Christmas brought a wanted present to Mike and Doreen Mallon of Lazy Mike’s House of Music this year. Thanks to some help from their landlords, the couple was able to restart their House Concert series after having to shut it down last month.
“It was nice,” Mike said of the help.
On Jan. 4, the venue’s comeback concert will feature the Dimes. This West Coast based trio features Kevin Falkenburg on rhythm guitar and vocals, Shannon Michele on percussion and Robert Francis (A.K.A Big Bobby Francis) on lead guitar and vocals. According to Falkenburg, the group formed around four years ago, but the members still don’t play together all year-round.
Port-Alberni born Falkenburg and his girlfriend Michele now spend most of their time on the road. “Shannon and I always really loved travelling,” he said. “We don’t spend much time here anymore.”
Along with their instruments, the couple have travelled around the world including to the Caribbean, Costa Rica and Colombia. They’ll also be headed to Portugal the day after the concert and will travel southern Europe until summer.
Falkenburg said this is made possible by the fact that the couple discovered how to finance their travels by playing music.
Their travels have also greatly influenced their music. Falkenburg said they’ll often play with other musicians on the road. “It definitely rubs off on you,” he said.
Whenever the couple come home to the West Coast, however, they join forces with Francis. He and Falkenburg have played together for nearly 10 years.
And when the Dimes knew that they’d all be on Vancouver Island for the holidays, they got ahold of the Mallons to organize a concert. “I’ve known Rob for 20 some odd years,” explained Mike.
As mentioned, however, this concert nearly didn’t happen. On Dec. 8 last year the Mallons had announced that the House of Music would shut down indefinitely as of that date and that all concerts, including the Dimes, would be cancelled.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t sustaining itself,” said Mike.
However, they received “a great Christmas present” from their landlords: reduced rent until the venue gets on its feet. “They’ve been super,” said Mike. “We’ve learned … found out what worked,” he added, saying that they are currently rescheduling concerts and will make some small changes over the next few months to ensure the series sustains itself.
The Mallons started their House Concerts at Lazy Mike’s House of Music in July after attending a show in a similar setting. “We had such a good experience with it that we wanted to share it,” Mike said, calling the concerts “intimate” and “laid-back.”
This will show at the Dimes’ concert, which Falkenburg said will include many stories about the original songs — which are a fusion of blues, rockabilly, funk, rock and folk — they’ll be singing. They’ll also include “two or three covers,” most of which were written by their friend’s bands.
Lazy Mike’s House is located at 961 Clarke Road (Sandhill Market) in Qualicum Beach. Tickets to the Dimes’ Jan. 4 show are $12 at the door, though tickets can also be reserved by phone at 250-594-9951. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. and music starts at 7 p.m. There will also be $3 eats and treats available for purchase during the show. For more information, you can e-mail: lazy-mike@hotmail.com.
