Kind of Blues to play Thursday
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NORWAY -- This week, Music in the Park will feature the Kind of Blues Band performing the seventh concert of the season.
The free summertime music series will continue at 7 p.m. Thursday at the bandshell in downtown Norway.
Kind of Blues draws their membership from all over the southcentral Upper Peninsula, and this group of musicians has been pleasing audiences for more than 20 years.
The band, composed of all public school educators, features the vocal talents of Iron Mountain Schools Director of Bands Craig Recla, who also plays lead guitar and trumpet. Keyboard specialist Phil Lynch, retired Escanaba High School instructor, handles mainly blues organ/piano and vocals. John Beck, retired Escanaba schools choral instructor, plays bass guitar, cigar box guitar, harmonica and provides vocals. Drummer Greg Hunt, retired Norway-Vulcan Area Schools music instructor, rounds out the lineup.
The group will present blues made famous by many of the classic blues greats such as Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Jim Morrison and the Doors and Creedence Clearwater Revival. For 2023, the band has added several new selections, and will present blues covers from, Walter Trout, Buddy Guy, Curtis Stigers and the Forest Rangers, Lou Rawls and more.
The band is really looking forward to seeing everyone this Thursday in Iron Mountain and Norway, which they list among their favorite performance venues, and seeing lots of blues fans and music lovers coming out for this program.
"We hope folks that come into Iron Mountain for this week's Out to Lunch concert with Kind of Blues will enjoy the afternoon, have a nice dinner in the area and come on down to beautiful Band Shell Park in Norway for our seventh free performance of this summer's series, The Kind of Blues Band always brings a really fun show," MIP Executive Director Carol Sundstrom said.
Another beautiful summer evening greeted a record crowd for the sixth Music in the Park concert of the 2023 season last Thursday. The Dickinson area-based group The Descendants, performed, and it was great to welcome them to their first appearance at the series.
Music in the Park is grateful for the financial support they have received from several organizations, businesses and individuals this year, without whom this concert series would not be possible: The Curtis J. Brackett Memorial Foundation; Law Offices of Steven Tinti; Law Offices of Mouw and Celello of Iron Mountain; Jim's Music of Iron Mountain; Larry and Kathy Bourdeau; Ann Schroeder, financial advisor with Edward Jones in Norway; The Tourism Association of the Dickinson County Area; Norway Township; Chris' Powersports; Carrie Toretta-Partello with Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group of Iron Mountain; media support by The Daily News, the ADvertiser and WJNR-WOBE-WHTO; and numerous individual and anonymous sponsors.
Upcoming Music in the Park performances will include:
-- July 27: The Nicolet Dropouts*;
-- Aug. 4: Chris Charboneau and Friends;
-- Aug. 10: The DayDreamers.*
*Denotes "double header" concert with Iron Mountain's Out to Lunch series.
In case of inclement weather, concerts will be shifted to the Crossroads Church (Grace United Methodist/Bethany Lutheran) on Odill Drive behind the Jake Menghini Historical Museum on the east edge of Norway.
For updates if the weather is questionable, check the Norway Music in the Park page on Facebook.