AROUND TOWN - JUNE 18, 2003

Summer Concert Series

This past Friday the 13th the stage was set not for another Hollywood horror flick. Rather, it kicked off the Fountain Square Concert Series with Thom Jayne and the Free Radicals. Downtown East Lansing quickly turned into what looked like the remnants of a tailgate party with lawn chairs everywhere and standing room only as the Free Radicals enlightened concert goers with their mixture of world music, flamenco, Latin classical and new age sounds. The citizens of East Lansing were gathered together to hear MSU Professor Thom Jayne on guitar and digeridoo as well as Rich Illman (from Lansing Symphony Orchestra fame) on trumpet, Dave Meeder (flute, guitar), Jon Weber (percussion), Drew Costello (bass) and Danny Cox (drums).

Forgotten Conquest, the bands most recent album, received a WYCE Jammie Award, John Lennon Songwriters Award and ranked 13 nationwide on the New Age Reporter play list. The mood was light while the band entertained downtown East Lansing with a nice summer breeze and their instrumental fusion of world music with a New Age twist.

Across the street the very next day, the weather continued to improve as the Ann Street Plaza Concert Series continued with local favorite Mystic Shake. Once again the streets of East Lansing filled with lawn chairs of the old and young alike as children danced carelessly with their parents. Mystic Shake’s unique blend of reggae with a mixture of calypso, pop, and New Orleans blues took center stage with a great live performance that the band has been known for.

Members of the band joined the crowd as the sun set, tossing out their famous shaker cans to encourage crowd participation and playing the bongo in the crowd. They showed people how to dance to the beat of the songs. If you closed your eyes long enough and let the music take you away, you’d swear you were at some tropical island listening to the band at the hotel tiki bar.

Friday and Saturday were both treats for the folks of East Lansing and Lansing alike, and is just the start of a series of concerts planned for the area this summer. Next on the list is June 20, featuring the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival and followed on June 27 by the Troublesome Lasses’ Celtic songs and tunes. For further information contact Judith Taran at (517) 337-1731.

By Wesley Weiler

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