House show or hair show? Inside Kalamazoo's 'secret' salon concert scene

In April, the Joy Modulators (also including Carolyn Koebel on percussion), perform to a full house — er, salon.

Editor’s Note: All photos were taken by Fran Dwight.

KALAMAZOO, MI — For around a year, Patti Ann McNulty has been turning her Trim Salon into a small concert hall.

At the old Downtown storefront on Michigan and Church, she and partner Greg Orr sweep up the day’s hair, haul the chairs and shampoo bowls to the end of the shop, put up a curtain, put up lights, sound equipment, and bring up chairs from the basement.

Musicians arrive, do a sound check. McNulty puts out flowers, snacks, and drinks. She tapes a “Private Event” sign to the door.

People arrive, pay a cover — all money goes to the musicians, McNulty says — and the show begins as the sun sets.

We were there to see the Joy Modulators, a mostly-Kalamazoo band fronted by Adam Main, now of Grand Rapids. Singer/songwriter Main has put together a chamber-folk group of Anders Dahlberg, Carolyn Koebel, Cori Beth Somers, and McNulty herself, with some vocals and guitar.

Once a month, Patti Ann McNulty turns her salon, Trim, into a music venue.

They play a Southwestern-like style, a dry, meditative sound evocative of the desert, and an alternative-Americana set of mostly Main’s songs.

The sound reaches all the way to the end of the long, narrow space. Orr walks around with a laptop connected to their sound system, tweaking levels, making sure it all sounds right.

The stylist gets her chance to sing lead. McNulty has also been a musician for much of her life. She used to perform when she was aged 18 to 21. “And then I got married, and I had kids, and I just let it go.” She got back into music and now leads Patti Ann and the Fancy Band, playing O’Duffy’s on the first Wednesday of every month.

Her daughter, whom she calls Katie, is local singer/songwriter Kait Rose.

Partner Greg Orr lends a hand getting Trim ready for the band.

The salon was just a place for hair, when Rose asked her mother if she could bring in a bunch of musicians to practice for her Joni Mitchell tribute show at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe.

It was May of last year. They had the door open to the warm spring night. People heard the music coming from an unexpected place. “Some people walked in just to listen. They ended up buying tickets and going to the show at Bell’s, and it was so cool.”

It all seemed so simple. “We just shoved all the chairs to one end by the shampoo bowls and got everybody set up in here. And it was so fun and so cool. And the sound was so good. I had an epiphany. Why don’t I do shows in here?”

Most of the Joy Modulators, Cori Beth Somers (violin), Anders Dahlberg (bass), Adam Main (vocals, guitar) and Mcnulty (vocals, guitar) do a sound check.

Trim’s first show was that spring. Folk singer-songwriter May Erlewine had asked Rose if there were any places in Kalamazoo where she could do a house show.

Why not a salon show? Rose knew this place….

Mutations

The Trim shows have become a regular, monthly event. They host local and regional artists, usually acoustic but sometimes electric, nothing too loud for the space — but McNulty doesn’t have too many neighbors to disturb.

Things have been unsettled in Trim’s building since its owner, Dean Hauck, died in February, 2025.

Lori Moore, a longtime media personality, attends the Joy Modulators’ concert.

Hauck, at Michigan News Agency, had an office upstairs. She had been McNulty’s landlord since Trim opened there in 2008. McNulty feels she’d love the salon shows.

“Since Dean died, I’m like, well, it’s just going to be a matter of time, and I’m going to get kicked out of this space,” she says.

Investment group Kalamazoo Forward Ventures bought the building after Hauck’s death. KzFV’s Managing Partner in real estate, Eric Cunningham, serves as the current landlord.

McNulty hasn’t heard of any plans for the future of the building. She knows there was hope that a bookstore or similar business could go where the Michigan News sign still hangs. The old building needs upgrades, like with the ancient boiler in the basement -— there are plans to get the building’s heating modernized, she knows.

Anders Dahlberg is talking with Jennifer Lecy DeVries at Trim Salon.

She knows the owners like having her, the only tenant, there, and they’re fine with the once-a-month concerts.

But, “I kind of feel like I’m on hold, here,” she says. She shares the salon with an aesthetician. McNulty’s been doing hair for over 40 years, and doesn’t want to retire yet.

The building may undergo changes. Downtown Kalamazoo itself is undergoing changes. McNulty has been thinking of other sources of income for the salon, but being a music hall isn’t one, since she feels compelled to give most of the money at the door to the musicians.

We ask, this strain on survival, is it like a species mutating to try to fit a changing environment?

“We’re mutating! I love it,” she says.

Adam Main is talking with West Michigan singer/songwriter Grace Theisen.

A mutation, an evolution. Like birds evolving colorful plumage, hosting live music in a hair salon might not directly impact survival, but it’s good for attracting other birds.

McNulty will likely keep Trim shows to once a month, but she’d like to do more. “Especially in the summer, just kind of having the doors open and having people walk by, look in, and go, ‘What the hell is happening in there? That’s cool. What the heck? This city is cool.’ ”

The next Trim Salon After Hours is this Saturday, May 16, with Michigan folk singer/songwriters Bob Wallis and Cynthea Kelley.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m.

Cover is $20, space is limited. Email pamcnulty525@gmail for more info.