Skip to main content

Mustard Plug's 2022 Holiday Show

 The 20th Annual Mustard Plug Holiday Show!  This is the 3rd or 4th time I've seen Mustard Plug in concert, and the 2nd Holiday Show I've been to.  You can read about the 2019 show here, featuring one of the same opening acts!


First Opener, Big Timmy And The Heavy Chevys!  Greasey and groovey in the coolest way.  I definitely got echoes of 2nd-wave Ska, but most overt was the simple buttery smoothness of all their jams.  One highlight was their cover of a No Doubt song towards the end of their set.  I've seen their name alongside other cool Grand Rapids bands like Valentiger, Lynn & The Moonshine Runners, and False Harbor...I have no idea how Big Timmy And The Chevys have gone under my radar, TBH.  They're definitely on my list to see again!


Back again were Dance Contraption, as seen previously in 2019.  Again, I cannot get over how positive and upbeat the music is - there's some profanity, but everything is presented in the same demeanor as, say, Less Than Jake.

Koffin Kats were the third opener, blending their wonderful Misfits-esque operettic vocals with a hard-charging rockabilly attitude (and plenty of riding the standup bass to boot!).  These guys really whipped the crowd into a frenzy and the first real mosh pits began during their set.  And, I still can't get over their stage presence and showmanship!



And finally, the headliners, Mustard Plug.  This was their 20th Holiday Show, replete with a mashup of 2 songs from Wham!:  Last Christmas blended smoothly with Careless Whisper.  The OGs that they are, the lead singer Dave said that they'd been playing The Intersection for 30 years as a group.  True icons!  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Junk Food Review: Chocolatey Payday.

 I saw an ad on my Instagram page for a chocolate-covered Payday bar.  Jokingly, I took a screenshot, and posted it on my stories asking the question "Isn't this just a Baby Ruth?"  A friend responded by saying that no, a Baby Ruth is peanuts surrounding caramel and chocolate-flavored nougat; the chocolate-covered Payday is peanuts in caramel-flavored nougat, dipped in chocolate. Now, candy bars are made from a few common ingredients:  Chocolate, peanuts, nougat, and caramel.  Chocolate and nougat is something like a 3 Musketeers.  Chocolate, nougat, and caramel is something like a Milky Way.  All 4 makes a Snickers bar.  Chocolate and Peanuts is a Mr. Goodbar.  Chocolate and caramel is either a Caramello or a type of Milky Way.  Peanuts and caramel (no chocolate) is a Payday.  And, chocolate, peanuts, and caramel led to the confusion that took me down the road to writing this article in the first place. I did what any sane person w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Eddie Bentz Bank Robbery

Prohibition is one of the most storied periods in American history. Urban myths and legends abound nationwide, with tales of folk heroes like Al Capone, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger. Tall tales are woven around organized crime, wild bootleggers, underground saloons, and well-dressed gangsters. There's something uniquely American about the DIY ethos of taking matters into your own hands, making illegal alcohol, and selling it through clandestine channels; stickin' it to the man like those in the illegal alcohol industry did. These stories are immortalized in movies like The Road To Perdition and Public Enemies, as well as TV series like HBO's Boardwalk Empire and, well, PBS's Prohibition. Many lakeshore towns in Western Michigan have tales of organized crime and bootlegging. Easy access to Lake Michigan meant that bootleggers had easy access to boat routes, safely out of reach of authorities. Booze was funneled in from Canada, then taken by boat to cities all aro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Merry Christmas from Tulip City!

I don't have a full article this week, but here's a little bit of trivia for you: While Holland is a predominantly Christian Reformed city, it was the early Methodists that sprung the Christmas spirit. While an 1867 Sunday School Christmas Program drew nearly 150 youngsters to Hope Church, it was several generations before the Reformed church allowed even Christmas trees into their sanctuaries, as Christmas trees were seen as Pagan symbols. Early Methodists adopted the 19th Century American spirit, and welcomed things like Christmas trees and even Santa Claus into their sanctuaries. I tried to determine exactly how long "several generations" were using Dr. Swierenga's book (and the sources he cites), but could not ascertain the exact time. It's almost certainly somewhere in the vicinity of 50 years (before the Christian Reformed Churches allowed 'pagan' Christmas symbols), which would put their allowing of such things into the early 20th century, but ...
Post a Comment
Read more