TricksBlog Early 2018

Blog - June 2018
^{June 8 & 9 - AJ's in Dorr}

Expert photography on Saturday from our Arizona friend, Sherri. Check it out. Way better quality than our little "point and click" cheap Canon. This was almost a weekend to write home about. The crowd wasn't packed in, but we had a decent bunch of party people with ATTITUDE, both Friday and Saturday. The dancers fed us their energy and we gave it back in return. Such a small dance floor to work with, but we had a nice little group of people who just needed to get up and shake it, getting in the band's face. You know what that does? That gets the drummer going. And when drummer Steve gets all revved up, it puts the guitar players on the edge of oblivion - either zoom in on the groove, or be left behind in Steve's dust. He's taking us out on the limb, where it's do or die. No time to sit back and twiddle our fingers, we're busy hammering it hard, "firing on all eight cylinders" you might say.
Thanks so much to everyone for coming out to the heart of Tricks country. Thanks to Amanda and Ernie for keeping live indoor music in Dorr. As Bocephus says, "It's a family tradition".
^{Fri |Sat |Sherri Sat}

 

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^{June 2 - Allegan Eagles}

Tricks doesn't get much chance to play in Krystal & Rick's hometown of Allegan. I mean, those two do lots of acoustic gigs and parties around this area, but as far as the big loud Tricks band, we just don't have the venues for it. The only place good for a Tricks show is the Allegan Eagles. They have a huge dance floor that takes up about half the space in the room. Very tiny stage, but we extend the stage using Steve's drum riser for Rick's side of the stage. It makes Rick about as tall as Ozzy, so hurray for symmetry! As usual, Tricks had a great bunch of party people at the Eagles. That included a bunch of our regular Tricks followers, another bunch of K&R party neighbors from Lake Allegan Indian Shores, and we also had a bunch of Krystal pals. All of these people know that a packed dance floor gets the band going, and the energy bounces off the walls. We'll be back here for New Year's Eve, so let's mark our calendars. Thanks to everyone for supporting local live music. Thanks to the Allegan Eagles for the same.
^Sat

 

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Blog - May 2018
^{May 11 & 12 - Wayland Hotel}

This weekend was an exercise in opposites. Friday was the kind of night that drains the band's energy. We have to pull up that energy from within ourselves, because there isn't much energy coming from the mostly empty room. There wasn't more than 15 people in there with us all night. Hardly any dancers, although we had some of our Hudsonville Fan Club there dancing for the first couple sets. By last set, we had two people sitting at the bar, and our 2 friends, Tom & Fran. That's it. The bartender asked us if we would cut last set short and let the workers get outta there early. I'm not saying we didn't have fun jamming with ourselves and the few people there watching and dancing, ... but we can't help think in the back of our minds how the bar is actually losing money by paying for a band with not enough people there to break even at the till.
And then there was Saturday. Another type of night that drains the band's energy, but in a much more satisfying way. Saturday had it all; fans, friends, family, a bachelor party, two bachelorette parties, visiting fellow musicians, friends from Allegan, friends from Hudsonville, friends from Fennville most of all ...
Plenty of Dancers!
Our drummer pal Skip Herrema was there. Ramiro Galvin, the guitarist from the "All In" band was there. Former Tricks guitarist Dale Boysen was there. The place was hopping, and the band was firing on all 8 cylinders. Wayland Hotel is the rock n roll party place. Thanks to everyone who came out to support local live music, whether on Friday or Saturday. You know we have fun with two people or two hundred people. The two hundred usually gives us more to write home about. It's all good fun. Thanks to Josh and the Hotel Staff for keeping the party going. We appreciate your work. After all, you can't play hard if you don't work hard. Right?
^{Fri |Sat}

 

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Blog - April 2018
^{Apr 21 - DEBUT! Amerian Legion, Holland}

Drummer Steve has been a member, volunteer, and Adjutant at Dorr American Legion for many years. Because of that, Tricks has been playing Harvest Fest parties at the Dorr Legion hall for a couple decades or more. We had our "Tricks 40th Anniversary Bash" at the Dorr Legion in 2016. So, it's only natural that we spill over into playing events at other American Legion halls. The person who books bands for the Holland Legion is Fran Coughlin, a native of Dorr. So, Steve finally was asked if Tricks could play a night at the Holland Legion. Steve booked us to play the first Saturday in January, earlier this year. That week was horrible weather, with lots of ice and snow. So, we re-scheduled the Tricks debut, and it turned out to be a great night. We finally have some sunny days with pleasant evenings, so the Legion folks can go out and smoke or throw horseshoes out back without the freezing weather.
Gotta love their location; just a block south of Chicago Drive, near Zeeland, but off the beaten track. A relaxing location with trees and very little road traffic.
Tricks always loves the challenge of playing to a room full of Tricks virgins. There were only a few familiar faces, so we had a hundred people who were getting a first impression of the Tricks band. Steve brought his electronic drum kit, because we were a little scared of the small room. Actually the room wasn't that small, and we might use the "real" drums from now on.
We did a song setlist of our most popular, non-scary, danceable tunes. That worked out very well. It didn't take long to get people dancing with us. Once again, our new Shania song "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" was the first big dance hit of the night. Great job, band. Great job, dancers. From that point on, we had dancers for nearly every song. It's cool when people cheer, but it's even better when people start throwing tips at you to put their money where their mouth is. One guy came up and shoved two $100 bills in Krystal's hand saying, "you guys are awesome". Never got a chance to thank him properly. Similarly, it's cool when management tells you what a good job you're doing, but much better when they immediately book you for a couple more shows. The Legion has a big gold outing on July 14, and they all come back to the lodge after a morning a golfing. They have an outdoor drinking license for the day, and they want Tricks to play for their outdoor bash / barbecue. We're pencilled in for now. Maybe they'll be open to the public that day, we can only hope.
Thanks to the Holland American Legion Post #6 for hiring us. Thanks for the quick easy friendship from everyone. Thank you dancers! Thanks to whoever gave us the $200 tip. Trust me, we'll be back soon.
^Sat

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Blog - March 2018

^{Mar 30 & 31 - AJ's in Dorr}

One of the rare times when the Friday crowd outdoes the Saturday crowd. Not by much. Both nights were less than a packed house, but we had dancers dancing all night long. That's the main thing that keeps the band energized. In fact, Friday's dance action was hard to keep up with onstage. Both Fri & Sat showed outstanding dancefloor reaction to our new tunes from the winter "break" in Steve's basement; people were dancing to Shania Twain "Man, I Feel Like a Woman", ZZ Top "Tubesnake Boogie", Skynyrd "What's Your Name", and Dire Straits "Money For Nothing". All those new tunes were selected for their danceability, so it warms our heart to see some booty-shaking going on. Great motivation for band energy. I'd love to launch into a Rick sermon about "Making everyone happy all the time", but I'll spare you.
We love being here in the heart of Tricks Country, our hometown of Dorr - where the memories go way back to Rick & Steve's teen years and their first high-school rock bands. We always have people coming up to say, "remember when you played at my party out in the field behind my house?" or "remember when you played for our wedding party in our garage"? We have deep roots here in Dorr. We appreciate everyone coming out in the unseasonably cold weather, when they temptation is to stay home on the warm couch.
^{Fri |Sat}

 

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^{Mar 9 & 10 - Wayland Hotel, Coming-Out Weekend for 2018}

Well, we managed to destroy another camera. No pics for Friday. Anyway,...
Saturday was the big event - our good friend Craig Bykirk's 60th Birthday party. Craig (aka "Spank", aka "Capn Craig") has been one of our best Tricks fans since around his 40th birthday party, which Tricks also played at. Craig and his wife Jane, along with Liz & Sam and Deb & Bill, form the core of what we call the "Tricks Hudsonville Fan Club". It's a group of people loosely associated with the Hudsonville School Bus Garage, where Jan Bykirk is head honcho. Krystal's cousin Liz & hubby Sam moved to Hudsonville in the 90s. Liz got a job driving bus for Hudsonville Schools, where she became friends with Jane. They all have brought many other couples to see Tricks at various Tricks events. Capn Craig has hosted several Tricks parties at his big garage/barn, just east of Hudsonville. You can browse through the Tricks History pages and see lots of these "Hudsonville Fan Club" folks. We are forever grateful for their support and friendship.
Another great surprise on Saturday was an appearance by Rick's son Dan and his music-loving buddies. As the Capn Craig b-day party was slowly breaking up around midnigh, Dan and his pals came in to cheer us on for 4th set. That's always a fun thing. It's interesting to see these 30 and 40-something guys who are into classic rock tunes that were popular way before they were born. Hardcore! Thanks for coming in, guys. And thanks to Patty Bykirk for organizing the b-day party for her dad. Thanks to everyone who came out for Craig's party. Thanks to Josh the owner and the Hotel staff - we always appreciate your work keeping the party rolling smoothly. Thanks for supporting local live music.
Sat