Letter To The People - August 2015
Publisher's Commentary
by Rökker
Owen Mays
photo by Dave Hedstrom
This issue is dedicated to the memory of Owen Mays.
Owen was one of the artists I was booking for AtwoodFest 2015. I had tried to book him for last year’s event but shedules did not work out. Over the last year we kept in touch working on the 2015 booking.
I had first met Owen as a guest on the Jimmy K Show at his usual haunt, The Wisco. He performed with his old band the 80 Proof Boys and I was drawn to his traditional honky tonk and outlaw country sounds. He was a little brash in delivery, but in person he was a real straight shooter, a stand up guy.
Amidst the booking din I was able to hear news about his European adventures and trade quips on Belgian food and beer while he was on tour.
He was excited to get back and play AtwoodFest. The week before the festival there was a big push for publicity and I contacted Owen late in the night on messenger and asked him to share the Facebook event. His reply was sure and fast. “Yep” he said.
But the show must go on, and Owen knew that too. So we pulled up our bootstraps and hired the Tyler Preston Trio to play in his stead. A tribute was played on the Alchemy Stage where he was to play, and a moment of silence was taken before the headlining band each night of AtwoodFest. We even wore his name on the backstage pass. Owen, you will be missed.
>Adventures with Lizzie and Nikko: The kids had fun hanging at AtwoodFest, growing up backstage like I did. Lol. Now Lizzie is back to Poms practice to get ready for football season. I know this is gonna be the breakout year for East! Ok, I can hope can’t I? Nikko is done with summer camp, time to start thinking about drums. Also, he is now taller than his mother… chew on that.
(7287) Page Views