Samantha Fisher "Sam"antha Fisher is the creator of STLSound Magazine, co-founder of the John V. Rudebeck Foundation, Ltd and Co-Director of the "Play It Forward-STL" Program.

Samantha has a fifteen year old son named Dallas who remains her inspiration. Her work with STLSound highlighted the need for recognition of our local scene and improved music programs in local schools. Samantha is best known for her dedication to the St. Louis live music scene, her passion for music education and for the phrase, "I got this."

Davis Bucklin Davis overheard Sam talking about "Play It Forward" one afternoon and how she was looking for 5 accoustic guitars. He had an extra one, donated it to her, and the rest, as they say, is history.

He owns a Web-Design firm specializing in promoting artists and the arts and lives by the motto of "Pay It Forward" so it was with great pleasure he volunteered his time and energy to help with all things Web for "Play It Forward"!

Sam Koltun Sam "Bam" Koltun is a 16 year old lead guitarist who has been playing guitar for 6 years. He plays with various musicians at local clubs all over St Louis. He is an honor student who maintains his grades in the midst of playing out 5 - 6 nights a week.

Sam is grateful for all the opportunities he has been given at such a young age and for the acceptance, encouragement & support that he has received from some of St Louis' best musicians who treat him as one of their own.

Mandi Lee is the Play It Forward intern. While majoring in Communication Studies at Missouri Baptist University, she is working with the PIF-STL team to put instruments into the hands of students in St. Louis high schools.

She teamed up with Sam for a project last year and the two have been working together ever since. "Seeing the reactions of these music teachers is all I need to continue my work with Play It Forward. It's a blessing," said Mandi.

Mandi's passions are music and ministry. When she is not working with PIF-STL, she is in class, singing, doing homework, cooking, or catching some live music down in the Loop with friends.

"Music is moonlight in the
gloomy night of life."
- Jean Paul Richter

"If a composer could say
what he had to say in
words he would not bother
trying to say it in music."
- Gustav Mahler

"Music expresses that which
cannot be said and on which
it is impossible to be silent."
- Victor Hugo

"I think I should have no other
mortal wants, if I could always
have plenty of music. It seems
to infuse strength into my limbs
and ideas into my brain. Life
seems to go on without effort,
when I am filled with music."
- George Eliot

"Rock stars.
Is there anything" they don't know?"
- Homer Simpson

"If music be the food
of love, play on."
- William Shakespeare

"Music is the shorthand of emotion."
- Leo Tolstoy

"Music is a moral law. It gives
soul to the universe, wings to
the mind, flight to the
imagination, and charm and
gaiety to life and to everything."
- Plato

"Music in the soul can be
heard by the universe."
- Lao Tzu

"It occurred to me by intuition,
and music was the driving force
behind that intuition. My
discovery was the result of
musical perception."
- Albert Einstein
(on his Theory of Relativity)

"Music was my refuge. I could
crawl into the space between
the notes and curl my back to
loneliness."
- Maya Angelou

"Music doesn't lie. If there is
something to be changed in this
world, then it can only
happen through music."
- Jimi Hendrix

"Music is everybody's possession."
- John Lennon

"Music is well said to be the speech
of angels; in fact, nothing among the
utterances allowed to man is felt
to be so divine. It brings us near
to the infinite."
- Thomas Carlyle

"In music the passions
enjoy themselves."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

"You are the music while
the music lasts."
- T.S. Eliot

"Music can change the world because
it can change people."
- Bono

"Without music, life would be a mistake."
- Friedrich Nietzsche