The mid-December flurry of concerts across West Michigan featured plenty of holiday hoopla, plus Short Panic, Smokin’ Dobroleles and Roosevelt Diggs. Browse the photos at Local Spins.
Merry Tuba Christmas: The annual low brass tradition unfolded at Grand Rapids Public Museum on Sunday. (Photo/Chelsea Whitaker)
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Nothing says Christmas quite like popular holiday carols delivered by a chorus of tubas, euphoniums and other low brass gems. Call it heavy metal holiday hoopla.
Grand Rapids low brass players on Sunday joined dozens upon dozens of similar ensembles across the globe in celebrating the 50th year of “TubaChristmas,” paying tribute to late music instructor William J. Bell by performing traditional Christmas music during the holidays.
Morgan Evans: Firing up Elevation on Thursday. (Photo/Eric Stoike)
The Grand Rapids concert took place Sunday afternoon at the Grand Rapids Public Museum under the giant whale skeleton, coordinated by longtime tuba champion Karen Dunnam and conducted by Matt Palmieri. (Other concerts have taken place throughout the holiday season in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Engadine, Flint, Ironwood, Howell, Houghton, Marquette, Rochester Hills, Traverse City and Zeeland, among other cities, with Kalamazoo’s second show set for New Year’s Eve at Bronson Park.)
That weekend-ending holiday fare represented just one of several Christmas-inspired performances this past week across West Michigan, including May Erlewine & The Motivations’ “Winter Dance Parties” at The Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids and Bell’s Brewery Eccentric Cafe in Kalamazoo, Kari Lynch’s “A Very Merry Jingle Jam” at Caledonia’s Butcher Block Social (featuring an all-star cast of Grand Rapids-area players) and All American Funk Parade’s annual holiday show at Bell’s.
But that wasn’t all. Local Spins photographers also captured musical action provided by Roosevelt Diggs at SpeakEZ Lounge, country singer Morgan Evans at The Intersection’s Elevation and Short Panic’s album-release show at The Pyramid Scheme (with Ficus, Fellow Kinsman and Buddhahand also on that bill).
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WEDNESDAY
PHOTO GALLERY: Roosevelt Diggs at SpeakEZ Lounge
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker
THURSDAY-FRIDAY
PHOTO GALLERY: May Erlewine & The Motivations
Photos by Chelsea Whitaker (Thursday at The Pyramid Scheme
Photos by Derek Ketchum (Friday at Bell’s Brewery)
Photos by Eric Stoike
