Friday, June 21, 2013

The 2013 Blasters promises to be another great day of golf. Not only can you test your golf skills with other Lakeland alumni and friends at one of two beautiful area courses, but your support will also help tee up the future for deserving Lakeland College students.

Golfers have their choice of tournament:

Moose Woltzen Cup at The Bull, Sheboygan Falls, WI

The only Jack Nicholas signature golf course in Wisconsin, The Bull is rated #77 on Golf Digest's list of America's 100 greatest public golf courses.

Mike Devaney Cup at Town & Country, Sheboygan, WI

Golfers will enjoy the challenge and scenic surroundings of the Homer Fieldhouse-designed Berms and Pigeon Run courses at Town & Country.

Foursomes will play the shamble format, a combination of scramble and stroke play. In a shamble, everyone tees off and the team plays from the best shot. After that, everyone plays their own ball and the best score is recorded.

Hors d'oeuvres Buffet, Cash Bar and Awards

At the end of the day, all golfers and guests will gather on the beautiful Lakeland College campus to share stories, an hors d'oeuvres buffet, a cash bar and awards.

Following the awards presentation, consider staying at Lakeland for the college's inaugural Summer Solstice Music Festival! You and your friends can cap off a successful day on the links with a beautiful summer night that includes some great blues-rock, food and drinks. Learn more at http://Lakeland.edu/musicfest.

All golfers are invited to stay overnight in Brotz Hall and take advantage of a special Blasters room rate.

For more information or to register, please visit Lakeland.edu/Blasters or contact Emily Rendall-Araujo, assistant director of alumni relations, at 920-565-1224 or rendallaraujoec@lakeland.edu.

Talented young blues guitar artist Davy Knowles will headline an evening of great guitar rock and blues on Friday, June 21, at the inaugural Lakeland College Summer Solstice Music Festival.

Wisconsin's own Alex Wilson Band will appear as special guest and get the music started at 5:30 p.m.

Lakeland College Summer Solstice Music Festival

Featuring Davy Knowles
Special guest: Alex Wilson Band

Friday, June 21, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

South lawn of the Younger Family Campus Center

Free admission!

Co-sponsored by the Grafton Blues Association and the Lakeshore Blues Society

Brats, burgers, beer and soda will be available for purchase

Map to Lakeland

For more information or questions, contact David Gallianetti at (920) 565-1219.

Sponsored by:

Admission is free and open to all. The show will be held under a tent outside Lakeland's Younger Family Campus Center. Brats, burgers, beer, soda and other food and drink will be available for purchase.

The show is co-sponsored by the Grafton Blues Association and the Lakeshore Blues Society.

Knowles has released two highly-regarded top three Billboard Blues Chart albums - "Roll Away" and "Coming Up for Air," the second produced by guitar legend Peter Frampton.

He has played more than 450 shows, both as a solo artist and as the frontman for the band Back Door Slam, and toured with the likes of Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes & Gov't Mule and Sonny Landreth. He's played some of the country's biggest music festivals including Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits.

He's been working on some new music and has a new album set for release this year. He said the Lakeland show will include some of his new work and a mix of fan favorites.

Knowles' career has been all about living out his dream of following in the footsteps of his musical heroes - Rory Gallagher, Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton and John Mayall - and travelling the world, especially the U.S., as a full-time musician.

A "Live from Melbourne" CD and a DVD of his "homecoming" concert in his homeland of the Isle of Man were recently release. After four years of relentless touring, Knowles took his foot off the gas a bit and has been spending some time exploring new ideas.

"The first four years was a whirlwind, but I loved putting in so many hours on the road," he said. "It was such a great learning curve, and the road is still where I most want to be. But I began to realize that I'd been working so hard I had no real time to find myself, and perhaps I had become the sum of my early influences.

"I increasingly felt I needed to step off the roller coaster and explore and try finding a bit more of myself in my music. Hopefully that's what is happening now."

Knowles said his new material will demonstrate his love of blues and Americana, but the envelope will be pushed. He's excited for the next phase of his career and looks forward to hitting the road again this year.

Learn more on the website and get access to music at http://www.facebook.com/DavyKnowles.

Wilson is a versatile musician who effortlessly switches between genres. He plays everything from sweet Beale Street blues to West coast swing. From hard Texas grinders to stone cold Chicago grooves with a feeling that's said to be timeless.

He picked up the guitar at five years old and never put it down. By 17 he began to dig deep into the blues, learning the songs and styles of masters such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix and Magic Sam. By 21 he had joined Milwaukee's Blue Rubies and was performing regionally while still playing part-time with his own band.

In the mid-2000s, Wilson began to focus solely on his own project, and in 2007 his band won the WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Award for blues group/artist of the year. After playing a series of shows in Beijing with Grammy nominated blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite, Wilson returned to the states to find himself a triple nominee for the WAMI Awards in 2008 and winner of the award for guitarist of the year. He won again in 2009 and 2011 for blues artist.

In 2011 and 2013, the band competed in the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis, finishing in the top eight in the IBC finals at The Orpheum Theater both years.

His long-awaited and freshly nominated debut CD, "Tell Me Why," has been released on Rathskeller Records.

Learn more on the web and get access to music at http://alexwilsonband.com.