Off topic? Yes. Worth your time? Yes.
Last night, we went to to the WLNZ Grand River Radio Concert Series, held at the Creole Gallery in Lansing’s Old Town. It was fabulous.
The night’s performer was Jen Sygit, a local musician with an amazing voice. She sounded like a combination of Margo Timmins from the Cowboy Junkies and Joan Osborne. Jen is a singer and songwriter plus she plays guitar and some other instruments (although she only used the guitar last night). Her band, Spare Change, was also part of the show.
Oh yeah, and she’s local!
Here’s a video of Jen performing at the Creole Gallery for her last album release.
She’s planning her next album release in early 2009.
I think we are planning to check out another of the GRR series concerts and we’ll definitely be looking for another chance to see Jen and her band play.
A bit about the Creole Gallery: The Creole Gallery in Old Town has reopened its doors to the public and is displaying the artwork of the galleries former owner, the late Robert Busby. Busby, also known as “The Mayor of Old Town,” was greatly involved in the development of the Old Town District and opened the gallery in 1998. Busby’s daughter Ena Busby will now run the gallery, which will be open on weekends to start, and will hopefully expand to weekdays soon.
When Robert was killed in the basement of his gallery, in February 2007, no one knew what would happen to The Creole Gallery or to Old Town. The gallery re-opened its doors on June 1 of this year. The current show is also a Silent Auction to benefit the Robert Busby Jazz scholarship.
