A collective of bands and musicians, led by Bruce Forman’s Cow Bop (cowbop.com), traveling America’s Main Street from July 25 - August 9, celebrating the history and iconic spirit of American culture in a grassroots and democratic way. The event will consist of concerts, performances in night clubs, bars, restaurants, roadhouses and impromptu on-street shows, with convergences of artists who are traveling the road and who live along its route. Fed by traditional media outlets,and Rifftime.com's social media technology, the event will celebrate the ingenuity, vigor and irrepressible nature of independent artists, and honor the people who continue to keep the road a vibrant linear community. History Cow Bop has made the trek via “ The Route 66 Challenge ” three times in the past decade, and once led it in the current Linear Festival model. The theme of "Challenge" events was to depart Chicago with $100 and no scheduled gigs and play the entire way to the Pacific Ocean in the time-honored minstrel tradition. The previous excursions raised funding for music-mentoring programs for young people via a walk-a-thon model, with people making per-mile pledges. Past trips provide extensive knowledge of the history and people of the road, a robust network, and a sense of the road’s stature in our nation’s history and culture. The past trips (with blogs and pictures) are archived on this site. Logistics Cow Bop will depart from Chicago, leading the way. Other bands also join in, sharing Rifftime.com's central social media site that all can post to via sharing (route66.rifftime.com) It will be up to each group to set their route, schedule, and mode of transport, and to find their own sponsors. This enable the event to grow in an organic fashion, will add an authenticity to each bands’ music and help energize the economy of the road. To support themselves, bands will book gigs, busk, sell CDs, set up virtual busking via the web. Bands will also build their fan base and get exposure to the other bands’ fan-bases through Rifftime.com's site.