Ah, that magical time between Christmas and New Year’s was filled with, well, rock ‘n’ roll, captured in images at Local Spins.
Cinci’s Foxy Shazam put on a frenetic rock show at The Intersection on Saturday night. (Photo/Anthony Norkus)
After all the gifts were unwrapped, a bevy of West Michigan rock bands decided to unwrap some bracing rock for their fans — who were biding their time in gleeful fashion before all that New Year’s Eve hoopla to come.
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The Bangups fired things up at Mulligan’s. (Photo/John Sinkevics)
It started with platinum-selling rock band The Verve Pipe’s annual holiday show at The Intersection, which attracted a smaller crowd than usual but still pumped up the house with TVP’s familiar alt-rock — from “Hero” to “Take the Long Way Home” with tunes such as “Spoonful of Sugar” and “The Freshmen” in between — along with performances by openers Spencer Mulder and Dutch Henry.
Elsewhere, The Bangups delivered a ferocious and feisty amped-up set to close out the night Friday at Mulligan’s Pub in Eastown, the duo of Joey Dornbos (guitar, vocals) and Brent French (drums) putting the pedal to the metal on punk-, blues- and garage rock-hued tunes from their latest album, “Hellcat!”
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In Tribute: Musicians gathered for the wake of Bill Nieusma at Deer Run Golf Club. (Photo/Kristine Carpenter)
Then there was Nathan Kalish & The Wildfire getting rootsy at Rockford Brewing as they prepare for a European tour (read more about that online here), West Michigan musicians of various ilk and stripe smoking cigars at Michael Crittenden’s annual holiday Tiki Party, Cinci’s Foxy Shazam — along with Grand Rapids’ own Devin & The Dead Frets and The Legal Immigrants — cranking up their amps at The Intersection (with lead singer Eric Nally scrambling like a monkey to and fro across the stage), and Lazy Genius (aka the Real Lazy Genius), Matt Ten Clay & The Howlers and The Extra Texture delivering new material on stage at Founders Brewing during a triple CD-release show.
On a sad-yet-inspiring note, a host of musicians performed at a wake Saturday at Deer Run Golf Club to pay tribute to violinist Bill Nieusma of the Celtic Band Peat in the Creel. The event was captured in photos by Kristine Carpenter, who called the standing-room-only wake “a fine and well-deserved tribute” to a terrific musician who passed away at the age of 73.
The weekend wrapped up with the Bernie Worrell Orchestra playing a special Sunday night show at Founders, with Mustard Plug celebrating its annual holiday party and the release of a brand new album at The Intersection. (Read a Local Spins review of that lively Mustard Plug show and view more photos online here.)
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
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