My first article for “The Overture” (see “Defibrillating the music scene back to life”) discussing the state of the, at the time, failing local music scene.
I’m not going to take the credit for the recent change in the music scene, since I don’t deserve it, but it seems as though the defibrillation worked. There’s a pulse.
The scene has gone from its zombie-like state — full of lifeless concert goers — to an exciting music scene that I’m proud to be a part of.
Ricardo Friaz (Viva Joaquin, The Airlings, AlsoFrightened.com) deserves a large portion of the credit for the scene’s revival. From Word Pie open mics to the “Songs at Sunset” acoustic series, Friaz gave the scene somewhere to go to see local bands perform when there was nowhere to go.
Jonathan Jennings (Quote Your Pulse Records) has done great work with his fall concert series and will probably have similar success with his upcoming winter series.
Modesto’s Thursday Night Ramble (who won a MAMA this year) has continued to have great success.
While the days of Evaline and Fairwell Madison are over, the last year has shown that there’s still a ton of talent in the area.
There’s plenty of new local music for music lovers to check out. Indian Runner, Adam Bishop and Madie Boyd all recently released records and Quote Your Pulse Records is constantly putting out records.
Young talent and old favorites are also making their presence known in the scene. The young  Airlings are blowing people away each show they play. I’m not easily impressed, but they outperformed themselves at the KCSS Rocksgiving Holiday Hoedown. Second Hand Lions are finally playing shows again and are on the verge of releasing a new acoustic album and some demos.
There’s a lot of reason to be excited about the local music scene; so get out, go to a show, buy a record and support the local music scene.
I think Adam Bishop put it best. “I don’t like local bands because they’re local; I like local bands because they’re good.”