With the general lack of support by venues for new, exciting acts in Ames, students and community members should make an effort to experience something they may have been overlooking.

“There’s a lot of people around the area that bitch that there’s never any good music, never any good shows around here,” says Jim Schloemer, coordinator of Saturday Rocks and frontman for dead by Wednesday. “But in actuality, there is a lot going on, and it’s all good.”

Ames has an enormous and talented music scene, with many events on the horizon.

Saturday Rocks, a weekly concert festival at the Boheme, will be kicking off again Sept. 8 with five local bands performing for the first show. Among them are openers dead by Wednesday and headliners Pookey Bleum.

With all the hype Saturday Rocks has been receiving since its conception last year, Schloemer expects the event to become more of a staple among the local music scene this year.

“I’ve heard a lot of people talking about it since [last year], because they were really amazing shows,” he says.

Schloemer is also planning a special Halloween Saturday Rocks for Oct. 27. He expects seven or eight bands to perform, with The Vidablue headlining.

“Ames Music Live,” a program on ISU4 which showcases local music, will be kicking off the year with a live, two-hour season premier featuring local groups Poison Control Center and Saving Mae, Sept. 4 from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Both bands will play for about an hour.

Aaron Fister, producer for “Ames Music Live,” says there should be 12 to 15 shows this semester.

“Usually the bands will play 25 to 55 minutes of music, depending on the length of the show,” Fister said. The show itself normally runs 30 to 60 minutes. “[Each show will] probably air 10 to 15 times a week.”

Unfortunately, however, ISU4’s program schedule is still being arranged, but plans are to have everything finalized soon.

“They’re not gonna have anything set in stone for a week or two,” Fister added. “Usually, it’s about a month.”

Fister’s other project, tentatively called the Ames Student Music Group, is currently in the development stage. But once it is underway, Fister hopes to sponsor concerts, allow networking between bands and promote upcoming band concerts.

“Bands are always telling us there’s not enough places to play,” Fister says.

Fister says he hopes to be able to put on these shows for free, but if Ames Student Music Group can’t get free equipment to use, there might be a small admission fee.

“It would be nice to pay the bands, too,” he says. Often times, the bands play for free.

Bi-Fi Records is throwing a party Sept. 7 in honor of the opening of its new studio on 2408 Chamberlain St. Why Make Clocks will provide live music for the grand opening and following Clocks’ performance, the party will move to Varsity Theaters for a midnight showing of a documentary on The Canadian Wheat Lords, a band on Bi-Fi’s label.

Bi-Fi hasn’t been around long, but it has already produced numerous albums under their name.

“We have two years out of our way [with] 10 releases so far and five new albums [in the works] this fall,” says Pat Fleming, Bi-Fi boardmember and producer.

The Bi-Fi party begins at 9 p.m. and there will be a $2 charge for the studio’s grand opening, and a $3 charge for the movie.

For more information on local music events visit www.amesmusiclive.com.