Editor continued.... So I sat down and talked to the man behind it all, Ron Duszak. Ron and his team are getting ready to rock City Island on the 17th with some great bands and all proceeds from the Finding Freedom Festival going to start up a dream of Ron’s. His dream is offering support for recovering addicts through strength and hope with music. Ron, now 22 years sober, fought a hard battle to remain sober and found early on that music, (specifically through playing guitar) could help keep his mind occupied and away from the same old thoughts that haunted his past. The first year was a tough one for Ron, after leaving rehab a week early and being back home alone, the voices of his counselor and some of the people at rehab, echoed in his head. “You will NEVER make it”. He used the doubts from his past to push forward with his sobriety, filling his time by being in the woods and through support meetings to keep his mind off the drugs. This included learning to play guitar with songs like “Down in a Hole” by Alice in Chains and “Crystal Ball” by Styx being some of the songs he remembers carrying him through it all. Upon reaching his first year, he reflected back thinking, “how dare my counselor ever doubt me by saying I will never make it”. Upon calling the clinic one day in an attempt to tell her she was wrong, he realized that what she had done was just help him along by setting the challenge and knowing that Ron would take Bob Randall
additional support will be onsite to insure success. While JFT works closely with Vets, this program will be for everyone and not just drug addiction but also for people suffering from depression or family loss. So let’s all get together for the Finding Freedom Fest and help support the cause. The stage will be set up on home plate, with the crowd seated in the grandstands with Reserved box seating, Reserved seating and General admission available. They are offering a T-shirt for anyone who brings a Guitar to swap to help drum up some instruments for the basement. If you have an old axe laying around that plays but doesn’t get played, please consider donating it to a good cause. This is an all day event from 11am-10pm, with the hopes that it can also show Harrisburg and City Island that music needs a return to the Island. So we need to get the local music community out in force if we want to see these things continue to happen. Ticket info is available at http://www.milb.com/harrisburg/fans/festival. and with bands like Road Case, Penntera, Maiden America, August, Buzzard Luck, Alice in Sane, Brian Davis, the M80’s, Trio De Janeiro, and Rosey & The Naturals its going to be an action packed day on City Island. Bring the family and friends and enjoy a day of music. The cover story this month is BIG BANG! Find out what they are up to this month on page 13 and be sure to make plans
for August 10th as they take to the stage with HYBRID ICE at Buddy Boy Winery in Duncannon PA. Hybrid ice gets a ‘PA Musician Living Legend Award’ for rocking the local scene for years and even appearing on the cover of our second issue back in 1982. They are a must see, so this is an event not to be missed. Well, that’s it for this month. Don’t forget that MMC is accepting submissions for this years 2020 Conference, so get your submission in early and
Jason Yoder
secure your spot in central PA’s best music conference. What else?? Well look through the issue, read the stories, check out the schedules and get out there and enjoy all that your local music scene has to offer. If you would like to be part of the PA Musician send me an email: Joshnoll@pamusician.net or give me a call: 717-636-4203. Take care and see you out on the road.
it. Fast forward to 2019 and Ron is living his life a better man and looking for ways to help people that are maybe in the same boat as he was. He reached out to JFT “Just for Today, Recovery & Veteran’s Services”. For those that don’t know, JFT occupies the former location of the famous Triple R Guitars. This might seem incidental but for musicians in the area this building is considered sacred ground and for many years was a place to hang out and talk music for the local scene with Rockin’ Randy. What Ron hopes to do, with the help of JFT and the community, is offer a place for people to go to fight addiction through learning music. They are setting up a spot in the basement that will house some amps, a drum kit, and who knows what else for Ron to give lessons and offer support for people that need it in our community The building also hosts NA/AA meetings, so
Now Booking 2019
Original & Covers of Hard Rock/Classic Metal
“The Red Album”, “Wolves” & “X-Nihilo” CDs at: Wayne’s World, 419 Memorial Hwy. Dallas, PA,
August 24, 2019 Agape Palooza 10th Anniversary Celebration Bloomsburg Town Park - Market St. Bloomsburg, PA. 11:00 - 11:45 AM. All Ages Event “EXPERIENCE THE POWER” Available at CDbaby www.cdbaby.com/cd/xterra7
Bookings: 570-881-7734
Facebook.com/X-terra
www.xterrarockband.com
August, 2019
Pennsylvania Musician Magazine
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