Whod’a thunk that getting a 9mm pistol pulled on me at the Hess Station at Cameron and Market last Halloween would lead to Roundtable Presents producing a live hip-hop concert for 1400 high school students tomorrow afternoon?

Shortly after “the incident”, I met with Public Safety Chairwoman Patty Kim-Sider over a hearty breakfast at Roxy’s on Third to discuss the rapidly spreading crime problem in our fine city.

Un-scientifically deducting that in order to make the city a safer place in the future, we need to focus our efforts on the youth today; we crafted a rough outline for a summer long program- dubbed ‘Get Busy Livin’; in hopes of uniting all of the varied city youth summer programs and culminating in a free concert at the end of the summer-

Although we didn’t see the unification of the many programs available to the youths of the city, we discovered what will need to occur over the coming years to see this program get legs and make bigger strides in the summers to come-

The free concert, however, is still happening.

Tomorrow is John Harris High School’s Back to School Rally. It’s an afternoon of fun, wholesome and culturally enriching activities designed to get the kids excited to return to classes in the fall- ready to learn.

Spearheaded by City Council President Vera Jean-White, we’ve worked steadfast with Barak, Councilwoman Kim and Julie Botell to bring in local hip hop collective Artists Over Industry to perform a free concert for the students of JHHS tomorrow afternoon-

A first for Roundtable Presents- as we’ve, until now, only booked events in area nightclubs, traditional music venues and festivals-

Should make for an interesting afternoon-

Check back for the recap Thursday night.