American Red Cross Blood Drive

Wednesday, May. 21 | 11:00am ET (10:00am CT)

Join us for an American Red Cross blood drive on Wednesday, May 21st at The Acorn, 11am to 5pm ET

The American Red Cross in Michigan provides services to more than nine million Michigan residents. They play a key role during crisis situations by providing a network of services including community preparedness, disaster response and family recovery. The Red Cross engages in daily efforts to assist families in creating disaster plans and provide relief to families who suffered a house fire or other disaster, citing their goal as building “a more resilient Michigan."

Blood donations are critically important. Please join us in supporting the important work of the American Red Cross Michigan Region on Wednesday, May 21st from 11am to 5pm ET. 

Register via the Red Cross app for a specific time. More information on downloading the app can be found at https://www.redcrossblood.org/blood-donor-app.html. Use zip code 49128 and then register.

Brooklyn Charmers - The Music of Steely Dan

Saturday, Feb. 18 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Brooklyn Charmers is a Steely Dan tribute band comprised of some of Chicago's top players. With masterful precision and obsessive dedication to the music, Brooklyn Charmers injects a new energy into the beloved catalogue; bridging the gap between new and lifelong fans alike.

Steely Dan's blend of rock and jazz, along with their infectious hooks and poignant lyrics, put them in another league in the eyes of critics and fans. Their prolific and consistent output throughout the 1970s cements them as classic rock royalty. Brooklyn Charmers are excited to carry the torch into the new generation.

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Open Mic Night featuring The Sand Rabbits

Wednesday, Mar. 15 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Where else in Harbor Country can you go for an evening filled with amazing talent? Come experience Harbor Country’s most exciting array of acts, packed into one night on the fabulous Acorn stage with a state of the art, professional sound system.
No Admission Fee, Donations Encouraged

Performer Inquiries: Email openmic@acornlive.org

This activity is supported in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

An Acorn Valentine's Open Mic Night featuring Patti Shaffner + The Typewriter Poet

Friday, Feb. 10 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Start your Valentine's Day weekend at The Acorn! Come experience the region’s most exciting array of acts, packed into one night on the fabulous Acorn stage with a state-of-the-art, professional sound system.

The Typewriter Poet – William Davis – creates poetry as you wait, written from a one-word prompt you provide him. Beginning at 6:00pm ET, find William at The Acorn and experience his gifts firsthand (maybe commission a Valentine's poem for your loved one!).

No Admission Fee, Donations Encouraged

Performer Inquiries: Email openmic@acornlive.org

This activity is supported in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

About the Artists:

Patti Shaffner performs a wide variety of musical styles including Folk, Blues, Jazz, Theater and Improvisational Singing with ease. As a seasoned performer, she is dynamic and engaging on stage. Her music is thought provoking and reaches out to the heart of our longing for connection with love and hope. Find more about Patti at jazzdakini.com

William "Endlesswill" Davis is quickly becoming a recognized name in Spoken Word Poetry. William is an Emeritus Poet Laureate of Hillsborough, 2022 ArtPrize Contemporary Black Artist recipient, Coast 2 Coast Live mixtape winner and four time published author. As an artist, Endlesswill embraces community and specializes in poetic social critique, introspection, and depth. Find more about William at https://www.endlesswill.com/

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Open Mic Night Featuring Daniel Deitrich

Friday, Jan. 13 | 7:00pm ET (6:00pm CT)

Where else in Harbor Country can you go for an evening filled with amazing talent? Come experience Harbor Country’s most exciting array of acts, packed into one night on the fabulous Acorn stage with a state of the art, professional sound system.
No Admission Fee, Donations Encouraged

Performer Inquiries: Email openmic@acornlive.org

This activity is supported in part by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Featured Artist:

Daniel Deitrich is a singer-songwriter born and raised in Southwest Michigan and now based in South Bend, Indiana. His honest, heartbreaking, yet hopeful lyrics find a home in massive Americana anthems, catchy Indie rock hooks, as well as intimate acoustic confessionals.

In 2011 Deitrich released his self-produced solo EP called Matter, followed by The Table EP in 2016, which was recorded in Durango Colorado with producer Michael Rossback (Gungor, The Brilliance) at the helm. In January 2020, Deitrich released Hymn for the 81% which quickly went viral, racking up over 700,000 views of the lyric video on YouTube.

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Paws for Humanity Spring "Kickoff" Benefit

Saturday, Mar. 04 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Come together for the SECOND ANNUAL Kick-Off benefit concert for Paws for Humanity here at the Acorn!

Paws for Humanity is proud to present 3 bands who are dear to the community – Off the Vine, Chicken Dolphin Band, and the Resurrection Blues Band. In addition to amazing music. Paws will hold a silent auction with items from area businesses and individuals. Doors open at 7 and the evening gets under way at 8:00. If you would like to donate directly or sponsor this event or the Paws for Humanity season, please click here: https://pawsforhumanity.org/how-tohelp/.

About Paws for Humanity:

Paws for Humanity is an animal sanctuary providing socialization and training of animals to work with people in support, therapeutic, and community education programs to the level they are comfortable. People helping animals helping people is their vision and their mission. Paws for Humanity is currently home to alpacas, goats, donkeys, horses, chickens, ducks, cats, and three Great Pyrenees dogs. Their two therapy dogs, Hazel and Clarence also come to work with them and love their huge extended family!

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Miles Nielsen & The Rusted Hearts

Friday, Mar. 03 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Led by free-wheeling frontman Miles Nielsen, The Rusted Hearts have been wowing audiences for years with the diversity of their sound, the tightness of their 4-part harmonies, and the quality of their songcraft. Equally comfortable in a compact 3-minute pop song and an epic 10-minute jam, the band has toured incessantly since their inception in 2011, amassing an army of hardcore followers that have dubbed themselves the Rusted Herd.

Rockford, IL-based Miles Nielsen has spent nearly a decade enthralling audiences with music that draws force from the prime years of Western-influenced rock music and classic ‘60s soul. Claiming influences as diverse as Otis Redding’s classic soul and Jellyfish’s cult power pop recordings.

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Kofi Baker's Cream Faith - The Music of Cream and Blind Faith

Friday, Feb. 03 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

Son of legendary drummer Ginger Baker, Kofi Baker is a name synonymous with drumming excellence. Without question, Kofi not only continues, but extends the family legacy, with outstanding skills, drive and dedication to his craft.

Cream was a chemical explosion like no other, the blueprint for every super group to follow and the heavy blues precursor to Hendrix, Zeppelin and so much more.

More than fifty years since their earth-shaking debut album, family members of that hallowed trilogy come together to pay tribute to Cream's legendary four-album reign over the psychedelic frontier of the late 1960s.

Featuring Kofi Baker (son of Ginger Baker) on drums, Kris Lohn on bass, and Scott Tipping on guitar.

Experience a once-in-a-lifetime concert salute to the most innovative and explosive super group of all time, in the hands of those that knew them best. Watch as they interplay live with their fathers on the big screen; classic moments in rock history brought back to life. Listen as they share personal insights and stories, complete with rare, yet to be seen family footage and photographs. A backstage pass like no other. This unique project began in 2017 to celebrate Cream’s 50th Anniversary in Australia and New Zealand. Such was the response, we have since played hundreds of these shows to tens of thousands of fans, across North America and the U.K.

Click here to learn more about Acorn Covid-19 Policy.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Paul Thorn

Friday, Mar. 24 | 8:00pm ET (7:00pm CT)

“It’s Never Too Late to Call” - Paul Thorn’s Sapphire Dream

Some years ago I happened to see Paul Thorn performing on an outdoor stage at a street festival in the heart of a small Mississippi town. Suddenly, in mid song, Thorn stopped playing and looked down at the upturned, sugar-splattered face of a fan on the front row. “I sure would like me a funnel cake,” Thorn announced. The crowd exploded with laughter. By the end of the next song, someone in the audience had responded, and soon Thorn was happily munching on the doughy confection.

And that, dear people, is one more shining example of how Paul Thorn is able to breathe in the air around him, everyday and commonplace, and exhale something original and often side-splitting funny. It’s a kind of genius, and it’s there plain to see, in his music, his art and through his performances, which not only showcase his chops as a singer-songwriter, but as a pitch-perfect improv comic.

His audiences love it. And they come back for more because no two Paul Thorn performances are alike. For further confirmation of this, check out Thorn’s YouTube videos, though I warn you. You will find yourself a long time in this rabbit hole.

We live in a world where the terms “artist” and “genius” have been rendered meaningless through overuse. To use either in describing Thorn, though, is not overreach. Pick up any of his dozen or so CDs. The evidence is plain to see. Just listen.

The scenery of Thorn’s rural South is changing. The trailer parks, gravel roads around Tupelo and high school beauty queens flicker in the rear-view mirror. Two years ago, Thorn returned to his early gospel roots with the release of “Don’t Let the Devil Ride.”

In contrast with earlier work that riffed on short-term love affairs, as well as “kissing the right one good-bye,” the writing on Thorn’s latest release, “Never Too Late To Call” features music from a man who is with the “right one” and is happy to be there.

This offering, seven years in the making, features all original material, some songs written by Thorn, others co-written with his friend and longtime manager Billy Maddox. The CD was recorded at Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis and produced and engineered by Grammy winning wunderkind Matt Ross-Spang.

In the case of what is arguably the CD’s most tender composition, “Sapphire Dream,” Thorn teamed up with his daughter Kitty Jones, who co-wrote the song and accompanies her dad on vocals.

Jeweled birds fly under crushed velvet skies
And the blue rain don’t fall on me
The sun is on our face; it’s a perfect place
And the one I love is here with me, in my sapphire dream

Particularly poignant is “Breaking Up For Good Again.” On this track, Thorn is accompanied by his wife Heather. Their harmonizing is not only lovely, but resonates with a ring of truth known to two who have driven together that rutted, bumpy road every married couple must travel.

Counselors of would-be newly-weds would do well to require their young charges to read and discuss the lyrics of this song:

Anger, tears and pride, are hard to hide, I lost my cool
I said some hurtful things, I did not mean, we both were fools
I know we need some space, I’ll call you in a couple days

We’ve come this far by now we know
We’ll never let each other go

Much has been written about Thorn’s early years performing in his father’s Pentecostal church and later coming under the tutelage of his Uncle Merle, a pimp and small-time hustler. While those early relationships were formative and offered their attractions, the admonition of Jesus to love one another seems to hold powerful sway with Thorn.

I asked him about it.

“I’ll tell you where I got that from. My father was a minister, and one of his strongest qualities was he had time for the big people and little people too. … In fact, I went and visited him yesterday, and when I got there, there was a guy standing on the porch, dirty clothes, hadn’t had a bath.

“My mom walked on the porch and she gave him a two-liter 7-Up bottle filled with water because he didn’t have water in his house. She gave him a plate of fried chicken for his supper and told him he could come back tomorrow if he didn’t have any food.

“They’re not talking about it. They’re just doing it. If I got it from somewhere, that’s where it came from.”

While that sentiment has been there all along in Thorn’s earlier CDs, it’s more prevalent in “Never Too Late to Call.”

“There’s a theme running throughout the record about people needing each other and reaching out to each other,” Thorn said.

Take for example “Holy Hottie Totty,” the CD’s raucous feel-good closer he co-wrote with Maddox:

Life goes by so fast you better not blink
You might not have as much time as you think
Let go of any grudges while you’re still around
You can’t say you’re sorry when you’re laying six feet in the ground
The best time is right now.

Holy hottie toddy
Good God Almighty
Love everybody

As is the case with all of Thorn’s songs, the CD’s title track, “It’s Never Too Late to Call,” comes with a story.

He wrote the song for his sister Deborah who died in 2018. When Thorn was on the road, he’d long to talk to someone after his shows, hours after the members of his immediate family were asleep. But his sister, a night owl, would often stay up all night.

“I could call her and she’d always be awake,” Thorn said. “I wrote that song about her.”

The song is one more example of a distinguishing characteristic of Thorn’s work — a quality his fans love — the intensely personal nature of his lyrics. Thorn’s music has always been a reflection of where he’s been or where he is in his life. On “Never Too Late to Call,” we find mellower Paul Thorn. The razor wit and the gently humorous commentary on life’s existential questions are in evidence, but here there is a peace about his life’s journey. Or, to put it in his words, “I’ve been such a lucky boy. I’m crying two tears of joy.”

Tickets go on sale Friday, November 25th at 7:00am ET.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.

Immersive Dance, Art and Music Fusion

Sunday, Apr. 30 | 4:00pm ET (3:00pm CT)

Original art, original music, and original choreography mark this event as the first of its kind at The Acorn. The colorful, dynamic, nature-based imagery of Pam Kirkham’s paintings as a backdrop is combined with an exquisite live dance performance by Carolyn Pampalone Rabbers, moving to the tantalizing sounds of music composed by Silver Rain (Mitch Gregory & Debra Sawyer), brings good vibes your way! Segments of Pam’s eclectic vocals alongside guitarist, Mitchell Gregory, and segments of energetic solo and duet dance numbers by Carolyn and one of her CPR dancers will be interspersed throughout the event.

“The common thread throughout all of my paintings and vocal performances is a desire to help people escape from their life struggles, especially those dealing with a serious illness. You can either fight against your challenges and be miserable, or you can choose to escape momentarily, to re-charge your soul. Whether that is through the “Fight or FIight” series or the “Water, Altitude, & Atmosphere” series, or a song you hear me sing, my goal is to put you in a positive state of mind. I want you to transcend (if only for a short time) to a more optimistic frame of mind. Living in many diverse places including New Mexico, Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma, and Michigan, has given me a deep understanding of how other cultures revere nature and why. As the world becomes more technologically advanced, we should never forget that our spirits come from, and are grounded in, nature. I want you to use my art and music to heal yourself from the inside out in a positive and spiritual way.” – Pamela Kirkham

About the Artists:

Pam Kirkham is a well-known local professional fine artist who has recently shown her work in Barcelona, Spain; Zürich, Switzerland (3 Art Expos); New York City, and Venice, Italy. She was an ArtPrize artist for two consecutive years and her work has been acquired by collectors all over the world. She graduated from Kendall College of Art &
Design, Grand Rapids, Michigan and from a class which originally numbered 150 students, she graduated as 1 of 12 worthy of graduating as illustrators in her class. She participated in the largest art competition in the world, ArtPrize, in 2014 & 2015. The artist was chosen as an Oklahoma Arts Division’s Artist-in-Residence to teach throughout the state for 1 year; has been awarded 3 Art in Public Places murals through the New Mexico Arts Division, and has received numerous awards throughout her career. https://www.pamkirkham.com
Pam is also a vocalist performing under the stage name, Blue Aura. She emits rich, sultry vocals that take you to your warm and fuzzy place, or energetic numbers that psych you up. She enjoys entertaining with a wide variety of music including blues, classic rock, folk, and country. Influences include Taj Mahal, Allman Brothers, Joni Mitchell, Etta James, Ray Charles, Carole King, Van Morrison, and The Chix. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063767283276

Carolyn Pampalone Rabbers is the Executive Artistic Director of CPR Dance: Inhale Movement, a premiere contemporary dance company in Southwest Michigan. She received her MFA in dance at the University of the Arts under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield and Dr. Tommy DeFrantz and graduated as the Presidential Scholar with a BFA in dance from Western Michigan University. Carolyn has danced in NYC, Miami, LA and Michigan dancing and acting both on stage and on camera. Her dance based works have been featured nationally and internationally, have been a finalist for Maggie Allessee’s Choreography Competition, and awarded support in a KADI grant of the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. She can be seen as ‘Abby’ in Moondance (2020) and has performed for Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers, Coldplay, Omi, Starbucks, Jockey Bra, Kaplan University, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Diavolo EdCo, Mariana Olivera, Clairobscur, LACDC, Nickerson-Rossi Dance, and Vox Lumiere.
Carolyn teaches adjunctly at Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University, and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She judges for CRU national dance competition, and is the Artistic Director of the Midwest Youth Ballet, and teaches at Fusion Center for Dance in Benton Harbor. She has also taught for The Gabriella Foundation of Los Angeles, honored by Michelle Obama in 2015. She is certified as an ABT NTC instructor in Pre-Primary through Level VII & Partnering, ISTD certified contemporary instructor and Reiki and Yoga certified. Carolyn has co-written Ready Movers, a mindfulness and literary curriculum bridging movement, music, and care for Kalamazoo Ready 4’s. She also serves as a board member for Partners in Dance. www.inhalemovement.com

Tickets go on sale Friday, November 25th at 7:00am ET.

RESERVED SEATING DONATION option includes a $25 tax-deductible donation to The Acorn and guarantees you a seat with optimal sightlines. $25 Donation per ticket holder in your group.