Wayside Central to start offering live music beginning Feb. 22
Wayside Central will begin offering live music performances from 10:30 p.m. to about 12:30 a.m. every other Wednesday beginning Feb. 22.
Bringing these acts to Wayside, 2000 S. Mission St., is Club Promoter Corey Schaffer, known as DJ Schaftown, who will also be the DJ for the events. This event is sponsored by MVMT Snapbacks and Cool Life Living Clothing.
Wayside Co-Owner John Hunter said Schaffer approached the business with the idea, and they agreed to the opportunity.
"We've done something like this in the past," Hunter said. "It's a good opportunity to have some live performances. Typically, we just have DJs spinning. It's a chance for us to do something new and exciting."
Schaffer said he hopes incorporating live music into the venue will be continuous. Wayside appears to be very adamant about it, he said.
"I wanted to bring these acts to Wayside because a lot of people hear hip-hop and associate it with a bad connotation," Schaffer said. "I want people to see that not all hip-hop is bad hip-hop."
Schaffer said eventually he, in collaboration with Wayside, would like to open this opportunity to other regional acts.
One of the acts for the first Wednesday is a Lansing artist Schaffer manages.
Kaya Coffee & Tea Co., 1029 S. University Ave., has open mic night as well as a battle of the mic event that takes place every Wednesday. Employee and Port Huron senior Kyle Gostinger said Kaya hosts a variety of different acts from slam poets to acoustic soloists that anyone can sign up to perform at.
He said Kaya isn't worried about the possible competition of another businesses offering live music.
"We already have a pretty established crowd, and it's probably a different thing than what they would be doing," Gostinger said.
Grand Blanc freshman Jameson Allen said offering live music adds a new element to Wayside, and it gives up-and-coming artists a venue to perform at.
"Being a recording artist myself, I see this as an opportunity to expand my audience," Allen said.
Allen said he agrees with Schaffer that this would be a good opportunity for hip-hop to be introduced in a positive light to CMU and the Mount Pleasant area in general.
The first acts schedule to perform at the Wayside on Feb. 22 include Shimmy Sham, D Val, Joey and Philthy.
