Tim’s Picks: It’s Taste weekend, you know
It’s the Taste of Tippecanoe and then some, with five prime choices for your Greater Lafayette weekend and beyond
Thanks today for ongoing help from Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette, presenting a lineup of shows at Loeb Stadium this summer. For tickets for these and other events, go to longpac.org.
It’s Thursday, so here, again, with five suggestions for your Greater Lafayette week from our pal …
By Tim Brouk / For Based in Lafayette
Fugu Dugu with Enver Izmaylov, 7 p.m. Friday, June 14, People’s Brewing Company, 2006 N. Ninth St., Lafayette — $15. Balkan punk rock returns to Lafayette courtesy of Fugu Dugu. Based in Chicago, the four-piece folk punk act is inspired by music from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Russia. Lyrics are sung in their native tongues or English — or both in the same tune — by violinist Madam Broshkina and guitarist Bucky Wanko. The band is less than a month from the release of its debut album, “Lunatic Parade.” Most of the tunes are lively and danceable, and Fugu Dugu should win over dozens of new fans at this show. Opening will be Crimean guitarist Enver Izmaylov, who started in rock bands as a young musician in the former Soviet Union. Since then, he’s cultivated a unique tapping style that’s percussive and melodic and harkens to his Crimean Tatar roots. Izmaylov is based out of Fergana, Uzbekistan, but has traveled the world since the 1990s to display his impressive and international award-winning skills framed in jazz and folk music numbers. Tickets.
Michael Charles, 9 p.m. Friday, June 14, Digby’s Pub and Patio, 133 N. Fourth St., Lafayette — Aussie Aussie Aussie, rock rock rock! Australian-born singer-songwriter Michael Charles is a prolific veteran musician now based in Chicago. Charlies has put out an astounding 40 records of his brand of soulful blues rock in 40 years. An inductee into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame, the 68-year-old guitarist from Down Under is celebrating the big 4-0 of music making, and he his band just might have enough material to go all night — or all week!
Juneteenth Celebration, noon-4 p.m. Saturday, June 15, Columbian Park — Lafayette will celebrate Juneteenth with an outdoor bash in beautiful Columbian Park. The event will honor the holiday – which commemorates when the last slaves in Texas were freed on June 19, 1865 – with a fashion show, resource fair, bingo and impressive displays of Double Dutch jump rope. Music will be heard from a drum circle, a community choir, and Lafayette’s man of music, energy and entrepreneurism DJ Friday Kofi Austin. Free.
Taste of Tippecanoe, 6 p.m. Saturday, June 15, downtown Lafayette —Downtown Lafayette’s biggest and most delicious bash is back. The Taste of Tippecanoe will feature 32 food and drink purveyors lining the sides of Main, Second, Third and Fourth streets. For the eyes and ears, 15 performing artists will be on hand too. $5 in advance (online through Thursday; at TAF offices, 638 North St., on Friday); $10 at the gate, $50 for VIP. Tickets.
Entertainment: While the Taste has scaled down a bit since before the pandemic, the 2024 live entertainment schedule is an interesting one. An all-DJ stage will feature local veteran party starters in DJs Los, Freeze and Mixmaster J as well as the Groove Foundation, a Chicago house DJ collective. Young jazz phenoms Palace Kat finally get a chance on the big Depot Stage to close out the night. The Digby’s Stage looks most interesting with the Lauren Grace Band (8 p.m.) and the return of Taste-y heavy metal courtesy of Monticello thrashers Salivus (6 p.m.). Moving throughout the festival grounds once again will be the Greater Lafayette Dance Collective and Flourish’s Mobile Art Studio, which specializes in introducing the wonders of art to families.
Food: A mix of food trucks and traditional restaurants are sure to please even the pickiest of eaters. There’s the usual mix of sweet, spicy, sugary and savory with stalwarts like Arni’s, HotBox Pizza and Gibson’s Shaved Ice leading the way. There’s also a vegan option thanks to the one and only Vegan Cheese Lady, who recently opened her first brick and mortar location in downtown. Almost 40% of the food options are on four wheels because of the awesomeness of Greater Lafayette food trucks like L Kora Authentic Mexican Fast Food, Combat Cookies and Travelin’ Tom’s Coffee. Here’s a map for the Taste.
Pat and the Pissers with Cairo Jag and The Courts, 9 p.m. Saturday, June 15, The Spot Tavern, 409 S. Fourth St., Lafayette — One of Indiana’s top punk rock bands will strike while the stage is hot. Fresh from the best set I’ve seen in Lafayette so far this year when it played North End Pub back on April 26, Pat and the Pissers return to The Spot, where it made its Lafayette debut in early 2023. Led by the vocals and on-stage antics of vocalist Alex Beckman, Pat and the Pissers were on another level at North End Pub, and I expect its set to be equally intense, wild and hilarious this weekend as it was not even two months ago. “Lightning in a bottle” was my initial reaction after that April set and it will be interesting to see what the band will bring to The Spot this time. Opening will be Indianapolis colleagues Cairo Jag, which has been a psyche garage punk force for several years, and Chicago indie rockers The Courts. $10 or pay what you can.
Tim Brouk is a longtime arts and entertainment reporter. He writes here (almost) weekly, tracking things to do for Based in Lafayette.
Thanks, again, to Based in Lafayette sponsor Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette. For information on upcoming events, go to longpac.org.
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