Upping the Ante • 9th Annual BAND ROULETTE 'Master Class'

One of the most existential and potentially unpredictable musical showcases that by equal measure has become a successful annual tradition as much as a phenomenon that involves the moving parts of many musicians is the annual Band Roulette Fundraiser, which is decidedly an artistic and cultural highlight of the Winter Arts scene in the Great Lakes Bay Region.

Returning once again to Bay City’s historic State Theatre on Sunday, February 1st, at 5:00 PM, this year the spotlight will be shining on an impressive roster consisting of over two dozen musicians harvested from several of our region’s most popular and successful performing bands with the 9^th Annual BAND ROULETTE ‘Master Class’, which to date has raised nearly $30,000 supporting the admirable endeavors of the D-Street Music Foundation and other musical oriented non-profits over the years, including this year’s co-beneficiary Major Chords for Minors.

D-Street is a respected non-profit foundation focused upon fostering the talents of young musicians through scholarship and instrument acquisition programs, while also showcasing the artistry of musical talent populating our region by presenting various showcase performance festivals in the region throughout the year such as Parkapalooza.  Similarly aligned, Major Chords for Minors mentors and provides professional instruction to young talent by providing lessons and instruments to kids ranging from elementary to high school levels.

Conceived by Bay City musician Jeff Poirier, the concept for Band Roulette is similar to a musical variation of ‘Who’s Line Is It Anyway’, consisting of a pool of artists whose names are drawn to form a five-piece band that must perform whatever specific song the newly formed band draws from a hat on the spot for audiences.

Sound like fun?  There’s nothing like the excitement of watching a possible train wreck, which both adds to the excitement and also elevates the applause when these impromptu bands actually make it through their songs; more often than not with surprising results and escalated gratitude from the audience, which is only one of many factors that makes Band Roulette such an innovative event.

Now entering its ninth year, the biggest challenge for Poirier consists of enlisting a different roster of musicians and songs each year to keep the performances varied and fresh. In order to achieve that goal for this year’s 2026 showcase he decided to up the ante by selecting more difficult songs for each of these impromptu groups to perform.

“Some people have given me a bit of criticism that the songs I select for the bands to perform are too easy,” he explains. “Each year I structure each show around a theme. Last year the focus was on female musicians with our theme of ‘Ladies Night’, so this year I decided in order to pick some tougher songs I would draw upon talent from our region’s most popular and professional bands and go with the theme of ‘Master Class’, which will feature members of The RockShow, Jedi Mind Trip, Stone Street Revival, Nameless, Hipakritz, The Sinclairs, and more.”

“We’ll have 10 guitarists, 5 drummers, keyboardists, and bass players, so a total of 25 musicians that will perform in different configurations, but even though these are professionals it can still be tricky getting people to perform,” he notes. “For me personally, I enjoy being silly and falling on my face once in a while, whereas some people aren’t comfortable with doing that.”

This year's roster of musicians will consist of the following:

GUITAR: Danny Ardouin • Rob Dutcher • Steve Gould • Aaron Kowalski • Dana Osmun • Mark Shelley • Joe Sullivan • Scott VanDell • Tod Walraven

BASS:  Joe Balbaugh • Bruce LaFrance • Dan Hellus • Dave Mossner • Jeff Poirier

DRUMS: Chris Bartnikowski • Donny Brown • Brad Graham • Matt Johnston • Todd McMahan

KEYBOARDS: Tom Behmlander • Noel Howland • Tommy K. • Jeff Ott • Mike Thomas

“The songs thrown in the hat that musicians will draw from in order to form different bands all night will still be familiar standards, only they’ll be songs that fairly accomplished bands can tackle, because we do want a high success rate,” Jeff adds. “I don’t want an audience sitting there listening to nothing but train wrecks. Ironically, musicians find that  experience more amusing than regular people. This is going to be a tougher show, so I decided to go with veteran musicians.”

Another interesting challenge Poirier faces each successive year when configuring the musical line-up is the fact that as live performance venues in the region have diminished over the years, the pool of younger bands coming up are a lot more specialized.

“Twenty or thirty years ago we all listened to the radio and cover bands were a big thing,” he reflects. “We all were a ‘collective group’ in a way and many of the cover bands would play the same songs,  but now there’s so many music options that we’ve lost that commonality that we’re all on the same page.  There’s good and bad with that in the sense we now have the Internet with a 100,000 choices of music, but there’s not that dominant force of radio anymore. Most of the younger bands coming up are original bands instead of cover bands, so Band Roulette isn’t really their thing, which I totally understand. My daughter is a perfect example. She’s played the Coachella Festival and been on The Tonight Show, but she’s never been in a cover band.”

As for his relationship with the D-Street Music Foundation, Jeff says they hold a special place in his heart for all the good work they’ve dedicated themselves to for over two decades now. “So they are celebrating their 25^th Anniversary this year and I absolutely love those guys and everything they do. We’re more like partners now because with the State Theatre being a non-profit, D- Street pulls the license now in order to sell beer at the show, so it did change the dynamic. It’s more of a partnership now and thank God I have them to handle those details, because it allows me to focus on the show and how to make it great, thanks to them stepping up.”

“I still can’t believe this will be our ninth year of Band Roulette,” concludes Jeff. “Actually, it’s been more like 15-years in the making, because I thought of the idea six years before we actually pulled the first show together. I made a Facebook post saying I just came up with this idea and actually called it ‘Band Roulette’ and said we put a bunch of names in a hat, put a bunch of standards in another hat, and just pull the names.  I concluded the post by saying, “Bemo’s - are you reading this? And they commented, ‘Oh my God, let’s do it!  I joked about it and carried the idea around in my pocket for six years before actually pulling off the inaugural show.”

Despite all of the work involved, it obviously makes Jeff feel good making this type of dream into a reality. Be sure not to miss it.  It truly offers a memorable evening for a pair of very worthy causes.

The 9^th Annual Band Roulette ‘Master Class’ Fundraiser takes place on Sunday, February 1^st at Bay City’s State Theatre at 5:00 PM.   Tickets are only $25.00 and moving fast.  You can purchase them online by visiting this link