National touring acts mesh with CD-release shows by Kris Hitchcock & Small Town Son, Thirsty Perch Blues Band and more, from Michigan folk icons to jazz gurus to heavy metal heroes. Oh, and win free tickets to Flogging Molly. Read on.
Good Vibes with The Jim Cooper Quintet
6:30 p.m. Monday
$10 ($5 for jazz society members)
Bobarino’s inside The B.O.B., Grand Rapids (20 Monroe Ave. NW)
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Signs that we’re entering late January are everywhere: subzero wind chills, pre-Super Bowl blathering over The Harbaugh Bowl, a moot inauguration ceremony, flu outbreaks, seasonal tuba affective disorder. The musical cure comes in the form of the busiest concert week of 2013 thus far, with a boatload of national and regional gems from Grand Rapids to the lakeshore.
It all starts on Monday night with a special Martin Luther King Day performance at The B.O.B by The Jim Cooper Quintet as part of the West Michigan Jazz Society’s Monday Night Jazz series. The uber-talented quintet – featuring Cooper on vibes, Ken Morgan on sax and flute, Paul Lesinski on piano, Warren Jones on bass and Randy Marsh on drums – will pay tribute to “the great vibraphone masters,” including Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Gary Burton and others. The show also will include special selections honoring King.
Maps & Atlases, Charles the Osprey, Elliot Street Lunatic
8 p.m. Tuesday
$10
Flatfoot 56, Nobody’s Favorites, The Mushmen
8 p.m. Saturday
$10
Ramona Falls, The Hounds Below, Simien the Whale
8 p.m. Sunday
$10
The Pyramid Scheme
With an alternative-meets-experimental vibe, Chicago indie-rockers Maps & Atlases, with Grand Rapids’ own Charles the Osprey and Lansing’s Elliot Street Lunatic, play West Michigan as part of their 2013 tour, which includes dates across the United States and Europe. The band’s most recent album, 2012’s “Beware and Be Grateful,” was described by allmusic.com as an “extremely likable set of clever summery pop songs.”
The Pyramid Scheme follows this up on Saturday with another Windy City product: Celtic punkers Flatfoot 56, which released “Toil,” last summer. The outfit plays Grand Rapids on its way (sort of) to Russia for concerts in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Finally, the week of Scheme-ing wraps on Sunday with Portland, Ore. Indie-rockers Ramona Falls led by multi-instrumentalist Brent Knopf. The band released its most recent album, “Prophet,” last year on the Barsuk Records label and you can watch a dandy new video of an acoustic performance by the group below. And the Local Spins Album of the Year winner, Simien the Whale, opens the show. Ticket info for all three shows online here.
Rachael Davis
6 p.m. Thursday
Free
Fricano’s Pizza, Alpine Township (5808 Alpine Ave. NW)
CHANGE IN LINEUP: Seth Bernard & Friends
9:30 p.m. Thursday
Free
Founders Brewing Co.
SHOW ADVISORY: Americana singer-songwriter May Erlewine originally was scheduled to play Founders. But on Thursday, she posted a note on Facebook saying she was ill with the flu and apologized that she’s unable to play. Instead, her husband and respected singer-songwriter Seth Bernard will perform, along with Phil Barry, Sarah Fuerst and Michael Shimmin.
Consider this a rare opportunity to hear two of Michigan’s most stunning folk/Americana voices on the same night.
Michigander-turned-Nashville-ite Rachael Davis returns to her home state for an intimate performance in an unlikely venue: Fricano’s Pizza on Alpine Avenue as part of that restaurant’s new Winter Music Scene series.
Davis, who tells me that “mommy’s hitting the road” in solo fashion for this swing into Michigan, starts off the week with a Nashville gig, before stopping in Grand Rapids and taking the long journey up to Ironwood, where she’ll meet up with Joshua Davis for a show at Ironwood Theatre on Saturday. Thursday night’s show offers fans a way to see Davis sing up close and personal in a casual setting. For more, check out her website.
After catching Davis at Fricano’s, swing down to Founders to listen to Seth Bernard and crew. Also Bernard will team up with his wife, May Erlewine, on March 28 for a truly special, first-ever performance at St. Cecilia Music Center as part of the Local Spins Live Contemporary Folk Series. Details here.
Kris Hitchcock & Small Town Son,
Clayton Anderson, Brena
7 p.m. Thursday (doors open at 6:30 p.m.)
$5 advance, $7 day of show
The Intersection, Grand Rapids
Kris Hitchcock & Small Town Son toiled for many months in Nashville on their new album, “Rewind,” and that intense labor has paid off big time: The energetic band proves on its sophomore album that it’s more than ready for the big time on the country music scene, and it gets to launch that quest right here in Grand Rapids with a CD-release show at The Intersection, with a top-notch band that features bracing fiddler Susan Beliel.
And tune into an extended edition of Local Spins Live after 10 a.m. Wednesday on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW), when Hitchcock will be among my special guests.
Flogging Molly, Skinny Lister, Dave Hause
7:30 p.m. Thursday (doors open at 7 p.m.)
$27.50 advance, $30 day of show, $35 balcony first five rows
The Orbit Room, Grand Rapids
Free tickets. Now that I’ve got your attention, keep reading. California’s seven-piece Celtic punk band Flogging Molly has been rocking houses Irish-style for more than 15 years and has just embarked on its national “9th annual Green 17 Tour” (which gets interrupted for several dates in Australia in February). The band led by guitarist-singer Dave King recently released a vinyl version of 2010’s “Live at the Greek Theatre.” Its most recent studio album, 2011’s “Speed of Darkness,” careens raucously through its dozen tracks in fine Flogging Molly fashion, which means you’ll want to see them do it live.
And you’ve got your chance, thanks to Spins on Music. The first two people who “like” Spins on Music on its Facebook page and email me at jsinkevics@gmail.com with “FLOGGING MOLLY” in the message field will each win a pair of tickets to Thursday night’s show. So get flogging. The rest of you: ticket information available at The Orbit Room website.
River City Jazz Ensemble with Edye Evans Hyde
7:30 p.m. Friday
Free will offering
Second Congregational Church/United Church of Christ, Grand Rapids (625 Cheshire St. NE)
West Michigan’s “high society dance band” teams up with renowned and award-winning Grand Rapids jazz singer Edye Evans Hyde for what promises to be an invigorating evening of jazz standards in a benefit for this church’s music program.
The 10-musician River City Jazz specializes in swing tunes from the 1920s through the 1950s. Get details about the show online here.
Thirsty Perch Blues Band
9:30 p.m. Friday
$5
Billy’s Lounge, Grand Rapids
The CD-release show for the Thirsty Perch Blues Band’s “City Lights EP” promises some surprises, stellar guitar work from Andy Grodzinski, soulful harp blowing by Chuck Luscombe and down-to-earth blues tunes by Chris Collins.
Watch a video and read more about the band – last week’s Local Spins Live artist of the week – in this Spins on Music story.
Winter Jam for a Cause with
Chasing the Sky, JuxTApose, AG Silver, The Mines
Marlaina Baxter, Mike Ritz, Smile & Nod
5 p.m. Saturday
$5
The Stache inside The Intersection, Grand Rapids
This event is being billed as “7 Bands, 1 Charity, 1 Awesome Night” as a fund-raiser for the Fremont-based Team Keegan, a nonprofit organization which raises money to buy gifts for young cancer patients “thus putting a smile on their faces” as they struggle through treatment.
It’s a diverse set of West Michigan artists who will perform, ranging from Allendale singer-songwriter Marlaina Baxter to rock bands AG Silver, The Mine, JuxTApose and Chasing the Sky. So yes, it really does shape up to be one awesome night of music. Get nore information about the show online here.
Adding to that “awesome-ness” will be the rafter-rattling Round 3 of the Heavyweight Championship of Rock hosted by metal-meister John Serba and 101.3 FM The Fox next door in The Intersection’s main showroom starting about 8 p.m. ($5, $7). Competing this week: Silent Lapse, As I Said Before, I’m William Cutting, Aside The Ashes, Burden of Ages, Drawing Down The Moon. (Check out photos of last week’s winners here.)
Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys
8 p.m. Saturday
$18 advance, $20 day of show (with sofa and table seating also available)
Seven Steps Up, Spring Lake
I’m guessing this will be one of the most rousing shows ever held in this listening room because Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys really know how to fire things up with their Michigan-bred bluegrass and folk tunes.
Shoot, Lindsay Lou Rilko’s voice alone should resonate beautifully in this setting as the band tours behind its latest album, “Release Your Shrouds.” Get tickets online at pindropconcerts.com.
Cameron Blake, Ralston Bowles
8 p.m. Saturday
$28
Rockford High School Fine Arts Auditorium, Rockford (4100 Kroes St. NE)
Singer-songwriter Cameron Blake, a classically trained violinist who turned to playing guitar and piano to pursue a career as one of the most distinctive and haunting artists in the folk/pop genre, headlines this benefit concert for the Rockford Education Foundation, with Grand Rapids’ own Ralston Bowles as a special guest.
Blake, a 2001 graduate of Rockford High School who was inducted last year into the Rockford Public Schools Hall of Fame, attended the Peabody Institute of Music and has released four albums – including 2012’s “Without the Sound of Violence” – while performing across the United States and Europe. He now makes his home in Grand Rapids with his wife, cellist Jill Collier.
Get ticket information online here and tune into Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW) at 10 a.m. Wednesday when Blake will be my special guest.
Papa Roach, Deadwood Stone, Coldville
8 p.m. Saturday (doors at 7 p.m.)
$24.50 advance, $30 day of show
The Orbit Room, Grand Rapids
When it comes to The Orbit Room, Papa Roach really needs no introduction, considering it has made the venue a regular Grand Rapids stop in the past. The California alt-rock/hard rock/nu-metal/pop band became a platinum-selling phenom from the get-go with its 2000 major label debut, “Infest.” It continues to tour behind its seventh album, 2012’s “The Connection,” and you can watch a behind-the-scenes video for its latest single, “Before I Die,” below. Get ticket information at The Orbit Room website.
Alexis, Phantasmagoria, Tunde Olaniran, A.B!
9:30 p.m. Saturday
$5
Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids
Arnold Schwarzenegger, step aside. They’re ba-a-ack! With a wild new video in circulation, Alexis plans to make a triumphant, dance-igniting return to Founders to stir the pot with its singular electro-pop. (I was at their last Founders show and there really is no party like an Alexis party.) Dan Hurst and Matt Forbush, by the way, are working toward their first release on New Jersey’s Synth Records this summer.
Detroit pop/soul/experimental duo Phantasmagoria and Flint’s Tunde Olaniran open, with DJ and guest spots by Grand Rapids A. B! Check out the creative new Alexis video for “Fantastic Magic” online here.
UNDER-THE-RADAR PICKS
The Dave Holland Quintet playing St. Cecilia Music Center’s Royce Auditorium in Grand Rapids, 8 p.m. Thursday, $35, $30 ($10 students) – Another legendary jazz performer swings into Grand Rapids as part of St. Cecilia’s jazz series. Starting with Miles Davis, double bassist, composer and band leader Dave Holland has performed with some of the biggest names in the business and the English native has dozens of albums to his credit. Get more details and tickets online here.
Hank Mowery & the Hawktones featuring Patrick Recob playing the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill in Grand Rapids, 8 p.m. Friday, $5 – West Michigan blues doesn’t get any better than this harmonica-driven Grand Rapids outfit, except maybe when they add blues bassist and singer Patrick Recob, who has played with Kansas City’s Lee McBee & the Confessors and Austin’s The Gary Primich Band. The Tip Top follows up on Saturday with another bracing show: The vintage swing of Traverse City’s The True Falsettos and the “hillbilly-meets-hot-licks” Luke Gitchel Band playing at 8 p.m. Saturday, $10.
A Celebration of Michigan’s 176th Birthday with The Crane Wives, 7 p.m. Saturday at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex in North Muskegon, free – Actually, this day-long “Party in Your Parka” event begins around 11 a.m. Saturday at this complex at 462 Scenic Drive, North Muskegon, and continues with a Michigan-made art fair, a snurfing competition, a celebrity luge race, food, drink and more. Folk-rock’s The Crane Wives take the stage at 7 p.m. Get details here.
Who Hit John? playing Fennville’s Salt of The Earth, 7 p.m. Sunday, $12 reserved seating – The oldtimey folk and string jazz strains of Who Hit John? cover diverse musical territory, as demonstrated by the Kalamazoo band’s three studio albums (including its most recent, 2011’s “Great Recession Blues”). Get more information at the band’s website. This concert wraps up Salt of the Earth’s winter concert series; get more details online here.
Email: jsinkevics@gmail.com