MWL1 West Michigan Whitecaps

Fifth Third Ballpark Announces Line-Up For Pepsi Stadium Club

Published on January 25, 2010 under Midwest League (MWL1)
West Michigan Whitecaps News Release


COMSTOCK PARK, MI - The Pepsi Stadium Club at Fifth Third Ballpark in conjunction with WYCE 88.1 FM will host a series of intimate music shows in the coming months. Following the previously announced February 19th John Wesley Harding show with openers Drew Nelson and Dag Juhlin of Poi Dog Pondering (7:30 p.m.; tickets $16.00) are four more concerts featuring nationally touring artists Richard Shindell, Cheryl Wheeler, Paul Thorn and Lucy Kaplansky.

First up after the John Wesley Harding show is Richard Shindell in an acoustic folk concert that is scheduled for Saturday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m.; tickets are $16.00 for the show. A New Yorker living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shindell is a folk singer/songwriter with nine albums to his credit spanning from 1992 to 2009. In 1997, Shindell's career received a boost when Joan Baez recorded three of his songs for her album "Gone From Danger" and invited Shindell to join her 1997-1998 tour. Shindell's eclectic songwriting style often involves storytelling from a first-person point of view, taking on such characters as an illegal immigrant, a World War II soldier, an Argentine grandmother, a power broker, a New York City cab driver and a man on death row. Shindell is known for his relentless touring, playing to sold out shows across the country. For more information on Shindell, please visit his website at www.richardshindell.com. Joining Shindell is Boston Musician Antje Duvekot.

The third in the series of concerts is Cheryl Wheeler on Saturday, April 10 (7:30p.m.; tickets $20.00). Wheeler is a well-respected songwriter whose songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Dan Seals, Peter Paul and Mary, Kenny Loggins, Garth Brooks, Suzy Boggus and many others. She is known for her popular live shows, which incorporate her natural storytelling with a fantastic sense of humor to make her concerts more like comedy club performances than traditional folk singer/songwriter concerts, and although she has recorded 12 albums, half of the songs that she sings at concerts have never been recorded. For more information on Wheeler, please visit her website at www.cherylwheeler.com. Opening for Wheeler is Grand Rapids singer Nicholas James Thomasma.

On Friday, April 30, Paul Thorn will take the stage in the Pepsi Stadium Club (7:30 p.m.; tickets $20.00). The Tupelo, Mississippi native mixes blues, country, gospel, rhythm and blues and rock'n'roll to form the music of the Mississippi heartland, the same music-drenched region that gave us Elvis. The 43-year-old one-time professional boxer who once climbed into the ring for a nationally televised bout against three-time world champion Roberto Duran, Thorn is the son of a Pentecostal preacher who grew up singing in his father's revivals. He is known as the poet of the unheard, the commonplace and forgotten people who have been left behind in a modern South. He has six studio albums, including 2008's "A Long Way From Tupelo," which was his first to crack the Billboard album chart. This is the first time Paul will be brining his band to Grand Rapids. Learn more about Thorn at www.paulthorn.com. Joining Paul for the evening is Flint, Michigan native Greg Nagy, a 2010 Blues Music Award nominee for Best New Artist.

Finally, the Pepsi Stadium Club concert series will wrap up on Sunday, May 23, with a performance by Lucy Kaplansky (7:30 p.m.; tickets $18.00). Kaplansky's early musical career as a folk musician in Greenwich Village was linked with, among others, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin and Richard Shindell. As part of a duo with Colvin in the 1980s, she attracted record company interest, but instead chose to become a psychologist. A decade later she came back to the music scene, recording background vocals for Vega, Nanci Griffith, John Gorka, and for Colvin's grammy-winning album "Steady On," and releasing an album (produced by Colvin). She has since released five more solo albums as well as an album as a member of the acoustic trio Cry Cry Cry that also included Shindell. The New Yorker calls her a "truly gifted performer... with a bag full of enchanting songs." Listen to Kaplansky's music on her website at www.lucykaplansky.com. Opening for Kaplansky will be Grand Rapids-based singer / songwriter Ralston.

Juice boxes for the Kids Food Basket program will be collected at the door; fans are urged to bring juice boxes to donate to the cause. In addition, one ticket holder at each show will win an autographed guitar.

The Pepsi Stadium Club at Fifth Third Ballpark, home of the West Michigan Whitecaps in Comstock Park, has become a multi-use facility that has hosted events ranging from holiday parties, business luncheons and weddings, in addition to its primary role as an exclusive group outing venue for Whitecaps baseball games. The first concert in the PSC was last November, when Spencer Mulder and Troll for Trout played to an intimate sold-out crowd.

In addition to the upcoming series of five concerts in the Pepsi Stadium Club in 2010, look for more large outdoor concerts on the diamond, following in the footsteps of last year's Kansas, Chickenfoot and Flo Rida/Sean Kingston/Justin Bieber concerts, as the Whitecaps continue to brand Fifth Third Ballpark as a multi-use facility.

Tickets are on sale now at www.whitecapsbaseball.com or at www.grcmc.org/radio. Seating is very limited at all shows. Doors open one hour before concert start time and parking will be free.

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Midwest League Stories from January 25, 2010


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