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KCAC / Peace Center Benefit – Nostalgic and Folksy Edition – 3.29 – Milhouse

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Maybe if you were in Kalamazoo in 2008, you went to Rocketstar Cafe. Primarily a coffee shop, sometimes also hosting all ages shows of a variety of genres. Maybe at that time you, like me, saw Ghost Mice and Eric Ayotte play a lovely and energetic folk show.

Photo by Jes Kramer

And if you’re familiar with Kalamazoo, you’ll also know that accessible venues have had a hell of a time remaining open. Shortly after this, Rocketstar ceased to be. Other spots have come and gone through the years, and many houses have picked up the slack – though not in a particularly legal or accessible way either.

Around the time of this Ghost Mice show, there was talk of creating the Kalamazoo Collective Arts Center. Tons of work was done on creating bylaws for this all ages art space, but when nailing down a location became exceedingly difficult, the project fizzled out. But now it’s back! A new group of people are picking up where the originators left off, and are looking to create an affordable, accessible space for all art and all ages.

And also through this all, the Kalamazoo Peace Center has offered a space on campus for music, radical discussion, workshops and speakers. This sort of activity goes hand in hand with the not-for-profit, DIY ethic that is entrenched in the Kalamazoo music scene.

The KCAC and Peace Center are looking for your support, and have thrown together a nostalgic show for the purpose! Featuring:

THE ALMANAC SHOUTERS  – Formed in 2009, the Almanac Shouters are a local band, playing their first (and only planned) show in almost 2 years. They’re a loud folk band with reflective and metaphoric lyrics you can scream and dance to. The line up for this show features Axel Quinlan, Fiona Dickinson, Nola Wiersma, and Rory Svekric.

GHOST MICE – A band synonymous with Plan-It-X Records, a DIY label known for the slogan “If It Ain’t Cheap, It Ain’t Punk” and putting out some of the best of folk and pop punk over the last 20 years. Ghost Mice are straightfoward and honest songwriters whose earnest dedication to their words is compelling.

THE MINOR KIND – Eric Ayotte, folk song writer and short film enthusiast, has a new project and this is it. It’s a country band, it’s sweet, you’ll like it.

This show also features a ROOT BEER KEG for all who donate. Please be excellent to eachother and respect the house! The show is likely to be packed, so make sure to take care of those around you.

9:00 PM start time. Putting the punc back in punctual. Email ditkalamazoo@gmail.com for the address.

12/1: Double Felix produced peace-jams to wobble-about Kalamazoo Peace Center; Lasso, del Brutto, and Mike Savina

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"...except that one scruffy musician, you know, the one that drinks beer"

“All are welcome…even scruffy musicians!”

Western’s Wesley Foundation seems to be the hosting-site for all sorts of acoustic assemblies lately: both the punk-show held last month, and Saturday night’s Double-Phelix themed Peace Phest at 8 p.m., both hosted by the folks of the Kalamazoo Peace Center. Usually the college’s hub for the United Methodist Ministry, the KPC uses the Wesley Foundation and such events to minister doses of green-sense  to the college-aged populace of our fair city; a perusal of their website reveals showings of Gasland, If A Tree Falls, and various public announcements against corporate tyranny. On the website there is even some attention thrown towards the ECO anti-frackers that were being legally lionized over at the Stabbin’ Cabin Friday–but that’s just a distraction. Saturday’s festivities, just like Friday night’s, are all about the fundraising–or merely about fund raising, as there is a suggested donation of five dollars to go towards continuing such activities.

As for the music, it’s regional with a spit of local flair–flavor provided primarily by production/ musical rotating cast Double Phelix Studios. del Brutto, the blues psycho folk sounding fellows from Ann Arbor playing Saturday night, had their recent album Greenhorn produced by Andy Caitlin over at the studio behind Black Owl. The result is garage sound filled with notes of a tin-rattling blues-guitar and a vocal style akin to the maddening rambles of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. Sounds like it could be playing in someone’s back porch somewhere with Christmas lights and stuffed hunting prizes, through a lo-fi microphone. Good for the blurry-bar romp, or the exhalation of twitching music nerves. Mike Savina of the Double Phelix collective is also slated to join the group for some added mellow melodies.

Lasso, Andy Caitlin’s solo-soundtrack-western-project, will be providing the other half of the Double Phelix themed performances Saturday night. Like Ennio Morricone bumping into the medicine cabinet and tripping on some smooth Valium (although the metaphor is ruined when realized it isn’t a psychedelic.) Though tomorrow seems to be calling for the 8-piece collective effort  it can be hoped that the goofy, plunking piano, and moseying guitar that seem so aware of the genre Lasso is emulating,satirizing, and ultimately will remain the premise and fun of the project, and in-turn the performance will be just as endearing. Lasso’s newest EP  Lasso, Arizona was released this past Wednesday:

Wesley Foundation is right across from the Flagpoles of Western University, the pinnacle of the hill–or for more tech savvy users just use this address (2101 Wilbur Ave.,  Kalamazoo, MI 49006) with Google Maps.

Respect the venue, respect the bands, and mayhaps donate a few dollars for less broken bones around the world. Or least in Kalamazoo.