NEWS + PRESS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FORMER WMMS LEGENDS JOHN GORMAN AND DENNY SANDERS JOIN WAX & TRACKS FEST SEPT. 19 FOR LIVE 50TH ANNIVERSARY MAGGOT BRAIN TRIBUTE

The only festival built around the record stores. Keeping music culture alive in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND, OH — September 16, 2026 — Wax & Tracks Fest returns Saturday, September 19, from 11 AM to 7 PM at The Vinyl Groove Records, 5100 Pearl Rd. The event is free and open to the public and requires a free ticket to enter.

Fifty years ago, WMMS disc jockey Bill "B.L.F. Bash" Freeman started closing out his overnight show by playing Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain" in full, a tradition that ran for nearly two decades and turned into a Cleveland radio legend. This September, the two men who built the station around that era, former program director John Gorman and Evening Air Talent & Creative Services Director Denny Sanders, are coming to Wax & Tracks Fest to introduce a live tribute performance themselves. The full story of how it started, a Boston club in 1971, a hiring chain that ran Sanders to Gorman to Bash, and the 1:30 AM slot that made "Maggot Brain" a request-line regular, is up now at waxandtracksfest.com.

Wax & Tracks Fest was built around the record stores, not a headliner with vendors bolted on. This year seven shops open their crates for one day, one lot and one shared mission: keeping music culture alive in Cleveland.

The Record Stores

The Vinyl Groove Records (Cleveland, OH) — host shop
Out Of The Past Records (Chicago, IL)
Mistake by the Lake Records (Cleveland, OH)
The Government Center (Pittsburgh, PA)
Fat Hippy Records (Brookfield, OH)
Culture Clash Records (Toledo, OH)
Brittany's Record Shop (Cleveland, OH)

Three states, seven stores, one fenced lot. No membership required beyond showing up.

The Full Lineup

Apostadelic, led by Mikey Silas, takes the Main Stage at noon to perform Funkadelic's Maggot Brain in full with Gorman and Sanders taking the stage beforehand to introduce it. The rest of the day's Main Stage and indoor lineup rounds out with local DJs and bands.

The Main Stage lineup:

Apostadelic, led by Mikey Silas
DJ Mike Filly
Black Voltron
DJ Red-I (Brittany Benton, Brittany's Record Shop)
The Vumms

Inside The Vinyl Groove Records, the indoor stage runs all day with:

Spin the Black Circle (Erin & Beth, XCSB)
DJ Shonny Shon
DJ Mac 50

The Sponsors

Wax & Tracks Fest is powered this year by Audio-Technica, on as Test Pressing Partner and supplying the full stage sound system and backline for the entire event. Based just down the road in Stow, Ohio, Audio-Technica is putting Cleveland-area gear behind a Cleveland-area celebration of the music that made this city a rock and roll capital in the first place.

Bacardi joins as Deep Cut Partner. Also on board as Founding Partner: Gotta Groove Records, Cleveland's own vinyl pressing plant along with Klutch Cannabis.

Free. Ticketed. Grab Yours.

Admission is free. The event is ticketed, so grab a ticket before Saturday. Tickets are available now at waxandtracksfest.com, with an optional Fund the Stage add-on that goes directly to paying the artists who perform.

About Wax & Tracks Fest

Wax & Tracks Fest is a music and record festival co-produced by The Vinyl Groove Records and Great Life's Work, held on the last day of summer at 5100 Pearl Rd in Cleveland. Built around independent record stores instead of a single headline act, the festival brings together seven record shops, a full day of live music and DJs, food trucks and vendors to celebrate the culture that keeps vinyl, and Cleveland, alive.

For the Vinyl Collector. The only festival built around the record stores. Keeping music culture alive in Cleveland.

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