*** Mackinac Island Music Festival August 17-19, 2010
Mackinac Island has been known as a gathering place for centuries and musicians from across the country will gather August 17-19, 2010 for the Mackinac Island Music Festival. Presented by the Grey Goose-the World’s Best Tasting Vodka, Classic Rock THE BEAR and Great Turtle Festivals, performances abound around the car-less Island’s quaint pubs, historic theatres and includes a tribute to the mega concert Festival Express.  

Veteran blues musician/comedian DC Malone will headline on August 18, incorporating some incredible guitar work and a great blues voice. Malone relates “I love to perform; to form an instant rapport with a live audience is a great feeling.” With his slightly warped take on life, relationships, drinking and with great music to back it up, DC Malone is very entertaining. Opening the show is Detroit Music Award Winner Audra Kubat, one of the Motor City’s most well known voices. Incorporating folk, rock, alternative and indie styles, her instrumental ability is only overshadowed by her unique and unforgettable voice.  

This season the festival will pay tribute to the 1970 mega concert/rockumentary "Festival Express” which was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. Musicians included Janis Joplin, The Band, Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, Traffic, Sha Na Na and more. It is considered “one of the best performance films of all time” by Hollywood Reporter.  

Detroit Music Award winning blues/folk singer extraordinaire Barbara Payton (Bob Seger/Kid Rock vocalist) will perform with guitarist Chris Brantley (Mitch Ryder & the Detroit Wheels) and take on the tunes of Janis Joplin while Billy Brandt and his band of musicians will take on the Grateful Dead.  Island musician Mary McGuire and friends will interpret the music of Traffic while the Forbes Brothers, recipients of over 25 Detroit Music Awards, will revive the tunes of The Band.  

Island musician and festival director Mary McGuire shares “performing with friends immersed in the beauty of Mackinac Island makes this festival something special. We all get to live together on a beautiful Island and jam before and after all the gigs.” She adds “the Mission Point Theatre is charming, it was built with fifty foot trusses made of Norway Pine from nearby Bois Blanc Island and forty-five tons of native stone so not only is it beautiful, the sound quality is amazing.” Tickets are available from the Mackinac Island Tourism Bureau (800) 454-5227, at the door and online from www.ticketriver.com
Click here for the Mackinac Island Music Festival Website

*** Grand Hotel Labor Day Jazz Weekend
Each year Grand Hotel welcomes the artistic excellence of nationally known entertainers which makes this Labor Day Jazz Weekend one of the most popular with guests.  Past headliners include Herbie Hancock, Tito Puente, Pete Fountain, John Pizzarelli and Diane Schuur.  You will be treated to daytime concerts in the Tea Garden and evening concerts in the elegant Theatre.  The Jockey Club at the Grand Stand provides a more relaxing atmosphere for late evening jazz.  Then Sunday morning you will awake to the inspirational and soulful sounds of gospel being played on the Front Porch. Tickets are available at Grand Hotel during the festival, though we recommend staying at Grand Hotel to get the full experience. Special accommodations packages at Grand available here.

*** Mackinac Island Nightlife
Grand Hotel offers nightly entertainment for their guests and non-guests alike. All guests, however, must be dressed properly after 6 pm, meaning that men must wear proper jackets and ties and women must wear their finest couture. The Terrace Room is home to Alex Graham and the Grand Hotel Orchestra. The Hotel Iroquois' piano bar in their Carriage House Dining Room is a popular spot to listen music, watch the sunset and view the boats entering the harbor.

*** Downtown Club Scene
Tuesday night is wine and jazz night with the Alex Graham Quartet at the foothills of Grand Hotel in the new Grand Gate House, formerly the French Outpost. The room is excellent for live jazz.

In the center of Mackinac downtown nightlife, Patrick Sinclair’s Irish Pub offers opportunities to drink the night away with traditional Irish sing-a-longs on weekends. Contemporary acoustic musicians may be heard singing Great Lakes ballads on weeknights.

Just next door, Horn’s Gaslight Bar (recipient of the Best Venue to See a Live Band award from a Detroit news readers poll) presents seasoned rock, blues, and reggae bands every weekend during the peak season. On Wednesdays, DJs bring music and light shows for those who are ready to dance the night away.

Across the street past the Arnold Line, the famous Pink Pony Bar & Grill where well-known Michigan acoustic artists perform nightly and involve the crowd with requests as much as possible.

Mission Point Resort offers acoustic music in the Round Island Bar and Grill, one of its many restaurants. Weather permitting, acoustic musicians perform on the deck of Mission Point’s Bistro on the Green outside overlooking the Greens of Mackinac, the Resort’s 18-hole executive putting course.

Up to date information on who’s playing where can be obtained from front desk personnel, websites of the Island watering holes and in the entertainment section of the Town Crier.