Martha and the Vandellas had it right; "Summer's here and the time is right, for dancing' in the streets". Since our winters are so wet, the best opportunities to hear live music are in the summer. Two that come to mind are Seafair and the Farmer's Markets.

Seafair runs July through mid-August. Go to www.seafair.com/events/community/. Here are a few that I found:

• Kent,
• Mercer Island (both this weekend!),
• Redmond,
• Kla Ha Ya (Snohomish),
• Kirkland-Jazz,
• Bull Moose (Roosevelt)-blues,
• West Seattle-various genres,
• Renton-various genres,
• Ballard-various genres,
• Central Area-various genres

There are more.

These communities have Farmer's Markets:

• Lake City,
• Magnolia,
• Columbia City,
• Broadway,
• West Seattle,
• Kent

Not all Farmer’s Markets have live music every time so be sure to check before you drive. See www.seattlefarmersmarkets.org for more info.

The bands you'll here at these shows are comprised of local musicians who are out there doing the best job they can to make some good music. For students who want to put forth the effort, this is an attainable goal. National acts are fun to see but can leave you feeling like "I could never do that". It's valuable to see what's happening closer to home. All those famous bands started out playing little local gigs like these, your budding guitar hero can too. It's great to dream of the majors but I remember having a lot of fun playing those Little League games too.

Okay, that's it for now, go hit the streets.

My friends at CD Baby have outdone themselves this time. There's a new website called AmieStreet.com that sells downloads of indie music in many genres. To get it moving they're giving away $5.00 worth of music to all comers. All it takes is a valid email address. They don't collect any personal info and you don't need a credit card.

The interesting wrinkle comes with their pricing. New music is free-you keep your five bucks. As a song is downloaded more, the price goes up, topping out at $.98. An album costs the sum of the individual songs to a max, in most cases, of $8.98. Last I looked my album, "Second Hand Smoke", hadn't been downloaded yet so it's free. Just search for "Second Hand Smoke" or "JW Hanberry" and grab your copy. Of course you can use your free money for any music they have.

To get your $5 credit you must use this URL: http://AmieStreet.com/_1/cdbabygift