The Tonic Gallery features the work of thirty amazing artists with the sales to benefit Second Helpings. Bidding starts at $100 with the buy-it-now price of $400. The collection is fabulous and includes art from Kyle Ragsdale, Larry Endicott, Kipp Normand, James Sholly and Jeremy Efroymson. There are several things I have my eyes on. I just need more wall space!

As many of you know, I love my awesome job as director of operations for Second Helpings - a food rescue, job training and hunger relief agency serving greater Indianapolis. As you may not know, I learned about Second Helpings from my work as a committee member for the Tonic Ball.

This year's Tonic Ball features more than thirty musical artists - folk, jazz, funk, country, rock and pop playing the songs of Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin. If you are motivated you can try to see all of the bands, but it would be a challenge. You could easily see fifteen with no fuss. In Radio Radio each band will play a Led Zeppelin song and one of their own, with only ten minutes between bands. Right next door in the Fountain Square Theatre bands will be playing Bob Dylan songs with only five minutes between bands. It's fast and fun and full of good music and cheer. It really is my favorite night of the year.

The lineup in phenomenal -

Radio Radio (Led Zeppelin stage)

Bat Tattoo, The Misprintz, The Old Fair and Square Band, Ebenezer and the Hymnasters, The Last Domino, Frankie Camaro's Atomic Bombay, Big Betty, Yoko Moment, We're Not Squibnocket, Jennie DeVoe, The Cocaine Wolves, Brian Deer and the Achievers, The Common, Healing Sixes, Bigger Than Elvis, and Mandy Marie and the Cool Hand Lukes.

Fountain Square Theater (Bob Dylan stage)

Cliff Snyder, Ladymoon, Sanuk, Coolidge, Jeff Byrd and the Wingmen, Jon Strahl Band, CW and the Working Class Trio, The Odyssey Favor, Luke Austin Daugherty Jam Band, Joel Henderson, Everest, Susan and the Desperate Seekers, Jon Martin and. . . , Shelby Kelley, Brian Deer and the Achievers, Tad Armstrong, Mardelay, Dead Beats, Everything Now!, Otis Gibbs, and The Vulgar Boatmen.

I'll see you there - I'll be the one running around like a nut grinning from ear to ear.

I can't believe it has been over a month since the Austin City Limits Festival! I had a wonderful time and got to see a ton of music and shoot photos with the big kids. I swooped in to Austin a few days early to visit friends and soak in some sunshine. The first night I got to hang out with three Indianapolis-to-Austin music folks. Guitar player extraordinaire Aaron Stroup (Middletown) gave me a quick tour of Austin that included seeing Jazz great Stanley Smith and his band the Jazz Pharaohs at the Elephant Room. From there we headed to Stubbs BBQ - I was bummed that there was not a BBQ rib in sight, but I did hear some great music and got to catch up with Cameron Smith, former talent booker for Verizon Music Center and the Murat. Cameron now teaches venue management at the University of Texas - Austin.

The first day of the Austin City Limits Festival was amazing. The weather was perfect and I had a photo pass. One of the first things I heard when I got to the media tent was the Avett Brothers playing an acoustic set for one of the local television stations. Not only do you stumble across musical acts in the media tent, but also they have food, drinks, Wi-Fi and most importantly Porta potties - with sinks!

The photo pass meant that I got to stand in front of the stage for the first three songs of each band. It was my first experience in the photo pit, so I did a good amount of standing back and watching to see what the pros were doing. Everyone was super-polite and helpful. One of the first bands I photographed was the Avett Brothers. I first saw them at the Midwest Music Summit in 2005 on the porch of the Monkey's Tale. We've all come a long way since then! The talented - and dare I say, dreamy, brothers Seth and Scott Avett with bassist Scott Crawford rocked the bluegrassy set and had the crowd entranced - and me hooked, being that close to the band.

I'll continue with the ACLF review in future columns.