The wild and woolly week started with hip-pop’s Aaron Carter, continued with the Acoustic Cafe Folk Series debut and ended with true rock ‘n’ roll mania.
Umphrey’s McGee Mania: The Chicago jam band progged up a sold-out Orbit Room on Saturday. (Photo/Anna Sink)
Gotta love West Michigan. Gorgeous fall weather and striking autumn colors made for a pleasurable October weekend.
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Female Fave: Aaron Carter (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
And you gotta love West Michigan’s music lineup, too, which made this a truly pleasurable week of genre-rich shows.
It started in teen-shriek fashion at The Stache inside The Intersection when pop/hip hop artist Aaron Carter, formerly of boy band fame, drew a largely female and wholly ecstatic crowd for his return to Grand Rapids. “I think I counted 5 or 6 dudes in there,” conceded Local Spins photographer Tony Norkus. “He must have brought at least a dozen girls from the crowd up on stage, too. … The guy thinks he’s Elvis!”
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Beyond that, the week unfolded in musically variegated fashion:
• Grand Rapids’ Ralston Bowles assembled a strong roster of songwriters for the Acoustic Cafe Folk Series opener at St. Cecilia Music Center with Nashville’s Phil Madeira, Austin’s Michael Fracasso, Traverse City’s The Accidentals, the Upper Peninsula’s Milo Birch, The Crane Wives’ Dan Rickabus and more. (Full photo gallery and Local Spins review here.)
Metal Veteran: Bobby Liebling of Pentagram at The Pyramid Scheme. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
• Umphrey’s McGee literally lit up an amped-up, sellout crowd of 1,700 at The Orbit Room on Saturday night with their prog-infused jams and groovy lights. Things were even packed in the parking lot, with long lines of anxious fans waiting for will-call tickets before the show.
• Legendary doom metal pioneers Pentagram cranked up the volume at The Pyramid Scheme the same evening, still fronted by singer Bobby Liebling, who’s led the band since, yes, 1971, and looks every part a guy who’s traveled the road with a metal band for 43 years.
• One Trick Pony hosted a pair of special shows this week, with the Fred Knapp Trio playing a CD-release show on Thursday for the band’s new album, “How Deep is the Ocean,” and Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Brant Satala returning to the venue on Saturday after spending two years out West.
• Grand Rapids singer Hannah Rose Graves made an impressive in-studio appearance as part of Local Spins on WYCE on Friday, performing material from her upcoming new album, “Home on the Road,” with pianist Dutcher Snedeker. (Check out the podcast online here.)
• An Dro returned to Rockford Brewing Co. on Friday.
THE LOCAL SPINS PHOTO GALLERY: Oct. 21-25
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Aaron Carter photos by Anthony Norkus
Acoustic Cafe Folk Series photos by Anna Sink
Fred Knapp Trio photos by Tori Thomas
An Dro photos by Kristine Carpenter
Hannah Rose Graves photos by John Sinkevics
Brant Satala photos by Tori Thomas
Umphrey’s McGee photos by Anna Sink
Pentagram photos by Anthony Norkus
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music LLC
