The Big List highlights The Ragbirds & Crane Wives, Starlight Six, Outer Vibe & Jesse McCartney, tributes to Buddy Holly and The Beatles. It’s all there on New Year’s Eve in West Michigan.
Welcome to the New Year’s Eve edition of The Big List at Spins on Music.
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And just think, there actually will be a 2013, after all that hand-wringing over Mayans and the apocalypse. Of course, I knew all along we’d be enjoying another year because my trusty Latvian calendar guaranteed it.
Another guarantee? Every nightclub across West Michigan will be whooping it up to toast the arrival of the new year, making it one of the busiest nights of the year for local (and national) bands. So pick your favorite watering hole, grab a noisemaker and a funny pointed hat, and break out the champagne.
But if you haven’t picked a spot, here’s my Top 5 list of parties with live music to get your Auld Lang Syne on, with links to tickets and more information. (By the way, The Pyramid Scheme’s giant Bottom 40 party with A.B! and Convotronics is already sold out, sorry.)
1. The Ragbirds, The Crane Wives, Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys, 8 p.m. Monday, Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids, $10 — Three of Michigan’s best roots music outfits – from the world music-infused strains of Ann Arbor’s The Ragbirds to the female-harmony-fueled folk-rock of Grand Rapids’ The Crane Wives to the modern bluegrass magic of Lansing-bred Lindsay Lou & The Flatbelles – have cultivated loyal, enthusiastic followings for good reason.
Hey, they’re energetic, talented and create the kind of music that’ll liven up any party, especially New Year’s Eve bash. I’d recommend early arrival because the lines could stretch around the block for this one. Details here.
2. Starlight Six, 9 p.m. Monday, Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids, $25 – You could actually take part of the description from No. 1 and insert it here because these performers also represent some of the best in Michigan’s folk-oriented music scene.
Continuing a New Year’s Eve tradition of WYCE-FM and the Community Media Center, this impressive collection of Michigan roots and folk musicians stars Seth Bernard, May Erlewine, Dominic John Davis, Joshua Davis, Rachael Davis, Zak Bunce, Jason Scott, and Mike Lynch playing rock and soul to welcome 2013. This promises to be a terrific show in an intimate setting. Details here.
3. Hot New Year’s Eve Party, 6:20 p.m. Monday, Monroe Avenue near Rosa Parks Circle, downtown Grand Rapids, free – The real draw for this annual gathering of thousands to watch the ball drop at midnight is just that: the communal nature of celebrating the arrival of New Year’s Day via Grand Rapids’ mini-version of New York’s Times Square affair. In addition to national pop singer Jesse McCartney and hip-hop’s Baby Bash, the event hosted by 105.3 Hot-FM and Cumulus Media also features several standout West Michigan acts: The Outer Vibe, Sylvia Yacoub and Nate Holley. Check out the full schedule of performances in this Spins on Music story. And you can enhance the experience by checking out “New Year’s Eve at GRAM” at the Grand Rapids Art Museum right next door, with gallery scavenger hunt guides and a cash bar, $5. Details and schedule here.
4. The Red Sea Pedestrians and The Corn Fed Girls present “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road,” 9 p.m. Monday, Kalamazoo’s State Theatre, $25 – If you live in the Kalamazoo area, consider yourself lucky. If you live in the Grand Rapids area and you’re a major Fab Four fanatic, consider making the trip to “Come Together” for a different sort of New Year’s Eve show that will be hugely satisfying in “The End.” Ian Gorman of Kalamazoo’s world music-inspired Red Sea Pedestrians says the band can’t wait to present definitive-yet-unique performances of these Beatles classics in this “phenomenal venue.” The 11-person “mega-band” plans to enhance the set design and add more visuals for the New Year’s Eve show, during which each band also will play its own riveting material. Details here. (And if that’s not your cup of tea, you might want to join ultra-talented Ultraviolet Hippopotamus in jamming into the New Year at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo; $20.)
5. The Grand Rapids Symphony’s New Year’s Eve ’50s Dance Party, 7:30 p.m. Monday, DeVos Performance Hall, Grand Rapids, $18 and up ($5 students) – Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. The tragic ending in 1959 to the fast-rising careers of these 1950s stars didn’t wipe out their enduring musical contributions to rock ‘n’ roll, being celebrated by the Grand Rapids Symphony to usher in 2013. John Varineau conducts the symphony through renditions of “That’ll Be The Day,” “Peggy Sue,” “La Bamba” and others, with John Mueller playing Holly, Ray Anthony playing Valens and J.P. Richardson Jr. playing his father, The Big Bopper. It’s the perfect way to look back while preparing to move forward into a new year. Details here.
THE REST OF THE WEEK
Blackberry Smoke, Drake White, Shotgun County
6:30 p.m. Thursday
$15
The Intersection, Grand Rapids
Start the new year with some good ol’ Atlanta-bred Southern rock and country as Blackberry Smoke rides into The Intersection, along with special guests Drake White and Shotgun County. Signed to the Zac Brown Band’s record label, Blackberry Smoke is touring behind its most recent album, “The Whippoorwill,” and is making a swing into Grand Rapids after opening for Brown at the country star’s New Year’s Eve show at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
Brant Satala
8 p.m. Thursday
Free
One Trick Pony, Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Brant Satala already has some impressive albums under his belt and he tells me he’s at work on yet another that could be his best yet. In any case, hearing his compelling songs live in One Trick’s acoustically pleasing setting is a sure bet. Call 235-7669 for reservations.
Maurice Clark’s Album-Release Gathering
With Paucity, Vaughn G, Fatima Washington, Jéan P., The Koh Kohs
9:15 p.m. Thursday
$8
The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids
Grand Rapids hip-hop artist Maurice Clark has assembled quite the diverse and eclectic lineup for release of his “Addiction: Music, Books & Cigarettes” album-release show at The Pyramid Scheme. There’s the instrumental rock of Paucity, the harmony-driven folk of The Koh Kohs and plenty more.
The Main Squeeze, Nate Holley
9:30 p.m. Thursday
Free
Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids
The soul and funk spooned out by The Main Squeeze from Bloomington, Ind., has a sweet old-school flavor fortified with the wallop of horns, rich organ textures and powerful guitar leads, all on display on the self-titled CD the band released in June. And Nate Holley, from the Saugatuck area, makes the term “one-man band” seem completely inadequate as a description of his guitar-looped wizardry. (The Main Squeeze follows up its Grand Rapids show with a Friday concert at Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo.)
And speaking of Kalamazoo, that city’s “premier psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll collective” – dubbed Double Phelix – moves into Founders on Saturday night, featuring The Go Rounds, Cobalt Mexican Wolves, Fiona Dickinson, Birdfingers, Elk Welcome and Lasso, $5. Sounds groovy. Details online at the Founders website.
The Flutter and Wow
10 p.m. Friday
Free
New Holland Brewing Co. Restaurant and Pub, Holland
Detroit acoustic alt-Americana ensemble The Flutter and Wow led by singer Tasha Lord has an absolutely irresistible quality that powers singles like “Black Train” and “Shine” – and one that could make this outfit the next breakout Michigan act on the folk-rock scene.
Breathe Owl Breathe, Strawberry Heritage
8 p.m. Saturday
$8
The Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids
It just seems like there’s no end to the inventive folk-based bands that Michigan is producing these days. Well, East Jordan, Mich.’s Breathe Owl Breathe, aka Micah Middaugh, Trevor Hobbs, and Andréa Moreno-Beals, has been blazing that trail for quite some time now, with several albums in its catalog that have likely inspired other folk artists throughout the region. And John Hanson and his indie-folk band Strawberry Heritage are starting to make a splash on that scene, too. Get ticket information here.
UNDER-THE-RADAR PICKS
Kari Lynch Band at The Back Forty Saloon on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday – With an impressive new EP under her belt, Lynch and her talented band set up country music residence at downtown Grand Rapids’ Back Forty Saloon this week, playing a New Year’s Eve show ($10) and then coming back to rock the house country-style on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Details at the saloon’s website.
Dave Hardin Band at Salt of the Earth in Fennville at 7 p.m. Sunday ($10) – Grand Rapids-area singer-songwriter Dave Hardin is a veteran musician whose latest rootsy album, not surprisingly, got picked up by the Ride Records label, a tribute to his insightful writing and heartfelt singing. Details online here.
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