2024 TOMMY BOLIN MUSIC FESTIVAL

Beautiful GRATUTUDE HEART Resins created by Beth Bracken
2024 Bolinfest Gratitude Hearts! Some will include magnets and some will be handed out, sold and raffled!


JULY UPDATE / MESSAGES

2024 BOLINFEST BUTTONS ARE HERE!

The 2024 BOLINFEST BUTTONS are now in our possession and will be available on the www.BolinBros.com website within the next 24 hours, and will be available for purchase today at Ray’s Midbell music, and the Marquee and Green Room later today. Marty’s Tap will have them soon to follow.

After agonizing thought and worry, Johnnie asks to announce that we were forced to raise button prices to $20 this year. He’s worked so hard to keep the festival affordable and accessible to all for many, many years, and he hopes Bolinites understand and continue to support and attend the festival.We’re counting down the days and look forward to seeing you soon!


You've been waiting patiently for VIP info and here it is!  The link for the 2024 Last Ride Fan Jam & Festival Go-Fund-Me is listed in the comments below. C'mon, Bolinites, let's make this year incredible!
(Janice)


Hey Everyone!

Once again, we gather to remember and celebrate the music and life of Tommy Bolin.

This year’s fundraiser is going to be a little different. We are combining the two parts of the Bolinfest weekend into one fundraiser. This will avoid confusion between the two events and hopefully help us reach even more generous people who want to help out!

The 2024 Tommy Bolin Music Festival (AKA Bolinfest) and the Fan Jam make up the 3 day festival.

The first two nights of the festival is called the Fan Jam and will be held at the Doxx Warehouse on August 1st and 2nd in downtown Sioux City, Iowa. This is where we start the fun with live music all night in an open mic format for two nights in a row. There will be organized talent performing, but it’s also a chance for the musician fans to come on down and jam with everyone. And that will include some of the performers and Stars of the main show! 

Saturday, August 3rd, is the big day and night of music and is going to be held right around the block from the Doxx. It will be an indoor/outdoor event as we take over the entire block from 4th St. and Floyd Blvd all the way down to 4th and Iowa St. There will be an outdoor stage right on 4th St. and there will also be live bands performing inside The Marquee, which is a music venue/bar that is actually hosting the event that day.

This is the time and place where we will remember the past and enjoy the present with old and new friends. We gather in Sioux City from all over the country and even the world!

We need your help to put on this 3 day festival with great music, musicians and friends!

There are so many expenses to make it all happen. Please help us make this a successful and memorable Bolinfest!

Thanks so much,

Dean and Ileska Christopher

Go Fund Me Page


Here's Johnnie Bolin talking about the upcoming 2024 Bolin Festival and Fan Jam. Below (below video) is all the info you all wanna’ know!
Quick links to the subject matter... (Thanks Dean Christopher)


Quick links to the subject matter... (Thanks Dean )

0:45 Johnnies health 
3:14 Johnnies vision of this years fest 
4:24 Big changes in location for Festival 
5:25 How the Festival will be structured 
9:29 History of Festival/Fan Jam
11:19 Where to stay this year (Hotel)
12:09 Tommy Bolin Museum exhibit
17:11 New Merch/record label
19:03 Festival lineup for Bands
27:39 Getting Buttons for admission to Festival
29:51 Food at the Festival
31:09 Donating to the Festival
32:06 Parting Words

We need all the help we can get! : )



Thanks to LEE HAGEN for this great graphic :)

SOME OF THE ARTISTS LINED UP

Gypsy Soul: Remembering Sioux CIty's Tommy Bolin


Friday, May 31, 2024 10:00am  – Sunday, August 18, 2024 5:00pm
Sioux City Public Museum
607 4th Street Sioux City, IA, 51101 United States


Photographs, stage clothing, instruments and other personal memorabilia of the local rock legend are showcased.

Many of the artifacts on display are from the collection of Bolin’s brother Johnnie, who was the drummer in the original Tommy Bolin Band.


LAST RIDE CLARIFICATION

“The Last Ride” is a Todd Rundgren song and was chosen by Johnnie Bolin to represent  a shift in direction for the Tommy Bolin Music Festival for 2024. After many years of great FESTS at the Ickey Nickel, Johnnie felt that there was a need for a change, hence last year’s FEST was “The Last Ride” for that particular venue.

So instead of it being the last Bolin Fest, it’s a positive shift to a new venue/concept... moving forward...

Plus it’s no secret that Tommy was an admirer of Todd and his music and had met and reportedly jammed with him...

“Our “little game is certainly NOT over” :)

2023 BOLIN FEST


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.