Doogie Blog - Aug 2011

Aug 26 & 27 - Rick & Krys at Odd Side Ales, Grand Haven -

Shaking it up at Odd Side Ales with Grand Haven's beautiful people.
Rick and Krys had a double-header in downtown Grand Haven, Friday and Saturday nights. That town is full of people during the summer, especially on weekends, especially when the weather is nice. We had all that going for us this weekend. We could barely find a place to park downtown. Lots of people coming and going, groups of friends doing the bar-hop walk around town. And when they get tired of the meat-market places, they come over to Odd Side Ales, where the brews are the finest in town. And we try to match that with quality acoustic tunes. By the crowd reaction, I guess we're doing an okay job. Saturday night we had record $$ in the tip jar. Gas money, baby! We had lots of people asking for business cards so they could check out our schedule. We like this place and don't care about playing anywhere else in Grand Haven, although there are lots of venues with live music. We prefer Odd Side Ales because this is the place where people come looking for some extra special quality in their home-brews. So, it's not the normal "Bud Lite" crowd. It's a more adventurous and art-loving crowd. We like to match that adventurous attitude with our musical show. We'd like to thank our new friends from Odd Side Ales. Thanks for coming out to see us. We love having an attentive audience. No matter what quantity, the important thing is Quality. Thanks so much to Chris the owner for having us. See you again soon.
Check out the good-looking people from Saturday night.

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Aug 20 - Rick & Krys at Porch Party for Tom White, Allegan -

Party on the Back Porch. Fun time at Tom White's B-day party.
Rick and Krys donated a free "Rick & Krys Show" for the Kandi Gibson benefit auction held last fall at Eagle Creek golf course. Tom White out-bid Pete Bortz after some furious bidding action. With his Rick & Krys show, he decided to have a party to celebrate his 50th birthday. So, this was a freebie gig for us. But, a very fun time with mostly people we know from the Allegan area. We had about 20 people sitting around the pool and the deck, drinking and eating and jamming with our acouctic tunes. Very casual atmosphere, and a beautiful sunset on an otherwise rainy day. The rain let up long enough for us to play from about 8:30 until midnight. There was even a little bit of dancing on the deck, even though it was a bit cramped quarters. We did our best to kill off the pony-keg of Bud Lite. Great time, and a nice close gig, only about 8 miles from our house. I wish we could do parties like this all year round, but we are in Michigan, after all. It started slightly sprinkling around 11:30, so we did a couple more songs and called it quits for the night. Thanks to Tom for buying the Tricks show at the benefit auction. We had a great time. Happy Birthday, and many more. Thanks to the friends who came out to Tom's for the party. Good times in Allegan.

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Aug 13 - Rick & Krys at Housewarming Party for Shawn & Tiffany Andrus, Alamo -

It's not every day I get to sing with Justin Bieber.
Okay, well ... maybe Justin's younger brother.
Rick & Krys played for an intimate party in Shawn & Tiffany's garage, at their new house. It was rainy all afternoon, so Tiffany said a lot of people thought the party was cancelled. Anyway, we had 20 people or so - enough to have a fun party. Shawn grilled up some homemade hotdogs and sweetcorn, and Tiffany had some other good party treats to eat, like cupcakes and s'mores. And there seemed to be plenty of wine, beer, and sangria to go around. Everyone really liked the Rick & Krys tunes, and it was great being a part of this intimate garthering of friends and family. We just set up in the garage to avoid the rain, and we were right in front of the fridge, for easy access to cold drinks. To highlight the home-warming party, we also had a birthday for Shawn's dad Dan, so we sang our Beatles song. And Ryan & Bethany were celebrating their 2nd anniversary, Rick sang "Something That We Do" in their honor (that would be the photo with the couple kissing). We made friends with some of Tiffany & Shawn's friends, and we got promises that we'll be seeing these folks at an upcoming Tricks gig, either at the Casino or Wayland Hotel.

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Aug 6 - Phelpstock - Annual Campfire party at Tommy & Tara Phelps, Irons -

Up North! - First ever Rick, Krys, & Ozzy Show
Deep in the woods of Irons "We didn't have no internet..."
Tommy says "best ever". I'm not sure about that, but I know it was the "first ever" Rick, Krys, & Ozzy Show. That made it very special and very fun. This was our annual little party in honor of Tommy's birthday. Without interruption, we've had a Tommy b-day party every year for at least eight years now. At first, we had the annual party at Tommy & Tara's backyard pool in South Haven. But, about five years ago, the Phelps bought a small cabin and a big chunk of land near Irons . Ever since then, we've been having the party up north, backwoods style. There's never a huge mob of people, usually just a couple dozen friends, family, and friends of friends. It's casual. No dress code. BYO, or not. There's plenty of drinks and food getting passed around. Tommy stays pretty busy dishing out the shots, and Tara keeps up with the food situation. There's plenty of paths to go exploring on during the day, and usually there is a group that goes on a canoe excursion in the afternoon. We cater to all ages here in the woods of Irons, whether you want to kick back around the fire or go off and get lost in the wild woods.
This year might have been the best ever as far as music, because we had Ozzy playing bass with us, which allowed us to do lots of songs that we never tried before with acoustic guitar. We even did acoustic Pink Floyd "Money" - though I'm glad we weren't recording. But, it was a big hit with the drinkers and party people around the campfire. We once again had Rick's pals Linda & Kim from Trendway past and their group from "the other side" or Irons. Rick & Krys played for their party in the woods last month . Those are the dancing people in the pictures. They need to get up and boogie when they hear a good tune. Drinking and dancing go together for those people. Others were content to kick back around the fire with their drink and listen to Rick, Krys, & Ozzy going at it. We dug deep into the Tricks catalog of songs, coming up with a few experimental numbers. Very fun time. We played from about 8pm until past 1am. Tommy's son Aaron showed up with a bunch of his 20-something pals. And Aaron did a good job playing Djembe drum with a bunch our songs in the adventurous last set.
I'd tell you more, but what happens in backwoords of Irons stays in the backwoods of Irons.
Thanks to Rick for chopping lots of wood, thanks to everyone who brought food and drinks to pass. Thanks to Ozzy for coming up with Nick & John. Thanks Aaron for the good percussion work, Thanks to Tara & Tommy for the hospitality.

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Aug 3 - Odd Side Ales, Wednesday of Coast Guard Festival week, Grand Haven -

Chris the owner of Odd Side Ales. Chris lost his job about when Rick lost his job.
Both have a new life now.
This we the first time we've ever been in Grand Haven during the legendary Coast Guard festival. We've always heard that it was a good idea to avoid Grand Haven during the festival, because of the mobs of people, closed, roads, and lack of parking. So, we came a half hour early to make sure we could get a parking place somewhere. People all over town park cars in their yards for $5 or so. We had no problems, and we ended up parking for free about two blocks from Odd Side Ales. In the street right outside the door was some carnival rides, with screaming girls having fun. The brewery was full when we got there at 8 o'clock, and it stayed pretty full until 11:30 when everyone decided to get outta town all at once. Chris the owner sent us home a half hour early, even though he paid us more than usual.
Our big surprise was having our cousin Jenny (from the famous Weideman family) from France show up. She and her husband are visiting Michigan for a couple months. We also were happy to see Dave and Sue from Allegan, and Tricks soundman Dave Lopez. - Those guys all rode motorcyles, taking advantage of the beautiful weather. Thanks to Chris the owner and thanks to our friends who stopped in.

Doogie Blog - July 2011

July 30 - Cheshire Hills Golf Clubhouse, Allegan Class of 1986 Party, Rick & Krys -

Krys ends the night with "Mercedes Bentz".
It's always the same pattern at these high-school reunion parties; Everyone shows up for cocktail hour, and then dinner. Soon after dinner they take a group photo and about half the people leave. Then you gradually see a few people taking off here and there, until you have maybe 15 or 20 hard-core party people left to finish out the night. Very fun to see high-school chums getting back together after many years. It's an evening of nostalgia and catching up, so you gotta have lots of chit-chatting. The live music is good background for those awkward pauses while trying to think of things to say, after all, you don't have as much in common any more without all that school drama to talk about. The live music gets more attention at the end of the night, when the party people are drinking some more toasts to the "good ol' days". Saturday at Cheshire, last song of last set, we finally managed to cajole people into dancing to our acoustic "Sweet Child" at the end of night. Very fun. We feel honored to be part of this event. We know that the party isn't about the live music, so we have to lay back and just provide the best background music that we can, and rise to the occasion if anyone wants to get lively and dance a bit. It was very fun picking through our song list to find the appropriate 80's tunes. Thanks to Peggy for hiring us. Thanks to all the Class of '86 movers and shakers who organized everything. Thanks to the Cheshire wait staff for making it a very pleasant and comfortable party.
^{Allegan Class of 1986}

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July 24 - Butler Deck, Saugatuck, Rick & Krys -

Singing to a deck full of Sunday summer revellers, with blue skies and clear water.
Did I say Grand Haven is the place to be? Actually I meant Saugatuck. Pretty much the entire lakeshore from Benton Harbor to Charlevoix is full of party people and vacationers during summertime. We were very surprised that the Butler Deck on Sunday afternoon was a lot more wild than downtown Grand Haven on Saturday night. See my photos. Not just that we had some dancing action, but that the crowd was very vocal and lively from the very first song. There are all kinds of different people here on the Butler Deck. People from many different states and cities. We heard lots of vacation stories from various friendly people. You just have to see the photos, to see how much fun we were having, sitting in the sun, looking at beautiful blue skies, and a fantastic view of the water, and lots of boats. And we were singing our hearts out, having the greatest time. Nice to meet lots of new people. I hope we have a few new Facebook friends, so we can stay in touch.
Thanks to Steve Phelps for booking us on the Butler Deck. It would be interesting to do a Friday or Saturday here, since we've only done 3 Sundays so far. Although, I'm not complaining. This Sunday evening deck party was something to write home about.
Sunday on the Deck -

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July 23 - Odd Side Ales, Grand Haven, Rick & Krys -

Downtown Grand Haven at Odd Side Ales
Downtown Grand Haven is the place to be in Southwest Michigan during summertime. All ages and types of people gather in Grand Haven for summertime fun. And at night, the party people go bar-hopping in downtown Grand Haven. There are several hopping bars & restaurants within a few blocks. The true brew lovers gather at Odd Side Ales to sample a few of the original microbrew flavors. Rick & Krys have played at Odd Side Ales several times, but the very first time we played there, we fit right in with the "at-home" feeling of the place. One room of a refurbished piano factory, it has polished wooden floors and old brick walls, decorated with cool artwork. And the light fixtures are all different and interesting. Chris the owner has done a great job working this microbrewery, adding new brews now and then. Odd Side Ales has a few munchy snacks, but they encourage people to bring in their own food. That really gives it a happy "family reunion" feeling. Very "down home" and cozy. You lose the feeling that you're at business establishment.
Saturday had lots of people coming and going. Our most notable guest was our cousin Steve Weideman, who occasionally did some drummer with us. That really added some spice to the Rick & Krys jams. During the last set, it got pretty wild, with some dancing people playing "pass the tambourine", so they could take turns trying to mess us up with some erratic tambourine shakin'. Just joking. Actually the extra drum playing and tambourine was mostly a good addition.
Thanks so much to Chris the owner for having us. Thanks to the good-looking bartenders. Thanks to our friends who did a little traveling to come and see us in Grand Haven. Love this place, love this town. We'll back on Aug 3rd, the Wednesday of Coast Guard festival. That should be another interesting night.
Saturday Night in Grand Haven -

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July 15 - New Holland Beer-B-Q, Indoors with Rick & Krys -

Krys brought the dancing party girls from Allegan.
The weather was perfect on the back deck of New Holland Company but there was some kind of bicycle club thing going on out in the parking lot and back deck, so they moved us inside to the "main stage". Great food and brews at New Holland, with an excellent and professional wait staff. These people really know what they're doing. Like usual in Holland, we got a party going with some old Trendway friends and their pals. But, what really got things going was Krystal and her dancing girls from Allegan. They really showed those Holland people how to get into the groove. Once those girls got wined up a little bit, there was no stopping them from getting up and dancing, even though there's no dance floor. This was a fun Friday night party. We were really feeling the love in downtown Holland. Lots and lots of great compliments from strangers, and even though we didn't put out the tip jar, we had people throwing money at us and saying "great job". "Way to bend those strings", some guy said. It really felt good, and we got the adrenaline going. When we get loads of compliments from new folks, it pushes us to work even harder. If people are really listening and getting in to it, we have to tighten up our show. The owner commented that he wanted us back "as often as possible", and he especially liked how we cater to so many musical tastes "all over the map". I think we can stretch our musical horizons even farther, so I'm working on that all the time, adding new strange and wonderful tunes to the mix.
Rick & Krys want to thank all our friends who came out to support us. It wouldn't have been such a fun party without your lively rowdiness. You make us look better than nature intended. Thanks especially to those non-Holland friends who traveled from Allegan and Grand Haven. Great to see you! Thanks to the owner and Lyndey the music manager for booking us. We'll be back in October for a late Friday night gig. We'll see if we can get any of our ancient fans to stay up past their bedtime.
Friday Photos -

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July 13 - Roadhouse Bar & Grill Bike Night, Paw Paw -

Bike Night at the Roadhouse Grill in Paw Paw. Nice!
The weather was picture perfect. We had a nice crowd of bikes and bikers for Wednesday "hump day", also known at "Bike Night". Krystal came along this time, to add to the excitement. The grill was dishing out the burgers, and the wait staff was pouring ice-cold drinks, while Rick & Krys kept the toes tapping with acoustic jams. What an excellent venue. You gotta appreciate all the hard work the Rich and his staff puts into making this place so nice for your party pleasure. A real back-yard comfortable atmosphere. It feels like you're at someone's backyard cook-out. Lots of cool bikes. You'll have to see the photos. We really love the backyard lay-out. Nice big stage to dance around on, and we're shaded from the sun, so we don't overheat while we sing and play in the great outdoors. I wish Tricks could play here. Maybe, ... you never know. Thanks to Rich for hiring us, and thanks to the staff for being so nice and hard-working. You keep the crowd happy, so we can all have fun. -

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July 9 - Rick & Krys at Indian Shores annual picnic - The Indian Shores Property Owners Association has their annual meeting on the 2nd Saturday of July. Last year they decided to make it an annual picnic and "get to know your neighbor" party. So, they put together some games for the kids, volleyball, potluck picnic, plenty of coolers with icy beverages, and some party tunes from Rick & Krys. All of this happens down at the boat launch park, right on beautiful Lake Allegan. Many of the neighbors are part-time residents, and they come here to Lake Allegan to get away from it all. So, it's a festive mood year-round. Rick & Krys are year-round residents on Lake Allegan, so we're getting to be the old timers in the association. We try to set a good example by doing our bit to add to the festivities, whatever the occasion. Check out the fun for all ages in the photos. It was a really hot day, so there was no volleyball games. Mostly, we had people sitting around under the shade trees, while Rick & Krys did all the work, with the kids running around entertaining themselves.
Lake Allegan pics -

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July 2 - Backwoods Campfire party Up North in Kaleva -

We're "off the grid" for this backwoods party near Kaleva.
The 2nd annual Kaleva party was bigger than the first, and it didn't rain on us this time. Just to give you an idea of how much Kaleva is out in the sticks, check out this map . Even people who live in the sticks call this "the sticks". Our party place is even more out in the sticks, just East of town and down a grass path. No luxury camping facilities here. We had to have a generator to power our little sound system. There was eating and drinking and dancing around the campfire. A bit of wildness in the woods. Thanks to Tommy and Virginia and the whole gang for having us. We had a blast.
Kaleva Up North Party -

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Doogie Blog - June 2011

June 30 - Rick solo at Walldorff Bike Night, Hastings - The Walldorff , in case I haven't mentioned it before, ... is a fine Brewpub, with excellent food, especially the brick-oven specialty pizzas. You can really get comfy and cozy at the Walldorff. There is a hometown friendly atmosphere at this old brewpub. The Walldorff has always been a favorite place to stop and eat, whenever we have been in the Hastings area. This bike night was a bit rainy, so not a whole heck of a lot of bikers. But, we had a nice crowd that wanted to sing along and dance along to the Doogie tunes. I wish I had my camera along, but I usually don't have time to take photos on my solo gigs. Not enough hands. At the end of the night, Mike the bartender said I did a good job getting the crowd going, and I told him being hyper-social was usually my wife Krystal's job. But he said, "looks like you were doing a good job". It was a slightly rowdy bunch, thanks to one gal who wanted to keep getting up and singing along with me. She made me do a couple songs that I haven't done in a long time. Most notable was Bruce Springsteen "Glory Days". I should add that to my regular repertoire, because Tricks used to do that one long ago. I gotta thank the friendly wait-staff and bartenders at the Walldorff - you guys are a class act. Thanks to entertainment manager Kenny for giving me the gig. Hope to see you again soon. Sorry no pics.

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June 29 - Rick & Ozzy At Roadhouse Bike Night, Paw Paw - This was the first time ever that Ozzy came along for an acoustic gig. Sorry no pics, we were too busy. We only took two very short breaks during our 4 hour performance. We managed to do several new acoustic rockers, from the Tricks setlist. Rich the owner said that this Bike night was the busiest so far, for 2011. We got a lot of postive feedback from the crowd, lots of people wanted business cards, and several people were taking pictures of Rick & Ozzy with their cellphone cameras. The biggest hit of the night was our acoustic version of Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters", with lots of people hooting and cheering during that one. That gets the adrenaline going. They really have a good thing going at the Roadhouse, both indoors and outdoors is very nice. They have a big cooler our back, for quick access to cold beverages, and they have a big charcoal grill with mostly burgers cooking up hot and juicy. Thanks to the great staff and thanks to Rich for having us. We had a blast with the big biker crowd.

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June 25 - Rick & Krys at Wayland Street Art Fair -

Rick & Krys kicked off the jams for Wayland's Art Fair on Main Street. Fun!
There isn't anything much more fun than playing guitar and singing songs for a street-full of people on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Wayland put on a nice summer art festival, with all kinds of booths, food, activities, exhibits, and entertainment. Rick & Krys put on our best lively and family-oriented show. No PG-17 songs allowed (except that naughty Kid Rock song that we had to include). We played one long set for about an hour and half. The time just whizzed by, because we were having so much fun up there. Lots of great positive feedback from the crowd, and lots of compliments after we were finished. We are grateful to Jay Prosch-Jensen for getting us this fun gig. And thanks to the City of Wayland folks, and all the volunteers who put plenty of work into making this day a big success. Thanks to Allegan Area Arts Council people for being heavily involved. Thanks to Nick at Rosco Sound Pro. Thanks to the weather for cooperating. The pictures tell the story very well, although there were lots more tents along the street that didn't get into my photo album - mostly food and art tents.
Saturday Art Fair pics -

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June 19 - Rick & Krys tearing it up in downtown Saugatuck, Butler Deck -

There was dancing on the deck, - Father's Day with the Rick & Krys Show.
With a fantastic view, the Butler Deck is a beautiful place to hang out on a nice sunny, but not too hot, Sunday afternoon. Father's Day, no less. I saw a few dads opening presents. We also had the continuing weekend-long birthday celebration for Krystal. What a party girl; she has a party Thursday at the Fennville Sidetrack on her actual b-day, then Fri & Sat at Wayland Hotel, and finally closed out the festivities in Saugatuck on the Butler Deck, - 4 parties in 3 cities. That's why I hang out with Krystal, it's never dull. Anyway, the Butler Deck was packed full when we got there just before 4pm. The crowd slowly thinned out, as people finished up their dinners. There's so many other things to see in Saugatuck, there was quite a bit of traffic coming and going. But, our core crowd on the deck really celebrated the day with our Rick & Krys Show. We really were feeling the love, with lots of enthusiastic and fun people joining in the rowdiness. There were even a few dancers now and then, especially at the end. They wanted an encore, and we told them they would have to dance to our encore song, and so a bunch of people got into the act.
Thanks so much to our friends from Allegan and South Haven, who made the trip to Saugatuck to join in with our fun time: Tara, Toni, & Angie, Doug, & Darci, & Jeremy, Junior & Jeanette & Ben, Dave & Sue, Rod & Maribelle. Surprise visit from Nick Hardy, Krystal's work buddy from way back. Best wishes to newlyweds Steve and Denise. Thank you dancers, that was fun. Thanks to the Butler staff for being so good-looking and professional, we really appreciate having a good service staff, really! Thanks to Steven Phelps for booking us at the Butler. See you again real soon.

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June 4 - Rick & Krys at Luke Pasma's Graduation Party / Open House -

We had lots of small helpers working on percussion and song selection.
It was a hot sunny Saturday afternoon, so we had lots of beverages, Mark & Paula had tents for relaxing in the shade, and plenty of food laid out in the garage. We waited to start singing until about 6:30 when the sun was getting low and less painful. We sang straight through for almost 3 hours, with people playing horseshoes, bouncing on the trampoline, chatting, eating, drinking, and generally making merry in honor of Luke's graduation from High School. All ages and plenty of family as well as friends stopping by to wish Luke congratulations on making the grade. We had a blast singing and dancing with kids dancing along and everyone having a great time. Thanks to Mark & Paula for hosting a great party for Luke. Lots of work went into making the party run smoothly and comfortably. Very nice job.
^{Saturday Grad Party for Luke}

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June 3 - Rick & Krys last acoustic Friday at Sidetrack -


Dave & Debbie came all the way from Middleville to give Sue's Sidetrack a fond farewell
Our very last appearance at Sue's Sidetrack Bar & Grill. Sue is closing the Sidetrack for good at the end of June. The "For Sale" sign was out front. It was a bittersweet evening, with lots of Sidetrack regulars showing up and lots of Tricks regulars coming in to bid adieu. We know that we'll meet up here and there again, but it won't be the same. There was something magical about Sue's Sidetrack. They had the best rock and roll attitude.
I'll tell the same ol' story I love to tell about the Sidetrack gang: Every single bar and venue that we've ever played, we always have a rough time when we set up on Thurday and do a sound check for Steve's drum set microphones. We ALWAYS get complaints from management, waitresses, and customers at the rude "bonk, bonk, boom, boom" while Steve and Dave check the mic levels. ALWAYS ... Except at the Sidetrack. At the Sidetrack, the "bonk, crash, boom" of the drum soundcheck would barely begin, and we'd have people up at the bar yelling, "YEAH! ALL RIGHT! DRUM SOLO, COME ON!". That's the Sidetrack magic that we'll miss so much. I'm laughing and crying as I type, excuse me.
Lots of bikers. Lots of charity events. Lots of great food. Lots of cocktails and beers. From the biker runs in the parking lot to the horseshoe pits out in the picnic area, this was a great party venue. They had the biggest dance floor and a perfect stage set-up. (Every AC outlet was on a seperate breaker - it brings tears to my eyes...)
It was also nice that the Sidetrack was off the beaten path, away from city traffic and pestering authorities. A meet-up place for bikers during summer and snowmobilers during winter. A great place for older folks on fixed income to come out and get a decent meal for a good price.
I won't rant on and on about Lansing's heavy-handed smoking ban, but I lay the blame for the loss of this business right in the lap of our "loving and caring" state government. Things were a little slow before the ban, thanks to the economy. But the smoking ban was the last nail.
We were so happy Friday to see our most special Tricks family and friends. Thanks so much for coming out and making Sue feel the love. But again, it was bittersweet. The Sidetrack gang is also in mourning over the loss of their beloved friend Paul, who died of liver cancer on Memorial Day, just weeks after the cancer was discovered. We celebrated Paul's 60th birthday last year with Tricks at the Sidetrack. Rest in Peace, Paul. "One More."
Thanks so much to all the Sidetrack staff over the years. Thanks to Sue for her kind generosity and hard-working spirit. The Sidetrack was the biggest donor to Relay for Life, 2 years in a row, and that's competing with lots of larger businesses. I believe that Sue has 9 years here at the Sidetrack. During those years, she held dozens and dozens of bike runs and other charity events to help those in need. WE WILL MISS THIS PLACE AND ALL THE PEOPLE WHO REGULARLY GATHERED HERE FOR DRINKS, FRIENDSHIP, GOOD FOOD, AND ROCK & ROLL FUN. Peace Out!.
<sup>Fri Sidetrack
- A couple Sidetrack photo album blasts from the past - and</sup>

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