This year, Middle of The Mitten celebrated its 5th music festival with a three-day affair, Jan. 24-26, organized by The Record Lounge on Grand River, as opposed to two days in previous years. The music festival is way of celebrating the opening of the all vinyl store, which opened early 2008. What started out as a small project by Joel Heckaman who obtained his degree at Michigan State University in professional writing, has turned into a much bigger part of the community. Every year there are a few current students at Michigan State who are a part of his team, organizing, planning, designing and advertising.
On Thursday, Jan. 24, there was a kick off party featuring solo artists like Vince Zydek and The Hand in The Ocean. It was an intimate setting as twenty or more people got to listen to acoustic sets in the store. Despite the small space, everyone got to enjoy the local up and coming music artists. On Friday, the event moved a little less than a block where it was held at SCENE Metrospace, which was not so far away from the store. More artists locally in Michigan were featured, including Nathan Alan. The last night of the festival took people slightly further away. The night was filled with rock music as they occupied the Loft down in Lansing. With a much bigger space, there were many more possibilities. Bands like Bicycle Sunday and Elliot Street Lunatic took the stage where both local and not so local bands have played.
