There's no place like home

We hear more and more stories about Bradenton kids who want to stay here — or return if they left for school or early careers elsewhere.

Thursday's cover story in Weekend provides yet another example. The band "We The Kings" — whose four members attended King Middle School, hence the name — has a new CD on a New York label featuring songs with titles like "Skyway Avenue'' and "This Is Our Town.''

Hanging around Bradenton has fueled the band's energy and creative juices. As frontman Travis Clark explained in the article: "We kind of wanted to give an original point of view to the kind of music that we do, and use Bradenton as a model for what we want to say, how much it means for us to be from here.''

The band apparently has a solid fan base and is landing some good gigs. They open next Wednesday at Jannus Landing, a popular St. Petersburg rock venue.

"We couldn't find a better place to call home,'' said Clark.

Now how cool is that?

Jim