Spring sees the startup of a lot of Bainbridge favorites, including the return of the outdoor farmers market, a new season of sporting spectacle at the high school and a beautiful change of scenery at Bloedel Reserve.
Spring also marks the start of the serious concert season at the Treehouse Café, our island’s best-known live music venue, located in downtown Lynwood.
The eatery’s upcoming concert event lineup includes the return of some old favorites as well as some first-time visitors, explained the bar/restaurant’s owner and musical event coordinator Arnie Sturham.
“January and February is a very difficult time to get everybody out of their houses,” he laughed. “We do take a little bit of time off when we don’t book as frequently.”
But now, the weather is getting better by the day and break time is over, Sturham said.
This season will mark the fourth year that the café has been actively booking musical acts, and the island’s offering of enthusiastic yet manageable crowd sizes has made it a popular stopover for touring acts.
“Word’s gotten out that it’s a pretty good place to play,” he said of the café’s reputation among musicians. “We’ve got a good reputation in the industry. We try to treat everyone who’s coming through here fairly.”
“We know who we are and we know what our audience is and we attempt to book bands that will bring in a house,” he said.
Imminently arriving on the Treehouse stage are Coyote Willow (formerly Hilst & Coffey), Redshift, Jacle Bow and Massy Ferguson.
Coyote Willow, an artful duo made up of Tim Coffey and Kat Hilst, is an eclectic combination of rock, blues, folk and contemplative instrumentals based primarily around Coffey’s soulful baritone voice and acoustic guitar and Hilst’s powerful cello work. Musically and lyrically, their tunes range from rockabilly to the lyrically-moving folk style, as well as a smattering of instrumentals and even gypsy jazz.
Redshift is Dave Bristow on keyboards, Kurt Bischoff on drums and Neil Conaty on upright bass. All three are accomplished musicians bringing years of experience, both as players and teachers, to this continually crowd-pleasing jazz project. From standards to originals in just about any style, Redshift has already garnered fans all over Bainbridge Island.
Jacle Bow, on the other hand, ain’t from around these parts.
These three young rockers from Belgium are hoping to invade America the same way their idols, the Beatles and Stones, did 50 years ago, and they’re working with a documentary film crew to record their experiences on the road as a struggling young band.
It’s a unique project that Sturham said he couldn’t refuse a stage to.
“They’re a younger band [and] I probably wouldn’t have booked them to this audience, but I liked the idea of the documentary,” he explained. “We’re doing it as a free show. We’re hoping to have a crowd in the place.”
The trio’s sound has been described as very similar to early Beatles and Springsteen, with David Bowie tones.
“I just thought it would be something fun to do,” Sturham said. “It was a neat idea, to document a touring band.”
Massy Ferguson is known as “the Treehouse’s favorite house band,” and they are slated to return again early next month. The band remains a fixture on the burgeoning Seattle roots music scene, which has spawned the likes of Brandi Carlisle and The Fleet Foxes. With an approach that is decidedly more rock than those acts, however, Massy Ferguson combines growling vocals with epic guitar riffs and banging piano to create a sound that is equally burly and soulful.
To see the most recent calendar of concert events at the Treehouse Café, and to purchase tickets, visit www.treehousebainbridge.com/live-music.
The café is located at 4569 Lynwood Center Road NE. Call 206-842-2814 for more information or email info@treehousebainbridge.com.
On the horizon
Upcoming concerts at The Treehouse Café:
Coyote Willow – 7 p.m. Sunday, March 22
Redshift – 7 p.m. Sunday, March 29
Jacle Bow – Wednesday, April 15
Massy Ferguson – 8 p.m. Saturday, April 18
Redshift – 7 p.m. Sunday, April 19
St. Paul de Vence – 8 p.m. Saturday, May 16
Carl Verheyen – 8 p.m. Thursday, June 4
Dave Alvin with The Guilty Ones – 8 p.m. Thursday, July 2
Visit www.treehousebainbridge.com for more info and tickets.
