As for the Fenton release, I grew up in West Michigan in the 60’s and this CD compilation is wonderful…songs that have been out of view for so many years, some have lost their luster but they all show the garage band, blue collar rock n roll that was so prevalent in the Grand Rapids area and in Michigan as a whole.

Bands like The Fredric, Phelegethon and others are also worth mentioning and are available on CD now. Worth noting are some of the areas local artists have grown up to be world famous, (Not counting the Detroit rockers we’re all familiar with). Dennis Fredrickson aka Fergie was auditioning for bands like Kansas and Styx before finally getting a gig as the 2nd lead singer for Toto, and local bad boy Charlie Huhn got to join up with Ted Nugent for a few years then went on to form his own band with British guitarist Garry Moore and then took over as lead singer/guitarist for Humble Pie and now fronts the latest incarnation of Foghat.

Jazz buffs may want to visit Organissimo’s jazz sound, with former Phelegethon drummer Randy Marsh on board.

With Verve Pipe on the verge of reforming, Grand Rapids still has a major talent pool…and a local listener sponsored radio station features them all daily! WYCE.org is the place to hear this and all the folk, blues, jazz, rock and world music you can handle.

…and my new radio program Legacy is on 6-8 PM (Eastern Time) every Sunday night, soon to be podcast on my website noted in the link.

Thanks for the great albums, comments and gems.

Always a pleasure

See you on the radio…

Ogie