For the second year in a row, cash prizes will be offered to song contest winners in five categories during ArtPrize; new “busking stations” will spotlight live music. Hailing[…]
Breaking music news · Features
Michigan music news this week ranges from a feature on Traverse City’s Peter, Paul & Mary Remembered to an interview with The Breeders to a limp Limp Bizkit, performing in[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Ralston Bowles, with help from Michael Crittenden, will play a short opening set Tuesday when The Midwest Rock ‘n’ Roll Express Tour hits Van Andel Arena. […]
Breaking music news · Upcoming shows
Things ramp up this weekend with riveting national tours and local shows: Bimini Brothers’ 30th anniversary, Bruce & Becca Ling benefit, Go Rounds, plus tickets to Meijer Gardens concerts go[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
Saturday’s opening day of ticket sales to Meijer Gardens members sees glitches and four sellouts of the 29 concerts in the summer amphitheater series. Once again, the rush was on.[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
The expanded jazz festival on Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids boasts 10 acts over two days in mid-August. Chicago jazz/funk/R&B guitarist-singer Nick Colionne will headline this year’s[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements
The country star won’t be making his first-ever appearance at the Grand Rapids amphitheater because he’ll be filming a mini-series. Make that 29 concerts. Country artist Dwight Yoakam has[…]
Breaking music news · Features · Upcoming shows
Grand Rapids music lovers will pack independent area shops – Vertigo Music, Corner Record Shop, Dodd’s – for concerts, specials and refreshments on Saturday. It’s not exactly Christmas. But[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
The summer concert and festival announcements just keep coming. Interlochen’s eclectic lineup ranges from Trace Adkins to Brian Wilson; Wheatland’s folk schedule boasts some icons of the genre; Founders Fest’s[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
With a record-breaking 30 shows on the docket, the Meijer Gardens summer concert series boasts some high-priced big names and emerging acts in a bevy of genres. See the full[…]
Breaking music news · Features · Upcoming shows
The Spins on Music April music news update spans the globe (or at least West Michigan) with hot news about local bluegrass and nationally hailed folk and jazz. BREWING[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements
After staging the festival in downtown Grand Rapids the past two years, organizers say moving the three-day 2013 event back to the ballpark gives them time to explore options. […]
The twice-monthly, acoustic-styled concerts at downtown’s One Trick Pony have spotlighted emerging national acts since 2001. The community radio station now plans to focus on shows at the larger Wealthy[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
Meijer Gardens’ teaser announcement of four summer concerts at the Grand Rapids amphitheater covers several genres and includes a few popular returning acts to the series. When word leaked[…]
Breaking music news · Upcoming shows
In between the yuks of LaughFest, West Michigan’s live music options are sizzling this week, from Bob Seger and UV Hippo returning to Grand Rapids to pre-St. Paddy’s Day revelry[…]
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Grand Rapids bluesman Jimmie Stagger resumes his new blues sessions on Sunday at downtown’s HopCat, but there are other under-the-radar musical events you might have overlooked this weekend. Take a[…]
Breaking music news · Concert reviews
WYCE-FM’s jam-packed Jammies on Friday jammed two stages with two dozen performances and doled out 19 awards to Michigan bands and artists. Rootsy artists The Soil and The Sun[…]
Breaking music news · Features
In this exclusive Spins on Music interview, folk/rock/blues bassist Dominic John Davis talks about touring with Jack White and playing the Grammys … and the story behind that really shiny[…]
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With 11 Grammy nominations under his belt, Grand Rapids gospel powerhouse the Rev. Marvin Sapp is still seeking first win after Sunday’s awards pre-telecast ceremony. Marvin Sapp remains philosophical[…]
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Spins on Music toasts its first full year of covering West Michigan’s music scene with a contest that will put a lucky winner in live music heaven for 12 upcoming[…]
Breaking music news · Guest Column · Videos
More than two dozen musicians from across the globe submitted impressive entries to The Verve Pipe frontman’s unusual contest. View some of them here. The Winning Video: Kari Newhouse plays[…]
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It’s Friday, the perfect time to round up music news about an expanded summer jazz fest, more Mitten music and a bunch of under-the-radar weekend shows. CHECK OUT MORE[…]
Breaking music news · Features · Upcoming shows
Jazz guitarist Steve Hilger has launched a twice-monthly series at Noto’s with hopes of getting up-and-coming young players to sit in with veteran musicians. Steve Hilger remembers what a[…]
Breaking music news · Commentary
At long last, prog-rock’s Rush and blues icon Albert King get their due. Does it matter that they’re finally getting inducted into rock royalty alongside a disco queen and a[…]
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For a photo recap of Grand Rapids’ outdoor New Year’s Eve bash and more, click here. The Hot FM party returned Monday to Monroe Avenue near Rosa Parks Circle downtown[…]
Breaking music news · Commentary
Grammy nominations announced Wednesday hailed Sapp’s latest gospel gem, with surprising nods to the likes of Dr. John, Gotye, Joan Osborne and the Alabama Shakes … with the usual head-scratchers.[…]
Breaking music news · Commentary · Features
Grand Rapids jazz drummer Randy Marsh is back at it, firing up Sunday nights with rotating trios in a brand new location: The SpeakEZ Lounge. Changes in the downtown[…]
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St. Cecilia Music Center, Mackinaw Harvest Music and financial sponsors doled out cash awards Thursday to first-time ArtPrize song contest winners. And that had them whistling a happy tune. “Show[…]
Breaking music news · Features
Check out the top vote-getters in the separate ArtPrize music competition, with winners sharing $10,000 in prizes. ArtPrize has finally paid off for artists of the musical variety. None[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
New Orleans’ Dumpstaphunk headlines Hoptoberfest in downtown Grand Rapids, but there’s plenty more on the list, with Chiodos at The Intersection and Earthwork Harvest Gathering up north. I know September’s[…]
Live jazz downtown is still kicking: HopCat calls it quits after more than a year, but SpeakEZ to feature Randy Marsh-led jazz beginning next month. Don’t close the book[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
Rock the Rapids in late August will bring six days of concerts and some unusual street entertainment to downtown Grand Rapids. Alice Cooper, one of Rock the Rapids’ 2011 headliners,[…]
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GRAM on the Green will turn into GRAM in the AC tonight after all. With the temperature soaring to record-breaking triple-digit levels, Grand Rapids Art Museum officials this afternoon (July[…]
Breaking music news · Concert reviews · Videos
The sun was searingly hot and the crowd was small when The Crane Wives kicked off their set Sunday afternoon on the Tripolee Stage at Electric Forest, but by the[…]
The Ottawa Tavern’s tenure as a jazz club is ending … suddenly. Just six months after making the much-celebrated conversion of the downtown watering hole into a place where live[…]
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Gary Clark Jr. made it all worthwhile. Cranking out the raw blues-rock of “Bright Lights” in the brilliant sunshine at Double JJ Resort in Rothbury with undulating, brightly bedecked Electric[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows
Country superstars Miranda Lambert and Toby Keith will play the six-day Rock the Rapids music festival in downtown Grand Rapids in late August. Lambert, touring behind her latest album, “Four[…]
Grand Rapids’ Festival of the Arts will raise the curtain on summer entertainment this weekend with dozens of bands, dance groups and solo artists playing several stages over three days.[…]
Amid all of the new music venues and nightlife concert opportunities that Grand Rapids has spawned in recent years, there’s now some sobering news to report: Jukes Bar on Leonard[…]
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Billed as the “youngest blues band in America,” the Homemade Jamz Blues Band will launch the 2012 edition of the LAV Budweiser Blues on the Mall series on June 13.[…]
For the second year, Grand Rapids’ ArtPrize will accept original songs as entries as official artworks in the international competition. And this year, St. Cecilia Music Center is offering $10,000[…]
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Bonnie Raitt’s done it again. For the second straight time, the blues guitarist-singer’s scheduled concert at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park has sold out on the first day of[…]
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This summer’s garden party just got a whole lot more interesting. Soul singer and hometown hero Al Green, blues legend Bonnie Raitt (with Mavis Staples), reggae icon Jimmy Cliff, jam[…]
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Today’s anti-summer weather might not scream shorts and hula hoops, but live music’s favorite time of year is on the doorstep as evidenced by this week’s Grand Rapids festival announcements.[…]
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Robert Plant and Jimmy Page surely would have approved. And had they been alive to see it, I’m betting iconic bluesmen Junior Kimbrough and Son House would have left smiling,[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements · Upcoming shows · Videos
With this week’s unseasonably tropical weather, does anybody need an even bigger tease that summer is still three months away? How about this? Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park today[…]
Breaking music news · Concert announcements
John Mayer won’t be touring after all. Mayer’s longtime stage sound expert Bill Chrysler said the end to rehearsals in Los Angeles for a national tour came to a shockingly[…]
