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PrintI am Tulsa - Jonathan Bolzle
Broker/developer for KMO Development Group and member of Tulsa's Young Professionals
Few people can say they’ve worked at one of the most recognizable music mastering studios in the world, engineering albums for Robert Plant, Allison Krauss and Randy Newman. Even fewer can say they’ve received platinum records for their musical contributions.
Tulsan Jonathan Bolzle is one of the few who has accomplished both.
After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School and completing his Bachelor of Arts in professional music at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Bolzle moved to Los Angeles, where “all I knew was that I wanted to be in the music business, either playing or scoring or engineering,” the 35-year-old says.
In L.A., Bolzle auditioned with bands and ran errands for recording companies until earning a position with The Mastering Lab, a mastering studio that has garnered more Grammy nominations for engineering than any other mastering facility in the country.
“Chances are, if you own vinyl from the ’70s or ’80s, it was cut at The Mastering Lab,” he says. “Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ was mastered there and remained on the Billboard Top 200 until not too long ago.”
He spent three and a half years at The Mastering Lab, working with Grammy Award-winning artists and receiving platinum records for editing soundtracks for “Walk the Line” and Disney and Pixar’s “Cars.”
“It was just an amazing point in my life,” Bolzle says. “I was working with people I recognized and admired, ones I didn’t recognize and admired.”
When Bolzle injured his ankle in 2007, he boomeranged back to Tulsa for rehabilitation. But despite his injury, Bolzle says he had already considered moving back to Tulsa to open a mastering studio.
“I have a desire to open a mastering studio here because no one in the region is doing it on a level that competes with the coasts,” he says. “ … My hope is that I will be in a position to purchase a space within the IDL (Inner Dispersal Loop) sometime this year.”
For the year and a half he has been back in Tulsa, Bolzle has worked for KMO Development Group, a real estate development company based in downtown’s historic ONG building. He spends his days leasing and selling properties with local brokers, but in his spare time, he is busy serving as an active member of his community.
He and a few friends started CharityOkie, a weekly karaoke night at Joe Momma’s Pizza that raises money for Make-A-Wish Foundation of Oklahoma.
“We’ve been able to raise an average of $1,100 per night on a normal Wednesday in downtown,” he says. “ … My hope is that it will continue to catch on … and we will raise more and more for our charity and have a great time doing it.”
He also spends his time co-chairing Tulsa’s Young Professionals’ newest crew, the Urbanists Crew. Members assess the geographic, economic, political, social and cultural environments of the city and attempt to determine the best uses and practices for a vibrant urban core.
“The crew we created advocates and promotes the progressive development that attracts and retains young professionals,” Bolzle says. “We do this by creating alliances, initiatives and educating ourselves so we can pass on our insight.”
Bolzle says the biggest impact his crew can make is to educate its members and serve as a voice to the city on behalf of young professionals, particularly for the revitalization of downtown.
“I think that the urban core is analogous to the heart of any city,” he says. “It’s like the vital organ that feeds all of the outlying areas. When the group was formed, it was formed with about six other individuals and our concern was that the community understands that our focus is downtown but with concern to all the other outlying communities.”
Bolzle’s determination to create a better Tulsa also encompasses his passion for creating a more sustainable city with mandatory recycling and a more attractive city for young professionals by building upon downtown.
“I’m most passionate about change,” he says. “It’s like death and taxes. It’s one of those things we can count on. Rather than fight it, we should learn to adapt … If we are to stay viable in the future, we have to learn how to embrace change and then quickly learn how to utilize it.”
I am dedicated to Tulsa because this is the place I’ve called home for more than 20 years and I feel I have a great opportunity to make a difference here. I see so much potential for the city to combine new lifestyle options with the natural beauty of the city to make it attractive to a wide variety of individuals. Diversity of options and people is what makes any city great. The opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of experiences and perspectives is what is attractive to the educated people Tulsa wants to attract and retain and I’m committed to furthering this endeavor.
I am a member of Tulsa’s Young Professionals because I see it as the best way to leverage power to enact change. Young professionals need to better realize the fact that the city wants more of us. This notion implies that we have the power to make requests of the city, if not demands. However, it’s not enough to simply want change. TYPros, as an organization, allows us the opportunity to educate ourselves and connect with the appropriate leaders in the community to push for that change. TYPros offers a great opportunity to those who want to make a difference.
I am passionate about downtown development because I’ve been complaining about it for the last 20 years. “Why is our downtown dead? We have a beautiful skyline and it could be so cool, but everyone leaves after 5 p.m. Why do cities smaller than ours have a more vibrant downtown and a nightlife?” and so on. There comes a time when we have to stop complaining and offer some answers or suggestions. The urban core is the heart of any city. The nation has learned through experience that a failing heart leads to failing extremities. By focusing on the heart, the entire region benefits.
I am looking forward to the development of affordable residences within the Inner Dispersal Loop. Demand has been demonstrated and announced. Now we need to market to the right developers to make it a reality. Having more residences downtown will inspire the development of the amenities that make downtown even more attractive, which will, in turn, create increased desire for people to live in or close to downtown. It’s all very exciting and necessary for Tulsa to remain viable in the future.
I am most proud of my choice not only to leave Oklahoma but also to move back. Both of those choices took courage and have been extremely rewarding.
I am an asset to Tulsa because I bring a fresh and educated perspective to our community. I wasn’t born a tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal — I developed my perspectives despite my roots.
