Monday: Fogt's Jr All-Stars at The Irish Rover

Not all live music in Sarasota is performed by talented grownups. On Monday night, April 19, from 7 - 10PM, at The Irish Rover in Gulf Gate, Fogt's Jr All-Stars, directed by Jimi Gee, will wow you with some of the most accomplished middle school and high school musicians from the Sarasota and Bradenton area. The band includes a horn section, keyboards, guitars, drums, and more. The set list ranges from big band to blues to rock.

In Sarasota, a town that already brims over with musical talent, established musicians are generously offering a hand-up to younger generations coming onto the scene, from teens to college and post-college. You'll sometimes see underage talent sitting in on the drums or impressing with prodigious guitar leads at a gig. Live music is roaring back into Sarasota, and it's so very cool to see it percolating at all ages.



Jimi Gee, whose successful career as a guitarist with major acts left him with the desire to pass on his passion to kids, rehearses Fogt's Jr All-Stars in a warehouse building behind Fogt's Music in Sarasota. Several of the band members already play multiple instruments. It used to be that school band music irked and ached with lumbering rhythms and wrong notes. No longer. Fogt's Jr All-Stars and Jazz Juvenocracy, another local junior group, take their tune seriously and already have ambitions for visible careers in music.

The Irish Rover is smoke-free and family friendly. Try dinner and live music tonight, instead of another DVD on the couch. You'll be inspired by what you see and hear.