ESCANABA — Everyone is invited to join Bay College and Phil Lynch with special guests Katie and Eli Bender, on the Besse Stage at 7 p.m. on February 24.
According to a press release from Bay College, Phil Lynch offers audiences a joyous and heartfelt mix of music and good humor. Think James Taylor meets Billy Joel with a dash of Randy Newman for good measure.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the concert begins at 7 p.m. at the Besse Center on the main Escanaba campus. Tickets are $12/public and $6/students and k-Bay employees. Tickets are on sale now www.baycollege. tix.com.
Bay students and employees can purchase tickets at the Center Besse box office (bring your Bay ID card).
The college asks that masks be worn on campus and that you do not come if you or anyone in your group feels sick.
According to the press release, with its positive vibe and original songs, Lynch has been delighting audiences for over 30 years. Lynch’s thoughtful songs about life, love and time have been proven to make audiences laugh…and sometimes even cry.
These are “songs that touch the heart” as one festival organizer put it.
The release indicates, both solo and as the leader of the Phil Lynch Jazz Quartet for 15 years, Lynch sang his songs at historic theaters, festivals, concert series and other venues across the Upper Midwest and Chicago. Highlights of his career include repeat engagements at the Calumet Theater, where Phil’s quartet premiered many of Phil’s original works; and a well-received performance at Nashville’s famed Bluebird Cafe.
Bluebird host Steve Goodie summed up Phil’s performance: “You can’t help but rock to his infectious, smiling groove.”
Although not really a “regional” artist, many of Phil’s songs focus on the Northwoods. His single, “Upper Michigan Christmas” garnered considerable regional radio airplay over the holiday season since its premiere in 2018. It released “Love Letter UP” during the height of the pandemic and was featured twice on local television.
A lifelong songwriter and performer, Lynch was also an award-winning educator in public schools for three decades. One day he found a piece of paper left on the copier. The mysterious newspaper declared, “If you’re lucky enough to get a second chance at something, don’t waste it.”
So Lynch took a leap of faith and retired from a successful teaching career to focus exclusively on music.
Lynch adds: “My purpose in life is to help people recognize and remember the good that surrounds us.”
To complement this mission, half of Phil’s net income goes to support the vital cause of helping individuals and families become free from human trafficking and domestic violence.
