ArtPrize’s first weekend, Founders Brewing’s grand reopening, Earthwork Harvest’s annual gathering and a historic marathon rap: All of it brought a bracing bevy of live music to Grand Rapids and beyond.
Electric Combo: AOK, foreground, and Rick Chyme, shown here at the ArtPrize Musicians’ Showcase, were part of multiple performances this weekend (including Chyme’s 17-hour freestyle marathon rap on Saturday). (Photo/Anthony Norkus Photography)
It all started at 8:41 a.m. Saturday, with the immortal words (at least in Guinness Book parlance), “I’m gonna do this here the whole night” and “This is just the beginning, my friend.”
That’s the way Grand Rapids hip-hop artist Rick Chyme embarked upon his 17-hour freestyle rap journey through the city, a voyage that took him from art galleries to music stores to nightclubs to parking lots, with part of it captured — intermittently, until it crashed — through online streaming.
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
His attempt at a new world record ended successfully with a real bang in the wee hours of the morning at The Pyramid Scheme in “a full on jam session” with musicians, DJs, friends and more joining him in what certainly qualifies as one of the most unusual ArtPrize entries in the history of the international art competition that uncorked its opening weekend in Grand Rapids.
It puts Chyme at the top of the rap mountain for endurance … and chutzpah.
Theo Katzman performing at Earthwork Harvest Gathering in Lake City. (Photo/Ralston Bowles)
But that was just the tip of the microphone in a weekend chock full of gargantuan musical events: Founders Brewing Co. celebrated the grand re-opening of its snazzy, revamped taproom with Cabildo, AOK, Punksuhate and more (read the story and see more photos online here); St. Cecilia Music Center hosted dozens of performances on two stages by songwriters entering ArtPrize compositions for its third ArtPrize Musicians’ Showcase (which continues Sunday); the annual Earthwork Harvest Gathering boasted hundreds of Michigan musicians playing all weekend long on a Lake City farm; and singer-songwriter Kenny White playing Spring Lake’s Seven Step Up.
And then there was Calvin College’s “house band,” aka Over the Rhine. The duo of Linford Detweiler and Karin Berqquist — bringing along a four-piece band — helped Calvin Student Activities Director Ken Heffner celebrate his 20th anniversary of booking concerts at the college (Over the Rhine was his first, lo those many years ago) with an absolutely magical evening of Americana/roots music Saturday at the Covenant Fine Arts Center. It wasn’t a sellout, but the several hundred fans who showed were treated to a special night.
Touring behind their latest double album, “Meet Me at the Edge of the World,” Detweiler and Bergquist have simply improved with age, combining top-notch songwriting with Bergquist’s sultry, dusky vocals. As Detweiler puts it, referring to their Ohio upbringing, “some of that coaldust has gotten into our songs.” Believe me, that’s a good thing, as is their aim to “leave the edges wild.”
Even better, the show opened with a set by The Milk Carton Kids, the harmonious folk duo of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan, recently nominated deservingly for best emerging artist by the Americana Music Association. Their brilliant tunes were only topped by their droll humor and tall tales.
Check out the Local Spins photos of all the musical action below.
Official Sponsor of the Local Spins Weekend Photo Gallery
THE LOCAL SPINS WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY (9/22/13)
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
