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TricksBlog 2022

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^{Blog - December 2022
Dec 31  - New Year's Eve Party, Allegan Eagles}

^{Bye bye 2022. Hello 2023!
Tricks rocked into the new year with our fans and friends in downtown Allegan. The Eagles club knows how to do it right, with low drink prices, a potluck buffet, a huge dance floor, and a brand new sound system (thanks to Scott Chenard). This year the house was more packed than most years have been, although the stroke of midnight was a bit lonely. Most of the crowd wandered down to the Roverfront, where the city hosted a Ball-Drop and Fireworks. Happily, everyone came back to the Eagles to finish out the night with Tricks. This year had an unusually high number of Tricks friends and fans, with lots and lots of people giving Tricks the love and dancing the night away.} 

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^{Dec 10 - Ugly Sweater Party, Fennville VFW}

 

This long story keeps getting longer. The annual Ugly Sweater party in Fennville started back in 2017. We celebrated the 10th anniversary of Phelpstock, our up-north party at Tommy & Tara Phelps' property in the woods east of Irons. Having just moved to Fennville from their original home in South Haven, Tommy said, "we need to do a down-south party during the winter, for our friends who can't make it up north for the summer party". The first couple winter / Christmas / Ugly Sweater parties were at Tommy & Tara's barn, a bit south of Fennville. In 2019 the Fennville VFW offered their place for the Phelps annual Ugly Sweater party, and Steve finally got talked into playing drums for us. That made it a full-blown Tricks Party! We had to skip 2020, so that makes this the 5th annual Ugly Sweater Party. This year was just as fun as ever. Lots of eating, drinking, and dancing. We gave out bottles of booze for the top 3 Ugly Sweaters. Thanks to everyone for coming out and making it into the "Top 3" for Tricks Party-of-the-Year 2022.

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^{Blog - November 2022}

^{Nov 13 - Thanksgiving Eve at Grand Haven Eagles}

Tricks played here once before, about ten years ago or so. I should look it up in these Tricks History pages. Yeah, maybe later. Anyway, I remember a packed house, lots of dancers, and an elevator that took several trips to bring in our gear. That all turned out the same this time around. A great fun crowd with lots of Holiday spirit on hand. When we were here last time, I remember having a couple dozen old Trendway pals here. This time, no such luck. I guess we got our share of Trendway buddies at the Wax Bash two weeks ago (see below). This time, it was more family with our middle brother Larry and his friends, along with cousin Steve Weideman of "Catfish And The Man" fame. Steve Weideman is a longtime musical celebrity in the Grand Haven area, and he was the one who suggested that the Eagles give Tricks a call for the Turkey Eve party. I expected more dancers, but the dance floor was never completely empty, and there was plenty of hooting and hollering to make up for the lack of dancers. Most of the crowd were what we call "Tricks virgins" who kept coming up and telling us how great we were and "where are you from"? Etc. We appreciate the appreciation. Krystal got a little scared when a lady came up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder, looking her straight in the eye, all serious and everything. Krys was even more worried when the lady started talking very sternly, "I'm the day time manager here". Krys is thinking, oh no, what are we doing wrong? "You guys are great and I'm telling all my friends that they need to get you back here very soon". Okay! That's what I'm talking about.

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^{Nov 5 - TRICKS birthday party for Jeff Weatherwax, Holland VFW}

Wax turns 60! We got together with a bunch of Rick's old Trendway co-worker buddies. Great room at the Holland VFW. Great space for eating, drinking, and dancing. Big stage, big dancefloor, good-sounding room. Tricks did the 50th birthday party for Wax ten years ago,same hall, same band line-up, many of the same people. We dub this "Party of the Year 2022", even though we said that for our Lake Allegan neighborhood block party a few weeks ago. Let's call it a tie, although the VFW hall had a lot more room than the garage at Lake Allegan. Both parties were full of friendly faces and plenty of dancers. Thanks to Wax and Bev and all the workers at the Holland VFW who put on this bash. It couldn't have been more fun. It really helps that we had a crowd that wanted to hoot and holler and dance with the Tricks band tunes.

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^{Blog - October 2022}

^{Oct 21 - TRICKS BAND, American Legion, Caledonia}

When a band plays at an American Legion and they like you, many of the Legion groups in neighboring towns will call for band bookings for their special events and benefits. That's because members visit with friends in those neighboring American Legion halls. The same is true with Eagles, Moose, and VFW clubs, but the American Legion in Dorr has sprouted gigs for Tricks at the Holland Legion, the Kentwood Legion, and now the Caledonia Legion. The special events and benefits are noteworthy because those are the nights when non-members are allowed to buy food and drinks at an American Legion hall. Otherwise, the normal rule is that non-members need to be accompanied by a member in order to purchase food or drinks. This event at Caledonia was a Steak Dinner benefit for veterans. We ran into lots of our regular fans who live over there near Caledonia, as well as past fans who were telling us all about past Tricks parties in corn fields outside of town. Don't worry, we have all that documented in the Tricks History pages, and these people were talking about the mid-70s and early 80s.
And there were lots of smiling faces, and the powers-that-be said that we'll be back. They already tried to book us for St. Patty's weekend, but Tricks is already booked at Kentwood Legion for that weekend. It's good to be busy.

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^{Oct 15 - TRICKS BAND, Charlie & Erica's "Trap Shack" Garage Party / Fall Fest, Lake Allegan}



This was "Party Of The Year 2022". Tricks has played lots of parties this year, and every one has been good on quality and quantity. But, the lakeshore community seems to capture that party spirit with a bit more enthusiasm than most land-lubbers. There are three types of people on Lake Allegan; people who live here year-round (like Rick & Krys), people who split their year with summer in Michigan and winter in Florida, and people to whom Lake Allegan is their "Up North" because they live in Chicago, Detroit, Indiana, or other places at the bottom of the Mitten. No matter which type you are, you have to be ready for a party when you live on the lake. Sometimes it's just a bonfire and beer. Other times it becomes a potluck and campfire. Most parties on the lake are spontaneous happenings, but then there are the regular annual events like the 4th of July party or this annual fall fest party put on by Charlie and Erica in their garage which is affectionately known as "The Trap Shack".
Actually, this was the 6th annual neighborhood party with Tricks in charge of the live music. This annual party started out as a simple Harvest Fest at our old friend Jack's big barn, across the street from Charlie's Trap Shack. After two years at Jack's with the Krys & Rick acoustic show, Jack moved to Florida and passed away not long after that. Charlie and Erica insisted on making this party a "Rock n Roll / Love Your Neighbor" party. So we brought in Ozzy and the drum machine, and made it an electric guitar classic rock Tricks party. Finally, after Steve retired from Dick's and bought his compact electric drums, we brought Steve into the mix for 2021. I remember Steve saying a few times last year, "this is a cool party". And that means a lot, coming from someone who feeds off the crowd's energy like some kind of Drummer Zombie from Hell. Or, maybe he's a Vampire, I'm not sure. At any rate, I don't think Steve or Ozzy would disagree that this Allegan party was "Party of the Year".
Like last weekend in Schoolcraft, it was quite a chilly evening, and I think that kept some folks at home. But it was still a good crowd in both quality and quantity. Judge by the photo album. The band was hot and the crowd was hooting and hollering the entire time.

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^{Oct 8 - TRICKS BAND, Doug's Barn Party / Pig-Roast, Schoolcraft}

This is another one of those annual parties. Tricks played for Doug's barn party / pig roast in 2019. After that, Doug didn't have a party in 2020 or 2021. But, now we're back in 2022. Because Doug contacted us to get into the Tricks schedule kinda late, we ended up having the party during a chilly October. That was okay, because we fit the band, the food, the drinks, and the people all into Doug's big barn. He did have a couple propane heaters outside the doors, so people were hanging out and warming their buns at the fire. Great crowd, great food, lots of food, ... and the band got a chance to try out their new sound system. It was a fun night and the band did a fine job rocking the barn. Doug says we'll schedule the party next year during early September. Let's hope that works out.

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^{Oct 1 - TRICKS BAND, American Legion, Kentwood - Another JBL Speaker Fire and End of an Era!}

Last stand for our second pair of JBL speakers and the Crown amp that was driving them. During the final set, we had a bit of Deja Vu with our sound system. Our second Crown amp took its final gasp and tried to take the two JBLs with it. Unlike at Kim & Duane's Sep 3 party, we caught the problem before both JBLs were fried. But, there was a bit of fire inside one of the JBLs. We turned our monitor speaker out toward the dance floor and finished the last set without the big JBLs. The end of an era. Our 4 JBL 15" two-way speakers with wide-dispersion horns and the 2 Crown power bass amps were the top end of our sound system for over a thousand Tricks shows during the past 25 years.

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^{Blog - September 2022}

^{Sep 10 - TRICKS BAND, American Legion fundraiser, Dorr}

In return for the Dorr American Legion allowing Tricks to rehearse here last winter, we volunteered to provide free music for their benefit event to raise money to fix up their roof and other building repairs. The fundraiser was a huge success, bringing in plenty of much-needed money for the Legion building. We had a blast with longtime Dorr fans. We've always called our hometown of Dorr, "Tricks International Headquarters" for the simple reason that we always rehearsed in Steve's basement, in Dorr. Not to mention all the parties and events that Tricks has played for in the Dorr area, going back to the cornfield and backyard parties of the mid-70s.
After last weekend's loss of 2 JBL speakers and a Crown Power Bass amp, it was a good thing that we had another pair of JBLs and another Crown amp to use at this Legion party. We were still waiting for the verdict about that damaged sound gear, but we were not worried about the possibility of a repeat disaster. What are the odds? (See Oct 1, next month.)

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^{Sep 3 - TRICKS BAND, Kim & Duane annual party, Irons - JBL Speaker Fire}
 
 

Let's figure out what number this party is, looking at the history of Tricks playing for Kim and Duane Lewis. We started playing for the Duane and Kim bunch about 12 years ago, when we played for their friends Val & Brian's 35th wedding anniversary in a grassy field outside of Kaleva, Michigan. That was 2010 Labor Day weekend, and there were motorhomes and tents set up way off the road, and we had to follow a grassy 2-track to get back to the party location. They had a generator to power our acoustic Rick & Krys show. Just as we finished, it downpoured rain so we had no chance to say "thank you, good night". We just threw our music gear in our car and got out of there, soaking wet. After that first party with Duane & Kim's friends, we played every year at Kim & Duane's place in Irons, except for Covid year 2020. That makes this "DUANE & KIM PARTY XII".

Two remarkable things that make this party a milestone. Okay three, if you count that Duane and Kim are both celebrating retiring from their jobs. The band milestone I'm talking about is the fact that this is the first Duane and Kim Irons party with Steve talked into playing drums to make it a full TRICKS BAND party. We've asked Steve many many times to play with us at one of our four or five annual Irons music shows with Krys, Rick, & Ozzy. We manage to get Steve to play two years in a row at the Saturday Luncheon at Fifelski's cabin during Irons Cowboy Weekend. Then, we got Steve to play for our annual Memorial Friday "Start of Summer" earlier this year, and even for a small benefit party at the Phelps meadow. But, this is a first for Kim & Duane's party. Duane repeatedly asked us to bring the "big band", but Steve never could get away from his Dick's Market duties along with family duties. Now that Steve is retired, things have changed. Two days before this party, Steve called and said he would be able to play for Duane's party. That's the same as the last-minute surprise when Steve agreed to play for the Oak Grove Memorial Friday show with the Tricks Boys Trio (no Krys).

The other band milestone? We burned up a nice pair of JBL speakers, not from abuse but from age. The Crown Power Bass amp that we used to run those JBL speakers was dying of old age. Right during our last ZZ Top song, with only "Black Betty" remaining for an encore, we noticed smoke coming from the JBL speakers on each side of our sound system. We weren't playing loud, so it was hard to believe what was happening. We saw green-ish flames inside the speakers. Green is the color of burning copper wires. Without any "Black Betty" or "thank you, good night" we were bummed for such an anti-climactic end of such a great little party. Steve was especially sad, "what a way to end a night". We fizzled out, instead of our usual big dramatic ending. A few weeks later at the Kentwood Legion, our other Crown amp gave up the ghost and nearly took our other two JBL speakers. We managed to sell one pair of JBLs for $100, but the other pair of JBLs and the two Crown amps were beyond salvaging. We figure that we got a good 25 years out of those amps and speakers, playing over a thousand gigs with high-quality amps and speakers that originally cost about $4,000 all total.

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^{Blog - August 2022}

^{Aug 19 & 20 - TRICKS Boys Trio, American Legion, Kentwood}

SORRY, No Pics. No Krystal or Linda there to take pictures for us.

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^{Aug 6 - TRICKS BAND at Sandy Pines Resort}
   
   

This is the 7th annual Tricks summertime show at Sandy Pines. We usually close out their outdoor summertime music schedule, in conjunction with their annual "Color Run" benefit walk/run. This year we missed the color run weekend, and instead we were playing on the same day as their "Christmas In August" summer celebration. Driving slowly through the park, we saw all kinds of fun yard decorations celebrating a summertime Christmas. We had less of a crowd than usual, as many people stayed home decorating their golf carts for the "Christmas" parade. I think we also gained some people when there was a power blackout affecting about a third of the Sandy Pines Resort. Tricks didn't lose power, but we heard about it while we were playing. Sandy Pines is an amazing flurry of activity, with all kinds of scheduled events and activities for young and old. We'll be back next year, that's for certain.

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^{Blog - July 2022}

^{July 30 - TRICKS BAND backyard party at Greg & Jodi's home, Gun Lake}
   
   

This Tricks party in Greg & Jodi's backyard started out as a reunion for the Wayland Girl's Softball leagues from years past. They had to change the date and Tricks wasn't available, so they decided to go ahead with the Tricks Party and the Softball team reunion would be the following weekend. With such a beautiful outdoor space for a party, you couldn't go wrong. We all had a blast eating, drinking, and dancing on a beautiful July evening. Thanks to everyone who showed up, thanks to those who brought food, and special thanks to Jodi and Greg for hosting a great summer party.

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^{July 22 - TRICKS BAND at Wedding Reception for Rachel & Morgan, Pullman}

Last year Krys & Rick played for a wedding in the Irons backwoods. Rachel and Morgan were relatives at that wedding reception. When Morgan and Rick got to chatting about music, Rick said, "if you liked our Krys & Rick acoustic music, you'll probably love our Tricks band."  Rick suggested that the Bride & Groom-to-be should come to Fennville for our December Ugly Sweater party. They showed up for that Tricks party, and decided to have Tricks play for their wedding reception. They liked our variety of tunes and the fact that we put an emphasis on DANCE songs. As July would have it, the wedding day was hot and muggy. That put the damper on dancing action, but we still had the girls out on the dance floor for our break-time pop tunes, while the guys seemed to be the ones who liked the Tricks live action show.

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^{July 2 - TRICKS BAND First Annual "Rockin The Shores" party, Lake Allegan}

   
   

Tricks 1st annual "Rockin' The Shores" party for our Indian Shores / Lake Allegan friends and fans. We started with "Jam N The Cove" in 2017, 2018, and 2019. That got off track in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid thing. Now that we have Covid in our rear-view mirror, we wanted to bring back the Lake Allegan lake people and their summertime celebration with Tricks. Tim Miller suggested doing the party down at our Indian Shores boat-launch park, re-christening the event "Rockin' The Shores". The Cove was a bit cramped for the boaters, and this new location has water on three sides, so plenty of room for boaters. We ended up not having that many boats, but plenty of neighbors kicked back in lawn chairs. We were treated to some tunes from Fred and Matt before the Tricks show. And the end of the live Tricks music signaled the start of FIREWORKS! Tearing down the stage and packing up in the dark, and we almost needed earplugs for all the fireworks explosions going off all around us. The plan is to make this an annual summer party, celebrating Lake Allegan, Michigan, and U.S.A!

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^{Blog - June 2022}

^{June 25 - TRICKS BAND Party in the Woods, Irons}
   

This started out as a donated "KaR Tunes" show from February's benefit for Carly & Joey; dear friends of our who have a lot of expenses dealing with Joey's brain cancer. After family friends from Fennville VFW got the silent auction item "3-hour KaR Tunes Party Music", we were immediately told by Carly's parents (Tommy & Tara Phelps) that they wanted to pay "whatever it takes" to make the party a full Tricks band party. So, we got Steve to play his very first Irons backwoods party. Only a couple dozen friends for this special party, but what a fun time. Eating, drinking, and dancing out in the meadow with Tricks.

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^{Blog - May 2022}

^{May 27 - TRICKS Boys Trio, Oak Grove Tavern, Irons}
   

We finally talked Steve into playing at the Oak Grove Tavern in Irons. Steve previously played in Irons two years in a row for the Cowboy Wagon Ride luncheon. That was a big deal during the annual Irons Cowboy Weekend. Now, after Steve has retired from running Dick's Market in Dorr, he finally has been able to play at a few of our regular summer events in Irons. We usually play with the Trio, Ozzy, Krystal, & Rick, with a drum machine. And, this weekend Krystal had a camping trip planned, so we were going to play this Memorial Weekend Friday with the "Doogie & Ozzy" duo. We weren't worried about doing a good job as a duo; we've done the duo thing several times before. But, we kept telling Steve that he was welcome to come along and play drums for us. Finally, just two days before the gig, Steve called and said, "Tammy booked two nights at Little River Casino. It wasn't cheap, but I'm available to play Friday night". So, we called Rick the owner at the Oak Grove and cleared the way for Steve to join us. They were more than happy to have a "real" drummer to make it a "real" band for the show that we play most every year to open the summer season Up North. Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.

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^{Blog - April 2022}

^{April 2 - Breejo's Pizza & Pub, Cutlerville}
     
   

Our friend Brian DeBoer grew up with Rick's kids, and for some reason he was known as "Pizza Boy". Well, he now has owned a pizza restaurant/pub for the past few years on South Division. Being a Dorr guy, he always wanted to have Tricks play at his place, even though there isn't much room to set up the big band. In March 2020, we did a Tricks Trio show there with Krys, Ozzy, & Rick for St. Patty's Day, just as Covid was kicking in. It was tight quarters for the Trio, even though we only had a small drum machine. But, it was a fun party and a fun night.  Imagine our surprise when Brian booked Tricks with Steve and his drum riser nearly doubling the amount of space we were going to need. But, ... we managed to squeeze into the salad bar area, and even ended up with a little dancing room. Steve had support from his family, including birthday boy Mike and a couple grandkids on the dancefloor. We packed in the crowd and we had a great time. Brian the owner was there with his wife for the entire night, and he says we'll be back.

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^{Blog - March 2022}

^{Mar 26  - Kentwood American Legion}
   
   

This was our second Tricks show at the Kentwood American Legion. This is the gig that Steve got because, being a Dorr Legion officer, he received a fun-raising letter in the mail from the Kentwood Legion post last year. He called and told them that he would donate to their Legion Hall if they would hire his band. Great idea, Steve! The only problem was that the first date they gave us on Oct 23 last year was a hiking and camping weekend for Krystal and her gal pals. We decided to do that October show with just the Tricks Boys Trio; Steve, Ozzy, & Rick. This time we had Krystal onboard and it really lightens the rock n roll load on the boys. Plenty of dancers on their big dance floor here in Kentwood. We really went over well with the crowd. We're trying to figure out with the Legion powers-that-be a way that we can set up a day or two ahead of time. As it is now, they have Karaoke on the stage on Friday nights, so they don't want the band to come in early. So, we end up doing everything in one day; unloading, setting up, playing for four hours, tearing down, and loading out. It's nearly a ten hour day when you factor in travel time. We hope we can do what we did at the Fennville VFW; talk them into letting Tricks set up on Thursday and then have the Karaoke guy set up in front of the stage on the big dance floor. Sounds sensible and it will save lots of overall aches and pains for us old rockers.

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^{Blog - February 2022}

^{Feb 12 - Benefit at Fennville VFW}
 
   
 
The Fennville VFW decided to throw a benefit for Joey & Carly. They needed help paying for some modifications to their new house, in order to make it handicap accessible for Joey, who has complications from brain cancer and cancer treatments. This was a great example of friends, neighbors, and family coming to the rescue for a loved-one in need. The band played for free, we did raffles along with a silent auction, and some family members did matching donations on top of all the dollars collected. All in all, the benefit netting over ten thousand dollars. Money that will go toward Joey and Carly, to make their life a little more comfortable. Thanks so much to the VFW folks, Tara & Krystal, and everyone who donated items for the auction. The band donated a Tricks party for the auction. I'm not sure how much we brought in for the Tricks Party, but I know it has already been scheduled for June 25 this summer up at the Phelps Meadow in the Irons backwoods. I'm sure we'll be inviting all of our Tricks friends and family to that party. Stay tuned for information on that event.

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^{Blog - January 2022}

^{Jan 29 - Mark Pasma 50th Birthday, Dorr American Legion Hall}
 
       
       
Rick & Steve's youngest sister Paula had us save this date nearly a year ago. She wanted a Tricks party for her husband Mark's 50th birthday. Mark and Paula have always been a couple of our biggest loyal Tricks fans over many years. We knew that the band would already be set up at the Dorr Legion Hall for our winter break, so Mark's party fit conveniently into the right time and the right space. Talk about a great Tricks party. We had a crowd of neighbors, friends, fans, and family from our long history in the Dorr area. Incidentally, it's worth reminding everyone that Mark was our link to hiring Ozzy because Mark and Ozzy are cousins. When Dave Bassbeast had to leave the band because of health problems, we started searching and auditioning bass players. When Mark said, "my cousin is a bass player" it seemed too easy. But, Ozzy turned out to be a great fit in personality, music tastes, and bass playing (thumping) style. Thanks Mark! Happy Birthday, and may you have many more. Thanks Paula for the great idea to have a Tricks party. We all loved the party. It was a reunion of some of our favorite Tricks friends.