We are very excited to announce the 2010 Walla-Pa-Looza main stage line-up today. On July 31, 2010 at the Johnsburg Community Club our Walla-Pa-Looza main stage will feature four great local bands:

Two Chicks that Rock!	2:30-4:00
Current and Classic Rock	4:30-6:00
90′s Rock and Originals	6:30-8:30

And finally, to close out the evening on the main stage:

Infinity – The Midwest’s Premier Journey Tribute Band

Please make sure to spread the word for us.

Take a minute to digest this … I know what you are thinking.   I can just hear the question as you say it in your head.  Here, let me prove it – you just said to yourself:

“Wait a minute … did he just say Main Stage??”

Yep! That’s right!

Our second stage is something new this year. We are putting together a High School Battle of the Bands. This competition is for high school bands to showcase their talent and have the opportunity to win cash prizes, recording time and play on the main stage at Walla-Pa-Looza 2011. We are hoping this will bring us some new attendees and allow us to attract the younger generations. As you have heard me say, we are hoping this event will become timeless and the only way that will happen is to include some younger folks.

Special thanks to Mike Mazrin (“choice” drummer in Always Frantic) for taking on the task as our new Music and Sound Chairman. He did a great job finding bands for us.

Please make sure to welcome the 2010 bands to our family by checking them out if they are playing locally and make sure to become a fan of their Facebook pages!

Now, grab your flip flops and your friends – because the Second Annual Walla-Pa-Looza is going to rock!

See you on July 31st!

CW

Well I am honored to be this weeks guest blogger.  What a week! A promotion at work and my turn to blog! So I’m gonna blog it up!

First, I cannot express enough  the impact that Walla-Pa-Looza has on me in so many different aspects.  Every event, every meeting, every single party we have had, I seriously just look around the room and take in the incredible group that we are.  It is amazing how this organization has brought so many of us back together. 

The majority of us went to school together, played sports together, or were connected in some way or another in our community.  I feel I have grown so much being a part of Walla-Pa-Looza.  There is almost never a weekend without something to do now.  Every person involved gives something different to the events and organization itself and with all the effort and support, Walla-Pa-Looza has already grown so much!!! Our next event is right around the corner.  I can’t believe it has been a year already and what a year it has been!  I have always volunteered in my community, but this has become more than volunteering.  We have created a Walla family, a family that not only gives to our community but to each other. 

Which leads me to one of my closest friends, the ever so famous Craig Wallace.  Even though my life has been a little crazy lately and our daily phone calls have been limited to a few times a week, I know that he is there no matter what.

For the ones that know him well, Craig never stops thinking, never stops wanting to give something else, something new.  He is at all times consumed in his own thoughts and of course we all know because he is so damn loud and shares with all of us … and trust me, I think the whole town can hear him when he talks.   Nonetheless, he is an incredible man and I am so blessed to have him as part of my life.  I can’t go without mentioning Joanne, because without the support and total effort that she gives, this would have never been what it has become.  Joanne is amazing !

For each event that we have done or been involved with, I can’t help but think about the reason that we are there. The reason is that we are putting our lives on hold to help someone in need.  Life has such unexpected and unfortunate events that touch our lives in some way and the impact that it can have on a family is for such obvious reasons, severely overwhelming.  The financial stress is unbearable and every bit of help is needed.  That is what we do, we help provide some financial relief. But, the financial end goes far beyond just handing over a check.  We have created many friendships and support lines from the events we have been involved with and as they say, that is “PRICELESS”.  I am so excited to watch Walla-Pa-Looza grow and grow and most importantly, watching the relief that puts a smile on the face of a person or family in need.

Please browse around our website to learn more about Walla-Pa-Looza. It contains a lot of great information about who and what we are.  Click on the links of the others that support our cause. Become part of our organization and come volunteer your time and talent.  We need to get our sponsorships up, so we can provide more to the cause.  We can do this with your help.  Networking our organization is key to being successful in gaining these sponsorships.  Take the time to seek out all the individual people or companies that you are in contact with and bring our upcoming event to them for sponsoring an amazing and rewarding cause.

Well I am off to do what I do best, or at least what takes up so much of my time – homework.  Thank you for reading my blog and I look forward to seeing you all at Walla-Pa-Looza!!!! As Craig and I say at the end of every phone call, “HEAVY METAL!!!”.

Sheryl

First off, yes I know I kind of stole my title from Jimmy Buffett’s song A Pirate Looks at Forty but I thought it kind of fit.

Anyway, I want to thank Ron Bieber and Nick Bionda for taking time out of there busy schedules to keep our blog here at Walla-Pa-Looza.org going. Both of these guys put a lot of effort into keeping our organization running like clock work. “Our organization” – that’s something I thought I would never say at forty years old. But as many of you know that’s what was created and I could not be happier.

For those of you that have followed the progression of Walla-Pa-Looza you might or might not know that I have been known to bust out some Kid Rock – All Summer Long from time to time with my friends in Always Frantic. Well, I really do love that song and I enjoy the way the song describes growing up here in the midwest, but that song tells just about everyone’s story. I think all of us can recall a time or two that relates to 1989 with short thoughts and long hair. Or at least anyone that is middle aged can.

This past week, I started to do my daily walk around Johnsburg and I started to think about being middle aged. I am not sure about you, but I don’t know what 40 is supposed to feel like. I still love to listen to rock and roll, I love sports and I love reading. I guess the biggest changes are that now I own a home, have a wife, two children and now I look at things in a more reflective way. So being in a reflective state of mind, the song I think is more representative of my life is the song from Kid Rock called Roll On and it’s off the same album, Rock and Roll Jesus. Now, obviously I cannot relate to all of Kid’s money and success, but I can sure as hell relate to life being one big roller coaster and Kid Rock is right – life is like a roller coaster and it reminds me of the grandma in the movie Parenthood and this quote:

Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.

Gil: Oh?

Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!

Gil: What a great story.

Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

What Grandma says is true. My life has been a great ride so far. Of course I have stress. I cry and I worry. But I wouldn’t want it any other way. I have learned that everyone has the same worries that I do. When I was 18 years old I worried about having the best clothes, popularity and girls. Now I worry about my children and how they grow up and making sure they have the same great upbringing I had. Sure, my parents weren’t perfect (and neither was I), but I think I am slowly but surely headed in the right direction. Popularity and trying to keep up with the Joneses does not interest me. What interests me these days is making sure that my children understand that life can change at the blink of an eye, so be respectful, show compassion and remind yourself that one day you could be in a situation of need. Trust me, I have seen it happen, so be humble.

I know what you’re thinking Mom – “Our little boy has grown up!”

Nah, he just figured he would write this so everyone thought he has….. just kidding.

By the way, thanks for the birthday wishes and ROLL ON!

Craig

Gordon Gekko chasing the cash

OK so here’s the second installment of “Craig made us do this ‘cuz he is on vacation and really doesn’t feel like doing it”, er uh, I mean “Guest Blogging”. Like Ron, I am also pretty competitive but I’m confident I can do this without doing too much damage. After all I’m not an IT guy…

Following Ron’s lead, I’m going to give you a glimpse into my role(s) within the Walla organization. My main role is to retain “Corporate Sponsorships”, we’ll start with that. Being a “Sales and Marketing Guy”, it was only natural that the best way for me to contribute was by putting a plan together to solicit money from businesses and make sure it is executed to its greatest ability. Any event that we do requires a significant amount of money to get up and running. The catch is that while we do raise a lot of money during the event, we need to be able to pay for things PRIOR to the event like tents, bands, marketing, insurance (yes, we take a big honkin’ liability policy prior to the events in case you get hurt at our party), the glorious “Porta-Potties” and a lot more that I can’t think of off the top of my head. So for the 2010 summer event scheduled for July 31st, we all start working right after the New Year’s holiday to get things going.

The first thing I do is to put together a “Corporate Sponsor” program that details a number of ways for local businesses to get involved with our event from a monetary perspective. The benefits a Corporate Sponsor would receive for their contribution can range from something as simple as having their company’s banner at the event up to a VIP sponsor package which will include a VIP tent, complimentary food and beverages and more. This sponsor package is then rolled out to all of the volunteers of Walla-Pa-Looza to be able to present to their personal and professional contacts and hopefully retain a sponsor. The money raised from sponsors usually ends up being our operating budget for the event and helps us put it on. This way we can focus on the day of the event to raise as much money possible knowing that the majority of the expenses have been covered already and the rest can go toward doing what it was intended to do: Help others in need.

As for my “other” duties, well those are the same as many of the other volunteers that also may have a “main” duty. This includes things like serving food and drinks, keeping the area clean the day of the event and just making sure everything runs smoothly and everyone has a great time. There is one other duty however that many of us share that is vital, and is one that is not looked at as a duty per se as it was not something assigned, but just sort of happened. It is the role of Craig’s confidant, consigliere, adviser or whatever you want to call it. You see, Craig started this whole thing but quickly found out that it takes an army to put on an event of this size. Although the event bears his name (well, a portion of it anyway), Craig does not like to make any unilateral decisions. He comes up with a lot of great ideas but is great about bouncing them off all of us and getting buy-in and acceptance from the core group. Although we are an official charitable organization (well almost, our “legal stuff” is in process) and have a board etc, there are many discussions about how we will do things before it actually goes to a vote before the board. This is why this organization has been so successful so far – teamwork. If one person tried to do it all, it would have still been a small party for no reason other than to party in some guy’s backyard.

I hope this posting gives you yet another bit of insight in to the group that is responsible for Walla-Pa-Looza. Once again, the common theme here is “You can’t do it alone”. Whether that means fighting a life-threatening disease like cancer, putting on a great fund raiser or just dealing with the day to day. Support from those closest to you is a key factor in being successful at anything, so pay it forward even when it doesn’t seem like it’s coming to you.