I'm getting excited for the Tommy Bolin Music Fest this weekend. We've made it bigger and better than last year in an effort to honor Sioux City's rock n' roll son. I hope the local people and the Tommy fans around the world come out to support the foundation and pay tribute to a guitar playing genius and a good young man. His accomplishments are huge for someone who only lived to be 25 years young. This city doesn't have many things to be proud of, Tommy Bolin is one of them. I'd like to see the mayor and the city big boys at the festival showing their support. Hey, a guy can always dream.

I continue with my personal battle to foster a live music scene in Siouxland. The people who witness one of the many truly enlightening shows at the Chesterfield or the Promenade love what they have seen and heard. Yet so few come out to experience the joy. It does my soul good to hear a person say, "WOW, what a show!" On the other hand it crushes me to see a club with less than 50 people in it listening to a world class act like Liz Mandeville. If live music fades away, I wonder if anyone will miss it. Will the few who support live music have a hole in their lives? How can we get the masses to realize what they are missing? I'm sure that if you could have pulled 300 people out of their homes and into the Chesterfield last Friday night, squeezed the $3 cover out of them and made them listen for a couple of songs, every one of them would have been thankful. I believe they would have felt better about their lives. Hell, they might have even smiled.

Music is a powerful thing. Sometimes it makes me laugh. Sometimes I cry. But I always feel something when I listen to music. I believe that everyone feels something when they listen to music. Some people may not even know it, but subconsciously, they do. So, I forge ahead. Pulling the live music plow, hoping to plant a few more seeds every time a killer act hits the stage. I tell myself to stop, but I can't. I love it. So for all of you who have become followers, I thank you from the bottom of my soul. And to the hundreds and thousands who choose to deprive yourself one of life's oldest and simplest pleasures, I pity you.

I have stated before that I could write my rambling messages on a piece of paper, fold it into a paper airplane and launch it from the chief's monument and my message would reach more people than it does here, but I like it here. So thanks, and pass the word... live music is cool!

Peace