Inspired by The Avett Brothers show, we started to realize that if you wanted your drop-dead heroes to play your town, sometimes all you had to do was ask (and fulfill one hell of a tour rider). You Am I's Tim Rogers anchors the Mt. Rushmore of rock in the back of Matt Kelley's brain (and soul) that makes him want to get out of bed every day and tackle this thing one more time, and so it was a thrill and an honor when he and Tex Perkins brought their tour to Fort Wayne — one of only five US stops on the entire tour, and the one they're both still talking about (trust me, we heard 'em). A night of a million memories. There's a bell downtown somewhere, and it cracked on this night, and those cracks are still running, still spreading, an eye-swelling adventure at the tip of each one.

Courtesy photos by Joel Faurote.

When Dan Carmody was named head of the revitalized Downtown Improvement District in 2006, we were immediately drawn to his love for music and inspired, concept-driven events. Dan called with the idea of a series of themed block party events, and we helped curate and market the first: The Wayne Calhoun Troubadour Series, named for legendary folker and raconteur Wayne Calhoun. Over the course of four weeks, some of Fort Wayne's finest folk-rock and roots artist performed, and the first event was headlined by North Carolina's Avett Brothers. Two years later, the show is still talked about — the Avetts stomped through a set full of emotion, fury, love and passion. A week later they were on stage at Bonnaroo and getting written up in The New Yorker. A magic, groundbreaking night, that showed Fort Wayne what could happen if you made a brave choice instead of a safe choice.

We worked with our good friends Greg Locke (Whatzup) and Carly Statz to put together a grassroots campaign to bring one of America's finest rock bands, Wilco, to Fort Wayne. After creating Addy Award-winning marketing materials — including posters, bumper stickers, guerilla cards and a wild website — the community just took over. We didn't have a street team, we had a street army. We had petitions signed by the dozen dozens, staged an 'Awareness Concert' with five of the area's best and most Wilco-inspired acts, and created a rumble in the press. The promoters started calling, we had serious conversations with Frank Riley of High Road Touring, and a date or two locked down. Ultimately, it hasn't happened. Yet. Mr. Tweedy himself told our friend, "What you guys did is really impressive. We'll be there, someday." We're ready to change this section of the portfolio at a moment's notice, Jeff.

For our own seventh anniversary, we staged a concert at Fort Wayne's Botanical Conservatory, featuring gumbo ya-ya, Kobe burgers, Old Speckled Hen and performances from OLG's Metavari and The Trainhopper Four, and headlined by Chicago's Ike Reilly Assassination. The reality was that we just wanted an excuse to get Ike to play Fort Wayne — you see, in the seven years since OLG opened its kitchen door, no artist has been played on the house stereo more often than Mr. Reilly, with his angry, funny, poetic songs of love and hate. Ike brought the thunder and blazed through an amazing set with his fiery, tight band. The next morning, he was on a plane to Austin, and the day after that, sharing the stage with the likes of Bob Dylan and The White Stripes at the Austin City Limits Festival. We were still in Fort Wayne, scratching our chins, ears ringing, and wondering about what we might do for Lucky Eight.

Courtesy photos by Joel Faurote.

We worked with Fort Wayne's historic Embassy Theatre (and, most particularly, Board member Tom Borne) to concept and stage these fundraisers for that amazing venue. We picked the bands, coordinated amazing rosters of the best art directors in Fort Wayne, worked on the marketing materials and promotions — heck, OLG founder Matt Kelley even hosted the events (the first with his old soul brother, Chris Dodds). Oh, wait, the events. They're called Down the Line and each saw five of Fort Wayne's finest bands paying tribute to the bands that influenced them to pick up their instruments in the first place. The first year, Matt's band played Dylan (OK, so the night wasn't all surprises) and the second year, Nate and Tommy's band played Pet Sounds. We're trying not to be hyperbolic here, but, two of the best nights of the decade. Anyway, though — how many of these do we have to do until Wilco gets booked?

Courtesy photos by Joel Faurote.

In August of 2008, we brought erstwhile Clem Snide frontman Eef Barzelay to Fort Wayne for a show in support of his solo record, Lose Big. We're really not trying to be promoters, but the opportunity to bring any of our all-time-top-ten level artists to Fort Wayne is too hard to pass up. The show was amazing!! We got introduced to Eef's band Clem Snide in 2000, falling head over heels for the album Your Favorite Music (and that track in particular). In 2002, OLG's Matt Kelley went to Austin for the SXSW music conference for the first time, and the first band he saw on the first night was Clem Snide —and they were wondrously awesome. We've seen them often since, on stages large and small, indoor and outdoor. There's an effortless cool, and a heartbroken humor about Eef. One of the best nights in Fort Wayne in 2008. 

Courtesy photos by Joel Faurote.

In December of 2008, we continued our OLG Presents series of concerts with New West recording artist Tim Easton. Most importantly, this was the first OLG show to be hosted by our favorite rock club, The Brass Rail. Tim's an absolutely phenomenal songwriter, and a tremendous musician and performer—perfect flow with folks like Tim Rogers, the Avett Brothers, Ike Reilly and Eef Barzelay. Tim ended up playing for nearly three hours—one set acoustic, then two more with local luminary and former Trainhopper Jon Ross sitting in on drums. An absolutely mesmerizing night. It was Tim's favorite show of his tour, and (in this writer's opinion) the show of the year in Fort Wayne.