Joyann Parker brings a full range of talent to her performances as an accomplished singer, pianist, guitarist and songwriter. She has performed for thousands at major venues and festivals across the country, frequently sells out some of the most prestigious clubs in the Midwest and garnered national and international attention for her newest record, “Hard To Love,” including features in DownBeat and Living Blues Magazine. Joyann is a 2018 Blues Blast Magazine Music Award nominee and Heritage Guitars artist. She has also represented Minnesota at the 2015 International Blues Competition in Memphis, TN and won the award for 2016’s Best Self-Produced CD from the Minnesota Blues Society.
Downtown Kalamazoo’s new Hilton Garden Inn opens at full capacity
Updated 12:16 PM;
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KALAMAZOO, MI After opening at half capacity on Nov. 30, The Hilton Garden Inn announced Tuesday, April 13 that the more than 100 hotel rooms at its downtown Kalamazoo location are now all available for guests.
Located at 303 N. Rose St. in the historic Masonic temple building, the new hotel features 114 rooms, spanning six stories.
The adjoining eight-story Home2 Suites by Hilton Kalamazoo Downtown is scheduled to open in May and will feature 106 suites equipped with sleeper sofas and kitchens that include full-size refrigerators and dishwashers. The Home2 Suites by Hilton will also be pet friendly, a news release from Hilton states.
A year ago, Michigan-based Heritage Guitars
sued Gibson in an attempt to stop the local company’s legal threats. Heritage was founded by former Gibson employees when Gibson moved from Michigan to Nashville in 1985. After years of legal disputes between the two companies over trademarks and designs, Gibson and Heritage reached a settlement agreement in 1991 allowing the newer company to continue making guitars. In recent years, Gibson started threatening to sue Heritage over similar claims, leading to Heritage’s lawsuit seeking a court declaration that it could continue making its guitars. In a ruling earlier this month, a Michigan-based judge ruled that the case would stay in the Wolverine State and that the court had jurisdiction in the case. But the judge also dismissed a handful of Heritage s charges, including those claiming that Heritage was immune from infringement claims under the 1991 settlement because Gibson did not make the claims earlier. Heritage claims t
Orville Gibson founded the company in 1902 as The Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co., Ltd. That s right.mandolins, and mandolins only. After World War I, the interest for mandolins faded, and by World War II, Gibson was making guitars, along with munitions for the war effort. From 1942-1946, Gibson hired more women than any other guitar/munitions manufacturer. After making munitions, the ladies secretly kept cranking out the guitars.
Although Orville created the company in 1902, the Gibson guitar factory in Kalamazoo wasn t built until 1917...but 100 years later, big changes were taking place. The iconic Gibson smokestack was being dismantled (see photos below), the factory name was changed to Heritage Guitars, and now it s going to be turned into a Hard Rock Hotel.
Look back at Gibson Guitar’s rich Kalamazoo history as Hard Rock plans new hotel
Updated Mar 04, 2021;
KALAMAZOO, MI A homegrown guitar legacy dating back to the turn of the 20th century will be entering a new chapter in the coming years.
This week, Hard Rock Hotels announced plans for a new hotel at the 225 Parsons St., Kalamazoo, location the longtime home of Gibson and, later, Heritage Guitars.
Plans for the newest addition to Hard Rock’s REVERB brand, call for business casual concept hotel designed to be an “energetic cultural hub for connection, creation and inspiration among music fans, locals, and travelers alike,” according to a news release from the company.