Bonus Blog: Americana Music Academy’s 20th Anniversary

 

Americana Music Academy’s 20th Anniversary

This October is the 20th anniversary of the Americana Music Academy. And guess what else, I have some surprises for the academy to give. Plus, I’m gonna be showing everyone at Americana some music videos I made.

The first video is for the song ‘Nolan On The Moors’.

Second one is a song about ‘Pie’ (3.1415 etc.).

And the third for Sissy & Earl’s song ‘Mama Don’t Know’.

I’m also gonna be giving out Lawrence Kansas Sampler CDs I made to people I know. And I have the perfect plan to do that.

Plus, I’ll be handing out free posters and giving them to people that I know. A Leo Kottke poster for Lisa, a ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ Poster for the folks at Americana to hang up on the wall, a Dixie Chicks poster, and a special painting I made myself for the academy. That painting I made has my cartoon character Camelopard Joey, and he plays the guitar. And not only that, he also plays the trumpet too.

This will be part of my vacation in Lawrence Kansas, and I hope that someday I will get to come back and visit once again. Anyway, back to that.

During the 20th anniversary I’ll be able to show my videos I made, hang out and jam, and record the whole vacation so I can put it all together. Also I wonder what the next Americana Sampler music CD would be like this year since I already got one. Maybe there’s one for my dad. Who knows?

I also got an idea for Americana that would be fabulous and totally off the hook. And this time, I have this one all planned out. I’ll let you all know on that later.

Anyway… When I first went to Americana Music Academy to see what’s inside, I was thrilled to look around at the music that’s playing inside. I remember the first location. That one used to be at 745 New Hampshire, next to the former Cafe Nova and close to Borders, but now it’s at this location next to Central Junior High.

Before

After

I will always remember that time back in the day my dad and I were making a recording jam session at the studio. At that first location, we did a cover of Coldplay’s hit song ‘Yellow’. I really love that song ever since.

On that second location down at Mass St., we did more recording at the studio. I remember that Ring Ring Remix with some friends of mine. Dan Stemmerman and Walter recorded that song. I just wish that I can see that recording studio once again. There’s also that time we spent Halloween there, we had a party at the academy too. It was really fun to enjoy.

Back then before the Americana Music Academy, there was Harmonic Arts located to 843 New Hampshire St. My dad and I remember a friend of ours who owned the place. His name was Jay and he was really friendly. We will always remember him for years to come, and I hope that maybe I will find him on Facebook soon. This is what the location looked like.

That was the best time ever here. That was also the time my dad and I did that mandolin tape. I really enjoyed my dad playing bluegrass really fast. I remember when I went like this. “Faster! Faster!” And the mandolin plays really really fast than I thought. We were having fun with it. That place had many musical instruments inside. It was also that time I watched Nickelodeon inside the store also. We didn’t know there was a TV here in the store’s studio. [comedy drum riff]

My future idea to keep supporting Americana Music Academy is to keep joining in for a couple jam sessions, join in the St. Patrick’s Day parades every year in March, and maybe get together with some American Roots music activities and music festivals in downtown Lawrence. That will make my folks really proud.

My second future idea for that one is maybe do a video docuseries about American Roots at Americana and maybe think of a podcast for the school.

Okay, that’s all for now. And furthermore, this has been your bonus blog. Check back tomorrow for next month’s blog coming soon.

Thanks so much, and we’ll see you in October.