2010 marks the ten year anniversary of One Lucky Guitar. We were kicking around the idea of having some kind of commemorative blowout featuring our all-time favorite bands and all of our favorite people, and, well…that may still happen. But, we thought an even better idea would be to use this anniversary to introduce Lucky Ten—a series of ten concerts and events, featuring bands we love, at a diverse set of venues that showcase our city's cultural assets, all presented in one way or another by One Lucky Guitar, along with our many trusted clients, partners and co-conspirators.

Today, we'll announce two concerts, and recap two that have already passed by!



IKE REILLY (acoustic)
Saturday, May 1, 7PM, One Lucky Guitar

THE IKE REILLY ASSASSINATION (band)
Saturday, May 1, 10PM, The Tiger Room

Listen to Ike online.

We couldn't be happier to welcome back Libertyville, IL's Ike Reilly, who will be playing a special acoustic show in our office as the sun goes down, before blazing the city with his rock show at The Tiger Room later that same night. Matt Kelley's pick for show of the decade.
Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets 



CLEM SNIDE
Wednesday, May 12, 9PM, The Tiger Room

Listen to Clem Snide online.

Eef Barzelay and Clem Snide return for the third time in two years, and frankly, it's still a little silly to us—the band actually requested to kick off the tour supporting their excellent new record, The Meat of Life, in Fort Wayne (before hitting smaller markets, in this order: Chicago, Madison, Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, San Fran…you get the idea).
Tickets: Brown Paper Tickets 



The first two Lucky Ten shows both sold out:

SLEEPY FURNACE
Back in January, we hosted Vandolah's Mark Hutchins for his SLEEPY FURNACE album release show, which featured Kevin Hambrick, Josh Hall and some guy from Aptera. Gotta say, it was a magical evening. And it frankly sounded so good, we decided we had to start hosting more shows in our space.

DOWN THE LINE 4
Then, in February, we once again provided artistic direction and curation for Down the Line 4, a fundraising concert for the Embassy Theatre, which sold out with more than 2,400 tickets moved, and raised $32,148 for the historic downtown landmark. Pretty incredible night.

Throughout 2010, we'll be unveiling a series of Lucky Ten logos, shirts and swag, along with a new web site. What else? Well, there's talk of getting the carpets cleaned, for starters.



As always, you can follow us on Facebook at /oneluckyguitar or on the Twitter at @OneLuckyGuitar.

On February 18th, at the annual Whatzup Whammy Awards, OLG's Matt Kelley was presented with a Special Achievement Whammy "for enhancing the quality of life in northeast Indiana through his contributions to the performing arts and his accomplishments in art- and entertainment-related industries serving Fort Wayne and surrounding communities…," which is kinda like a Lifetime Achievement Award, except Matt is 36 and unsatisfied.
Seriously, though, it was a real honor. The award was last given to Chuck Surack, for crying out loud! Nate, who was nominated for Visual Artist of the Year and Album of the Year at the Whammys, presented MK with the award. Pretty flattering stuff. The whole thing proves that, if nothing else, Matt surrounds himself with some pretty special people!

In mid-January, we bucked national trends and created a new job—University of Notre Dame alum Michelle Love joined us as account coordinator. We didn't realize how bad we needed this position until Michelle filled it with such enthusiasm and passion for the work we're doing. Welcome, Michelle!

Our fearless leader was awarded at Whatzup Magazine's annual Whammy's a couple weeks ago. Here's a snippet from our news release:

One Lucky Guitar, Inc. owner Matt Kelley receives WHATZUP Whammy 2010 Special Achievement Award

FORT WAYNE, IND. – The 2010 Whammy Awards, presented by WHATZUP magazine, included a Special Achievement award, presented to One Lucky Guitar owner, Matt Kelley.

This year marked the 10th year for the awards, held each year at Piere’s to honor the local music, entertainment and personalities that make up Fort Wayne’s artistically rich cultural scene. WHATZUP readers vote on the annual Whammy awards in categories such as Favorite Radio Personality, Best New Performer, Best Singer/Songwriter and Best Visual Performer of the Year.

Kelley is one of only a handful of people in the Whammy Awards’ history to ever receive the honor. He now joins the ranks of such distinguished past recipients as Chuck Surack, Richard Reprogle and Doc West. Kelley was presented his Whammy by Greg Locke and fellow One Lucky Guitar employee Nate Utesch.

"It's really flattering to win this award,” said Kelley. “I really feel that I've succeeded most in surrounding myself with great, talented people, be it at One Lucky Guitar with my co-workers and clients, or in the Trainhoppers, or, most importantly, at home. It's also refreshing to be part of a city and scene that seems to genuinely believe in its own resurgence."

Kelley is viewed by many as a figurehead of the local music scene having helped curate and promote such events as Down the Line, Dessert, Wayne Calhoun Troubadour Series, Flatpick Music Revue, and playing in such bands as Go Dog Go and The Legendary Trainhoppers, and working creatively with national and local artists by designing posters, album covers, t-shirts and more.

Join us at Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwich shop on West Jefferson Blvd this Friday, September 25th, from 11AM–1PM, as the team from One Lucky Guitar becomes the team from Jimmy John's. Wait. What?

Well, for the past 30 months, it seems like we've eaten at this Jimmy location a couple times a week—and we absolutely love it. And now, we want to live it. So as we wrap up OLG's Best Summer Ever, we thought that nothing could fast-track our team-oriented, collaborative approach to processes and projects than each being responsible for one layer on a massive, custom submarine sandwich, hand-made just for you. 

Recommendations from the team:

Amy ·

I waver between the #2 Big John and the #6 Vegetarian – you simply can’t go wrong!

Drew ·

#6 Veggie any day of the week, and twice on Sundays. There’s more flavor in this sub than any of the meat-packed options on the menu. (And it has the calories to prove it—more than the Big John and the Turkey Tom.) Still not convinced? Even Matt, who recommends the #2, couldn’t do so without tipping his hat to the Veggie.

Jake ·

And on the 17th day, Jimmy created the Ultimate Porker™. Bacon, ham, toppings, ditto.

Matt ·

#2 Big John (roast beef), no mayo. Though, adjectively speaking, the #6 Veggie is truly the beefiest sub on the menu.

Nate ·

#6. Two nights ago I made my brother leave a movie 15 min before its ending in order to get to Jimmy John's in time for two #6's, a split bag of BBQ chips and a quartered pickle. Movie sucked, but still.

Paige ·

#2 gets the majority of my votes however I liked the the 3, 4, 5 and 6 and I am picky! Looks like I need to try the #1 next.

Tommy ·

#6 every time, and it’s always reassuring to hear that the vegetarian option on the menu happens to be one of the best.

Be prepared

We're big fans of the Fort Wayne Philharmonic here at OLG, so imagine how ecstatic we were to rebrand one of the regions most storied fine arts institutions. The work began with an internal brand analysis. What did we find? A passionate organization that's sophisticated, but not pretentious. Serious, but with a playful side. Entertaining? Absolutely, but educational and enriching, too. These discoveries formed the foundation for developing a new logo and identity system—when the dust settled, "The Phil" was born.

The 2009/10 season will be the first for new music director Andrew Constantine, so there's a lot of energy surrounding The Phil. The timing for a fresh look for the Fort Wayne Philharmonic is, as the British would say, spot on. And we're thrilled to be a part of it.

This Friday and Saturday, at the amazing Foellinger Theatre, the Phil will perform a special three-concert series called Fanfare: Music for Everyone. These performances are an opportunity for The Phil musicians to thank the community for their support over the years, and to raise funds for the upcoming year.

OLG volunteered to help market Fanfare. Not only was it a lot of fun and a great way to support the arts, but it was also a great opportunity to roll out The Phil's new identity system. We came up with the Fanfare name, designed posters, postcards, ads, billboards, tickets and more. Here's a peak at some of the work we created. The hand-drawn illustration was designed to capture the artistic merits of musicians and the integral role they play in our Northeast Indiana community.

By the way, Foellinger is an outdoor venue, the weather this week (sunny and 80 degrees) is the stuff of dreams, and tickets are only $10 each. So come see The Phil at what some some have claimed to be the theatre with 'the best acoustics in the city.' It's the end of summer, mix yourself a Tom Collins and enjoy the music. Find out more about each performance's theme, and pick up your general admission tickets here.

Next Saturday, September 12th, the men of OLG will proudly participate in the annual Walk a Mile in Her Shoes event, downtown at Headwaters Park. The walk, an international initiative to stop rape, sexual assault and gender violence, is staged locally to raise funds and awareness for the Fort Wayne Women's Bureau, and the amazing services they provide. In 2008, we found this to be one of the most amazing, moving days of the year. We encourage you to join us by signing up here.

FORT WAYNE ROCK CITY
Earlier this year, the proprietors of Fort Wayne's finest rock club, The Brass Rail, asked us to design their new t-shirts. Like the best rock music, the design is recycled and trashy: it's based on the classic Fort Wayne city crest, as branded onto the side of city-supplied trash receptacles.
Click here to order.



BEST SUMMER EVER
We produced these shirts for an internal campaign to step up (and hunker down) as we work diligently to achieve the organizational, process and creative goals we established with the great team at Solstice Coaching & Consulting and our LEAN adviser, Rick Wyatt. Gosh, that doesn't sound like as much fun as it's been. Fact is, we've loved it, and for whatever reason, it really has been OLG's best summer ever—and hopefully yours, too. See it out in style.
Click here to order.



OVER THE MOON
After our good friends at Berne Apparel sent over a full set of short-sleeved coveralls (we're thinking about introducing a dress code in the office), we needed a design that would really launch us to the next level. (Ba-dum-dum) With the 40th anniversary of the first trip to the moon in the summer air, and a new shuttle mission on top of that…
Click here to order.

This Saturday, August 15th, Dupont Hospital presents their second annual Music & Movies in the Park. Check out the poster and visit the hospital's site for more details—we'll see you there!