NOTE: Middle image/poster is used with permission
Below is ‘TENTATIVE’ itinerary for Saturday night
Send us your 2023 FEST pix here and we'll get them up as fast as we can!
From its humble beginnings in '88 at ‘Tony’s Pizza Parlor’ on Pierce St, Sioux City – the ‘BOLIN FEST’ has come a long way. Many high calibre artists featured in various Bolin Fests over the years including; Glenn Hughes, Pat Travers, Buddy Miles, Vanilla Fudge, Stanley Sheldon, Craig Erickson, Alphonse Mouzon, Kenny Passarelli., Leslie West, Savoy Brown, Rocky Athas, Lucas Parker, Les Dudek...
This page is in its early stages and we will work with Johnnie and add more of a timeline about the FEST and its origins... It was the FIRST way that the Bolin family actually got some long overdue financial compensation (but that's another story). The release of ‘THE ULTIMATE’ in 1989 was an important factor in the elevation of the Fest's status.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
We are on the hunt for old photos of previous FEST POSTERS (digital of course lol) and any interesting photos that anyone wants to share from past events. We want this page to be INCLUSIVE and FUN ... and INFORMATIVE! Send your material to us here...
‘RAGING’ MEMORIES FROM MARY ABOUT THE FEST'S EARLY DAYS:)
Absolutely Love this, Mary shared this with Johnnie and Kristine on Sunday and sent to me... puts those early days in such a wonderful perspective.
(MARY): “It was a 3 day party, always started on a Thursday and ended on Saturday. Only one band played, that was John (Johnnie) and George's (possibly Mary's husband? will check lol) band. There was a table set up for Keek(?) and Rich (Richard Bolin). We played videos and DVDs of Tommy and played his music. People stopped to see his parents every night.
We made home-made posters and printed them at M&M Copy Quick. We plastered them on cars and light poles everywhere in the city. Gas stations, grocery stores, laundromats, truck-stop bathrooms... any place that had a wall or window had one of our posters on it!
People came from everywhere to celebrate Tommy and to hear his music. The party always continued into the early morning hours, right into the Bolin's kitchen.
Rehearsal was always at Bruce's trailer home in Winnebago – NO air-con, just a fan!
The boys would play and us girls would be at the door and running the stage lights – that was done with a light board with actual light switches.
George was actually the one who started the raffle. He got a cheap, cheap car and we sold the raffle tickets for A NEW CAR lol”
The Tommy Bolin Memorial Fund was originally established by Johnnie Bolin in memory of his brother, in association with the Siouxland Community Foundation. The Ultimate mission is simple... To preserve the music, the memory and the legacy of Tommy Bolin.
