Music stuff in Indiana / Michigan?

I've been spending a lot of weekends in the Western Michigan / Northern Indiana area visiting family, and looking for music related things to do while the women are off shopping... record stores, thrift shops, book stores, venues, bars... really anything cool and off the beaten path... New Buffalo, Michigan City, St. Joe, South Bend, etc... any recommendations?

 

michigan city! Go to Captain Ed's. they have a pirate ship filled with candy and lots of records, I have found many bargains there

 

thank you. this is exactly the type of place i was looking for!

 

. . . and listen to local radio too! I work part time at WEFM 95.9 FM in Michigan City. I do the "Lunchtime Oldies" show from 10 am to 1 pm on Fridays and handle the music and in-studio duties for the on-location program "Fun In Michiana Show with Uncle Lou and Dave" Saturday mornings from 9 am til noon. Last Saturday (4/6) we had legendary DJ John Records Landecker as a guest, from his book signing party at a local restaurant, Top Dog (a great place for a Chicago dog, BTW).

 

If you get near Kalamazoo, there's Corner Records on W. Main St. in the Tiffany's plaza, just west of downtown at the top of the hill. Also, there's Greenlight Music on the corner of Drake & KL.
I love Corner Records & have never set foot in Greenlight. The general consensus seems to be that Corner is the place to go for vinyl. They have a much larger selection & better pricing than Greenlight. I talked to a guy who was good friends with the manager of Greenlight & even he admitted that. I don't know how they compare for CDs.

 

The Corner Records just South of Grand Rapids was really nice when I visited there about 4 years ago.

 

There's a cool record store in Goshen IN, if you get that far south:
http://ignitionmusic.net/

There is also Orbit Music in South Bend.