Microbrew and Music and More

Aug. 13, 2015

He’s got a dozen interns working diligently in the next room, a pile of semi trucks unloading right in front of him, and yet another festival on the horizon.

It’s time for this year’s summer Microbrew and Music Festival in Traverse City, and Porterhouse Productions guru Sam Porter is in a never-ending cycle of organizing and promoting, but don’t let the surrounding chaos fool you; Porter loves every minute of it.

INDUSTRY ACHIEVEMENTS

“My life is so different than it was two years ago,” Porter exclaimed.

Porterhouse not only books bands and promotes shows; they also manage a growing collection of cutting-edge tents through Porter’s other business arm, Spectacular Structures/Tent Venue (tentvenue.com), which provides futuristic-looking, high-tech outdoor tent structures for concerts, festivals and other events.

“We’re still promoting so much, so many different things,” Porter said. “And now we’re also really getting into the major side of the music industry; we’re working on a project where we’re collaborating with another company to make a mega-tent that will hold 8,000–9,000 people.”

“We took our tents to the Electric Forest Fest this year, where they pretty much covered the entire VIP area, and we’re heading to Texas this winter to take on projects with our tents there, since we can’t set them up in northern Michigan in the winter.”

First, Porter has to contend with the eighth anniversary of Microbrew and Music, an event that’s joined the ranks of Up North summer traditions, and keeps amping up its music offerings every year.

GUITARS AND GLAMPING

“This will be our biggest summer Microbrew and Music by far,” Porter said. “We have such a huge lineup of performers and so many other resources for people to just have fun.”

From the Jim Dunlop guitar picks they'll be handing out as beverage tokens, to the Susan Fawcett–designed logos, to the careful selection of bands, Porter’s attention to detail is one of the things that makes this fest such a success. This year, he’s even taken on the challenge of finding places for festival attendees to stay.

“The biggest problem in TC during festivals like this is that we often don’t have enough room to host the people who want to attend said festival,” Porter explained.

In response, Porterhouse’s new Brew Camp – a site 10 miles from the main fest – is offering “rustic camping meets glamping” for $25 for the entire weekend. Camp amenities include a Michigan-made breakfast, educational and craft brew workshops, and outdoor and beach activities.

Plus, many of the performing musicians from Microbrew and Music are staying at Brew Camp, so don’t be surprised if you see impromptu performances around the campfire.

AWESOME PERFORMANCES

With internationally acclaimed rootsrock band The Avett Brothers headlining Saturday night, 3,500 tickets had already been sold as of press time. While The Avetts may be the most high-profile act on the schedule, the others aren’t exactly slackers.

“Friday, we’re bringing in the amazing Don Julin and Billy Strings who are opening for the incredible Robert Randolph and his band,” Porter said. “Randolph's funkrock blend and the way he communicates through his steel guitars – ah, it’s just great. And to mix things up even more, we’ve added in Bob Seger’s Motor City Horns to their performance, so that whole thing will be so heavy and awesome.”

Several stages, including the main stage – what Porter calls the “busking in the woods” stage – an old 1940s flatbed truck from Short’s Brewery that serves as a side stage, and Porterhouse’s now-traditional Silent Disco (this year with three separate music channels) will expand the experiences for the musicians, as well as for the fans.

MARCHING TO ROCK

“We didn’t hold back with the other bands, either,” Porter enthused. “Sister Sparrow is going to just knock people over; we’ve known her for several years now. That1Guy played at Blissfest this year and he’s going to play a wicked late-night Silent Disco set after the Avetts’ concert.”

“We’ve got The Steel City Jug Slammers from Alabama (we’re building them a custom stage), The Way Down Wanderers are always fun, and then there are the betweenband sets.”

With this many bands and 15–20 minute time frames where equipment is switched between acts, Porter was worried there might be a lull in the action, so he made sure that wouldn’t be the case “During the breaks, we’re having marching sets, with awesome bands doing these short march-through performances: the Motor City Horns, the Lowdown Brass Band, and Grand Traverse Pipes and Drums. It’s definitely the year of the horn!” he laughed.

Porter said he believes this whole lineup could be transported to downtown Grand Rapids or Chicago and would still be a huge hit.

“But I want this to happen in Traverse City,” he insisted. “I love what I do here. I work so hard for my hometown because I believe in it so much and I just wanna see it rock!”

This year’s Microbrew and Music Festival will run Aug. 21–22 at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. For tickets and more information, visit microbrewandmusic.com.