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TricksBlog 2024

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^{Blog - July 2024
July 6 - TRICKS annual Ray Party on Gun Lake
 
 
\Here we are back at Ray's annual 4th of July party on the Gun Lake waterfront. It seemed like the number of boats was slightly smaller than last year, but the amount of fun was not lagging. Tricks was feeling the love from the boat people, with lots of hooting, hollering, and horn-blowing in between songs. One new thing this year that I've never seen before: a BarBQ boat, out there selling sandwiches from their pontoon boat. Ray had his buffet set up in the garage, so nobody was going hungry. Beautiful weather, not too hot and not too cool. Perfect boat weather. Perfect weather for jamming on the porch. There's nothing like jamming on the waterfront. Check out the photo album. And, ... Ray says Tricks is on the books for next year's 4th of July party. Sweet!}

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^{Blog - June 2024
June 22 - TRICKS Barn Party for Jane's 60th}
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^{Jane is one of our best Tricks fans from way back. She was coming to see Tricks when Hilliards Corner Bar was called "The Royal Knight". Let's say mid 80s. It helps that she has always lived between Hilliards and Wayland, so she had a short driving distance to the bars we played in Wayland, Dorr, and Hilliards. It also helps that she loves to dance and party with her friends and family. And Jane loves her that classic rock. So much so that we have dubbed her "Free-For-All Jane" because she's a big Ted Nugent fan. She had a Tricks party in her barn for her 50th birthday, and she made it a tradition by having the same thing for her 60th.
This entire week has been a nasty heat wave her in SW Michigan. When we set up on Monday, we had quit and go home before we had everything set up. Then we had rain and storms in the forecast for late Saturday. Luckily, the heat wave simmered down by late Saturday and the rains didn't come until after Dan was finished shooting off fireworks at the end of the night. Jane and Dan had plenty of great food for everyone, and the barn was cooled down, enough for comfortable dancing action,
Thanks so much to everyone who showed up for Jane's party. Thank you Dan, for all the work you did to prepare the party venue. And, thank you dancers! We love our hometown Tricks crowd.}

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<sup>Blog - April 2024
April 27 - TRICKS BAND at Kentwood American Legion

Finishing up our April series of club dates at Kentwood Legion. Tricks has only been playing here for a few years, but we liked the place and people from the very first show. They have a big dinner on Saturday, so we always start with a captive audience. Thankfully, there is always a fair share of people who want to dance. The typical pattern has us starting with a full dance floor for the first two sets, then the crowd fizzles out after 9pm and we play to a mostly empty bar for the last set. That's NOT what happened this time. We kept the crowd's interest for the entire night. I asked a couple people what kept them hanging with Tricks "til the bitter end". These two people both said, "maybe you've gotten better". I wasn't sure that you could get better at our age, but maybe our new sound equipment also has something to do with our staying power.</sup>

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^{April 12, Friday TRICKS BAND at Dorr Moose Lodge}
     

Just like last Saturday's party at the Holland Legion, this Dorr Moose crowd seemed a bit thin at first, but the place really got hopping by 2nd set. Always an interesting bunch of people coming up to chat about memories of good ol' days in the Dorr area. Rick had a chat with Theresa Williams from the Williams family. She went on about how cool it is to see Tricks still playing music after all the years. She hasn't played with her brothers in a long time, but definitely appreciates the "family band" scene and what it all means.
Tricks will be playing NYE at the Dorr Moose at the end of this year, so we're encouraging everyone to make plans.

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^{April 6, Saturday TRICKS BAND at Holland American Legion}
     

Our first Tricks show / party for the 2024 schedule. It's gonna be a busy summer. It already feels like "Work Hard / Play Hard". It helps to have a friendly, fun, appreciative crowd like we always have here at Holland American Legion. The band was really itching to play hard and tight. We had a guest singer sing "Play That Funky Music White Boy". Eddie did a surprisingly good job, and a bunch of his friends came up and danced.

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