Miriam Sturm

Miriam Sturm has been playing for John Mellencamp's band, along wih recording and touring, for a few years now. I first heard of her on New Year's of '98 when I had tuned into the VH1 New Year's Eve Special and found Mellencamp's band playing. After a few minutes, my best friend who now lives in Chicago phoned me and said, "turn on the T.V., my friend Miriam is on VH1!" I don't know if Miriam actually grew up in Chicago, but from what my friend she at least lived there. It is interesting too, that the way in which my friend knew her was through acting. I was just getting started with my own electric violin and was making personal notes while viewing the performance. Besides having an awesome electric violin, which by the way, rested on her 2 shoulders in a U-shape, she also had the showmanship down. Making lots of showy gestures and flirting with Mellencamp, I was thinking, "this is what people eat up." Regarding her violin, I know that Miriam is a spokesperson for T.F. Barrett Violins. However, looking at their website, I don't see any instruments that look like the one she was playing that New Years Eve. The only thing I can compare it to would be this Mark Wood "Viper", except that it was light in color. The company's description states, "the most important development is the revolutionary lightweight chest support system, which eliminates the need for a chin rest and shoulder pad, allowing the instrument to support itself. With the utilization of the chest support, the player now has the freedom of movement to explore options that previously were not available to him or her, such as singing, and performance "antics." So it was just her violin! The one in the picture at the top of the page does look like a Barrett, however, with its upturned scroll. One last note of 3rd party information: I understand that Miriam used to play a Zeta but didn't like it. Homepage: None Discography   John Mellencamp (Columbia Records, 1998) Real Audio Samples: Your Life is Now Chance Meeting at the Tarantula The Best That I Could Do 1978-1988 (Greatest Hits) (Polygram-Mercury, 1997) Mr. Happy Go Lucky (Mercury, 1996)