City Lights Theater Company's video: Late Season Blooms on The Next Stage

On July 24, 2020, The Next Stage hosted Late Season Blooms for an evening of alt-country, power pop and lots of amazing guitar! Late Season Blooms is a collective of musical colleagues, friends and family led by guitarist/songwriter Michael Winsatt. A San Jose-area teacher for over two decades, Mike put his musical ambitions on hold to raise four kids and focus on his public-education career while former bandmates went off to find success in the Bay Area music scene. In 2018, a conversation with colleague and drummer Damien Wendel led to an offer to help him record some original material. It took Mike six months to finish writing one song to start this project, but two weeks after finishing it he went through a personal experience-turned-catalyst, leading to over 20 songs composed over a five-week period. That event transformed into an experiment to artistically capture and process a tumultuous moment of life in the present. The result is "Soul Crushing Heartache in Real Time," what the band jokingly describes as “what Rumors would have been if Fleetwood Mac were a lo fi, DIY, alt-country, power pop post-punk band.” Echoes of Mike’s musical interests and influences can be heard throughout the album, from Dylan to Davies to more contemporary rock poets like Rhett Miller and Will Scheff. While the band cannot completely perform together live during the COVID-19 shutdown, Mike has been performing on social media weekly. Family friend Zoe Corsaro caught one of the shows back in March and became the newest addition to the band. She’s got a soulful, powerful voice reminiscent of some of rock’s great singers, like Ronstadt or Slick. Together, they performed acoustic selections from "Soul Crushing Heartache in Real Time" and more on the City Lights virtual stage. Mike and Zoe both have a background in theater. Zoe performs in local community and high school productions in the Tracy area. Mike teaches high school theater in San Jose. They’re proud to help support City Lights during this challenging time for local theaters. Learn more about The Next Stage and donate to support City Lights at cltc.org/thenextstage. Thanks, friends!