It’s kinda grainy, but that’s Ackley Kid’s own Zach Smith circa 2006 belting out the street punk anthems with his old Flint-area band, the Harlequins. These dudes are gonna bring it all back for a reunion show at the Ant Hill tonight… get out your hair glue, plaid pants, and wallet chain, cause the streets is back. UP THE PUNX!

Also getting quite low and gritty will be punkers White Lightning and hip-hop spazz-ercise party monsters The Wrap. Show starts at 9ish.

“The Foghorn Stringband plays old time string band music deeply rooted in the American folk tradition. It’s a pre-copyright, post-bluegrass style, but the Foghorns put their own stamp on it… It’s a sound that could be coming to you from a big console radio in a 1930′s living room, or an Appalachian front porch; instead it’s being delivered by a group of players from the thriving old time music scene of Portland, Oregon.”

This all-ages show starts at 7 pm, doors at 6:30 pm.
Jamming and dancing to follow the set.

PRE SHOW WORKSHOPS:
Fiddle, Mandolin and Guitar workshops offered,
including a light supper at Redbud Farm.
Reservations: Call Marilyn Branch to secure a spot! 343-5280

About the Band:
http://foghornstringband.com/

Forget the Times will be celebrating the release of their first cassette ‘Escape From the Planet of Llamas’ at Louie’s this evening at 9PM.

Photo credit: Rob Atkinson

The tape is being release through upstart tape and vinyl label Already Dead Tapes & Records. Having personally previewed the art and listened to the recordings, it will be exciting to behold the final product.

Helping celebrate the release will be former Kalamazoo resident Problems That Fix Themselves, Skeleton Party from Grand Rapids, and Ypsilanti’s Divorce Party.

Problems That Fix Themselves is likely a known quantity for DIT readers, but it’s always good to have the now Chicago-based experimental/noise brainchild of Josh Tabbia back in Kalamazoo. Check out the video he recently put together for one of the songs off his newest release ‘Seconds’

Skeleton Party, who feature members of the Grand Rapids band Radiator Hospital, are no strangers to Kalamazoo, having appeared at the Fight For The Tuna. This foursome plays a brand of aggressively fast and noisy freak/garage rock that makes you pay attention.

Divorce Party, who dropped by the No Fun House last October, make their return for the show tonight. You’ll be plenty glad to catch their frenzied blend of mathematical  instrumentation and harsh noise. These guys use guitar and vocal effects like they were instruments all their own and it is an insane pleasure to watch live.

Come help the boys celebrate their new release. They’ll be letting the cassette go for donations and the show itself is only five bucks. It’s a hell of a lineup and probably worth missing Hawthorne Heights for.

Flyer by Josh Tabbia

Not a lot of folks that regularly play house shows receive praise for their work from  noteworthy figures like Howard Zinn and Tom Morello. Not a lot of folks are as hardworking and outspoken as Evan Greer of the Riot Folk Collective. Hailing from Massachusetts, Greer will be performing tonight at the Waffle House on Dutton St. along with Kalamazoo’s own Debra Romer.

The Peace Center of Kalamazoo will be sponsoring this event. Feel free to bring a few dollars to donate. The show will be starting at 8 o’clock.

The good folks at the Ant Hill have graciously offered up their living room for another cozy night of acoustic performances. Making this the first stop of a two week tour out to the East Coast will be Chicago’s Into It. Over It.

Credit: Dr. Dave Summers

This will be the inaugural visit to Kalamazoo for Evan Weiss, whom you may know from the many active bands he’s been a part of (The Progress, Damiera, Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start) or the ambitious project he undertook known as 52 weeks, which involved recording a new song every week for a year. Since then the ever-industrious Mr. Weiss, who records often as a full band but performs solo, has been working on releasing a series of split 7″ records with other Midwestern artists the likes of Castevet, Empire! Empire!, Everyone Everywhere, and Bob Nanna (from Braid!) & Lauren Lo. His latest release is a split 12″ with Koji.

Providing local support will be some of the best of the best of our town’s acoustic guitar-slingers. If you made it to the last acoustic night you will have caught Ian Miller, who returns tonight and will be joined by the equally fantastic Lisa Anderson. A man simply and mysteriously known only as Ashton, a resident of the Hill, will be performing. Kalamazoo’s favorite identical triplet folk team, the Almanac Shouters, round out the bill.

The music kicks off at 8PM and everyone is strongly encouraged to bring a few dollars to donate.

It’s here.  Friday, January 14th, 2011.  The release of Fiona Dickinson’s debut Strutt Records release, ‘Duende’.  Below this post you will find a review of the album.   The show at The Strutt (773 W. Michigan Ave in Kalamazoo, Michigan) is free.  Her CD will be for sale.  Minutes and Elk Welcome shall provide additional rockin’ beforehand.   Show kicks off at 9 p.m.  Get with it, yah’ll!

For a few years now, The Strutt has almost invariably held an Open Mic every Tuesday evening from 8pm to close. It’s a fast moving, well-oiled hyper-fest of 15-minute acts ranging from absolutely baffling to drop-dead amazing.In short, it’s usually a recipe for a good time.

Now The Strutt is a welcoming place by nature, and so it only makes sense that at the open mic, it’s real easy to come down by yourself with a guitar (or without one – the house provides a backline of standard gear) and end up playing with a full band. This ‘jump-in-and-jam’ mindset is one of the many ingredients that, in my opinion, consistently puts the Strutt’s open mic a cut above the rest.

Well this ingredient, for the last few weeks, has been a feature of the end-of-the-night on Tuesdays. Essentially, a host of the Strutt’s usual suspects grab the stage about 1am or so. At this point, the drums start thumping a beat specifically engineered to get a body moving. This is the first sign that a Jungle Jam, as it has been lovingly christened, has come under full swing.

Next, the bass and guitar jump in with anything from southern foot-stompin’ to afro-cuban groovin to cha-cha to whatever might strike the fancy of the impromptu orchestra. Then, the auxiliary instruments ice the cake with strange percussion and andassortment of ornamentation. Finally, the remainder of the bar – patrons and staff alike – get out of their seats, push the tables to one side, and dance like nobody’s watching. Of course, nobody is watching. Everyone else is busy getting down.

The 21st century scholar and philosopher G. Clinton once said this, on the subject of health, wellness, and the general existential crisis that each of us is faced with on a daily basis: Free your mind, and your ass will follow. Now I don’t have a medical degree, but I have been watching a lot of House, so I feel safe to say that if you’ve got the night free and can stand to get a little less sleep for a night, you should come on down to the Strutt open mic. It’s for your health.