November 7-9, 2008, will mark the Cape May Jazz Festival's 15th year and 30th celebration presented by Bank of America. Friday night's opener kicks off with a Tribute to Maynard Ferguson featuring a 16-piece big band led by Ed Vezinho and Jim Ward.  This performance will be held in the theatre at Lower Regional High School. Jon Faddis, internationally acclaimed high-register trumpeter, will solo with the band saluting Ferguson's music.

Guerilla Union has announced the additional European dates of the ROCK THE BELLS 2008 INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL SERIES POWERED BY SANDISK with new installments in Helsinki, Finland and Oslo, Norway. The tour now expands to nine shows in six countries.

The 1st Annual Tatanka Music Festival happened recently at the oh so beautiful Boulder Reservoir, just north of Boulder, Colorado. It was my pleasure to be on site both days to document a bit of what went down for the inaugural event.

The Office of Surface Mining has proposed changes to its stream buffer zone rule that would make it easier for mining companies to bury natural streams and valleys under piles of mining waste and vast ponds of toxin-laden sludge. The changes would weaken environmental standards for mountaintop removal mining operations that, even under the stricter existing buffer rule, have buried hundreds of miles of streams and contaminated mountain waterways.