Eight Is Great story party!

GEESH - HOW THE heck did we make eight years fly by? Second String Music celebrating with our annual store anniversary party on Saturday, Feb. 16, and we hope you can make it.

Above is a video of the legendary Luke Lyter playing a song in our original location at Eighth and Washington. I couldn't think of a more fitting thing to play as we enter our ninth year in business.

What I remember most about that first year was how Sheryl set everything up and we learned on the fly. That building was perfect for our start, though we quickly outgrew it and the landlords were a challenge. I started giving lessons in the little room on the south side, as did Warren Riley on Saturday mornings.

I'm trying really hard to remember the first jam session we had. I vaguely remember Jake Owen was in town for the firefighters concert and his band walked in while we were playing. I looked it up and he played in Quincy on March 26, 2011, so our first jam session was barely a month after we opened.

Steve Rees had just come over with a bunch of interesting instruments, and I recall Jake's band getting a huge kick out of the various banjos and other things on the walls.

For our first anniversary party, getting everybody in became a challenge. Because our space was so packed we had to really work on clearing out room in the back for the jam session, and pretty soon we had 40 or 50 people in there and it was on. Frank Haxel was amazed at the number of people and the fun we were having. Here were perfect strangers sitting around and rocking out. I said, "That's the power of music." I also remember someone buying more alcohol half way through the party. We always seem to run out somehow.

Really, the anniversary party is just a way for us to reflect and be grateful we are still here. Small business retail is not for the faint of heart. So many people have helped us a long the way and it's been an adventure.

We'll start around noon and have a jam session, followed by beer can bowling and general frivolity all day and into the evening. We'll have food and beverages but we encourage you to bring your own if you want - there's plenty of room in the fridge and we always need more.

We are also knocking 10 percent off our bass amps and bass guitars this month. We have a few of the Fender Rumbles and Roland Cubes and they are amazing.

Eight is great! Help us celebrate at Fifth and Maine and make it another epic store party.