As we head into the most major holiday rush, it is our hope to adequately express to you how thankful we are for music. And as if it weren't enough just to listen to what is all around us, we find ourselves participating and making music with our friends. Sunday night, 16 bands put on a show for their peers, their fellow musicians and their families. The theme was Southern Rock — which of course resonates with anyone born before 1979 and again acknowledges our infatuation with the past when it comes to rock and roll (and arguably everything else). The youngest flock of budding players, aptly named for the season “The Grateful Friends,” kicked it off with Who Do You Love?, written by Bo Diddley, and the concert finished with the best ever cover of Freebird performed by an undeniably accomplished group of high school students accompanied by no less than two adults (if you define that by age). Cell phones outnumbered lighters but there was not a dry eye in the house. In between, all ages and skill levels exhibited their hard work to an authentically appreciative audience.

As everyone prepares for the feast, whether you're leaving town or hunkering down for an onslaught of relatives, please remember that we will begin the next 7-week session on December 3. We are going to the Motor City circa 1959-1972, where Motown's founder Berry Gordy unveiled to a larger public the music of such artists as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Diana Ross and the Supremes, and the Jackson Five. Hold your slot, find a new one or become a band by November 28. Concert February 10, 2008.

Think Motown. My Guy, Ball of Confusion, War, Heard it Through the Grapevine, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, The Tracks of My Tears, ABC, Superstition, too many to mention...Thanks to all of you and have a fantastic, family and friend filled feast. We'll see you in December.