We're coming into the time of year when more and more musicians are traveling around the country playing live shows for crowds in the hundreds, to the tens of thousands. Whether it's concerts in the park, at the local high school, or a night at the opera, chances are there is something not too far away from where you live, with something to enjoy.
There is something special about the experience of listening to music being created in the moment--that can't be the same as hearing that same music recorded and heard from that perspective, no matter how sophisticated the music system is. We in North Iowa are fortunate to have some places to go for that, including, of course, the legendary Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. When I first moved here there were more venues than there are now and there were a number of local musicians in bands that played regularly. I had the opportunity to support quite a few in the mid-80's by giving them a voice to the radio listeners and to let people hear some of their recordings. A lot of those musicians remain my friends all these years later.
Practically every genre of music has celebrations through out the spring and summer months. My first day-long rock festival was a couple of months after Woodstock, in October of '69, a showcase of mostly Northern California bands, from It's A Beautiful Day and Cold Blood, to the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, complete with the Ikettes, to Santana. We camped out the night before and had to leave about 3 hours into Santana's set. The very next summer people around Iowa may remember the three nights at Wadena, and all the bands that played over the course of that long weekend; one year after that, two day long festivals in St. Paul in July and August that were headlined by the Allman Brothers and the Band, respectively.
In a previous column I mentioned the Surf in relation to the Winter Dance Parties in 1978 and '79. If the memories of those years were all I had to remember the place by I would still be grateful for the times I spent, but it's 38 years later and I'm going to a concert there next week, with more over the next two months. If you've never been in the building, you owe it to yourself to make the trip and take a tour. Better yet, take in a concert, be it big band (they still have shows), country, rock, or even the next Winter Dance Party; it's an experience you have to see for yourself. North Iowa Area Community College has several shows in the auditorium every year, music in the park in Clear Lake and concerts at the Diamond Jo Casino as well.
There will be festivals all over the country with almost any kind of music you prefer going on all summer long. Watch for news here in MusicArtLife, or go online at www.musicart.life to find where and when. Over the summer and all year long, we'll share information on festivals in the area and beyond, and have some concert reviews and photos as well in the magazine.
Put on Bob Seger's Rock & Roll Never Forgets and sing it while you're on the way to some live music...
