Founder’s Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Mich. has announced plans for a $6.6 million expansion.
KalamaBrew’s John Liberty reported the expansion will increase production at the brewery from about 30,000 barrels a year to almost 50,000 barrels in 2011.
Hear about that and more news in this KalamaBrew podcast. Click on the media player below to stream, download and share.
Filed under beer, KalamaBrew
Colorado’s Head for the Hills, out on tour in support of their self titled latest release, will join Kalamazoo’s Greensky Bluegrass for the annual Bell’s Beer Garden opener weekend.
Adam Kinghorn, H4TH’s guitarist, banjo player and vocalist, will join the Nonchalant Café Hour by phone Friday to chat about the new album and all the latest from their summer tour.
Also on the show, we’ll catch up with the fine folks over at the Kalamazoo Gazette’s KalamaBrew to find out the latest happenings in the Michigan craft beer scene. In a side note, be sure to stop by Draft Magazine and vote for KalamaBrew as your favorite beer blog … because they are right?
Listen to the NCH streaming online:
It’s that time of year when Oberon Nation can fully take in the bounty of their favorite summer beer in mini keg fashion. That’s right, Kalamazoo’s Bell’s Brewery has released its latest incarnation of the Oberon mini keg!
This year, imbibers will take in the artistic inspiration of Salvador Dali combined with the wheat-beer goodness of Oberon. Shipped over from Germany, these mini kegs are a commodity. So, get them while you can, Dali will only be in town for the summer.
Talk of Oberon mini kegs and more in this week’s KalamaBrew podcast.
Click on the media player below to stream, download and share with all your friends.
Filed under beer, KalamaBrew
Crawlspace Eviction Theatre Productions will close out its 2009-2010 season with a show titled “American Idle Hands”.
Kalamazoo’s improv group is having a little comedic fun with America’s obsession with reality television and the king of all reality shows American Idol.
Crawlspace Eviction Artistic Director Dann Sytsma (pictured to the left in the embrace of fellow Crawlspace performer Adam Carter) will stop by the Nonchalant Café Hour Friday to discuss the shows scheduled for May 21 & 22 at Studio 246.
Speaking of Kalamazoo’s independent theatre Studio 246, Crawlspace Theatre Productions, Kinetic Affect, and Fancy Pants Theater are joining together for a series of shows titled “Fancy Affection in the Crawlspace” the first weekend in June.
The show promises spoken word poetry, original theater works, improv and sketch comedy par excellence as a fundraiser for the Studio 246 theatre space.
Also on the NCH Friday we’ll speak with Kalamazoo Film Society President Mike Marchak about their presentation of The Last Station directed by
Michael Hoffman. See a trailer below.
Also on the show, we’ll catch up with the fine folks over at the Kalamazoo Gazette’s KalamaBrew to find out the latest happenings in the Michigan craft beer scene. In a side note, be sure to stop by Draft Magazine and vote for KalamaBrew as your favorite beer blog … because they are right?
Listen to the NCH streaming online:
The origins of KalamaBrew‘s lovable mascot Taps McFirkin (the dapper looking gentlemen to the left) is in some circles mysterious and mythological like that of tales of folklore discussed around campfires.
Some say Taps emerged from the hedonistic lairs of Latin speaking monks developing the first Trappist ales. Others say he was found at a beer collectibles show. I’ll let you decide.
Listen to my weekly podcast with KalamaBrew’s John Liberty and Josh Smith for a discussion about everyone’s favorite Taps McFirkin along with other notable topics including American Craft Beer Week.
Plus as a special bonus feature, take a listen to the song hand-forged by Boulder, Colo.’s T. Mule and The Longest Day of the Year depicting the amazing adventures of Taps McFirkin.
Click on the media player below to stream, download and share.
[photo credit: International Trappist Association via KalamaBrew]
Filed under beer
May 13 marks a significant anniversary for Kalamazoo. In 1980, two F3 tornadoes touched down and carved paths through Van Buren and Kalamazoo Counties eventually winding right through the heart of Kalamazoo downtown central business district.
Five people were killed, and over 100 injuries were reported along with millions of dollars in damages.
To mark the 30-year anniversary, journalists Blake Naftel of Fox 17 News and the Kalamazoo Gazette’s Chris Killian will stop by the studio to retell the story of Kalamazoo’s worst day in modern history.
<<UPDATE>> Click here to see a behind-the-scenes video of Blake and Chris
Click here to listen to the conversation with Blake and Chris
Also on the show, musician Seth Bernard has a new album out titled “Is This You?”
We’ll find out the details behind the album from one of Michigan’s most talented and prolific artists ahead of his CD release here in Kalamazoo Saturday May 8th at the Strutt.
And … Check out our regular chat with KalamaBrew for all the latest on the Midwest craft beer scene.
<<UPDATE>> Click here to listen to the interview with Seth Bernard
Listen to the NCH streaming online:
Filed under Schedule
Compared to the snow fall this time last year, 2010′s release of Bell’s Oberon matches the feelings of summer the wheat beer embodies with temperatures outside around 80 degrees as I type this.
KalamaBrew contributor Josh Smith has the latest on the release of Kalamazoo’s favorite beer and details on Arcadia’s popular Whitsun also New Holland’s Golden Cap Saison which were both released this week.
Plus the unusual tale of why Founder’s Breakfast Stout has been banned in Sweden. Definitely worth a listen.
Stand up comedy is headed to the Strutt in downtown Kalamazoo as part of a new series called Gorilla Comedy. The first show of the series is scheduled for Monday April 5 and features some of Chicago’s “wildest” stand-up comedians including Aaron Weaver, Simmons McDavid, Tony Blanco among other.
As a special treat, former WIDR FM radio talent Ken Witzgall will be hosting the event. Tune in Friday for a chat with Witzgall, now in Chicago, for all the details.
And … Check out our regular chat with KalamaBrew for all the latest on the Midwest craft beer scene and our weekly conversation with WIDR Music Director Jeremy Martin in to chat about his top music selections of the week.
Listen to the NCH streaming online:
Filed under Schedule
For our weekly chat with KalamaBrew, contributor John Liberty lets us in on what’s happening at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, Mich. Construction has already begun at the cafe and patrons should expect to see the presence of heavy machinery for some time to come. But, Liberty suggests when its all done, the changes to the Eccentric Cafe will definitely be worth the wait.
Click on the media play below to listen, download and share.
Filed under beer, KalamaBrew
This week on a WIDR WEEK edition of the Nonchalant Café Hour tune in for a conversation with reporter Ben Lando, the Iraq bureau chief for the Iraq Oil Report. Lando, a Kalamazoo, Mich. native, now resides in Baghdad where he reports on the evolving and tenuous oil energies market in the heart of the Middle East.
Lando is also regularly featured in The Wall Street Journal and TIME reporting on events in Iraq including a moving first hand account of the recent Baghdad hotel bombings.
UPDATE: Listen to the interview with Ben Lando here
Also stopping by the NCH this week will be cast members from the Western Michigan University Theatre Dept.’s production of Chicago. Directed by Jay Berkow, the John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse classic musical opened Thursday night at the D. Terry Williams Theatre in the Gilmore Theatre Complex.
Listen in for a chat with Kayla Peabody (playing Velma Kelly), Sarah Waalkes (Roxie Hart) and Billy Casey (Billy Flynn).
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:
March 18, 19, 20 – 8pm
March 21 – 2pm & 7pm
March 25, 26, 27 – 8pm
March 28 – 2pm & 7pm
April 1, 2 – 8pm
UPDATE: Listen to the interview with Bill Casey and Kayla Peabody here.
And … Check out our regular chat with KalamaBrew for all the latest on the Midwest craft beer scene and our weekly conversation with WIDR Music Director Jeremy Martin. This week he will chat with us about upcoming WIDR WEEK events. Help support independent radio in Kalamazoo by calling 269-387-6303 to pledge your donation or click here for WMU’s secure online donation Website.
[photo credits: Iraq Oil Report and John A. Lacko, Kalamazoo Gazette]
Listen to the NCH streaming online:
Filed under Schedule
|
