Late 2007 Tricks

December 2007 Dec 21 & 22 - Sue's SideTrack Bar & Grille in Pearl - Final Night for Tim Tricks blow-out weekend at the SideTrack: Last weekend of 2007 for Tricks. - Last gig with Tricks for Tim & Rick's birthday celebration. Friday was a special party with our pals, Tara & Tommy Phelps and several friends, from South Haven. Tara & Tommy have hired Tricks for parties at their pool in S.H., and last summer we played for a camp-fire party at their cottage up in Irons. It's been an emotional time these last few weeks, dealing with saying goodbye to the dazzling talents and scintillating charms of our bass-man, Tim Clifford. (Did I mention his wry humor?) But seriously folks, everyone in the Tricks family loves Tim. We've had some exciting gigs with Tim. Everyone loves the way he thumps on that bass, and people always get excited when Tim is singing. Always professional onstage; "Get 'er done". Very easy-going offstage; "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk". And now we've ended our 4 great, fun-filled years with Tim. Lots of the Tricks "Inner Circle" came out Saturday to the Sidetrack to bid Tim a fond farewell. Thanks to everyone who came out during their busy holiday weekend; we know how painful it can be to set aside some time for good rock and roll cheer. Thanks to Sue the owner and manager Dan for having us - Tricks loves the Sidetrack and the people who make it happen. Thanks to Tim for everything. We really, really, really appreciate your musical abilities, your prog-rock taste, and your easy manner. We also are going to miss Tim's beautiful and fun girlfriend, Sue. Drop us an e-mail now and then, let us know how things are going with you guys. We'd love to come and see you thumping bass with your new musical venture(s) some time. Mixed pictures from Friday and Saturday - | Tim with Wedsel's Edsels in the 80s. For a bunch of old pictures of Tim when he was with Wedsel's Edsels - Here is B-day Boy Rick fumbling through Strawbs song "Heavy Disguise" in Tim's honor. Dec 14 & 15 - Sue's SideTrack Bar & Grille in Pearl Tricks & Co were happy to be back at Sue's Sidetrack out in the country. There's something fun about partying out in the sticks while a winter storm is blowing up all around. We had a small crowd on Friday, but there were some dancing fools ready to hang & bang with Tricks - All Night Long! Then on Saturday we had some Tricks friends braving the weather in order to have some hot fun at the SideTrack. Some of our Tricks Hudsonville fan club showed up to bid a fond farewell to Tim Clifford our bass player for the past 4 years. Next weekend is Tim's final weekend with Tricks, so we're making the most of these last few nights with Tim. Please make a special effort to come out and say farewell to Tim (presents and cake are acceptable). - - - Please send Tim an e-mail - Thanks to Rick the bartender for serving up the drinks; cold, wet, and plentiful. Thanks to Sue and Dan for having Tricks. Thanks for making the Sidetrack such a nice place to eat, drink, and be merry. Happy Holidays to everyone. Hope to see you next weekend for our big farewell Blow-Out party for Tim on Saturday, Dec 22. See these pictures from Friday and Saturday at the Sidetrack: | Dec 8 - DBO Party, New Salem St. Mary's / Visitation Hall Tricks entertained for the best Christmas party ever. It was the Dorr Business Owners annual Christmas Bash (DBO Website ). Tricks Drummer Steve is a member of the DBO association , being co-owner of Dick's Market (currently breaking ground to build a newer bigger better store). Last year, Steve whimsically suggested having Tricks play for the next year's party, instead of a Deeee-Jay. Well, Steve's fellow entrepreneurs called his bluff and hired Tricks for the gig. Steve was quite apprehensive about having Tricks play for such a fancy and formal affair, but we rose to the occassion. Tricks played their "nicer" songs for the first half of the night, then we let loose a bit for the late partiers and dancers. We also played a few recorded songs, because the girls wanted to get down with the Macarena, the Chicken dance and all that "line dancing" fun. Everyone had a fantastic time. I know Tricks was happy about the entire night. A very fun "hometown" celebration. Tricks is Dorr's hometown rock and roll band. About 250 people attended. There was plenty of food and drink. Lots of dancing fun with Tricks. And plenty of door prize give-aways. Tricks was honored to be chosen to entertain, and we sincerely thank the Dorr Business Owners Association for the pleasure. See you on July 4th!! Credits and Thank-You's: As with any huge event like this, there are dozens of people to thank for their efforts in making sure every little thing runs as smoothly as possible. First of all, for the most noticeable thing in our Tricks photos, - A huge thanks to Valerie Lain and her “Magic Touches” docorations: the balloon canopy and arches, candle centerpieces, and all the fabulous tulle netting and lighting. (If you need cool decorations for your party or wedding, call Val at 616-299-9325) Thanks to Bob Wagner and Hilliards Knights of Columbus for Dinner & Bartenders. Thanks to Melodie Niemczyk, Annette Dever, Mark DeYoung, Melodie Niemczyk, Elise DeYoung, Roger Lain, Jim Maynard, Paul Niemczyk, Michelle Niemczyk, Marsha Halloran, and the Girls from United Bank DBA Mr. Helpful and VFW Veteran of the Year - Butch Schmidt Dorr Recreation Association president Hank Chachulski honored Elise and Mark Deyoung for their years of dedication and serviee to Dorr Rec. Honorees: Laura Junglas and Melodie Niemczyk were inducted into the Dorr Hall of Fame: A Lifetime achievement award to honor individuals who have given their time and efforts to our community. Special Tribute was paid to outgoing Secretary of DBA, Annette Dever for her years of service. 2 albums of pictures - | November 2007 Nov 21, 23 & 24 - Wayland Hotel - Big Thanksgiving Weekend Tricks had an astounding weekend at Mary Kay's Wayland Hotel Bar & Grill. Thanksgiving Eve on Wednesday night left us drained of energy. But we picked ourselves up to party with a small but special bunch of people on Friday night. Then we had to deal with all the fun of Saturday night for Steve's 50th (yes, THAT Steve, you know, "Teve, Teve, Teve, Teve, . . .") And there was a bunch of Merren family in the house as well, celebrating that "Blue-Eyed Girl" Heather's 30th. What can I say, but THANKS to everyone for coming out and making our last 2007 weekend at the Wayland Hotel a very special one indeed - Thanks for the memories! One thing that is also emotionally draining for Tricks is the fact that we are losing our bass player Tim. After 4 noble and courageous years of service holding down Tricks' Bottom Line, Tim is finally getting worn out by the long lonely drives to and from his home in East Lansing. Tim is going to venture onto the Lansing musical scene. And that will be a much shorter drive each night. Tim has logged hundreds and hundreds of miles on the road for Tricks - and we appreciate all of it, Tim. We will miss Tim's style of cranking on the bass and screaming out those vocals. I can't say enough good things about Tim's playing. But he's such a nice guy as well, and he fit into our Tricks family-style crowd very easily and comfortably. Don't think we won't come and harass you when you get some gigs next year - Lansing isn't too far when it's a one-night drive. Tricks is now actively seeking bass players to interview and audition - we already have several applicants that we are considering. TURKEY EVE - | Fri & Sat | For a bunch of old pictures of Tim when he was with Wedsel's Edsels - Nov 16 & 17 - Wayland Hotel, Wayland Tricks was astounded by a dance floor filled with mostly girls - All Night Long! We have to assume that we were observing the classic "deer-hunter widow" syndrome. Don't worry boys, Tricks was keeping an eye on your wives and girlfriends while you're out in the woods up north. Great crowds both nights. I have to admit that Friday's crowd was more interested in chit-chatting, with Tricks as background noise. That's okay . . . whatever . . . But Saturday was a much better example of a Fantastic Fun Free-For-All out on the dance floor. As you can see in the pictures, the floor was packed with girls (and a few smiling guys) having a fun time head banging to the Tricks rock and roll sound. We appreciate everyone for stopping out and partyin' with us. Thanks so much. We make all the effort to do Good Dance Music, so it is gratifying when we see a big crowd of people taking advantage of our rockin' good dance tunes. That what Tricks is there for! Big crazy night coming up - Thanksgiving Eve - next Wednesday. Be sure to rest up for that one! Grandpa Rick's gonna need his nap. Friday - | Saturday - Nov 9 & 10 - Wayland Hotel, Wayland Tricks is back in town! We can't say it enough - We really love that Wayland Hotel Bar & Grill. Very comfortable party headquarters. We have a nice big stage and a nice big dance floor, a good sounding room, great food and a nice bunch of gals for wait-staff. What more do you need? . . . Oh, yeah! We need a great crowd of drinkers and dancers who want to match our Tricks party-fun-get-excited-let-your-hair-down Attitude. And that's what we get at the Wayland Hotel nearly every single night. Thanks to Mary Kay for showing us so much love - right back at ya, baby! This weekend was our first of three weekends, culminating in the big huge massive (what's with the redundancy this morning?) THANKSGIVING WEEKEND BLOW-OUT. We'll see you there, if you dare. The Hotel is not for the weak-of-heart. Tricks has to keep up with a bunch of party animals and lots of aggressive dancers who want to hang and bang All Night Long! Good rockin' fun! We have just a few more weekends until we take our Tricks winter break to learn a few new tunes for y'all. So, let's get out and have a couple more HOT weekends with Tricks at the Wayland Hotel - see you there. Fri & Sat -| Nov 3 - American Legion Pig Roast / Dance / Party, Dorr Tricks had a fun night at the Dorr American Legion Hall. Small turn-out this year, but we say it's a "quality" crowd, not "quantity" crowd. Really, sometimes the small parties are the fun parties. This party was mostly close Tricks friends, so it was a special good time. Plenty of great food and the drinks are very inexpensive at club prices. So, guess what? . . . We got the band a little bit buzzed! Yee, ha! This is our Harvest Fest, time for some indoor games, in Dorr. Sue Dever won the Shotgun Raffle, and Doug Jannsens won $100 gift certificate to Rivertown Mall. We also had a couple 50/50 drawings - all to benefit our American Legion. Thanks to everyone at the Legion for having Tricks, we always love playing for our home-town Dorr crowd. Pictures from the Dorr Legion Party - October 2007 Oct 26 & 27 - Hilliards Corner Bar, Hilliards Halloween Tricks played for the big Halloween weekend at Hilliards, including the Huge Costume Party on Saturday night. The Paris Hilton chick won the contest with her pink L.A. jail costume that all the boys were hot over. There were many many grrrrreat costumes, including a couple Dorothy & Scarecrow pairs, a Gangster and Lady friend, a Brittany Spears with baby, some very cool Witches, Nurses, Hippies, Pirates, and various Creepy Ghouls. The entire wait-staff was decked out as Sexy Angels and Devils. Tricks was dressed up - Steve was Insane Scary Clown, Krys was Jungleena, Rick was BlueBeard the Terrible, Tim was Dr. Death (Tim is eerily invisible in some of the pictures). Very Special thanks goes to Tom Behrend for designing and creating our Tricks tombstones, the cool creepy spiders, and the awesome big bat. Thanks to Deb and Jim for helping Krys with the great stage decorating job. Krys also did our pumpkin carving - What a gal! Thanks to Roger for helping with cameras and for always being our go-fer show-fur. Thanks to manager Shannon for booking Tricks for this annual amazing party. Thanks to the wonderful wait-staff for keeping the action happening. We appreciate all the hard work that goes into making this kind of party a comfortable affair. Thanks loads to our regular Tricks fans and friends who showed up to make it a fantastic Halloween Party. And "Welcome Aboard" to the new fans and friends who had a great time hanging and banging with Tricks - we had great time with you as well. Hope you'll scroll down on this page and sign up for our Tricks newsletter - keep informed on upcoming Tricks gigs, parties, and juicy Tricks gossip. Friday Pictures - Saturday Costume Party Pictures - | Oct 19 & 20 - Hilliards Corner Bar, Hilliards Tricks returns to our long-ago roots in Hilliards. The bar is called the Hilliards Corner Bar now, but waaaaaay back in the 80's Tricks played here when it was called the Royal Knight. Tricks helped carry the torch of Good Hard Rock 'N' Roll through that dreaded "Disco Decade" of the 80's. Those were some very fun nights - with Tom Hudson playing precision bass lines and Dale Boysen wailing on those scrupulous Les Paul and Stratocaster guitar leads; playing lots of great 2-guitar Southern Rock songs and other adventurous and challenging tunes. You might want to check out the Tricks history pages back in 1982 - (I don't have pictures on those pages yet, but you'll find all the dates for Tricks gigs back in the 80's - and you'll see that there were plenty of weekends at the Hilliards Royal Knight). Any hoo ha, Tricks played a sound-check party on Friday night for free, just for the fun of it. Then, on Saturday night we hosted a small group of Wayland Highschool graduates from the class of 1977. After 30 years, you can expect a small turn-out for these things. We all made the best of it and had a great time. Another Blast From the Tricks Past - Tricks' history in the late 70's is intrinsically tied to Wayland high school graduates. Look at this year in our Tricks History - 1977 - - and remember that the drinking age was 18, so we had many, many Tricks parties and bar gigs with those partyin' kids from Wayland - mostly friends of Steve and Tammy. Back to the present - Speaking of partyin' kids . . . on Saturday night, last set, we got attacked by a couple dozen young party people who were showing off their Wild Side! Holy crap, what a party scene. Tricks got mobbed by this bunch of crazy rockers who couldn't get enough of that good Tricks sound. See the pics and you'll see what I mean. Thanks for coming, one and all. Hope to see you again soon. | Oct 13 - Barn Party for Craig Bykerk, Hudsonville Tricks was extremely honored to entertain for Cap'n Craig's surprise 50th Birthday Party. It was a good, old-fashioned pig-roast / barn party / kegger / Tricks Party! We had kegs or beer, roast pig, plenty of party food, a big bonfire, lots of dancing, the mouse game, and the Tricks Rock & Roll show . . . all in the name of celebrating Craig Bykerk's 50th Birthday. We love ya, man!! Craig has been one of our biggest Tricks friends/fans for the past 10 years or so. We've had at least 6 Tricks parties at Craig's place, and it always had to be some kind of surprise party for a birthday or anniversary. This time, we turned the tables on Craig and had an early party for his 50th, which comes up next March. SURPRISE! What a great party. It was a little chilly, but we kept the barn hot with the Tricks dancers, and there was a nice bonfire outside. Thanks to everyone who did all the hard work of putting this great party together. Special thanks to Rich and Laurie's family for having the party at their place. Special thanks to Aaron for the brand new barn. Thanks to Deb and Jane and everyone who helped with food, decorations, band set-up, and all the other chores that go into putting on a big shindig like this one. Thank you, Thank you!! I know I'm not getting all the names here. But, thanks all the same. Craig knows we all wish him the best, and many more. Great fun!! Thanks for being there, everyone!! Check out the 2 albums of pictures from Craig's party. | to Mid 2007 to Early 2008

Tricksband.com website was started in March 2004.
Rick is webmaster, with graphics help from Krystal.

If you'd like to be informed of updates to the site, as well as any upcoming party information.
Sign up for Tricks e-mail News -

Remember, Tricks loves you!

" There's Good Rockin' Tonight "