‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and the house was rocking in and around Grand Rapids, as evidenced by the Local Spins photo and video roundup.
‘Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the land,
Bands entertained moshing West Michigan fans,
They played country and blues and rock and some pop,
Which even the ice on the roads couldn’t stop,
On Kakaty, Kalish, the Tunas and Farr,
Valentiger, Lorente, The Colonel and Gunnar,
To the top of the amp, far away from the malls,
They cranked it up, tore it up, rocked away all!
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With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and his 190-year-old poem, the week before Christmas has been a hectic one on the live music scene in spite of the ice, rain, slush and crud that’s made driving in West Michigan a bit like crossing a frozen pond.
There’s more to come today (Sunday) with J. Oscar Bittinger’s “A Winter’s Trio” show at Richard App Gallery, the Hark Up Dixieland Christmas Singalong with TubaChristmas at St. Cecilia Music Center, Organissimo’s annual jazz Christmas Party at SpeakEZ Lounge and Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys playing Fennville’s Salt of the Earth.
And it all really got started mid-week when Lansing’s Cheap Girls rolled into The Pyramid Scheme (along with Jeff Rosenstock) for a show that Local Spins contributing writer Alec Juarez described thusly:
Despite the frigid weather outside, Cheap Girls effortlessly energized and heated up the Wednesday evening crowd with a skillful serving of swift electric guitars and a flurry of drums making The Pyramid Scheme feel just as lively as any night of the weekend. The Cheap Girls knew exactly what they were doing when it came to keeping the crowd engaged, whether fans were moshing around to faster songs or grooving along to the band’s slower jams. And look for new material from the band soon: The group confirmed it’s been recording a new album, with the release set for spring 2014.
Beyond that, Valentiger brought its pop-hued rock to Rockford Brewing Co., Chicago’s Lil Ed & the Blues Imperials got bluesy at the Tip Top Deluxe Bar & Grill, country’s Tyler Farr and Michigan’s own Brian Lorente & the Usual Suspects fired up 900 strong at The Intersection, which drew an even bigger crowd of about 1,400 for a homecoming show by hard rock’s Pop Evil (with Michael Crittenden sitting in for an acoustic segment) followed by a Saturday night country bash starring Grand Rapids’ Gunnar & the Grizzly Boys.
Speaking of homecomings, Nathan Kalish & the Wildfire are back playing a bunch of West Michigan shows for the first time in eons, including Saturday night’s gig at Founders Brewing Co. with an all-star band that Kalish pulled together for the occasion. (Tune into my Local Spins Live show at a special time, 10 a.m. Tuesday, when Kalish will be my guest on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW), performing a new song from his upcoming studio album.)
Honor by August’s Michael Pearsall, meanwhile, delivered a nearly four-hour solo show for a capacity crowd at Spring Lake’s Seven Steps Up, and, of course, the Lazy Blue Tunas uncorked yet another one of its annual Christmas shows to a packed house at One Trick Pony — a tradition certainly worth repeating. In particular, check out the band’s crowd-pleasing rendition of the “Hallelujah Chorus” in a video below. Merry Christmas!
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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