Starting with award presentations to the five winners of the ArtPrize/St. Cecilia song contest, West Michigan’s musical weekend ranged from EDM revelry to acoustic alt-rock to a Feedback spectacular, captured in photos at Local Spins. (Photos, videos)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Cure: Remedy Blue ignited Mulligan’s in Eastown on Friday.
For the Detroit Tigers, a World Series championship has been the award that’s eluded them since 1984. After Saturday night’s late-inning collapse at Fenway Park, they’ll continue to hammer away at that quest … next year. Sigh.
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On the flip side, five West Michigan songwriters already have snagged a prestigious prize, winning their categories in the 2013 ArtPrize song competition sponsored by St. Cecilia Music Center and Mackinaw Harvest Music. On Thursday, in a cozy reception at Mackinaw Harvest’s West Side recording studios, St. Cecilia’s Cathy Holbrook and Carla Messing and Mackinaw Harvest’s Michael Crittenden doled out $2,000 checks and $1,000 in recording time to the five gleeful winners:
Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Karisa Wilson (folk/country), emerging jazz outfit Brad Fritcher + trois (jazz), blue-soul singer Molly Bouwsma-Schultz (rock/blues), pop singer Amanda Vernon (pop/electronic) and composer Chris R. Hansen (classical) after they earned the most ArtPrize votes among a record 82 song entries in five categories during this year’s competition. And to say the winners were pleased would be an understatement.
Vernon called it a boost to her career. Wilson, who entered the contest at the 11th hour, described it as “a good, comfortable and wonderful experience.” Bouwsma-Schultz raved that “people listened and I’m really grateful.” Fritcher said the cash and recording time would help “bridge” the gap in helping the band record their next album, while Hansen hoped his efforts “to get a lot of people involved” in performing his song would help draw attention to the plight of financially strapped music programs in area schools.
ArtPrize marketing director Todd Herring may have put it best: “It’s beautiful to see great artists rewarded.”
Speaking of great artists, that was just the tip of the iceberg for West Michigan’s musical weekend which featured: electronic dance music whiz Steve Aoki rocking the Grand Valley State University Fieldhouse Arena, alt-rock/pop’s Seabird getting all acoustic at Spring Lake’s Seven Steps Up, local rock bands The Legal Immigrants, Boss Mustangs and Remedy Blue tearing it up at Mulligan’s in Eastown, contemporary, boundary-pushing pianist Kathleen Supove at The Block in Muskegon and The Tossers at The Pyramid Scheme.
It continued Sunday night with Feedback 2013 benefiting Access of West Michigan’s programs to feed the hungry and battle poverty, with some jaw-dropping performances and unprecedented collaborations between West Michigan musicians — Molly B. & Friends and Hannah Rose & The GravesTones, and The Honeytones with special guests Susan Beerens, Jack Leaver, Molly Bouswma-Schultz, Hannah Rose Graves and Rolly Smith absolutely tearing it up and raising about $2,000 for the cause. My band, The Honeytones, has organized this benefit show for the past 19 years and this may well have been the most amazing night of local music yet.
Check back Monday at Local Spins for a chance win tickets to this week’s Danzig concert at The Orbit Room.
Official Sponsor of the Local Spins Weekend Photo Gallery
THE LOCAL SPINS WEEKEND PHOTO GALLERY (Oct. 20, 2013)
Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music
