A cocktail of rain, wind and even a little snow assaulted the farmers market last week. The fair-weather hipsters stayed home. So did the lemonade stand. Altogether, more farmers showed up than customers, and coffee was the only thing that sold out because everyone’s hands were cold. There was a steaming cauldron of chicken congee for sale at the Vietnamese sandwich stall, and had the cardboard bowls not run out, the congee would probably have sold out, too. more

Katherine Heiny’s new book, “Early Morning Riser,” is a comic novel that doesn’t need a laugh track. “Early Morning Riser” will make you laugh out loud on its own. … more

You could get into a thicket teasing out trombonist Michael Dease’s many inspirations. He’s a professor of jazz at MSU, after all. more

Between the small town of Owosso and the even smaller town of Perry, runs M-52 — a remote stretch of Michigan highway that’s mostly lined with cornfields and intersecting dirt roads. Among this rural countryside once sat an eerie, dilapidated farm house. That abandoned two-story home is now demolished, but it lives on via the cover of “Polymorphic,” the brooding debut record from Bloody Butterflies.   more

Now that more people are getting vaccinated, Habitat for Humanity is taking on more projects and slowly getting back to the way things used to be.   more

Dawn Newton’s just-released novel, “Remnants of Summer,” filled me with nostalgia for my Michigan roots and it often brought tears to my eyes. The coming-of-age novel is an engaging mix of innocence and being faced with harsh realities.  more

Todd Welch doesn’t smoke pot. After a 25-year career with the Michigan State Police in an era of illegal recreational marijuana, he said that he’s more likely to pour cocktails than pack bongs.  more

As part of the Lansing Lugnuts' opening week festivities, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin's husband, Dave Slotkin, made an appearance as the team's mascot Big Lug.  more

Frances Kaneene was a guardian angel to Rachel Nanteza. more

Winifred Jean Bearup, 100, of Charlotte, was named the winner City Pulse’s first “Best of the Best” Mother’s Day award following a heartfelt nomination from her 68-year-old son, Richard Bearup. The big prize: $175 in gift certificates to Sweet Custom Jewelry and Bliss Salon Spa Boutique.  more

After an 18-month hiatus, The Lansing Collectable Toy Comic and Record Show returns Sunday, but with some precautionary measures, said host Tesco Vee.  more

On an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon in late May 1927, more than 85,000 vehicles crowded the roads leading to Bath. They were drawn by a sense of morbid curiosity to see the remnants of a massive explosion, which on May 18 ripped into the Bath Consolidated School, killing 44 including 38 children. more

Scott Pohl is a retired reporter and host with the WKAR radio station. He fell in love with John Irving’s novel “A Prayer For Owen Meany,” and later met the author at a reception. … more

I was introduced to Matias Brimmer by his father, Henry, a graphic designer who recently retired from being a professor of advertising. He talked ecstatically about his son’s art. In a proudly paternal fashion, he told me that it looks like Matias is fighting his demons on the canvas.  more

Last week, Mac’s Bar was listed as ‘temporarily closed’ on Facebook. Talent buyer Scott Bell said that when it completes renovations, Mac’s would reopen as a sport’s bar and likely not feature live music from local artists. The Facebook page was updated with a photo that said “R.I.P. Mac’s” and local social media was rife with posts memorializing the bar, as people lamented the news and shared their deepest personal experiences hanging out with friends and attending gigs at Mac’s Bar.  more

Between the snow-capped Taurus Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, Woody Ellis, 39, rested alone last week in a rented room in Ölüdeniz, Turkey. Far from hometown Lansing, he sported his sole t-shirt and a scruffy precursor to a beard as he prepared for another journey.  more

Artists Victor Ving and Lisa Beggs have been on the road since 2015, painting murals inspired by vintage postcards in different cities across the United States. Now, they’re taking their tour to East Lansing, where they will paint a mural on the south-facing wall of the Roadhouse Pub. more

On this edition of City Pulse On the Air, arts editor Skyler Ashley takes over hosting duties for publisher Berl Schwartz. Ashley interviews traveling mural artist Victor Ving who, along with his partner Lisa Beggs, has been touring the United States painting murals inspired by vintage greeting cards in different cities more

Ixion Ensemble Theatre is bringing a new anthology production to Sharp Park’s amphitheater. The performance, titled “Dreams,” was crafted from six different handpicked plays. more

For decades now, the highly influential compilation “Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968” has inspired countless garage bands across the world.  The historic box set includes iconic trippy tracks from The Seeds, Electric Prunes and the 13th Floor Elevators, to only name a few.  more