Every Thursday for 19 weeks, the free one-hour show hosted by Quinn Mathews will preview upcoming area concerts. John Shea, Michigander and Sleep Cheaters play the first event this week.
Rocking ‘GR Live’: Sleep Cheaters are part of the Thursday premiere. (Photo/Anna Sink)
What Quinn Mathews found in Grand Rapids after moving here two years ago from Nashville convinced him that the flourishing music scene here deserves to be showcased.
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West Michigan's music scene
Quinn Mathews (Photo/Tori Thomas)
So, the musician – part of the Channing & Quinn indie-folk duo – is spearheading a new lunchtime concert series and WYCE-FM live radio show aimed at informing Grand Rapids visitors and residents about the vibrant concerts and musical happenings around town.
“GR Live” launches at noon Thursday at H.O.M.E. inside The B.O.B. in downtown Grand Rapids with brief performances by Grand Rapids jazz pianist John Shea, Kalamazoo indie-rock band Michigander and Grand Rapids punk rock outfit Sleep Cheaters – all of whom also are playing full shows in Grand Rapids this weekend.
The free, one-hour event will be broadcast live on WYCE (88.1 FM) and feature interviews with the performers, as well as a short presentation on the city’s jazz scene by Eddie Tadlock. The 19-week series is all about “promoting things that are coming up” and exposing audiences to regional artists.
The Upcoming Schedule
“After moving here and seeing this thriving music scene of local, regional, and touring artists in West Michigan, I wanted to think of a way that I could do my part to help show the music scene here,” said Mathews, a multi-instrumentalist who got the idea from a Knoxville radio show called the “Blue Plate Special” as well as the infamous Grand Ole Opry.
“I got involved with WYCE and started planning the show, we teamed up with Experience Grand Rapids and Gilmore Collection to launch it. And now we’re ready to rock.”
Experience Grand Rapids, which helps market the city as a tourism and meeting destination, is helping to promote the “GR Live” show and its podcast, part of efforts to “educate visitors on the music community of Grand Rapids and West Michigan.”
Jason Singer, frontman for Michigander, conceded he’s “stoked to be a part of” the show’s premiere. The Kalamazoo band also plays its first big Grand Rapids concert on Saturday, headlining a lineup at The Pyramid Scheme which also features All is Well, Good Day Good Sir and Stefanie Haapala.
CULTIVATING ‘NEW LISTENING GROUPS’ AND A STREET PRESENCE
“I hope this show helps us break into some new listening groups,” Singer said. “We’ve really only played house shows in Grand Rapids, so I’m excited to start crossing over with this show as well as our Pyramid Scheme show.”
John Shea (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
Mathews hopes those visiting or working downtown will swing by at lunchtime, noting the bar will be open and food will be available for purchase elsewhere in The B.O.B. that can be brought into H.O.M.E. on the main floor.
“I want the vibe to be a street presence,” said Mathews, who originally considered the Grand Rapids Art Museum and the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts for the shows before settling on The B.O.B.
Upcoming shows will feature short sets by the likes of Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Chris Bathgate, Grand Rapids hip hop artist Dante Cope, Kalamazoo indie-rock band The Go Rounds and Grand Rapids psychedelic rock outfit Heaters.
Most of the one-hour shows will include more than one performance and feature interviews with various representatives of West Michigan’s music scene. Upcoming concerts from Local Spins’ Big List Concert Guide also will be spotlighted during “GR Live.”
Copyright 2016, Spins on Music LLC
