City Pulse

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Girls, boys and toys

Eighteen-year-old Harmony Zhu has been devouring Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 since she first played it at age 5. She’ll happily tackle it again as the featured soloist at the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s season finale on Friday (May 10).

There are many reasons to be intimidated by the energy and prodigious musicianship of Harmony Zhu, the featured piano soloist at the Lansing Symphony Orchestra’s season finale on Friday (May …

Middle Village welcomes five new businesses to yearlong accelerator program

From left: Ashleigh Rogers of Sedona Wanderlust, Amara Hoddy of Hoddy Collective, Oscar Peña of Black Rose Designs, Mary Toshach of Ornamaloo and Beeka Monique of CocoBella Boutique celebrated the grand opening of their Middle Village storefronts last Thursday (May 2).

Amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, leadership at Downtown Lansing Inc. began discussing ways to reverse the negative impacts of business closures and decreased commerce …

Local artist Dennis Preston created the poster for Heavy Music’s May 18 “Live Bullet” tribute show at the Green Door, illustrating a portrait of vocalist Ben Hall in the style of the album cover.

Heavy Music recreates Bob Seger’s ‘Live Bullet’ at the Green Door

If you lived in Michigan back in ‘75, Bob Seger was a certified rock star. The Ann Arbor native had been cutting local hits since the mid-1960s and was known for selling piles of tickets …

New fest in town

A roster of national and regional bands is set to perform on two stages at Rock Lansing, a one-day music festival on May 18 at Adado Riverfront Park . Gates open at 2 p.m. , and music runs until 11 …

Q&A: Matthew Carlson kicks off national tour at the Robin Theatre

Matthew Carlson is known locally for his work in the Stick Arounds and Harborcoat and his “What Am I Making” podcast, but in June, he hits the road on a coast-to-coast solo tour. Oh, and …

What the ‘new normal’ looks like for local restaurants

According to the National Restaurant Association, in the wake of the pandemic, “Business conditions have settled into or are on the path to their new version of normal” for 70% of restaurant operators. That “new normal” includes a pivot toward more outdoor dining options, like the popular patio seating at the Peanut Barrel in downtown East Lansing.

Like many Greater Lansing restaurateurs, Jacques and Christine Driscoll were forced to close their doors during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. They did so twice, most recently …

‘Mascots in Motion’ takes readers back to an era of automotive artistry

The new coffee-table-style art book “Mascots in Motion” will sweep readers away with its grandeur and beauty. The more than 300-page paean to vintage hood ornaments and automotive …

Ari Wilkins, a genealogist who has been researching family history for more than 25 years, will be the keynote speaker at the Archives of Michigan and Michigan Genealogical Council’s annual Family History Seminar May 10 and 11.

Learn to ‘peel back the layers’ of your ancestors

Each year, the Archives of Michigan and the Michigan Genealogical Council host a seminar on compiling family histories that’s geared toward both genealogical experts and amateurs who want to learn more about their families and where they came from.

Williamstown Township studio tour welcomes newcomers

According to local artist Ron Cook, studio tours allow patrons to connect with artists more intimately than typical art exhibitions.

(From left): Dennis Hinrichsen, Ruelaine Stokes and Masaki Takahashi, three of Lansing’s four poets laureate since the program started in 2017, at the Robin Theatre in REO Town last week at which Stokes accepted the symbolic laurel. The fourth, Laura Apol, was unable to attend.

‘It’s the godmother’s turn’

No more than five minutes after becoming Lansing’s fourth poet laureate, Ruelaine Stokes summoned up thunder.

Ann Carlson (left) and Rich Kopitsch rehearse a fight scene for “Not Part of the Choreography,” one of nine short plays featured in Ixion Ensemble Theatre’s new works showcase “Let’s Fight,” running May 10, 11, 17 and 18 at Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood.

Ixion Ensemble explores conflict in new works showcase

Lansing locals might know Rose Jangmi Cooper as the woman who sings on her motorcycle or as a member of the spoken-word and gospel music group Voices of the Revolution.

Young Playwrights Festival public performances

The six finalists of the Wharton Center and Michigan State Department of Theatre’s annual Young Playwrights Festival will debut their original one-act plays beginning 2 p.m. Saturday …

Stoopfest

Stoopfest, an annual DIY music and arts festival, returns this weekend to parks, backyards, garages and bars across Lansing’s Eastside Neighborhood. The festival kicks off with …

Mother’s Day for Peace

The Peace Education Center, a Lansing-area community organization that works to “promote compassion and awareness of the potential for interdependence, lasting peace and nonviolent …

The Lansing Symphony Orchestra will perform music from the

Shopping, square dancing and ‘Star Wars’

This weekend, Lansing-area residents can look forward to several art, craft and plant sales as well as events to celebrate “Star Wars” Day and Cinco de Mayo, a Kentucky Derby gala, a 50th-anniversary party at the Meridian Historical Village and much more.

Volunteers will collect unwanted appliances, documents, egg cartons and latex paint at Meridian Township's Spring Recycling Day 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Chippewa Middle School.

Eco-friendly events to explore

From Earth Day and Arbor Day celebrations at Potter Park Zoo to recycling events and second-hand sales, this weekend is packed with opportunities to decrease your carbon footprint and honor the Earth. There are also new art exhibits and theater productions, a 5K, a masquerade ball and much more.

Jeff Boerger (left) as Garth Williams and Ayden Soupal as Thomas Franklin in Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.’s production of “Alabama Story,” by Kenneth Jones.

Peppermint Creek brings historic book-banning battle to the stage

The quote “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” attributed to Mark Twain, is an apt summary of the central theme of Peppermint Creek Theatre Co.’s current production. “Alabama Story” is a cautionary tale that reminds us that the hatred and bias of the civil rights era are not bygone.

Cait West, who lived in a Christian patriarchal household until she was in her mid-20s, hopes her new memoir, “Rift,” will reach other survivors and help them understand they’re not alone.

‘Rift’ provides a chilling look at the tolls of Christian patriarchy

When she was 5 years old, Cait West remembers her father telling her to change out of her two-piece swimsuit. In her new book, “Rift: A Memoir of Breaking Away from Christian Patriarchy,” she writes, “I didn’t know what modesty meant then … Most of all, I remember feeling ashamed.”

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