I've been working in events since I was 16. So when David and Cecilia Wolfe of The Vinyl Groove Records called me in to help plan a sidewalk sale, I didn't really know how to do a sidewalk sale.
That call turned into Wax & Tracks Fest.
The Vinyl Groove opened in November 2014 after David and Cecilia deposited their rolled coins at the bank, walked through Downtown Bedford and spotted a "for rent" sign in a window. A decade in, they outgrew that first location and moved to a bigger space in Old Brooklyn. Same community spirit, bigger stage. The building they're in now once housed Peaches Records & Tapes, Coconuts Music & Movies and Space Invaders.
The early planning had some false starts. We figured out pretty quickly who was actually going to do the work. What was left was me, David and Cecilia — and an idea that kept getting bigger every time we talked about it.
Year one ran on two months of planning and no marketing budget. Cleveland showed up anyway.
After everything we built together, David and Cecilia told me I should be a partner in it. Those are my people. The ones who value what you bring and give the creativity room to run. That's trust in action. And that's exactly what this festival is built on.
David and Cecilia's vision for Wax & Tracks has always been about the community — specifically the independent record stores. This festival exists for them and for everyone in Cleveland who shows up to support independent music culture. We celebrate the creativity. There's something for everyone.
Wax & Tracks Fest 2026. Saturday, September 19 at The Vinyl Groove Records, 5100 Pearl Road, Old Brooklyn. 11 AM to 7 PM. Free admission. No $18 beers. No festival price gouging.
The goal is 10 independent record stores on site. We're already at 5 confirmed: The Vinyl Groove, Out of the Past Records out of Chicago, Mistake by the Lake, Late Nite Records and Culture Clash. The stage is being donated by a nonprofit. Vendor fees are staying low. Sponsorships and donations are keeping the whole thing accessible on purpose. That's the only way to build something the community actually owns.
Annisa Gooden of Out of the Past Records will be there in person. Out of the Past has been a Chicago institution since 1963. I wrote about Annisa when I was looking at what it really takes to build a brand people come back to for decades. Now she's coming to Cleveland and she's also become a client.
Shannon "Sangin' Diva" Pearson is performing. If you don't know Shannon yet, she's spent three decades as the voice behind Chaka Khan, Patti LaBelle, Natalie Cole, Jeffrey Osborne and more. She's performed at Montreux Jazz Festival, appeared on Saturday Night Live and brought the house down on Soul Train and Showtime at the Apollo. Now she's stepping to the front of the stage on her own terms. Her debut solo single Free is already turning heads and her duet Tell Me If You Still Care with Phil Perry has millions of streams. Marketta, who represents Shannon alongside two other artists, made that introduction. Now I'm building Shannon's website and Marketta is a client. That's how this world works when the right people find each other.
Our nonprofit partner is Cleveland Rocks: Past, Present & Future, founded by Cindy Barber of the Beachland Ballroom. Over a decade of work preserving Cleveland's live music infrastructure and supporting local artists. That mission earned a stage name.
Beverage industry partners are coming too — people who know what's being built here and want to be represented well in it. More details soon.
There's more I am genuinely itching to talk about. An exclusive Midwest Variant of a remaster is in the works and a Cleveland band is performing a tribute to the album live at Wax & Tracks. The official press release drops July 8. Stay tuned.
I sold advertising for an internationally distributed music publication, which included sponsorships for our events at SXSW and VIP backstage parties on the Vans Warped Tour. After the magazine, I ran a sponsorship agency with two colleagues from the publication. Then I pivoted into the beverage industry. Still events, just not the ones that kept me up at night. I never fully left music. I just stepped away from it for a hot minute.
When I started Great Life's Work in 2024, I knew exactly where I wanted to land. I just didn't know the path would move this fast.
Is it scary to co-found a festival? Yes. Do I have the right people in my corner? A hundred percent. David and Cecilia recognized the sweat equity and made me a partner. Marketta brought Shannon into my world. Annisa is coming to Cleveland. Beverage industry partners who believed in this before it had a press release are showing up. The work I've been building is sitting right in the middle of all of it.
And here's the thing about Cleveland that doesn't get said enough: this city has always been a music city. The talent here is real, deep and consistently underestimated. The Greater Cleveland Music Census — championed by Cindy Barber and Sean Watterson — put numbers to what a lot of us already knew. Nearly 2,800 music professionals surveyed. $58 million generated annually by the local music economy. An independent venue infrastructure that punches well above its weight.
I feel something building here. An undercurrent that's been here the whole time, waiting for the right conditions. The talent never left. The passion never left. What's changing is that more people are choosing to build something with it instead of waiting for someone else to.
Wax & Tracks is one small part of that. A free festival, a donated stage, independent record stores from across the Midwest, a legacy performer stepping to the front of the stage on her own terms and a community that keeps showing up.
To be continued.
