December 2006

Dec 31, Happy New Year 2007, New Salem Visitation Hall -


. . . .Deb Peck Grand Prize Winner! . . . . . . . .Happy New Year 2007!
Tricks and friends rang in 2007 with food, fun, drinks, and lots of dancing the night away! I mean it! The dance floor at St. Mary's hall is huge, and there were dancers out there dancing All Night Long! These people came to dance, that's what we like to see.
Special thanks to Lynette, the lady in charge of this annual fund-raiser. Thanks for having Tricks as a part of your celebration, We appreciate all the hard work that Lynette and her crew put into the job of throwing this big dinner/dance party. Great work from the cooks, the bartenders, the planners, the decorators, the clean-up crew, and all the other volunteers, Tricks says "Thanks so much"! Also, special thanks to Diane VerHey. And, happy birthday to Nicole and Sue.
Just before midnight rolled around, Tricks did their Grand Prize drawing for our year-long celebration of Tricks' 30th anniversary. The prize is 2 tickets to a concert concert & a night out with the whole Tricks band. All of the entry forms for the entire year of Tricks t-shirt and Tricks cooler cup nightly drawings were including in the Grand Prize drawing - hundreds and hundreds of names from every single Tricks gig of 2006. It's only fitting that the winner ended up being our best friend, Deb Peck - Deb is one of our most fun and loyal fans, she comes to see Tricks with her husband Willy almost every weekend (many times both weekend nights). She is our music-loving, dancing fiend, cookie making, dog-sitting, party girl, best rock and roll friend who we are honored to have as a TOP TRICKS FRIEND AND FAN!! We love ya! Deb, and we're glad you were the winner - (of course, I'm sure no one else had more pieces of paper in there than you did!)
Tricks wishes a Happy New Year 2007 to one and all, whether you were there or not. Best wishes for 2007 to all Tricks friends and family! Auld Lang Syne. Check out the pictures to see what a fun crowd we had on this last night of 2006.

Tricks Cooler Cups Winners - Marge McBride, Sue Kelly
Tricks T-Shirt Winners - Bob Mohn, Susan Paauwe, Robin Deur, Katie Coon
Grand Prize Winner !!! - Deb Peck (Tricks has a date with Deb to see Umphrey's McGee w/ Adrian Belew)

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Dec 16, Party of the Year! Rodney's 40th at Roger's House -

Rodney & Roger 2 Top Tricks Fans

With a huge helping hand from our "Show-Fur" Roger, Tricks put on a 40th birthday bash for our good friend Rod Overway. Roger cooked up a heck of a feast, with help from many people who brought dishes to pass. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the great spread of party food. Tricks took up the main living room, running sound through Roger's little tiny-weenie Sonic speakers (about 12 feet tall - see pictures) - with room left over for dancing. And we danced the night away, did we not?! See pictures for lots of people having fun. Man, Steve's drums sounded good in that room. We're negotiating with Roger to spend our winter "Tricks basement days" here in his living room, instead of Tammy's basement. I'm sure Steve's girls will appreciate the peaceful and quiet winter evenings.
This was our final Tricks fling for 2006 - a happy birthday to Rodney and a Tricks "thank you" to all our best fans, family, and friends. The only thing left to do this year is one helluva New Year's Bash.

Check out old and new Tricks videos at Rick's YouTube
Hit the "Subscribe" button at Rick's YouTube, for alerts whenever Rick uploads more videos.

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Dec 8 & 9, Country Lanes, Dorr -

Rick and Tim Jamming the night away!!
Tricks entertained great crowds on both Friday and Saturday nights at the Country Lanes in Dorr. This was our last bar gig weekend for 2006. It's so good to close out the 2006 bar scene with a couple great weekends of fun in our home-town of Dorr, Michigan. Thanks to Boyd and his great staff at the Country Lanes. We'll be back next year. For now, we hope to see all of our Tricks friends and family at the Tricks New Year's Eve party at St. Mary's / Visitation Hall in New Salem. There will be great food, great fun, great friends, great dancing, and all that good stuff.
Tricks wants to give a warm "thank you so much" to all of our friends at the bars that we played at this year. We have our schedule mapped out for next year. Check out our Tricks 2007 calendar of events. It's been a great, fun year for Tricks at the weekend rock and roll bar scene. I wouldn't have it any other way. What a great way to spend our weekends - helping people to have fun and having fun ourselves. Thanks to everyone. Remember: Tricks loves you guys!

Tricks T-Shirt Winner Fri. was Wendy Riemersma
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat. was Ali Dutkiewicz
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat. was Chuck Hughey

Here's a cool, close-up video of Steve drumming while singing "Shakin" by Eddie Money

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Dec 1 & 2, Country Lanes, Dorr -

Tricks is back in Tricks country at the Country Lanes in Dorr. We had lots of fun with our home-town crowd. Thanks to Roger for shooting video and recording digital audio each night. Thanks to Denny V. for taking some still photos on Saturday. Thanks to all the dancers and party people who braved this nasty ice-stormy weather to come and keep Tricks nice and warm with your hot bodies.
We're selling tickets for our 2007 New Year's Eve TRICKS bash at St. Mary's Hall in New Salem (see below for party details and ticket info). I noticed Steve selling tickets to a few people. Stop at the Lanes next weekend and get tickets from Steve.
We plan on shooting lots of video at our 2 upcoming Tricks parties: the small intimate party at Schrag Manor, and the big huge blow-out party on New Year's Eve. Hopefully we'll find some quality moments to share on our YouTube page, especially for the far-away Tricks friends and family - you can be there with us. If you want to really be there with Tricks at our last bar gig of 2006, we have one more weekend to go at the Country Lanes in Dorr!! Let's Go!! Get off your ass and jam!! You won't regret it!!

Tricks T-Shirt Winner Fri. was Kayleigh Dutkiewicz
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat. was Deb Seerken
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat. was Dawn Carpenter

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November 2006

Nov 24 & 25, Weekend 3 of 3, Wayland Hotel -

Tricks last weekend at Wayland Hotel for '06. Man, I'm tired and sore. You people rock so freakin' hard, you're wearing us all out. Mary Kay says she needs a break from waiting on the Tricks party crowds. But seriously folks, Tricks had a fun fantastic 3 weekends at the Wayland Hotel. We didn't expect any less than that. Thanks to everyone, once more: We couldn't do it without your support. It's the crowd that makes the party, not the band. We always have the most friends and family showing up at the Wayland Hotel - because it's just the best. We can't thank Mary Kay enough. Mary Kay says that Tricks brings in the nicest people - so, thanks to everyone for being relatively well-behaved at our Tricks shows. We appreciate that Mary Kay makes the Hotel a nice place to party, and we want to keep it that way.
Tricks welcomes our new fans into the fold - welcome to the family - you know who you are! Yeah baby! 30 years of this stuff, and we still keep having such great nights of fun. Tricks will keep it going as long as you people want to keep it going. Thank you dancers!

Tricks T-Shirt Winner Fri. was Sherrie Coke
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat. was Kelly VanOveren

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Nov 22, Thanksgiving Eve, Wayland Hotel -

We always hear that this odd Wednesday night before Thanksgiving Day is the biggest bar night of the year. It's pretty hard to argue with that; it seems like everybody was out on the town this night (except grandma, who's getting the feast prepared for tomorrow, ... and a few die-hard hunters). Tricks would like to give our sincerest THANKS! - Thanks to everyone for coming out to support our Tricks party at the Wayland Hotel. Thanks to Mary Kay and her great staff who know how to serve up a fantastic dinner, and then keep those drinks flowing. Thanks to our regular crowd who make the effort to see Tricks whenever we come to town. Thanks to our special Tricks friends and Tricks family; you know who you are. Thanks for the cookies, Deb. Special thanks to our chauffeur / cameraman / recordist / all-around go-fer, Roger. Thanks to everyone's babysitters. Thanks to all the Designated Drivers. Thanks to everyone who "was gonna" be here tonight, but had trouble making their plans work - we appreciate your efforts. Thanks to everyone who sends Tricks e-mail or writes in to our forum to offer suggestions, encouragement, and feedback. Thanks to the dancers - you're a very important part of our show. Thanks to the screamers and head-bangers. TRICKS LOVES YOU ALL. We couldn't do it without you - that's the truth! And we wish you and yours the best of holiday cheer!

Tricks T-Shirt Winner Wed. was Ted Probst

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Nov 17 & 18, Weekend 2 of 3, Wayland Hotel -

Tricks had another wild and crazy weekend at the Wayland Hotel. Friday, the crowd was awesome. Saturday, the crowd was awesome-er-est! And, can I say it? "The new t-shirts are here, the new t-shirts are here!" Thanks to all you people who came out to make the weekend a smash hit for everyone. The dance floor was really packed on Saturday - plenty of crazy action out there. We also got some video with Krys and Rick's fancy new Sony Digital Hard Drive Video Camera - Thanks to our biggest fan Roger. Look for some new clips on Rick's YouTube page. It's so cool that our newest biggest fan, Rose won the Cooler cups on Friday. Stick with Tricks, baby, and you'll be a winner every time!
Special thanks to all of our dear Tricks friends who have to drive a half hour or more to get to the Tricks show. We appreciate the travel time. (Ask Tim about driving back to East Lansing every night at 2A.M. . . . Shudder!) Be sure to have a designated driver. Tricks likes to party hardy, but I hate it when we're driving back to Allegan after the gig, and we see a car pulled over by the cops. That really sucks. So be careful with that drive home. Tricks Loves You!

Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri, was Rose Pennock
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat, was Jodi Haveman
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat, was Lorie Carpenter

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Nov 10 & 11, Weekend 1 of 3, Wayland Hotel -

Tricks is back in town! Back in Wayland town that is. The Wayland Hotel is where it's all happening, baby! There's no doubt that we all had some great fun dancing, drinking, eating, chatting, laughing, and head-banging with TRICKS at the Hotel Bar & Grill this weekend. Big thanks to Mary Kay's hard-working wait-staff. They do a great job, and look good while they're at it! Tricks loves the big dance floor at the Wayland Hotel. Dancers have a lot more fun when they don't have to worry about bumping into something they didn't plan on bumping into. But , speaking of bumping and grinding, . . . there sure was a plenty of that going on this weekend at the Hotel. I'm telling you, those dancers are having fun and going crazy. We love having our Tricks family and friends come out to sing and dance with us. It's great when we can welcome some new friends to the Tricks family, - you know who you are.

Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri, was Tammi Mauchmar
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat. was Willy Peck
T-Shirts ? We are out of Tricks T-Shirts - More are getting printed as we speak.

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October 2006

Oct 27 & 28 - Big Halloween Bash! Douglas Woodshed-


Kick-ass "Tricks and Treats" party at Ye Olde Woodshed in Douglas on Saturday night. It was a costume party, with so many great costumes, I had to post 3 albums of photos from Saturday night's festivities. Friday was fun as well, with lots of Doogie's friends from Trendway showing up to toss down a few (and to watch the Tigers' last stand). Tricks virgins were sullied.
And then there was Saturday night... Thanks so much to Krys and Rob for the great decoration job. Special thanks to Heather for pumpkin-carving help. And an extra special thanks to Tom Behrend for spider creativity. Be sure to check out the decor-details in these pictures. Steve was a drumming pirate, with help from Squawky the Parrot, who was along for the ride all night long. Tim the Grim Reaper played bass for the Halloween fest - I notice he doesn't turn up in pictures very well. What did turn out well in the pictures was Rick the big white and bloody Mummy guitarist. Special thanks to Liz and Sam for the wrap job - it made it through the whole night, with a few extra pins. And Krys was Paula Stanley.
The $100 winner for the best costume was Howie Mandel and his Deal-or-no-Deal suitcase Girl. 2nd Place $50 winner was the Vampire. 3rd place $25 winner was the "Flies on Shit" girls. Thanks to Keith and the staff for having us at the Woodshed. We really get into playing for the friendly classic-rock loving folks at the Woodshed.
Huge Photo Album -
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri. was Donna McMahon
Tricks Drawings on Saturday?? Too distracted by the big costume party. Sorry.

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Oct 20 & 21, Douglas Woodshed -

Friday was a great fun night with Tricks getting down at Ye Olde Woodshed, Saturday was even funner, with a few birthday people getting loose at the Woodshed! What can I say? You had to be there. The party people were there to rock out with Tricks on both nights - an "interactive" crowd, you might say. The band was super tight both nights. Steve likes to point out that the band is always tighter in the second half of the year. We get really confident with our Tricks repertoire, and there are lots of fun moments for the band and for the crowd. When the band is playing so tight and sure-footed, the dancers can have more fun dancing and the toe-tappers at the tables can get into the whole Tricks party scene. You gotta love that chemistry. Thanks to everyone for coming out Friday and Saturday, Tricks loves you!! You know it!!
Our photographer Friend Denny Velduis showed up for Saturday's festivities, and he brought along his new Canon digital camera. Not as fancy as his big SLR Camera, but still very fun for taking band pictures. Thanks Denny!
| Denny
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri, was Brandy Garluck
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat. was Rick Prins
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat, was Rick Prins
(Yes, Rick Prins won twice: We always put the names back in the hat,
because we're drawing for the Grand Prize at our New Year's Eve party.)

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Oct 13 & 14, Douglas Woodshed -

Friday the 13th, Tricks was lucky enough to be back at the Woodshed in Douglas. Believe it or not, it's been over a year since we last played at Ye Olde Woodshed. We had to cancel some weekends at the Woodshed in late 2005 because Tim insisted on having heart surgery.
Saturday was an absolute madhouse, a "Babe-O-Rama". We had a big traveling bachelorette party, and a huge birthday party - all girls. What a great night to be at the Woodshed. Lots of dancers getting wild, struttin' their stuff on the dance floor. Thanks to Keith and his great staff who know how to serve 'em up cold and keep 'em coming. Thanks to all the Tricks family and friends who came out this weeekend, especially all you Wild Party Girls!
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri. was Kristi Liceaga
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat. was Pete Guillory
Tricks T-Shirt on Saturday?? Must have been too distracted. Duh!

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Oct 6 & 7, Country Lanes, Dorr -

On Friday night, Tricks had the honor of playing host to Sarah and Brian Vos who were married earlier in the evening. It was a "Family Tradition" with a big family party and lots of drinking & dancing, hootin' & hollerin'. Thanks for coming out to party with Tricks. Congratulations to Sarah and Brian - we wish you all the best! On Saturday, the crowd was thin, but we made up for it with too much alcohol for the band. We had a great time misbehaving with the party people who came out on Saturday night.

Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri. was Sarah & Brian Vos
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri. was also Melissa
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat. was Paul VanDam

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September 2006

Sept 29 & 30, Country Lanes, Dorr -

Fantastic fun surprise on Friday night at the Country Lanes in Dorr. First break: the band is getting tight . . . the crowd is settling in . . . seems like an average night partying with the Dorr folks . . . WHAM! - In through the door walks Bill and Cheryl Romanowski. From Indianapolis! It's been several years since we've seen Bill and Cheryl. There is too much Tricks history with Bill and Cheryl to tell here; you can go read the Tricks history pages, especially for 1976 and 1977. But, let me say a few things . . . Without Bill, Tricks would not have happened the way it did. Bill was a founding member of Tricks, but so much more. We shared lots of musical interests back in the 70's, with a common enthusiasm for the strange and wonderful music of Todd Rundgren, Pete Townshend, Peter Gabriel, and others. Bill was always experimenting with synthesizers, and Bill deserves most of the credit for cultivating the Tricks penchant for experimentation and risk-taking.
Saturday night we had more special visitors, this time from way up in Hancock, Michigan: our Aunt Bette and Uncle Dan. We had lots of fun with family & friends, drinking & dancing / hanging & banging with Tricks. Great weekend at the Country Lanes. Thanks to everyone for coming out to party with us! Tricks loves ya!

Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Fri, was Audra Vogt
Tricks Cooler Cups Winner Sat, was Dale Nichols
Tricks T-Shirt Winner Sat, was Cap'n Craig Bykerk

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- to Mid 2006
- to Early 2007

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