The History of Rose City Rocks
Past Rose City Rocks newsclippings and flyer art
The Rose City Rocks music festival began on Memorial Day 1993 at The Old Towne Pub in Pasadena, California. The original 14 band showcase was a celebration of the debut of a compilation CD featuring Pasadena bands entitled "Locals Only" which was placed in 5 local bar Jukeboxes. Imagine that! You can visit your favorite local watering hole and amongst the timeless classics pumping from the jukebox your band's song comes on. The Jukebox compilation CD's were the brainchild of Scott Hildebrandt who with his company, Just Talent, remains the event producer today. CDR recording is common place today but in 1993 it was brand new. In fact the blank CDR discs If you purchased a five disc pack cost $75 per disc plus the duplication! The original CD burning machines were $5000.00, well out of the reach of most including Hildebrandt who slipped a store clerk a $100 tip to burn the copies for him. Each band performed in celebration at the original May 31, 1992 showcase which included professional video taping for a local public access television show that was named "Rose City Rocks" by the show's producer Pamilla Parker Mosher of Parker Media. The name "Rose City Rocks" stuck and has been on loan to the event ever since.
Over the years the event grew to multiple stages in several venues including The Old Towne Pub, 35'er, Equator, Q's, Jakes and (the now defunct) McMurphy's, Domenico's and Moose McGillycuddy's. In 1998 Just Talent released the first commercially available Locals Only CD that was promoted with a 3 state multi city tour. One leg of the tour featured several Pasadena bands on a rotating roster performing in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. Other shows were held in San Francisco and Las Vegas, and Tempe, AZ. That same year, a two day live concert and starparty was held at Newcombs Ranch in the Angeles Crest area of the local mountains.
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