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I spent the day in Cedar Falls, Iowa, this past Saturday for our first ever “Weststock” outdoor concert event. We had 4 great bands made up of young people from the UNI and local schools, great music, great weather, great food…it just could not have been any better. On my drive home, I was thinking about live music and how so many things have changed, and yet how many things have remained the same. I looked back on my own experiences for the past 4 decades and had some extremely pleasant memories. See, when I was only 14 years old, I had been playing guitar for 2 years, and was in my first rock 'n' roll band. It didn’t last very long, maybe 3 gigs, and I moved on to another band, that didn’t last much longer. Then, on to another, and another, etc. We played covers of all the new Top 40 tunes, which was great because at that time, The Beatles and Stones were at the top of the charts, and the music was great. There were so many places to play as most every smaller towns had a community center we could rent for maybe $20.00 for the evening . We’d charge $1 at the door and split the money at the end of the night and most of the time get at least $20.00 each for our labors, but seldom much more than that. That may not sound like a lot by today’s standards, but in 1966 that was a fortune to a 14 year old. Then we’d do it all over again the next Saturday night.
The only real form of promotion we had for the gigs were hand-written posters we did ourselves and hung up around the towns we played. Sometimes we’d get hired to play at a local school dance or maybe someone’s birthday party. There was always someplace for a young band to play. That whole scene has changed some, as there are not as many places for a young band to play. (I define a young band as a band that is too young to play the bars.) Now kids have their garage bands and work hard, but have a hard time finding venues in which to display their talents. Here is a major change…when they do land a gig, they are luckier than my generation was when it comes to promotion. Man, what we could have done with the Internet, FaceBook, MySpace, and Twitter!! What I am most impressed with is the music. While we relied on covers of current hits, these kids write and arrange their own stuff, and I am amazed by some of it. I am especially excited about the fact that in nearly every case, the guitar is at the forefront of the arrangements. Face it… in the last couple of decades, the music was not real guitar friendly with -- in many cases, taking a back seat to synthesizers. (Not that that’s a bad thing, but hey, I’m a guitar player!!) True, a lot of things have changed, but the one thing that has remained the same is Spirit. These kids have the same passion for music and performing that we had 40 years ago. They are excited about music, and judging from the reaction of the crowd that was at “Weststock” Saturday, able to make their excitement contagious! To quote a hit song from the 80’s, “The Heart of Rock N’ Roll is Still Beating” within every one of these younger players. Support and encourage their efforts all you can and help them find events they can perform at.
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