Sweet sounds of summer...

Yes, there are good things in life for free.  I'm reminded of that the few Thursday nights this summer I've made it over to Cruizer's Bar & Grill in Russia and heard local musicians entertaining on the outdoor patio.  There's no cost to listen and the music I've heard is really, really good.  A couple Thursdays ago I listened to Maria Stein native Steve Rosenbeck, who I consider kind of a local legend since he's played in some extremely popular bands over the years and even played a couple gigs in Nashville.  Steve didn't bring the typical band sound to Cruizer's, it was just him and an acoustic guitar playing easy listening classics and modern hits.  It was the perfect sound for a summer night.  Steve was so good the large crowd actually called him back on stage for an encore.  He reciprocated the love by pulling former singer Jim McGowan of Ft. Loramie from the crowd to sing 'The Breakup Song' (see picture above) and then Marie Daugherty of Russia was brought up to join Steve in singing 'Amie'.  Pretty cool for a Thursday night!

And Cruizer's has been doing this every Thursday night with different musicians since the beginning of June.  Another really good performer on the schedule is singer/songwriter Mark Cantwil of Russia.  Mark even just recorded a solo album which is now getting play on internet radio.  He entertains the crowd with some of his original material and a lot of familiar favorites.  Fittingly, Mark is the last scheduled performer on Cruizer's summer concert series, playing on August 25th.  Also appropriate is the guy playing the week before...you guessed it, Steve Rosenbeck again.

Finally, if you like listening to young talent, also on the schedule July 28th is the group Almost Brothers.  I've heard them both as a duo and trio and can tell you they're awesome.  I'm also excited about the young guys from Empty Bottle coming to Cruizer's for the first time on August 11th, which is a scaled down version of the band Empty Tank.  There are many other entertainers on the Cruizer's schedule as well, and variety is a good thing.  The fact that's it's free is even better.

To see the full schedule of performers, click here.