West Michigan’s holiday mood brightens with live music by Kari Lynch, The Last Vegas, Frankie Ballard, Rick Chyme, Organissimo and plenty more.
Kari Lynch will ring those country bells at the Jingle Jam.
A Very Merry Jingle Jam
with Kari Lynch and various local artists
7 p.m. Wednesday
Free, donations accepted
Peppino’s, Grand Rapids (130 Ionia Ave. SW)
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No Christmas is complete without merriment, goodwill and tubas. But more about that later…
This holiday benefit for Kids’ Food Basket featuring a host of local musicians sounds like a real Yuletide winner. Country music’s Kari Lynch is spearheading this event at Peppino’s and word is that Matthew Gabriel, Sean and Steffan Copenhaver, Kris Hitchcock, Sam Briggs, Jake Mellema, Matthew Kok, Jessica Swore and many more are on the bill for this good cause. Concertgoers are encouraged to contribute monetarily and will receive $5 off their Peppino’s tab; folks also are encouraged to bring 100-percent fruit juice boxes, fruit and pudding cups, peanut butter and zipper-lock bags to donate. Learn more about Kids’ Food Basket at its website.
Tony Lucca brings his passionate vocals to The Intersection this week.
Tony Lucca, Drew Behringer
7 p.m. Thursday
$15
The Stache inside The Intersection, Grand Rapids
On Tuesday night, Detroit-area native and veteran singer-songwriter Tony Lucca returns to NBC’s popular program “The Voice,” the show where he performed as a finalist last season (singing Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” in energetic fashion).
On Thursday night, he returns to Michigan, playing a Grand Rapids show in the intimate confines of The Stache (The Intersection’s front lounge) with opening act Drew Behringer.
It’s part of a December homecoming for Lucca that includes a show Friday at Detroit’s St. Andrew’s Hall. Lucca, with eight studio albums in his arsenal, certainly has a commanding stage presence. Check out the video below of a new song, a “tribute” of sorts to his mini-feud with Christina Aguilera, stemming from that performance of “99 Problems” last season.
The Musical Box brings its elaborate production of “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” back to The Orbit Room.
The Musical Box
7 p.m. Friday
$23.50-$38.50
The Orbit Room, Grand Rapids
Genesis’ 1974 double-album “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” ranks as one of prog-rock’s truly iconic and influential recordings, a concept piece that’s spawned intense devotion among fans of the genre. Perhaps that’s why Canada’s The Musical Box has been able to mount a career of sorts by paying tribute to the masterpiece by performing the album using the original costumes and photo slides used by the uber-theatrical Peter Gabriel and Genesis, who played “Lamb” for the last time in concert in 1975.
The band has officially licensed The Musical Box’s production, but this is the last time the Montreal group will be performing it on tour so proggers likely will be out in full force for this one. The last time this production played The Orbit Room, it earned rave reviews from fans. Read my 2011 story on MLive.com about the band here.
And consider this: The Musical Box has performed this show more than 300 times so they’ve got all the nuances and elaborate staging down to a tee. Get ticket details here.
The Last Vegas will rollick at The Pyramid Scheme.
The Last Vegas
9 p.m. Friday
$8
The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids
Glam/hard rock band The Last Vegas have been churning things up for about nine years now, touring with the likes of Motley Crue and others. Although based in Chicago, many West Michigan rock fans will fondly remember Chad Cherry and Danny Smash as part of the Grand Rapids glam-rock band The Nastys. That could make Friday’s show an explosive sort of homecoming party.
Cherry, who attended alternative high school in Kent City, told me awhile back that the band has toiled long and hard to make a name for itself. “You’ve gotta walk the low end of the road to get to the high end of the mountain,” he said. To help get to that end, the band recently released a new album, “Bad Decisions.” Get ticket information here.
(Also, Chicago’s rock/pop band I Fight Dragons rolls into The Pyramid at 6 p.m. Thursday, with The Protomen and MC Lars opening the show, $13.)
Blue Christmas: Frankie Ballard.
Frankie Ballard’s Country Christmas
8 p.m. Friday
$18
Kalamazoo State Theatre, Kalamazoo
Having opened for big names such as Taylor Swift and Bob Seger, Michigan native Frankie Ballard ranks as one of the rising, bubbling-just-under-the-surface stars of country music.
And he’s certainly a star in West Michigan (attending Kalamazoo’s Western Michigan University), especially with female fans who I’m guessing appreciate the singer’s handsome looks and, uh, bluejeans.
The Warner Bros. recording artist plays a special holiday show at a spectacular venue, a rousing concert sure to put some twang into Christmas. Get tickets and concert details at the State Theatre website.
If it’s Christmastime, it must be Lazy Blue Tunas time, too.
The Lazy Blue Tunas Christmas Shows
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Free
One Trick Pony, Grand Rapids
As I put it in my story about the “December Dozen” of West Michigan holiday shows, this fun-loving Grand Rapids band which unfurls acoustic rock and pop covering several decades annually packs the house at One Trick for shows in which “eclectic Christmas nuggets are randomly thrown into the mix.” Nothing like some Lazy Blue Tunas Christmas nuggets to make your spirits bright, especially in a cozy place like this. Call One Trick’s reservation line at 235-7669 to check if there’s any space left. And read more about the Tunas in my band-of-the-week spotlight here.
Rick Chyme, Red Pill, Punksuhate
Michael Sullivan, Badenya
9:30 p.m. Saturday
$5
Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids
Bearded Grand Rapids hip-hop meister Rick Chyme has assembled quite the intriguing show for the weekend, with performances by fellow rapper Red Pill and rap/folk duo Punksuhate (Venson Dix and MC3PO), an acoustic set by Michael Sullivan, and a rhythmic romp by the Badenya Drumming Ensemble.
Get more details at the Facebook event page and see Founders Brewing Co’s full lineup of shows here.
Double up for Christmas with Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, who play two West Michigan shows this weekend.
Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys
8 p.m. Saturday
$12 (with discounts for seniors, children)
Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids
7 p.m. Sunday
$12
Salt of the Earth, Fennville
Consider this the “bluegrass Christmas” version of one of Michigan’s most promising, up-and-coming young bluegrass outfits. Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys are touring the country with their energetic live shows, so these two West Michigan concerts are terrific opportunities to catch them before they go global.
Lindsay Lou Rilko told me for a column in REVUE Magazine that the band’s holiday concerts ignite an “explosion of happiness.” Get details about the Grand River Folk Arts Society performance at Wealthy Theatre at its website and information about the Salt of the Earth show here. And watch a Local Spins Live duo performance in a video below.
Honor By August returns to Seven Steps Up this weekend.
Honor By August, Todd Carey, JD Eicher
8 p.m. Saturday
MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: This concert is now sold out
Seven Steps Up, Spring Lake
The award-winning Washington D.C. rock/pop quartet Honor By August delivered a rousing, standing-o performance at Seven Steps Up in July.
Now they’re back, with Chicago singer-songwriter Todd Carey and Pittsburgh-area indie-pop-rocker JD Eicher also on the bill. Honor By August is releasing a brand new album in January, by the way. Get more information at the band’s Facebook page and ticket details here.
And if it’s Christmas, it must be Tuba Christmastime, too.
Tuba Christmas, The Hark Up Horns Down Home Horns, The Voices of Freedom, Kick It in the Brass
3 p.m. Sunday
$10 advance, $12 day of show, $6 children
St. Cecilia Music Center, Grand Rapids
As West Michigan tuba goddess Karen Dunnam well knows, I can’t resist a good lower brass joke so I’m compelled to say you won’t find a hornier Christmas event than this. Not only does this “Brass with Class Christmas” show feature the traditional “Tuba Christmas” with dozens of tubas, baritones and sousaphones playing your favorite carols and such, but you also get performances by The Hark Up Horns Down Home Horns, The Voices of Freedom and Kick It in the Brass.
Talk about a heavy metal concert, well, this is it. More details online here.
(By the way, Kalamazoo’s version of Tuba Christmas takes place at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bell’s Eccentric Café.)
Organissimo gets into the spirit.
Organissimo’s Christmas Party and Jam Session
7 p.m. Sunday
Free
SpeakEZ Lounge, Grand Rapids
Randissimo’s Sunday Jazz night turns to the holidays with a special performance by everybody’s favorite organ trio Organissimo in this club on Monroe Avenue NW north of Michigan Street. This is show is sure to get you jazzed up about Christmas … in a bluesy Hammond B3 sort of way. Get more about the Sunday night jazz events at the Facebook event page.
UNDER-THE-RADAR PICKS
Family Force 5’s Christmas Pageant at The Intersection (7 p.m. Monday, $15) – FF5 brings its “spicy southern rock jambalaya” and Christian crunk rock with a holiday theme to Grand Rapids this week, reprising its 2009 “Christmas Pageant” album in the process. Also on the bill for this all-ages show: Rapture Ruckus, Capital Kings and Everyday Sunday.
Drew Nelson
World Hoop Day at The Pyramid Scheme (6 p.m. Wednesday, $12 advance, $15 day of show, $30 VIP) – Call it a hip-hoop show. There really is no other event quite like this one, hosted by Grand Rapids’ Audacious Hoops. Not only will it feature the Michigan premiere of “The Hooping Life” documentary but a youth hoop jam, guest hooping performances, an evening adult hoop jam, DJ music and vendors selling all sorts of circular wares. Get details at the Facebook event page and tickets online here.
Drew Nelson playing the Acoustic Stew Series at One Trick Pony (8 p.m. Thursday) – Welcome Red House Records artist and Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Drew Nelson home from a successful European tour in the familiar confines of One Trick. Admission is free, call 235-7669 for reservations.
Embellish Handbell Ensemble playing the MAJIC Concert Series at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (7:30 p.m. Friday, $10 donation) – Get your bells on for the season with this Grand Rapids handbell group.
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