Tulip City Dispatch

 Title says it all!  In 2023, my wife and I set a resolution to see one concert or music show per month in 2023.  We fudged the rules a bit, and while we didn't actually see one per calendar month, we definitely averaged 12 shows over the course of 2023. On December 30, 2022, we saw the Mustard Plug holiday show in Grand Rapids at The Intersection.  They were led by Big Timmy & The Heavy Chevies, Dance Contraption, and The Koffin Kats.  The Koffin Kats are homies - friends of a friend, so it was fun seeing them again.  We actually counted this one as our January concert, but I definitely posted about it on the ol' blog here . February brought us to the Pyramid Scheme, where we saw the homies False Harbor play along Detroit's Remnose and Grand Rapids' own Ten Peso Version.  Very psychadelic, very jammy.  All of the bands were great! March we doubled up - saw Flogging Molly at 20 Monroe, then saw Dropkick Murphy's a week later.  Flogging Mo...

 Fricano's Too ( 174 S River Ave, Holland, MI 49423-2848) just off the beaten path in Downtown Holland boasts pizza that, according to a former boss of mine, was the best in North America.  There was a firm I worked for in Zeeland that was owned by a conglomerate out of Italy - whenever the head honchos would come stateside for various meetings or whatever, they'd ALWAYS cater in lunch from American Char in Drenthe , and they'd wine and dine the department heads at Fricano's Too.  They always said it was the most authentic pizza they'd ever had in the States. I, personally, dig the old-school vibe...the paper wrapped pizza served on cardboard reminds me SO much of being a youngster and getting pizza while Dad was playing hockey or whatever.  It's a little basic, the "gimmick" is how simplistic the pizza is, or how there isn't any gimmicks at all.  They got an honorable mention in my Best Pizza In Holland article back in 2020 . Earlier this year,...