. It’s a deeply personal album for both Stew and Rodewald because it deals with the break-up of their romantic relationship with each other and how they’ve moved forward.

They broke up during the first run of “Passing Strange.”

“That was a little dramatic,” Stew said. “That was more dramatic than the play, really. Dramatic and traumatic.”

Musical team

But, Stew said he and Rodewald are a good songwriting team. He then added their relationship now extends beyond music, that they’re very close friends.

“I thought I was going to be making ‘Making It’ on my own,” he said. “But, I thought I needed to work with her.”

The audience at S.P.A.C.E. can also look forward to hearing plenty of pre-“Passing Strange” material, including “Gary Come Home,” a song he recorded for an episode of “Sponge Bob Squarepants,” when Sponge Bob’s pet snail, Gary, leaves home after being neglected.

He landed that gig just because someone at Nickelodeon was a fan of Stew & the Negro Problem.

“That’s how we’ve survived all these years — not because we’ve had a lot of fans, but the ones that we have like us and help us out,” he said. “We have pretty cool, talented, interesting fans, who’ve really done us some cool favors. It helps, ya know.”