March 29, 2024

The Rhythms Of Upbeat Cadillac

July 15, 2016

Tim Scully, production manager and show producer of UpBeat Cadillac said he was “drafted by a friend,” but apparently the friend — American jazz double-bassist Eddie Calhoun — knew talent when he saw it.

Today, Scully runs one of the most popular music series in the region.

Not surprisingly, it was music that brought them together. Calhoun, born in Mississippi in 1921 and raised in Chicago, had a long and illustrious career, performing with the likes of Erroll Garner, Miles Davis, Lennie Capp, and Ahmad Jamal. He, like many other black musicians of his era, spent time at northern Michigan’s Idlewild resort community. Though Scully had no musical background — he owns a household moving company and a motel — the two men met through the Idlewild community in the late ’80s and found common ground. “We became friends, and he needed some help to keep his music going,” Scully said. “I used to help him get to gigs and carry his gear and such.”

At the time, Calhoun was working with another friend to put a jazz festival together in northern Michigan, “but his friend wasn’t doing a very good job,” said Scully. With Calhoun bringing in some high-profile musician friends from New York, he wanted the fest to be well done. “So I helped,” Scully said. “I even drove to Grand Rapids to rent the musical gear — having no idea what I was renting — but we pulled it off, and that became the first Idlewild Summer Jazz Fest, back in 1990.”

Calhoun passed away at his home on Paradise Lake in 1993, but Idlewild is still an active community. After the success of that first event, Scully started producing more shows in the region, including a jazz series in Baldwin, which was the foundation for UpBeat Cadillac. “I was doing those shows twice a week, and people were traveling from Cadillac to Baldwin to watch the concerts,” Scully said. “One day, a couple of ladies from the Cadillac Arts Council and the visitors bureau asked me what it would take to get the series to Cadillac. I said two things: interest and funding. So the arts and visitors bureaus got together and raised some money, and today we also get contributions from listeners and audience members,” Scully said.

The concerts, held at the Cadillac Rotary Performing Arts Pavilion right on Lake Cadillac, had a bumpy start, but it held fast, thanks to local camaraderie and some quick thinking from Scully. “At the very first Up- Beat Cadillac show, it rained — and hard,” he said. “So we turned the band around as they were playing and told the audience to jump up into the bandshell. Everyone stayed dry, and the band never missed a note!” The pavilion is the perfect location for the events, as the park area recently underwent some updates and looks better than ever. “They’ve just redone the whole area, the green space, the seating, and a whole new sound system,” he said. “It’s great.” Scully now brings music into Cadillac and the surrounding environs from all over the country. “We book a lot of blues and R&B,” he said, “world-class jazz, pop, rock, a little of everything.” This year’s UpBeat lineup includes Australian singer Harper and his band, The Midwest Kind (July 21), Detroit jazz-funk mashup band Planet D (July 28), and Grammy-winning guitarist Paul Nelson (Aug. 4); the full schedule of concerts can be found at cadillacmichigan.com.

Surrounding cities are benefitting from Scully’s hard work, too, as several now have their own series in addition to Cadillac’s. Tuesdays, you’ll find Scully-booked music at the ShoreLine ShowCase in Manistee; Wednesdays and Sundays are Live at the Gull Landing in Pentwater; Fridays are the Crossroads Picnic Showcase in Reed City; and Saturdays are Sounds from the Forest in Baldwin. “As I book each band, we schedule them for six shows, and they play this little circuit we’ve developed,” Scully said. “We could still use more funding for the series, as we like to pay the bands well and keep the shows free so that everyone can enjoy the music, but I think the future is looking good.”

UpBeat Cadillac takes place every Thursday from 7pm–9:15pm, rain or shine, at the Cadillac Rotary Performing Arts Pavilion on Lake Street. For more information, call 616- 437-0101.

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