City Pulse

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‘The Book of Mormon’: not your mother’s Broadway musical

From left: Trinity Posey, Sam McLellan and Diego Enrico in the national tour of “The Book of Mormon.”

It’s been 14 years since “The Book of Mormon” premiered on Broadway and won the Tony Award for best musical, so at this point, no one should go in expecting a family-friendly production.

Another string, another thing

Summer Solstice Jazz Festival artistic director Randy Napoleon called Peter Bernstein “the most influential guitarist on the scene today.” Bernstein will headline the festival with a performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The stars are dotted across the night sky in a grand, continuous scroll, but if you look closer, you see that each dot burns with its own chemistry and life story. Peter Bernstein, one of the …

‘Every saxophonist’s dream’

Longtime MSU jazz studies stalwart Diego Rivera will return to East Lansing Friday to participate in a one-of-a-kind saxophone summit with Gregory Tardy and Sharel Cassity.

King Ghidorah, the golden, winged monster of “Godzilla” fame, comes at you with three fire-breathing heads. This year’s Summer Solstice Jazz Festival features a Ghidorah of a …

‘So much sunshine’

Tiffany Gridiron, pictured at Smalls Jazz Club in New York, will kick off the Summer Solstice Jazz Festival with a ticketed performance to raise money for the free festival Thursday evening at Beggar’s Banquet.

It’s high time for “Summertime,” in more ways than one. Tiffany Gridiron, a spellbinding singer in the tradition of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, is the …

By popular demand, Deadtime Stories gets a sequel

Jenn Carpenter chats with a customer at her new Deadtime Stories location in Charlotte’s Courthouse Square Museum.

Deadtime Stories wasn’t made with a sequel in mind. “Owning a small business is not for the weak, especially these days,” owner Jenn Carpenter said. “So, there was no …

How crime novelist Elmore Leonard changed his biographer’s life

Author C.M. Kushins’ new book, “Cooler Than Cool: The Life of Elmore Leonard,” is a masterful biography of one of the world’s most famous and most prolific crime-fiction writers of all time.

(This is the second in a two-part series on Detroit’s famed writer.) C.M. Kushins was 11 when his mother gave him a copy of “Get Shorty.” It led to a life of writing. He writes …

Bonnie Knutson shows off her Star of Touring Broadway Award, granted for her decades of service to promoting the arts in mid-Michigan.

The ‘heartbeat’ of the Wharton Center

Bonnie Knutson, a professor of business at Michigan State University and a longtime patron of the school’s Wharton Center for Performing Arts, is positive that her love of theater and the arts …

Michigan State University guitar maestro Randy Napoleon, in his first year as artistic director of East Lansing’s Summer Solstice Jazz Festival, is aiming for a sunny event that will ensnare passers-by as well as passionate jazz lovers.

A sunburst of jazz

You can pack a lot of fun into two of the longest days of the year. Michigan State University guitar maestro Randy Napoleon, in his first year as artistic director of this weekend’s Summer …

Before the wrecking ball: Lansing's long-lost rock ‘n’ roll palace

Long before the Lansing Civic Center was reduced to rubble in 1999, the 6,500-capacity arena at 525 W. Allegan St. stood as a beating heart of live music in Michigan’s capital city. For …

Public Art of the Week

Chalk another one up The public art season is upon us. Last weekend was Chalk of the Town in Old Town, where artists competed for the best chalk art installation. First place in the over-18 …

Pamela Loewen works on her laptop in her new Williamston gallery. The gallery focuses primarily on artistic quiltmaking, with its first exhibit showcasing Loewen’s own art.

A stitch in the right direction

Pamela Loewen didn’t set out to build a gallery. The first two times the Williamston quiltmaker needed more space in her home studio, she added onto her house. The third time, she looked …

Remembering Elmore Leonard, a prolific Detroit storyteller

(This is part one of a two-part article on the legendary Elmore Leonard. Next week, I will interview his biographer.) How cool is cool? Well, Detroit crime writer Elmore Leonard was …

September 4, 2024 Issue

Coming this weekend

‘Thank You, Ten’

Ixion Ensemble Theatre’s final show of the season, “Thank You, Ten,” celebrates the 10 th anniversary of its annual short play festival by featuring one work from each year. The …

‘When Life Gives You Flowers’

Mesung Lee, longtime owner of the former Twichell’s Cleaners and Tailors in East Lansing, which served customers for nearly a century, will celebrate her upcoming 80th birthday by …

Red Cedar Jubilee

Williamston’s largest event of the year, the 54 th annual Red Cedar Jubilee, will bring a wealth of entertainment to parks, streets and other venues around town for the next five …

Violinist Rodney Page will once again serve as emcee for MSU’s 2025 Juneteenth Commemorative Celebration.

A guide to 2025 Juneteenth celebrations in Greater Lansing

MSU Juneteenth Commemorative Celebration With the theme “A Juneteenth Renaissance: Bridging Freedom’s Legacy and Tomorrow’s Vision,” MSU’s fifth annual Juneteenth …

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor raises the Pride flag at City Hall Tuesday as Peter Spadafore, Lansing’s first openly gay City Council member, looks on.

‘Coming out’: More than just a story

As LGBTQ+ historian Tim Retzloff says in the following pages, the coming-out story has a “stock structure.” Reflecting on his own, which he wrote in the early 1990s, he explained it was …

Linda Sarnelli: Once deeply closeted, now proudly out as a woman

(The author is a local transgender advocate and sits on the Lansing Pride Board of Directors.) My story is a long one — 60+ years. I had a desire to wear dresses at age 6. This was 1960, …

Samuel Smeltzer: Learning to be out through loving acceptance

(The author is a local activist for legal marijuana and LGBTQ+ rights.) I always felt different. As a little kid I never fit in with the “regular” kids and spent years trying to …

Lorenzo Lopez: ‘I would not change a thing’

(The author is a longtime local activist for the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities.) “Coming out” is a process by which an individual recognizes his or her sexual orientation and openly …

Tim Retzloff: ‘Coming out is a continuous process’

(The author is a historian who teaches history and LGBTQ+ studies at MSU as a fixed-term assistant professor.) In late 1991 or early 1992, I took training to be part of the speakers’ …

September 4, 2024 Issue

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