Archive: Around Town

It's July, and that means free concerts in the Lansing parks.  Park Superintendent Steve Colt says the line-up this year is a mix of familiar bands and new ones.  The traditional series in Myers Park runs every Thursday night starting last night, and going through August 16th.  For the third year in a row the 'Ludlowville Unplugged series will be held at Ludlowville Park.  All the concerts begin at 6:30pm.

"Every year the concerts get bigger and more popular," Colt says.  "If the weather is good we should have good crowds.  Our crew takes a lot of pride in how they keep the park, and I think people notice that.  We don't have a backup site, so unless the weather gets really nasty we're going to go for it."

Last night the Myers Park series kicked off with The Ithaca Concert Band.

"They're an old staple.  They haven't been with us for two or three years, so we're having them back.  I was told they have as many as 80 band members, so they're big enough that we can't use the bandstand, so we'll have to use Pavillion F to set the band up in."

Next week the series will feature Steve Southworth and the Rockabilly Rays, followed by London McDaniel with Free Body Institute, Tailor Made, The Ageless Jazz Band, The Tarps, and 88 Rocks will conclude the series.


Colt says the goal is to have a variety of music genres.  Some may draw bigger crowds than others, but he wants to offer the variety.  He certainly has done that with the schedule, featuring a concert band, rock and roll, country, big band, and rockabilly.  Free Body Institute will play R&B and Soul music on July 19th.

"London McDaniel is an unbelievable musician," Colt says.  "Guitar player, singer.  This will be a nice change-up for us."

Colt attended Porchfest two years ago, and ended up scouting new talent for the park series.  Porchfest features musicians on Fall Creek and Northside porches on a Sunday in September.  That's how he found The Tarps'.

"I went there to enjoy the music, and ended up scouting talent," Colt says. "They rocked it out.  They were fun, they were funny.  They played a lot of cover tunes from the '50s, '60s and '70s.  Very danceable and very, very family friendly."

88 Rocks is a professional '80s rock band that features Trace Davis, who is the President of Voodoo Amps, a Lansing company that creates custom amplifiers for world class bands. 

The Myers Park concert series has become quite popular over the years.  Colt says he noticed attendance rose exponentially about two years ago, and remembers one concert where the park was full.  The Lansing Community Council will offer food and Harbor Festival T-Shirts during the concerts.  Other charitable booths will be set up during some of the concerts as well.

Colt says the concert series and other events have brought a lot more traffic to Myers Park.

"A lot of people know about the park now," he says.  "A lot of things like Harbor Fest, certainly the fireworks and the concerts have brought people in who didn't realize it was here and how nice it is.  Certainly with the Ludlowville series people had no idea that little pocket park was there and how nice it is.  The waterfall is there, and they shot silent movies there in the old days."


July 13th begins the Ludlowville Park concerts with Pete Panek & The Blue Cats.  True Blue with Kip Opperman follows on July 20th, and the series concludes with John Dean & Friends.  The Lansing Lion's Club ice cream social will be back on the 27th as well.

"We had a good turnout last year, so we're hoping we'll have it again," Colt says.  "The word is out there.  It's all about getting lucky with good weather.  If the good weather is there it's a sweet place to be.  if you are picnicking or just sitting listening to music and seeing a great sunset it doesn't get any better."

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