M&M HISTORY

The following history was written by Ken Bowman, one of the founding members of the Fort Thomas Renaissance Board that created Merchants & Music.

Ken Bowman was serving as chair of the Renaissance Board with Jody Robinson as the Main Street manager in 2004. They worked hard to develop events that would specifically benefit the Fort Thomas business community. The idea of a music event featuring nationally known headliners along with Fort Thomas businesses was collaboratively developed. The now established event name was a quick thought from me. There were to be merchants, and there was to be music. That pretty much said what it needed to say. The venue was on the street on North Fort Thomas Avenue. using the space in front of Warner’s Restaurant. The entire block from Highland to Miller was lined with Fort Thomas businesses in 10 x 10 canopy booths. Many of the vendors weren’t selling anything at the event but were just happy to have the exposure. It was hugely successful, and everyone wanted it to become an annual event.

Mike Reilly, a founding member of Pure Prairie League grew up in Fort Thomas. Craig Fuller also grew up in NKY and was playing with them. The band was still actively touring, connections were made, and contracts signed for the performance.

Ken had been playing in a fairly successful all original band for three years prior, (The Ryan Adcock Band) so we opened the show. Cincinnati favorite, the Bluebirds was next, and then Pure prairie League took the stage. It was a great kick off to the 20 year history.

Pure Prairie league’s hits include: “Two Lane Highway”, “Amie”, “Let me Love You Tonight”

Mike made several references from the stage to local Fort Thomas favorites, Smitty’s Barber shop etc. that he remembered from growing up here. He completely surprised me with an invitation from the stage to play drums on “Two Lane Highway”, which I happily did.

The next year, 2005 we stayed in that location with John Waite as headliner with the Bluebirds returning along with Brian Lovely & the Flying Underground as opening acts. It was also very well attended and hugely popular.

John Waite’s hits include: “Every time I Think of You” and “Missing You”. He was a member of a popular group “The Babys” prior to his solo career.

We then started looking for a less disruptive venue and decided that the lot in front of the Stables Building could work. So, the 2006 M&M festival that year moved to the Midway district with the stage set up right in front of the Stables building. We booked “Firefall” to headline. They had a string of hits including “Just Remember I Love You” and “Cinderella”. Another successful M&M was in the books.

In 2007 we brought back Pure Prairie League, but added Poco to the bill. Poco also was a “country rock” favorite with hits like “”You Better Think Twice”, “Crazy Love” and “You Better Think Twice”. Local Cincinnati favorite “The Bluebirds” opened once again.

2008, still in Stables building location featured “The Little River Band” with hits including “Reminiscing”, “Lonesome Loser” and “Lady”. “The Bluebirds” returned along with “Chrome” and “Webster & Devoto Band” as openers. Another great festival with happy people and vendors.

2009 featured “Dave Mason”, who has too many hits to list, but some of them are: “All Along the Watchtower”, “Show me Some Affection”, “Only you Know and I Know”, and his biggest “Feeling Allright”. That year we also booked “Gary Burbank & Blue Run”. Yes, Gary Burbank had a blues band. “G. Miles and the Hitmen” and Bluebirds were also openers. We decided to purchase insurance this year against rain outs. It was the year that we had incredible rainstorms, but the show went on. Dave had a miserable sore throat and asked for honey lemon tea, which we found, and he sounded great. The show ended early due to the storm. Our insurance claim was denied because the rain gauge was at Lunken Airport, and they didn’t get quite enough rain to justify the claim. Very scattered storms. (read the fine print) It was still a thrill to host such a rock and roll legend in our little city.

2010 was a favorite year for many because we had “Edgar Winter” booked for the event. It was a streak of luck that we landed him. We had originally booked “Atlanta Rhythm Section”, which would have also been pretty great, but a scheduling conflict happened, and we were notified about 5 weeks prior to the show. The booking agency represented lots of other acts, and for fear of lawsuits presented several other available alternatives. When I saw Edgar Winter on the list, it was a done deal. He would normally be at a much higher cost too, so it worked out great. He is a grammy winner and had multiple hits including: “Frankenstein”, “Tobacco Road” and “Free Ride”. The performance was incredible, and he was a pleasure to work with. “Rusty Griswolds” and “G. Miles & the Hitmen” were the openers.

2011 featured “The Fabulous Thunderbirds”. We were still using the Stables Building location. The front man, “Kim Wilson” had a great solo blues career and is an amazing harmonica player and singer. He was again touring with the Thunderbirds and doing lots of big festivals like ours. They too had a big list of hits that included: “Tuff Enough”, “Powerful Stuff”, and “Wrap it up”. It was a great performance. Openers included “Tupelo Honey”, “Rust Griswolds”, and G. Miles & the Hitmen”.

All future years were moved to the amphitheater and continued to grow in popularity.