Joan Jett - America's River Fest June 14th, 2014

Within the fabric of modern music it is easy to pick out female artists that have left an indelible mark upon the threads of that fabric.  The tapestry of music that has formed using that fabric is massive.  It is beautiful and and resilient but despite that, the fabric has flaws.  Inside that tapestry can be found the threads made up by women in jazz, R&B, popular music, soul, gospel and the blues.  Although those threads have solidified the fabric with its sheer volume it can be said that the earliest threads of rock music are as fine as spider web.  Huh?

Gin Blossoms - Kevin Costner & Modern West - America's River Fest, June 14th, 2014

The year 1989 was one of tumult for me and with that opened more than just one chapter of the book of my life.  Musically we were in the midst of the "era of hair metal", so many bands formed nationally and locally that appeared to sound manufactured while in the shadows lay "college music" and its subset culture.  During that year the world was confronted by a movie about baseball and a band from the southwest released its debut album "Dusted" which in a way is a bit ironic.  Why?

Survivor - Halfway Jam

Survival is a tenuous position, you either survive or you become high-grade loam so its very easy to delineate between the two, if you succeed in surviving I suppose.  Depending on your beliefs of life-after-death you may know which way your cookie crumbled but survival is never that easy.  Second chances must be figured into the equation if not for the simple reason that survival and second chances are kind of the same thing.  In the world of music second chances are as close as their next performance.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - America's River Fest

Tragedy is the great equalizer.  Tragedy can be reflected in our eyes, our hearts, our minds and our demeanor.  I would chance a guess that with the exception of newborn babies we as a whole have had some tragedy in our lives.  I'm not talking about failing 3rd grade, or breaking up with that girl in 5th grade either.  Not even for the most shallow of people can attempt to justify failing 3rd grade as a tragedy and if you do then you should be put in the attic for twenty years.  Tragedy can also have unintended consequences.  How you ask?

Survivor - America's River Festival

Adversity is a phenomena that plagues everyone at some time in their lives.  What happens to a person that faces adversity is really up to the individual.  Yes we all have faced some type of adversity whether it be a test in high school or one's station in life but survivors overcome adversity.  Sometimes one has to have guts just to get to the glory and at other times you have to go the distance and never stop.  Sounds familiar doesn't it?  Why you ask, well...