EAST LANSING, Mich — Friday, the East Lansing Summer Concert Series returned downtown, but city officials say the performance was about more than just music.
- Know Obstacles, a band from Ann Arbor, took to the stage for the start of this year's summer concert series.
- The band was started 30 years ago, and gives people with special needs an opportunity to connect with music.
- City officials say the performance reinforces the idea of inclusivity in East Lansing.
WATCH: Know Obstacles takes the stage for East Lansing's Summer Concert Series
Know Obstacles, a band from Ann Arbor, took to the stage for the start of this year's summer concert series. But beyond the 12-bar blues and rocking solos was a deeper meaning.
"It's the coolest thing I do, hands down," Know Obstacles founder Steve Osburn said. Osburn says the idea began 30 years ago in his music store.
"An autistic boy walked in and I just knew he wanted to be around music," Osburn said.
Osburn says the two of them and a friend's son with cerebral palsy started Know Obstacles, giving people of all backgrounds with special needs an opportunity to connect with music and perform live. Today, that's grown to three bands, which combined for Friday's performance in East Lansing.
"Music is just a really positive direction to take things, I think, for a lot of people," Osburn said. "Whether they're special needs or not."
And it's that connection for all people that East Lansing Community Events Specialist Colleen Armitage says caught her attention when scheduling this year's bands.
"When I took over as the community events specialist, they gave me a few dates for the summer concert series, and I asked what the parameters were," Armitage said. "They said make it East Lansing. And I thought, what's more East Lansing than inclusivity?"
Armitage is a mother of a child with special needs herself, and says seeing the band in action gives her inspiration that she hopes others in the neighborhood feel as well.
"I know that my child is not up on that stage, but it feels like my child is up on that stage," she said. "It makes me feel like these people can do anything that they put their mind to. And that doesn't need to be specifically special needs, its anyody. If you put your mind to it, if you feel passionate about something, do it. Because all it takes is a little hard work."
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