Had Michael Isenberg not picked up a guitar in 1962, there might not be a Dragon Jam. For sure, the discussion about Pekin's musical past would be different - both because of his impactful involvement - but also because of his loving, intricately-detailed documentation of the music scene from his era, the characters who passed through it and trove of stories attached to them. He was as much a vital historian as a musical legend. Music and stories flowed through him until his final days in February 2022.

In 1973 - Isenberg's band The Jets (Isenberg, Greg Clemons, Graham Walker, Randy Kohtz and Greg Wilson) had established themselves as the most popular band in the Midwest. After some personnel changes (the departure of Clemons and Thomas Walker relieving Randy Kohtz on bass), they did something no band after them will ever be able to claim: they headlined the first ever Pekin Marigold Festival.

In Mike's own words:
"The band was about 9 months old when we debuted that summer at an outdoor event for the annual Marigold Festival over 10,000 people packed downtown Pekin to see us, that time we did show up in a limo and WIRL's personalities Toronto and The Stoned Ranger ( Ron Wood and Chuck Diamond ) brought us on stage to another screaming mass. It kept getting bigger, we were in the local papers more than The Beatles themselves were!"

Jets Bassist Thomas Walker fondly remembers "Jets-mania": "The band continued to gain popularity on the local club circuit and also went back into Golden Voice to record new originals. The band was in the studio right after Dan Fogelberg and were able to preview Dan’s new demo tracks for his upcoming album. He and his band were most encouraging to us."

"Not long after that we were invited to play the first Marigold Festival downtown to a capacity crowd at the Pekin National Bank Parking lot and also played the Marigold Ball at the Pekin Country Club. That first festival was a big deal for Pekin and the band was glad to be a part of it. The summer of 73 was a great time for the band. We were getting lots of of good press and invited to all kinds of fun social thingies. We played the Memorial Stadium 4th of July show and other events around the area. With Mike & Graham's song writing pop sense it was looking like we’d go all the way to the topper most."

It's important to remember - there was no Internet, no Youtube...the only tool a musician like Isenberg and a band like the Jets had to build a following was incredible live performances and a grass roots movement - emanating from the streets of Downtown Pekin, from the 4H building and the showmobile in Mineral Springs Park - from the Pekin Stadium and from grade school gymnasiums signaling an amazing band with great songs and a dynamite knack for entertaining and drawing an audience in. In this way, they conquered the Midwest. And they were from Pekin.

The Jets stayed together for just 8 years. They scored local hits with the Beatle-esque "Be For Me" and "I Play for You". The band reformed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1976 with the past lineup of Mike Isenberg, Graham Walker, Thomas Walker, and Greg Wilson. This lineup went on to record on the Twin/Tone label, releasing the single "Lover Boy" backed with "Paper Girl". Both Prince and Morris Day attended the record release party for that 45rpm record at Jay's Longhorn, a then well known Minneapolis venue. Both songs also appeared on the Twin Tone album Big Hits of the Midwest Volume III, and that double album now resides in the Minneapolis section of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame in the same display as Prince's Purple Rain LP and other Prince memorabilia. The band broke up in early 1980.

Graham Walker went on to become known as Graham Elvis, forming the incredibly popular Elvis Brothers. Isenberg ultimately headed West to Hollywood to fulfill his dream of portraying the late comedy legend, Sam Kinison in film. He kept making music and sharing stories and released the two masterful albums, "Tarzan's Woods" and "In Rena's Room" - packed with images from his days growing up in Pekin. He always spoke affectionately and passionately about where he was from.

Personally - the stories about Michael Isenberg and the Jets are rock n roll gospel to guys like me - imagining what it must have been like in the 70's, when music was SO important. It's hard to imagine, but rock music was only a couple of decades old then - the Beatles had just melted brains on Ed Sullivan in 1965. People like Isenberg took that as a call to "take up arms" and set out THAT NIGHT to bring rock to their sleepy towns. They were the blueprint. And he - and others - dedicated their entire lives to it.