It’s 8:40 p.m. on a Friday evening, five minutes before the O’Connor Band is slated to make their Grand Ole Opry debut. Fiddle legend Mark O’Connor is standing just offstage, wearing his trademark Fedora hat, smiling at the sight of the crowd, the lights, and his old friends in the Opry house band.

The final day of the 2017 Okeechobee Music Festival dawned cool and breezy with many exhausted music fans passed out all about the festival site. But another day of fantastic music from many genres got people motivated early despite their exhaustion. Even after 4 days of non-stop partying many committed festival goers wore fresh new costumes and sported freshly made totems.

Day 3 of the Okeechobee Music Festival dawned chilly and breezy. Nonstop partying began taking its toll on festival goers and many took advantage of the cooler temperatures to get some actual sleep. But as high noon approached both Aquachobee beach and center Chobeewobee began to bustle with life again. The cool morning gave way to a sunny windblown day that created havoc in the camping areas, turning some tents into flying kites and stirring a virtual dust storm across the venues.

Understanding the virtuosity of Reckless Kelly requires the perspective of where the band has been. Cody and Willy Braun grew up in the White Cloud Mountains of Idaho. They moved to Bend, Oregon, and then migrated to that great musical fountainhead, Austin, Texas.

Darol Anger will convene an extra-special edition of his Republic Of Strings band in Colorado in April 2017, featuring Enion Pelta (Fiddle), Emy Phelps (Vocals), Mike Robinson (Guitar) & Eric Thorin (Bass). Catch them in Boulder at Naropa University, April 23rd.

The Mimi Fishman Foundation has launched their second online charity auction of 2017. This time around the Foundation offers drumsticks from 2016 and 2017 shows. The drumsticks are labeled for date/show and also signed by Phish drummer Jon Fishman. Many shows are represented including sticks from Mexico (2017), New Years (2016) and Halloween (2016).

The auction ends April 13, 2017 and can be found at http://auction.mimifishman.org

Thank you...The Mimi Fishman Foundation