Michigan — Page 8

Stormhorn Jazz Tonight at the Cobblestone

A quick reminder, in case you haven’t gotten one from me on Facebook, that my jazz trio, Stormhorn Jazz, is playing tonight from 6:30–9:30 p.m. at the Cobblestone Bistro in Caledonia, Michigan. This is a beautiful place with superb food, world-class wines, a good offering of domestic, imported, and craft-brewed beers, an elegant and comfortable bar, and ambiance galore complete with a fireplace and even, yes, a waterfall–plus, of course, live jazz by Dave DeVos on bass, Steve Durst on keyboards, and me on the alto sax and vocals.

The Cobblestone is one of the best things about Caledonia, at least from a musical and dining perspective, and Ben, the owner, loves jazz. So come on out and show your support. I promise you, you’ll be pleased at what you find. Here are the details:

• Date & Time: Saturday, January 15, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

• Place: The Cobblestone Bistro & Banquet Center

• Address: 9818 Cherry Valley Ave. SE (M-37), Caledonia, MI

• Phone: (616) 588-3223

Reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are welcome.

January 15, 2011 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Band, Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Michigan, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: alto sax, Caledonia Michigan, Cobblestone Bistro, jazz trio, live jazz, Stormhorn Jazz, superb food

Stormhorn Jazz at the Cobblestone Bistro (Or, The Difference a Bass Makes)

Saturday evening at the Cobblestone Bistro here in Caledonia was one of those very rewarding gigs that result from the combination of a stellar rhythm section, a beautiful setting, and an appreciative audience. I couldn’t ask for better guys to play with than Paul Lesinski and Dave DeVos. Each is a seasoned, top West Michigan veteran on his instrument, and both are just plain nice, down-to-earth guys with no attitudes to deal with. They’re responsible and easy to get along with, solid and intuitive musicians who’ve been around the block many times over, so I have confidence in them. That confidence in turn inspires my own creativity and willingness to take risks as a saxophonist.

Last Friday on New Years Eve, Steve Durst and I played for the dinner crowd as a piano-sax duo. With years of experience under his belt, Steve does a superb job, and we got some very nice compliments. But man, what a difference the addition of Dave on bass made this weekend!

I’m certain Steve would readily agree that having to fill in the bass part with the left hand greatly limits what a keyboard player can do. Good players can pull it off, but I don’t know of any pianist who wouldn’t much prefer having a bassist handle the bass part so his own left hand is free to do what it’s meant to do in a jazz context. The difference is huge–the groove, far better; the sound, fuller and richer; the creative options, much broader; and the energy, multiplied. All without any significant increase in volume that can distract from conversation in a restaurant setting.

The crowd certainly liked our sound. People were actually listening to us and applauding from tune to tune, and even for some of the solos. I stopped to chat with a few of the diners during break, thanking them for their responsiveness, and I got some glowing comments in return. It’s really gratifying to see the interest in jazz that exists in this rural neck of the woods, many miles from the urban center of Grand Rapids.

We play again at the Cobblestone this coming Saturday from 6:30-9:30 p.m., this time with Steve filling the piano chair. If you like live jazz, come on out and enjoy an evening of good food and world-class wines plus the Stormhorn Jazz trio, all in an ambience-rich setting that will warm you as soon as you set foot through the door. Here’s the info:

• Date & Time: Saturday, January 15, 6:30-9:30 p.m.

• Place: The Cobblestone Bistro & Banquet Center

• Address: 9818 Cherry Valley Ave. SE (M-37), Caledonia, MI

• Phone: (616) 588-3223

Reservations are recommended, but walk-ins are welcome.

I should mention the large and beautifully designed banquet hall in the back of the building, styled in the manner of a large, European sidewalk cafe. Ben, the owner, is contemplating special events, so keep your eyes open for jazz concerts in the future. I’ll keep you posted on this site and on my Stormhorn page on Facebook as brainstorms and good ideas become actual dates on the calendar.

Need I say, please come out and support the Cobblestone. It’s a great setting and has the potential to distinguish itself not only for destination dining, but also as a hotspot for jazz that’s located outside the urban clutter, yet close enough to be convenient.

January 10, 2011 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Band, Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Michigan, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: banquet hall, Caledonia, Dave DeVos, European sidewalk cafe, interest in jazz, jazz concerts in the future, jazz trio, keyboard player, left hand, musicians, Paul Lesinski, pianist, piano-sax duo, restaurant setting, saxophonist, solos, stellar rhythm section, Stormhorn Jazz at the Cobblestone Bistro, the difference a bass makes

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, But the Band Played On

Happy New Year! Last year was tough but we made it through, didn’t we. I hope that 2011 will be a good year for you, for me, for us all.

Yeesh, I’m starting to talk like Tiny Tim. I’d better get on with this post, which is a summary of yesterday. Weatherwise, the last day of 2010 was a humdinger for convective connoisseurs, and jazz-wise, it was a fun evening for yours truly. While the two topics may seem unrelated, they are in fact integrally connected. It’s a well-known fact among my storm chasing buddies that any time I commit myself to a gig and am therefore unable to chase, tornadoes will drop out of the sky like confetti at a gala event. It’s a gift I have. Statistically, my powers hit their zenith the weekend of the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts in early June. But anytime of the year, all hell is liable to break loose when I’m booked to play somewhere.

Yesterday was a prime case in point. While Steve Durst and I played a thoroughly enjoyable piano-sax gig for the dinner crowd at the Cobblestone Bistro here in Caledonia, tornadoes mowed across Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi. You could see the event shaping up earlier in the week, with forecast models depicting a potent longwave trough digging deep into the nation’s midsection on Friday; a surface low working its way northward through Missouri and Iowa; high-velocity mid- and upper-level jets generating massive shear; and, critically, a long and broad plume of unseasonably rich moisture juicing the atmosphere up into Illinois ahead of an advancing cold front.

If you want to get some great insights into yesterday’s setup compared with two other similar wintertime severe weather events, check out this superb article by Adam Lucio in Convective Addiction. Adam’s analysis was spot-on. Tornadoes began spinning up early yesterday morning in Oklahoma and Arkansas and continued on through the day in Missouri and Illinois, surprisingly far north. Rolla and Saint Louis, Missouri, got whacked pretty solidly. Later, as expected, the action shifted south, with severe storms firing in Louisiana and a batch of night-time tornadoes gnawing their way across central Mississippi. Yazoo City found itself in the crosshairs for the third time this year as a strong radar couplet grazed past it, but, mercifully, this time the town appears to have escaped yet another direct hit.

With yesterday’s dust finally settled, the SPC’s present tally shows 40 preliminary tornado reports. Sadly, there were some fatalities, not all of which the reports show. What an awful way for the families affected to end a year that has already been difficult enough for so many people.

And the show isn’t quite over. Today, on the first day of 2011, Tornado Watch #3 is in effect for the Florida panhandle and southern Alabama. If that’s any kind of augur for this year’s severe weather season, April through June could be an interesting time for storm chasers.

But enough about the weather already. Let’s talk about jazz.

The Cobblestone Bistro is a beautiful place to play. I can’t believe that something like it exists in Caledonia, a community not exactly renowned as either a jazz hot spot or a north star of destination dining. But here the bistro is, fully operational now that a long-forthcoming liquor license has put its winsome and comfortable bar in business, and with an owner who appreciates and supports live jazz.

Last night I played my first gig at the Cobblestone for the New Years Eve dinner crowd from 6:00-10:00 p.m. Steve Durst joined me on the keyboards, and we spent an enjoyable four hours playing jazz standards in as elegant and ambiance-rich a setting as you could hope to find.

In a restaurant, particularly in a smaller room, it’s important not to play too loudly. People want to talk, and the music needs to add to the mood, not subtract from it by being too intrusive. That can be tricky for a sax player. A saxophone is not by nature a shy, quiet instrument, and a lot of energy is required to play it softly. But with three tables positioned directly in front of Steve and me, both of us absolutely had to reign in our volume.

Evidently we succeeded. We got no complaints of playing too loudly, but we did get some very nice compliments on our sound.

I’ll be playing at the Cobblestone again next Saturday, January 8, from 6:30-9:30 p.m. with Dave DeVos on bass and Paul Lesinski on keyboards. The trio will be playing as well on the 15th and 22nd, with Steve occupying the keyboard seat on the 15th. If you’re looking for a great night out in a beautiful setting, come and check us out.

And with that, I’m signing off and getting this first afternoon of a brand new year underway. I wish you a very happy and prosperous 2011.

–Storm (aka Bob)

January 1, 2011 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Band, Entertainment, Jazz, Life, Michigan, Saxophone, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather Tagged With: Band, Caledonia, Cobblestone Bistro, gig, jazz hot spot, jazz standards, keyboards, massive shear, night-time tornadoes, piano-sax gig, potent longwave trough, radar couplet, sax player, Saxophone, storm chasers, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, unseasonably rich moisture, winsome and comfortable bar, Yazoo City

New Years Eve Severe Weather

Here’s something you don’t see very often on the morning of December 31. (Click on thumbnail to enlarge it.) It’s 10 a.m. and for the last half-hour I’ve been watching lightning flicker outside my window and listening to thunder rumble.

But that’s nothing compared to what’s going on farther south. Already three fatalities have been reported in Arkansas, and tornado warned storms are scraping across the region. As I write, there are two strong SRV couplets in Missouri southwest of Waynesville and west of Houston–potent little supercells fueled by dewpoints in the upper 50s. It’s certainly not what you’d expect this time of year, but this event has been shaping up for several days.

I’ve got a gig this evening–it’s New Years, after all–so my extent of involvement in this weather scenario will be to watch it unfold to the south of me on radar and enjoy its occasional outbursts of lightning and thunder here in my own Michigan backyard. Later today Louisiana and Mississippi could get hammered, but right now the action is farther north, where buckets of shear are organizing the storms and driving them along at 50 miles an hour. If that little bugger south of Waynesville holds together, Rolla is going to get whacked within the next half hour.

Enough writing. I’m going to upload some radar images for this post and then watch this event unfold.

December 31, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Michigan, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather, Weather Radar Tagged With: fatalities in Arkansas, lightning and thunder, New Years Eve severe weather, storms, strong SRV couplets, supercells, tornado warned storms

New Years Eve Gig at the Cobblestone

Man, this year has blown by fast, hasn’t it! Five days from now we’ll have turned the corner into circa 2011. New Years Eve is the last of the big holidays. After that, we get down to the business of doing winter up here in the circumboreal region.

So what are you doing for New Years Eve? How’s about enjoying it with Steve Durst and me at the Cobblestone Bistro here in Caledonia, Michigan? We’ll be playing jazz standards through the dinner hours from 6:00-10:00 p.m.

Let me tell you a bit about the Cobblestone, because it’s a jewel. Located on the east side of M-37 (aka Cherry Valley Road) on the south end of Caledonia, the Cobblestone is designed for ambiance. Step inside and you’ll find an elegant, modestly sized dining room that features a fireplace, a waterfall fountain, superb cuisine, a selection of world-class wines, and a very nice bar. We’re talking destination dining right here in little old Caledonia. If you’re looking for a cozy place to spend the evening with your special someone, you’ll be absolutely delighted.

Of course, besides all of the above, this New Years Eve you’ll also get Steve on the keyboards and me on the alto saxophone providing live jazz to complement the mood. So come and enjoy dinner with us in one of the nicest settings you can imagine. Here’s the info:

• Date & Time: December 31, 6:00-10:00 p.m.

• Place: The Cobblestone Bistro & Banquet Center

• Address: 9818 Cherry Valley Ave. SE (M-37), Caledonia, MI

• Phone: (616) 588-3223

If the weather proves to be as warm as is currently forecast, this New Years Eve should be perfect for a night out. Spend it with us at the Cobblestone! I hope to see you there.

December 27, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Band, Entertainment, Event, Jazz, Michigan, Music, Saxophone Tagged With: alto saxophone, ambiance, Caledonia Michigan, Cobblestone Bistro, jazz standards, live jazz, New Years Eve Gig, world-class wines

For the Birds

The little fellow you see here paused long enough for me to snap his photo, but his repose was fleeting. Inaction is a concept foreign to goldfinches when they’re in feeding mode, which is pretty much from sunrise to sunset. (Left click on photos to enlarge them.)

Just outside my sliding glass door, a blizzard of finches descends on my feeding station early in the morning, and the party continues throughout the day. Other wild birds join in the melee–chickadees, white-breasted and rosy-breasted nuthatches, tufted titmice, sparrows, and a male and female downy woodpecker. Occasionally a shy junco or two will put in a brief appearance, and a big bruiser of a bluejay flits in now and then, brashly announcing his presence with a cry that lets the whole neighborhood know he’s here, and whacks away at the suet with his wedge-like beak.

When killing frost signals the last gasp of the growing season, then, like a changing of the guard, the plants come in off my balcony and the bird feeding station goes out. Two tube feeders–one filled with wild bird mix, the other with black oil sunflower seed–hang from the station’s metal arms in company with a bag of thistle seed for the finches. This year, determined to attract a woodpecker or two if I could, I also hung out a mesh onion bag full of suet and slapped a couple more hunks out on the balustrade. It’s as a complete a smorgasbord as any bird could hope for, and the response has been supremely rewarding. It has included, I’m happy to say, the woodpeckers–a sprightly gentleman with a red bar across his head, and his consort, a perky little lady without the bar, each showing up when the other isn’t there and gorging with mighty singleness of purpose on the suet.

During the winter months, the feathery circus out there on the balcony reminds me that life goes on even when bitter winds blow. Today I tripoded my camera by the sliding door, intent on capturing a few images from the carnivalia. With so many birds thronging the feeding station, you’d be surprised at how difficult it can be to get a decent shot. These are not creatures who like to sit still, let alone pose for the camera. The bright-eyed goldfinch to your left complied for about a second, long enough to look coy and unspeakably cute. It’s not for nothing that a bunch of these little guys and gals is called a “charm.”

The woodpeckers and nuthatches were more demanding. I had to wait for them, and they had a way of showing up when I had walked away from the window. I did finally manage to catch them at an opportune time. The nuthatches are a favorite of mine, part comedian and part acrobat, with no apparent sense of up or down nor any regard for the law of gravity.

Talking about the weather has for me never been synonymous with shallow conversation. There is a time of year when I find few topics more fascinating. Unfortunately, winter isn’t

that time. Music, too, inexhaustible though it may be as a pursuit, has its limitations for me as a focus for blogging. In a word, I just don’t always have musical or weatherly stuff to write about, and I don’t like stretching too far for material. It’s a big world, filled with all kinds of interest and plenty of alternatives when subject matter gets thin. The birds are at the window day in and day out, chattering, flitting, quarreling, and consuming black oil sunflower seed with marvelous rapidity. They deserve a nod if not my outright gratitude. When snow cocoons the northwoods and whirls across the parking lot, they make me smile, and they’ll see me through till spring.

So this post is for the birds.

Or had you been thinking that all along?

December 18, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Life, Michigan, Nature, Outdoors, Photography Tagged With: bird feeding station, black oil sunflower seed, bluejay, chickadees, downy woodpecker, finches, for the birds, goldfinches, junco, sparrows, suet, thistle seed, tufted titmice, Weather, white-breasted and rosy-breasted nuthatches, wild birds, winter months

First Day of Meteorological Winter

Some of you will greet the news with glee, others with a groan, but either way, today is the first day of meteorological winter. Right, we’ve still got another three weeks before the winter solstice, when the year’s shortest period between sunrise and sunset marks the arrival of astronomical winter in the northern hemisphere. But it sure looks like winter right now to me, and that’s what matters to meteorologists. For them, winter begins December 1, just as each of the other three seasons commences on the first day of its three-month block. Why? Because that arrangement corresponds better with how we experience seasonal weather in real life. Here in Michigan, we often get a pretty good hammering of snow in November, and by winter solstice on December 21 (or sometimes 22), we’re already usually pretty well socked in. It seems almost laughable when someone announces on solstice that it’s the first day of winter. Really? Could’a fooled us. We thought it began a month ago.

I woke up this morning to be greeted, very appropriately, by the year’s first snow accumulation. Yesterday temperatures opened in the low fifties, but they began dropping and the afternoon grew downright chilly. Today snow is falling, and out in the parking lot a woman is brushing the white stuff off of her car. It’s almost like winter has been consulting its watch, waiting in the wings and then entering the stage exactly on cue with a bucketload of lake effect. The snow will be with us for a few days, now, and the radar will continue to look a lot like the image on this page. Click on it to enlarge it, and get used to it, because you’ll be seeing a lot of similar pictures from now until meteorological spring arrives on March 1, 2011.

December 1, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Life, Michigan, Uncategorized, Weather, Weather Radar Tagged With: lake effect, meteorological winter, Michigan, radar, seasonal weather, snow, snow accumulation, winter solstice

Severe Weather Potential Monday in the Western Great Lakes

A couple days ago, Lisa informed me that Dr. Greg Forbes was forecasting severe storms Monday in eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. I thought, hmmm…a bit far out to be definitive, but maybe I ought to take a look. I’ve been following the models since, and after this morning’s 6Z runs, it looks like Forbes is onto something.

Both the NAM and GFS suggest that an area from far eastern Iowa through northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin may be under the gun in the afternoon or evening. Here are a couple of NAM maps that will give you an idea why (click on maps to enlarge). The bottom line is that a low pressure system is cranking unseasonably warm temperatures and dewpoints in the mid-50s or higher into the Great Lakes region. The potential exists for weak instability to coincide with stiff 850 and 500 mb jet cores.

The GFS paints a somewhat more aggressive picture than the NAM and wants to clip things along a few hours faster. If that pans out, then north-central Illinois and south-central Wisconsin may see the best play. But both models are calling for essentially the same thing. Note the bullseye of 500 SBCAPE and 75 J/kg 3km MLCAPE at Clinton, Iowa, coincident with a nose of Theta-E bulging into the area. The GFS depicts the same scenario, albeit at 18Z rather than 21Z.

Today, Sunday, temps are forecast to rise into the 50s here in Grand Rapids, and tomorrow they should make it into the low 60s along with a significant increase in moisture. We stand a chance for a few thunderstorms of our own, particularly when the cold front moves in Monday night. As the KGRR forecast discussion puts it, “GIVEN TEMPS IN THE LOWER 60S…IT MAY ACTUALLY FEEL A BIT HUMID MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE CURRENT MENTION OF SLGHT CHC TSRA STILL LOOKS GOOD.” The SPC day 2 outlook has even thrown in mention of isolated tornadoes from southern Michigan southward, but tomorrow’s models will give a better sense of whether that’s any real concern. Helicity should be adequate, but instability is weak, and a November night-time squall line in Michigan is not your typical tornado machine.

Right now, the bottom line looks like warmer-than-usual weather in our area today and especially tomorrow, with storms in the offing in northern Illinois and nearby areas. And behind that, setting the tone for Thanksgiving, colder weather. So enjoy this last spate of warmth, because winter is waiting in the wings.

November 21, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Life, Michigan, Outdoors, Storm Chasing, Tornadoes, Weather Tagged With: dewpoints, Dr. Greg Forbes, forecasting severe storms, isolated tornadoes, NAM and GFS, squall line, unseasonably warm temperatures

Late-Season Thunderstorms in Lower Michigan

Amazing as it seems on November 17, I just heard a rumble of thunder. It wasn’t the first today. Several hours ago, a small line of storms swept through southwest Michigan, dumping rain, producing occasional lightning, and prompting warnings of “strong storms in the area capable of producing pea-size hail.”

Taking the unexpected opportunity, I hopped in my Buick and headed down into Barry County, where the more intense cells were moving through. We’re not talking anything major here–tops maybe scraped up to 20,000 feet–but this time of year I’ll take whatever I can get in the way of convection. Not being aware of any lifting mechanism in lower Michigan, I’m a bit mystified what it is that has been firing off the storms. The RUC soundings for 20Zand prior shows weak CAPE in the neighborhood of 200 J/kg with light winds at all levels. With surface temps peaking at 52 degrees, maybe that minimal instability has been enough to support some modest updrafts.

Whatever the case, it has been nice to get these late-season popcorn cells. They’re dying off now that daytime heating is dwindling, but they’ve made for a bit of serendipitous fun throughout the afternoon. And now I suppose we return to our regularly scheduled program of November drabness. I’m looking forward to watching Storm Chasers tonight and reliving the wild drama of May 22 in South Dakota.

November 17, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Life, Michigan, Weather Tagged With: Barry County, late-season thunderstorms in Lower Michigan, minimal instability, modest updrafts, popcorn cells, rumble of thunder, strong storms, weak CAPE

Lightning Storm over Caledonia

The day after my October 23 chase out in northwest Missouri and southwest Iowa, thunderstorms blew across West Michigan. Watching the MCS move in on my radar, I decided to try my hand at a few lightning photographs. I had learned a few essential tips since my last attempt, and this looked like a fantastic opportunity to see what kind of a difference they made.

The photos shown here were shot from the balcony of my apartment in Caledonia. Click on them to enlarge them. They may not be National Geographic quality, but they’re not bad. Fact is, one of my photos that night was my best lightning shot ever. Unfortunately, I accidentally erased it only minutes after I took it. You could hear my screams of anguish and bonking of my head against the wall all the way to Sam’s Joint.

What you see on this page are just compensation prizes. They’ll do, though. They’re mementos of what was probably the last lightning any of us around here will see this until next spring. Snow is in the forecast a few days hence, and with two months before it officially starts, the long winter is already winding up the mainspring and getting set to unleash.

November 1, 2010 by Robert Hartig

Filed Under: Michigan, Nature, Outdoors, Photography, Weather Tagged With: lightning photographs, Lightning storm over Caledonia, thunderstorms, West Michigan