The Bus Life: Memorial weekend’s Buses by the Beach fest to boast 11 bands, good cause, communal vibe

Nicholas James & The Bandwagon will be among 11 bands playing the lakeshore event that began a dozen years ago with 12 VW buses. And check out the premiere of “Bus Life,” written just for the festival.

 

By David Specht
LocalSpins.com

The roads of West Michigan are about to get a bit groovier.

For the 13th year, Buses by the Beach will bring live music, a colorful vibe and more than 100 classic Volkswagen buses to the shores of Lake Michigan on Memorial Day weekend.

The four-day festival begins Friday at Camp Blodgett in West Olive, drawing VW bus enthusiasts and campers for family activities, raffles for a good cause, and live performances by an ever-growing batch of Michigan musicians.

This year’s lineup, while modest in size, features impressive local and regional talent: Roosevelt Diggs, Delilah DeWylde and the Lost Boys, The Red Sea Pedestrians, Nicholas James and the Bandwagon, The Muteflutes, Fauxgrass, Serita’s Black Rose, Roosevelt Diggs and more.

Nicholas Thomasma, frontman for Grand Rapids’ Nicholas James and the Bandwagon, will return to the beach between Grand Haven and Holland for his fifth year.

“When I started playing at Buses by the Beach, we were one of three or four bands total for the whole weekend,” recalled Thomasma, whose band performs on Friday night. “The festival now boasts over 10 artists and three days of music. There are all kinds of activities during the day, including tie-dye, hula hoop-building, an elevated ropes course, open jam sessions and fellowship amongst bus owners.”

BEYOND THE BANDS AND BUSES

That fellowship was inspired by a compelling story involving one of the event’s founders.

After suffering serious injuries in a small plane crash in Kent County in 2000, Brien Dews spent six weeks in the burn unit at Blodgett Hospital in East Grand Rapids, where he first learned about the nation’s largest network for burn survivors, the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.

“I knew about these (VW bus) campouts held all over the country, but there weren’t any in the Michigan area,” explained Dews, a VW bus owner. “We decided that we wanted to start one but wanted it to be for a cause and not just for a good time. A burn injury is such a unique injury; there is a lot of support needed after you leave the hospital.”

So when Dews and event co-founder Todd Olson decided to start a West Michigan conclave of VW bus owners, The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors “immediately came to mind” as the cause to support.

While the first gathering at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park in 2002 attracted only about a dozen vehicles, the event has grown ever since. More than 100 classic VW buses – some from as far away as California and Florida – packed last year’s Buses by the Beach at Camp Blodgett, which has become the permanent home for the weekend camping festival.

“As we’ve grown, the music thing has been a natural consequence for us,” said Dews. “Now, we’ve grown to three nights of music and we try to focus mostly on local Michigan acts.”

The event isn’t limited to VW van owners: Everyone is welcome to attend Buses by the Beach, with rustic camping available for the weekend. Tickets — $35 for a day pass or $75 for the weekend, which includes camping — are available at the gate beginning at 8 a.m. Friday at the camp, 10451 Lakeshore Drive.

Details online at busesbythebeach.org and listen to a podcast about the event here, recorded during an appearance by Dews and Thomasma on this week’s edition of Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW).

This year’s celebration will begin early Friday evening when country/folk’s Nicholas James and the Bandwagon pair up with Roosevelt Diggs and Loose Meat Sandwich for a unique collaborative live performance.

CAMARADERIE AMONG BANDS

“The plan is to just start playing music and not stop until we have to,” said Thomasma, noting members of each band will sit in to create a loose-flowing melding of bands. “Those guys are good friends of ours. We’ve never done that before. It’ll be a treat for both of our bands, and hopefully, for the audience too.”

The performance coincides with Friday’s official release of a live Bandwagon DVD, recorded last summer during the group’s performance at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. Thomasma also is working on a new solo EP.

While the lively, beachside gathering makes for a pleasurable Memorial Day weekend for those in attendance, the focus remains on generating awareness and funds for the Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.

“Buses by the Beach is a family,” said Thomasma, who actually wrote a song, “Bus Life,” inspired by the annual event. “It was started by a few guys who loved to camp in their buses and wanted to do something good for the community and the world.”

Listen to the song here, with Thomasma on guitar and Clouds on fiddle performing it on Local Spins Live.

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2014, Spins on Music