Fat Tuesday may be nearly a year away, but the Jaycees are bringing you Mardi Gras in June! We can't have a parade, but come down to Greene Square Park after work on Friday and we will do our best to recreate the spirit of the Big Easy during Carnival season. We may even throw some beads and trinkets from the stage, so remember the magic words, "Throw me something, Mister!"

OK, I'm exaggerating a bit. We're not really having a Mardi Gras party, but this week's band will bring a taste of the French Quarter to eastern Iowa. Flat Cat "offers generous sides of fatback groove and finger-lickin' drumming." (Joe Derderian, Icon Magazine) Their set list runs the gamut of originals, New Orleans funk, Memphis soul, Bay Area rock n roll and Chicago blues mixed up in a stew with a little Iowa polka/country thrown in for seasoning. Sound interesting? It is. A bit unpredictable? Well, maybe, but that's what makes live music so great.

If this were really Mardi Gras, tradition requires that we have a krewe. Hey, somebody's got to organize the party and ride on the float in the parade! Founded by the Cedar Rapids Jaycees, the Uptowns krewe welcomes Mix 96.5, 100.7 The Fox, Mediacom, and Munson Electric as charter members. It takes a lot of work to put on a party like this, so we opened up membership to this week's guest pourers from Interconnect Consulting, Rental Service Corporation, Rinderknecht Associates, and VMF Capital. These party animals will be working the crowd to make sure you have plenty of beer. Sorry, they don't accept beads. (Well, not officially, anyway!)

To get serious for a minute, this week the Friday Night Dream Makers will be presenting $1000 to the Witwer Senior Center. This is just one way the Cedar Rapids Jaycees give back to the community, and it is possible because you support events like Uptowns.

So make plans now to join us Friday after work. It may not be Mardi Gras, but Uptown Friday Nights is where your weekend begins. It's hard to compete with "Fat Tuesday", but think of this as "A Few Extra Pounds Friday". (ba dum bum)

See you at the park!

- Nathan