Friends and Fellow Music Lovers,

Were you one of the lucky few who, back in 1999 and 2000 came out to see and hear rising Americana stars like Robbie Fulks, Tift Merrift, Scott Miller & The Commonwealth, Pat Green and The Continental Drifters and talented local performers like The Dirty Dogs, Susan Snow, David Via, Mike Wilcox, Peter May, Lauren Myers, and Ed Kinzer in The Garage back when it still had the original Garage doors, hay bales, folding chairs, my old Carolina Blue 1965 Ford Truck, a fold up table for serving beers, and when after the show we'd shoot buckets, in the basketball hoop (it's still there!), for beer.

Are you one of the those folks who, after our much publicized battle with the City of Winston-Salem, the tearing down of the Garage doors, the building of the fire hallway, the addition of the extra bathroom, and the installation of the current bar setup, came out to help pack the house for killer shows with The Gourds, Victoria Williams, The Red Elvises, Tim Easton, or The Two Dollar Pistols, or, were blown away at some of our less crowded (ha! ha!) Wednesday night Americana Showcase shows by performances from folks like Clem Snide, Deke Dickerson, Florence Dore (with Wilco drummer Ken Coomer), Danny Barnes (Bad Livers), Slaid Cleaves, Will Kimbrough, The Shazzam, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Czeck bluegrass band Druha Trava, or The Drive By Truckers (playing their now famous "Southern Rock Opera" in it's entirety). Did yo see local favorites like Tommy Gun and The Bo Stevens playing their first ever shows at The Garage, or special presentations like the Cash Bash, The Thrillbillies film screening, the Let's Active Tribute CD party, or the Heavy Rebel Pre Party.

Well, you've still got a few more chances to say you saw a show at the Garage back when...this time before we morph from a music listening room with beer & wine to a full liquor license bar with music. Yes, thanks to a few very special friends, the Garage will remain open past June, but in doing so we'll usher in a new era of The Garage.

For now, we've got 16 (count em') more nights of music and more (the more being three nights of the amazing vaudevillian antics of the Bindlestiff Cirkus) coming your way, this Friday through Thursday, June 29th, so come on out and help us celebrate our good fortune at having survived a tumultuous 7 years, and, of course the fact that we are fortunate enough to be able to begin a new era of The Garage sometime later this summer.

The Fabulous Mitch Easter Does It Again
Tip of the Hat to Winston native and Kernersville resident Mitch Easter http://www.mitcheaster.com -- see his incredible guitar work when he plays with Shalini on our Friday, May 26th bill, early 8 PM show -- who having gained national and international fame in the early 80s playing with his band Let's Active, has gone on to become one of the, if not the, most prominent producers and engineers of southern style indie rock, first working with Athens, Georgia scene makers REM (the single "Radio Free Europe" and albums "Chronic Town," "Murmur," and "Reckoning), then with bands like Pavement, Velvet Crush, and Helium in the 90s, and most recently, cementing his status by engineering "A Blessing and A Curse" the latest, and most critically-acclaimed record by next-big thing southern rockers the Drive By Truckers at his Fidelitorium Recording Studio http://www.fidelitorium.com just outside of Winston.