Rocktober definitely did not disappoint. What an amazing month filled with music, friends, and tons of fun! I am truly blessed and surrounded by amazing people. I wish I could clone myself to get everywhere! I get to see so much, but there’s still so much to see and hear. I’m extremely blessed to have my shiny disco ball “Frachel” aka Cynthia York Rogers to flutter around and still bring the fun in my absence, and when I’m in town, right by my side! We make a great team, and she really is my extra set of eyes, ears and energy!! I love ya Cindy!
My month started many moons ago on a super relaxing chill night at Sturges Speakeasy for Matt Jameson Live! Holly and I had a delicious dinner and finally got to catch up all while eating delicious food and listening to the sweet sounds of Matt Jameson. Sturges is a fun Thursday night hang out! Bartender Rachel makes delicious Mocktails, and they are always served with a smile by the one only Jeff, the best, most patient server in Harrisburg!
Friday night started off nice and calm with a delightful trip to Wolf Brewing Co. to see Megan and Dave with my dear fwend Angie Finney! (I know I finally got her out with me!) After a scrumptious dinner, and catching up with Angie, I finished the night with Matt Jameson Live at Flinchy’s. It has been a while since Matt was at Flinchy’s and you could tell by the crowd! Amy even came out! Such a fantastical night with even more fantastic friends!!!
Saturday was time for the Annual Little Buffalo Festival, it was a blast! Such a beautiful day.. Music, Food Trucks, and so many friends! At one of my favorite places on Earth, Little Buffalo State Park.. I could only stay for half the day, but I’m so glad I made it as long as I did. I was able to check out Dovetail, the Zimmerman Family Band, Ragged Grace, Erica Lyn Everest Music with a full band (Chris Auxt, Michael Culp, Drew Hall), and Hank The Buffalo. Plus of course I ate some delicious Halls Ice Cream, and other delicious food from the food trucks!
After going home for a little break, I managed to get back out and catch the end of Derek Avalon’s debut show at Sierra Madre Saloon. Derek was even getting all fancy and using a looper.. so the sweet sounds of the looper, mixed with his buttery voice.. that guy is making ice cream!! Ha! Awesome show Derek! He also shared the stage with Megan Yvonne and Jacob Vettori who played us some more beautiful songs. It was a great show with great friends!
The following week, I squeezed in some early in the week fun! After I went and Walked a Mile in Her Shoes with the YWCA in Carlisle, I stopped at the Copper Pub and Grille open mic, hosted by Megan and Dave. I caught the last few acts, but heard it was a good turnout with all amazing talent! Wednesday I headed to Snappers Bar and Grill for the benefit for United 4 Animals. Lots of Raffles were won! (By other people.) And Matt Jameson Live entertained us all night long! What a great night for a great cause!! Snapper’s, with Janet’s help, know how to throw one heck of a party!!
Saturday was another amazing benefit, The 6th Annual Children’s Miracle Network Music Festival was a huge success!! So many amazing musicians donated their time to this amazing cause! Music ALLLL day from Noon-10pm!! Matt Jameson Live kicked things off at Noon, followed by: Blood & Earth, Ruiness, Radio Gypsies, Nicks in Time, Social Parasite, Thousand Pound Destruction, Priest Unleashed, and the night ended with Penntera! Amazing production by the one and only Jeff “Ritt” Rittenhouse. The whole day ran flawlessly! Congrats also to Eric Dengler, aka Space and Angie for organizing and hosting this amazing event! A hair over $4,000 was raised for the Children’s Miracle Network. The real reason we do it all is for the kids, so it’s always awesome to find out how much was raised at such an awesome event.
I had to push thru exhaustion.. and made my way up to Shermans Creek Inn for Emily’s ToyBox’s 30th Reunion show!!! When I got there, Gun Metal Gray was on stage. I haven’t seen these guys for way too long. They were a great choice to open for Emily’s Toybox, the fans were already fired up and having a great time! Then it was time for the release of their new CD “It’s OK to Swear” .. (except at HWC).. The place was insanely packed, but wow!! What a great show. So glad I made it!!! Congrats guys on 30 years!!!!! It’s pretty awesome that Brandon and Rick also wrote and sang lead on songs too. It’s always cool to see how talented this whole band is! What an amazing night! I’m glad I sucked it up and made it to the show. I wish I could’ve pushed through to the end, but alas, all good things must come to an end at some point, and plus I had to wake up and leave to catch a flight to Vegas at 4am!
After my quick trip to Vegas, I made it home by Thursday, for another trip to Sturges Speakeasy..this time for Megan and Dave. It was one of those nights where so many of our friends showed up! I love it when so many of us get together to just hang out and have fun! What a great show! I love seeing how much Megan and Dave have been able to relax and enjoy being the show as much as we all enjoy watching it! Such a blast! Check out Megan and Dave’s ad in this issue and get out there and support some great music!
On Friday it was a Hot Date Night!! Kris started the night with me for dinner at Copper Pub and Grille for Jason Carst Music. Yes, he does exist! Hahaha! Then, I took him home, and headed to Wolf Brewing Co. for Derek Henry Acoustic, and was extremely surprised to see baby Liam Derek Henry! Yes, he’s named after his Uncle, so it was super fun to include Liam in my selfie! After amazing music and baby snuggles, I headed down to Horn Pub for the end of Matt Jameson Live! Always cool to see so many friends and hang out and have a good time!
Saturday was another day of musical merriment in Mechanicsburg! Lots of bands!! Megan and Dave, Crash & Cross (bummed I missed you guys), Shine Delphi, Pucker Up!, and Observe the 93rd!! Observe the 93rd is still looking for their perfect drummer, but holey camoley, their fill in drummer, kicked some serious butt! Hard to believe they never really played together before. Absolute WOW. Mechanicsburg lucked out with the weather! It was so gorgeous, which of course helped their even be very well attended. They had a cool set up with two different stages, brew trucks, food trucks, and more! After Observe the 93rd, it was off to Sierra Madre Saloon to finish the night with Dave Gates Music, and a special treat, seeing Rob Rutz rockin the cajon! What an awesome day!!! I’m so blessed to always be having so much fun with so many amazing people!!
Every Wednesday, The Blue Sky Tavern has an Open Mic hosted by Matt Jameson Live, and I’m glad we made it down there, because it was another super fun night!! The best part of Open Mics is seeing everyone share techniques, talk about music and play music!! All while some us just get to sit back and watch the magic! Thanks so much to all the musicians for sharing your talents with us! We saw the fearless leader himself, Matt Jameson, Josh Tweedy, Natasha, Andre, Ricky Lee, Lola, Ben, Stephen Robert, and Merve.
The final night out this month, I grabbed the puppies and headed down to the Harrisburg Beach Club for some Hank The Buffalo! They had a special Sunday evening show. They showed the Eagles game on their big screen, and then Hank kicked off an Eagles After Party! The puppies did pretty good.. we hung outside with Stephen’s parents, and watched the sunset on the river. The Harrisburg Beach Club has to be one of the best places in the Burg to watch the sunset! The puppies and I had a fun adventure in the big city!
Another amazing month in the books. November is an exciting month for my family. Zack will officially be graduating from AIT and heading to his first Duty Station. If I’m a little distracted this month, that would be why… I’m sure you will see me every chance I get to be out there running around, listening to great music. If you see me Out & About stop me and say Hi! Have a great month everyone and get out there and Support Live Music!!
