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LOCKED AND LOADED Gun controversy is growing — and so is the number of shooting ranges and gun shops in northern Michigan.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • FEBruary 04 - FEBruary 10, 2019 • Vol. 29 No. 05

B L U E

T R A C T O R

B A R B E Q U E

Pig + Pint SUNDAY – THURSDAY EVENINGS THE PRICE INCLUDES A PINT OF MICHIGAN CRAFT BREW! BEER CHEESE MEATBALL MAC House ground pork, local ale, creamy cheddar blend, roasted creminis, caramelized onions. 18

PIG DADDY Ground pork burger, house smoked natural ham, crispy pork belly, smoked cheddar, haystacks, chipotle BBQ sauce, crunch roll. 16

PIG PLATTER Smoked pork chops, chipotle apple chutney, cheesy pork fritters, loaded mashed potatoes, pork and beans. 22

HAM AND CHEDDAR HOAGIE House smoked natural ham, white cheddar, lettuce, smoked tomato jam, banana peppers, herbed mayo, toasted ciabatta. 15

All pork courtesy of Recker Swine Farms in Empire, MI.

423 S UNION ST, T R AV ER SE CI T Y

2 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

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Missed Opportunity As I read “For Love of Country,” by Al Parker [Jan. 28 issue], by the third paragraph I knew we would be missed and forgotten again. I still am amazed at how many people overlook our country’s other armed service.

Since 1876, this service academy has had hopeful prospective cadets waiting for an acceptance letter during their high school senior year. But the biggest injustice in your article is the fact that this U.S. Military academy does not require a congressional referral. Any high school student can apply within the established guidelines. I am truly surprised that the author couldn’t find anyone from Northern Michigan that has been accepted to or is currently attending this service academy. Considering that it is the most prevalent military service in northern Michigan, Northern Express’ distribution area.

Any idea which armed service’s officers, enlisted, and retirees you’ve forgotten? This would be America’s oldest armed maritime service; present in one form or another since 1790, but unrecognized by most as a member of the Armed Forces of America.

Still wondering which service? Look up into the sky, or out onto the water, yearround in northern Michigan, and you’ll probably see them. Drive downtown and see the new monument, or the banners and signs along the parkway and elsewhere, proclaiming “Traverse City, Proud to be a Coast Guard City.”

I am a 30-year retiree and one of three neighborhood kids who grew up together on the west side of town and joined the Coast Guard in the early ’80s. We all have served in our hometown of Traverse City and have retired here along with hundreds of others.

It would be great if the U.S. Coast Guard could be entitled the same recognition as the other services in your article.

Brian Hansz, USCG Ret., Traverse City We apologize for this oversight. We recognize and greatly value our U.S. Coast Guard, and thank you for bringing our omission to our attention. — Ed. TC Should Be Tree City Traverse City’s natural beauty is its greatest asset — aesthetically, economically, and in terms of healthy living — and it should be kept, maintained, and increased.

Traverse City should not compare itself,

in terms of tree canopy, to the 34 percent tree canopy of Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor. That’s dumb. Those cities are already destroyed, and they are not, and never were, tourist destinations.

The value of Traverse City to its residents and to its visitors will increasingly be its natural beauty — trees, grass, clean air, clean water — because that’s what’s disappearing so quickly from the face of the earth. I don’t know how many of you have grandchildren with asthma, allergies, and compromised immune systems, or grandparents with dementia, heart disease, and cancer, but I’ll bet there’s more than a few. And all those diseases are the result, directly or indirectly, of dirty air filled with toxic chemicals.

Trees clean the air. Traverse City should compare itself to Mackinac Island, if anything, because that is the city of the future. Think about the future here for a minute, dear readers, and I’m not talking 400 years, but 100 years. The global population was about 2 billion 100 years ago, and in another hundred years will be about 10 billion. That means that the following will be in short supply: trees, birds, clean water, clean air. Do the math. If we survive, Traverse City and all cities will have more trees, more parks, more green space, more gardens.

In about 1920 we started organizing our cities around our cars, and that way of doing things is already not working for us. In 100 years our parking structures, parking lots, and parking meters will be ridiculously obsolete. All cities will be walkable. Corner grocery stores will return.

We will go by foot for short distances and use public transportation for long distances.

Solar-powered trucks and planes will deliver goods, and solar-powered trams, trains and planes will transport people. Thinking ahead is what’s required if we want to survive.

Kathleen Stocking, Lake Leelanau Republicans Think They Know Better I would like to respond to Carole Underwood’s letter in the Jan. 21 Northern Express. It exemplifies the greed that is the underlying base of Republican politics.

The issues she raises serve to provide for the health and welfare for us all. The Republicans would appear to wish to keep as much wealth for themselves as they can.

It is the people who vote Republican who are either wealthy or ignorant. They are goaded into voting Republican by the political myths spread by the corporations, special interest groups such as the NRA, the unchristian Evangelicals, climate-change-denying fossil fuel companies, environmentally destructive developers, and their Republican flunkies.

Kudos I normally do not agree with many of Tuttles’ commentaries but wow! his Jan. 21 column ‘Windmill Tilting” was right on.

About time someone calls the Democrats for what they are. Typical thinking on that side of the aisle is give, give, give — and no thought on how or who is going to pay for it.

Can’t forgive the Republicans either, and Tuttle brings up some fine examples. What is scary, though, is the rampant corruption in both parties, but one has to wonder what the has happened to our country when 10 FBI agents at 6am — guns drawn — burst into Roger Stone’s home. By the way, who tipped off the media so TV cameras were poised outside his home during the raid?

Shame on you, Mueller.

Bob Ross, Pellston

features Crime and Rescue Map......................................7

Gamblers Anonymous.........................................10 Sturgeon Fishing............................................12 Shooters Locked and Loaded.........................14 Life in the Fat Lane..........................................16 Return of the King........................................18 Flattail Furs................................................20

Rick Vida, Traverse City Correction: A story in the Jan. 28 edition of Northern Express (“Lame Duck Fall Out”) incorrectly stated that the Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce supported a proposed state senate bill that would have prevented local governments from enacting tree protection ordinances. According to Bill O’Brien, the Chamber’s communications manager, “The Chamber Government Relations Committee and the Board of Directors and staff have worked very hard to engage our membership in the tree ordinance discussions and the city Planning Department tree survey, and there was no formal action (or even discussion) at the Government Relations Committee or the Board on the state bill regarding local tree ordinances.”

2019

dates................................................22-24 music Nightlife.........................................................28 columns & stuff Top Ten...........................................................4

Spectator/Stephen Tuttle....................................6 Weird...............................................................9 Chef’s Notes...................................................13 Modern Rock/Kristi Kates................................25 Film................................................................27 Advice Goddess...........................................29 Crossword...................................................29 Freewill Astrology..........................................30 Classifieds..................................................31

ST. PAT’S BREW ISSUE Northern Express Weekly is published by Eyes Only Media, LLC. Publisher: Luke Haase 129 E Front Traverse City, MI 49684 Phone: (231) 947-8787 Fax: 947-2425 email: info@northernexpress.com www.northernexpress.com Executive Editor: Lynda Twardowski Wheatley Finance & Distribution Manager: Brian Crouch Sales: Kathleen Johnson, Lisa Gillespie, Kaitlyn Nance, Mike Bright, Michele Young, Randy Sills, Todd Norris For ad sales in Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Boyne & Charlevoix, call (231) 838-6948

Charlie Weaver, Kalkaska Here’s an Idea If Donald Trump can close the government in order to fulfill a campaign promise by building a wall, then the next Democratic president might close the government in order to leverage single-payer health care. If any individual man or woman can hold us all hostage to achieve a personal goal that has only minority support, then we are close to becoming a dictatorship.

A bill should be put before Congress that could prevent any president — Democrat or Republican — from exercising this enormous overreach of executive power.

CONTENTS

MARCH 11, 2019

Creative Director: Kyra Poehlman Distribution: Matt Ritter, Randy Sills, Kirk Hull, Kimberly Sills, Gary Twardowski, Kathy Twardowski Listings Editor: Jamie Kauffold Reporter: Patrick Sullivan Contributors: Amy Alkon, Rob Brezsny, Ross Boissoneau, Anna Faller, Jennifer Hodges, Kristi Kates, Michael Phillips, Steve Tuttle, Meg Weichman, Todd VanSickle Copyright 2019, all rights reserved. Distribution: 36,000 copies at 600+ locations weekly. Northern Express Weekly is free of charge, but no person may take more than one copy of each weekly issue without written permission of Northern Express Weekly. Reproduction of all content without permission of the publisher is prohibited.

email info@northernexpress.com or call 231-947-8787

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 3

this week’s

top ten ‘Historyteller’ to Talk About Couples

An Honor resident who bills herself as a “historyteller” will talk about famous couples throughout history at a Valentine’s Day fundraiser for the Benzie Area Historical Museum.

For almost three decades, Maureen Esther has given talks on history across Michigan on topics ranging from the Titanic to Peter the Great. A lifelong student history and art history, Esther keeps her lectures academically grounded but also tries to make them fun. She said the Valentine’s Day talk will feature couples who are familiar and some who are not.

“It’s a waltz through history about different couples. … I’m a combination academic historian and storyteller. That’s why I bill myself as a ‘historyteller,’” she said.

“I’ve been doing this for 28 years; I started as a volunteer in my kids’ elementary class years ago.”

Esther moved to Benzie County a few years back, when she and her husband retired. The couple lived and worked in the Detroit area for most of their lives, but Ester’s family has been coming to Platte Lake for vacations all her life.

The Valentine’s Day talk take place from 4pm until 6pm and will feature a champagne and chocolate reception at the museum in Benzonia. Admission is by a suggested $15 donation.

taste the passion Taste the Passion on the Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail on Sat. and Sun., Feb. 9-10! Enjoy sweet & savory bites paired with wine, a Snow Fun Photo Contest, pop-up shopping and more. Tickets include a souvenir wine glass and wine and food pairings at each of the 24 participating wineries. $40 for both days. Saturday’s hours are 11am-5pm and Sunday’s are noon-5pm. lpwines.com/events/taste-the-passion

4

Hey, read it!

An Orchestra of Minorities

Man Booker finalist Chigozie Obioma is bringing it home, Homer style, with his long-awaited second novel, “An Orchestra of Minorities.” Set in his native Nigeria, the story follows starcrossed lovers, Chinonso, a poultry farmer and our tragicomic hero, and the unattainable Ndali. To earn her pretentious parents’ approval, Nonso drops everything to attend college on the island of Cypress, but arrives only to learn he’s been duped.

Now, stone broke and solus on unfamiliar land, Nonso must find a way back home or forget the woman he loves. But first, he has to survive. Told from the omniscient perspective of Nonso’s Igbo spirit guide, An “Orchestra of Minorities” seamlessly combines Obioma’s own exploration of contemporary ethnocentrism with the fantastic elements of a classical “Odyssey.” Happy trails!

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Bottoms up Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout

Forrest Gump says life is like a box of chocolates, but if you ask us, it should be a lot more like Cheboygan Brewing Co.’s Chocolate Covered Cherry Stout. Rich, hearty as hell, sweet and bittersweet in meaningful proportions, complex enough to be interesting, mildly bubbly yet wholly robust — this smooth operator is everything you could want in a milk stout and perhaps more than you deserve. Our beer pundits detected notes of brownie batter, brown bread, and even raisins and fig, but the average among us delighted in the simple stuff: juicy red cherry, chocolate, and malt. On tap now at the brewery and absolutely worth checking with your local restaurants and retailers who carry the brewery’s beers. ABV 6.8%. We found ours at The Beverage Company in Traverse City. Start your search at www.cheboyganbrewing.com.

4 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

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Mackinac Island: Say No to Pipeline

Mackinac Island has joined the chorus of opposition to the Line 5 oil pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac.

The City of Mackinac Island filed formal challenges to two permits issued for pipeline supports by the Department of Environmental Quality last year, according to a press release from the activist group Oil and Water Don’t Mix. Officials on the island are calling for the closure of the pipeline.

“For years, island residents have been promised that Line 5 would have a limited lifespan. Instead of safely phasing out the dangerous aged dual lines in the Straits, state officials have proposed to extend the operation of the dual pipelines as much as another 10 years,” said Margaret Doud, the mayor of the City of Mackinac Island for over 40 years.

“The city, people, and businesses have waited far too long. It is time to bring Line 5 under the rule of law and bring it to an orderly closure. Enough is enough.”

The pipeline is operated by Canadian-based Enbridge, which insists measures are in place to prevent a catastrophic oil spill and that the planned construction of a tunnel for the pipeline will ensure its safety.

stuff we love Hok Skis To ski or snowshoe: That is the question. Well, how about “ski-shoeing” instead? Hok skis combine the floatation and maneuverability of a snowshoe with the added mobility of a ski. An integrated climbing skin that grips uphill and glides downhill allows you to trek through the hills and valleys of the back country with ease. Says manufacturer Altai Skis: “Our skis require no groomed areas, no lifts, no tickets. In fact, they prefer it that way.” We love the ability to get out quickly when the snow flies, and their universal binding option doesn’t even require a special ski boot. Hoks take their inspiration from the Altai Mountains in North Asia; “Hok” (pronounced like the bird of prey) is the closest English translation of the region’s word for ski. Learn more at www.altaiskis.com. (Skis only, $224.95 — multiple binding options available.) Find them locally at Suttons Bay Bikes, Backcountry Outfitters in Traverse City, The Outfitter of Harbor Springs, and in the U.P., Downwind Sports. Hok Hok!

Just (OR Mostly) for Men Could you use some male bonding? Try one of these retreats on for size: • Camp Daggett calls its Feb 8–10 event a father-son weekend, but fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, and big brothers are invited to bring the 7- to 14-year-old dude(s) in his life to the Walloon Lake camp for two days of deep-woods fun, outdoor adventure, and great meals — including a wild game dinner by the fire. $200 for father/son; $50 for additional family members. Call the camp’s Ed Leverenz, 231-347-9742, ext 112.

• That same weekend in Traverse City, the East Bay Cavalry Sportsman are bringing in huntsman and “AdventureBound Outdoors” TV host Chuck McAlister for its 17th annual banquet. Enjoy a full dinner, seminar, and program, and the chance to win an ice fishing, crossbow hunting, youth hunting, or camping package. (Women, and kids over age 7, are also welcome.) Find info and tickets, $31 without dinner/$51 with dinner, at www.traverseoutdoors.com.

• More into gathering than hunting? Get together at spiritual renewal retreat for adult men at Christ the King Catholic Church in Acme. Expect witness talks, scripture, fellowship, prayer, Eucharistic Adoration, reconciliation and mass. This free retreat will include all meals, snacks and sleeping accommodations for one overnight, March 16–17. Learn more: christrenewstc@gmail.com.

8 WINTER SALE! ALL KIDS SKI JACKETS AND SKI PANTS

25% OFF! Celebrating 61 Years!

231-946-8810 • 800-346-5788 890 Munson Ave. • Traverse City donorrskihaus.com

tastemaker Grand Traverse Sauce Co.’s DD214 Mark Baker was a Michigan State University public health graduate with a dream: He imagined he’d be fighting Ebola outbreaks in Africa. Instead, he ended up watching out for salmonella in northern Michigan. No matter; he found his way to fulfil his need for heat — and helping legions of people — by way of the company he founded with his spice-lovin’ wife, Ashley: Grand Traverse Sauce Co. Together the two have launched a fantastically flavorful line of sauces and rubs. So far, we’ve tried the feisty-spicy, vinegar-forward flavors of The Siren, a smoky cayenne habanero pepper sauce that finishes with a heckuva kick, and Red Hot Griff, a very versatile and garlicky-good cayenne jalapeno-pepper hot sauce that even the spice-sissy among us adored. But the hands-down favorite was GT Sauce’s DD214 (a nod to veterans, the name denotes the military’s discharge form). A serrano-habanero and dill sauce that tastes like a spicy pickle should, DD214 is a must for burgers, tuna and potato salads, and — says Mark Baker — the best Bloody Mary’s ever made. We tried it and agreed … three times. Each 5 oz. bottle is $10. Free shipping on $20+ orders at www.gtsauceco.com, where you’ll also find a list of local retailers.

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 5

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STATE OF EMERGENCY

spectator

by Stephen Tuttle Presidents like to find ways to work around Congress, typically by issuing executive orders and hoping the courts will uphold them.

President Trump, unable to build his wall via that route, is threatening to declare a national emergency and have the military do it.

Unfortunately, there is no specific definition of national emergency, though it is generally expected to be something extraordinary that threatens the health and safety of the country and its citizens, needs immediate attention, and cannot be resolved by existing laws.

There is nothing in the Constitution specifically allowing the president to make such declarations. The courts believe such powers are inherent in his control of the military.

Congress has passed more than 100 laws codifying that power.

Those courts rarely stop such declarations from going into effect. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed Franklin Roosevelt to essentially imprison Japanese-Americans during World War II and allowed the George W. Bush Administration to detain and torture folks without charges, lawyers, or trials.

And the Bush “emergency” — that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction — turned out to be a fraud.

In 1976, Congress passed the National Emergencies Act. It was supposed to create some checks and reasonable balance. In fact, it requires it.

The law also says the president must be specific regarding which powers he intends to use and must report to Congress if he intends to expand them. The president is also required to regularly report to the nation what progress is being made. And, by law, Congress must meet every six months to determine if the emergency still exists.

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6 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

In a declared emergency, the president can deploy troops domestically, halt or even seize ships at sea, seize cargo, stop construction projects, shutter entire industries ... the president becomes practically monarchical under these declarations. Even better, those powers need not necessarily be directed at the specific emergency declared; the latitude given is nearly endless.

Thanks to a relatively obscure 1944 law, the president can even try to control electronic communications.

An emergency declaration will likely be met with lawsuits, maybe several. If they make

The real mystery here is why we’re having this spat in the first place. The president could simply claim he’s winning, as he so frequently does about everything else.

The problem is the power vested in the president after such declarations extends far and wide. It isn’t supposed to, but it does, because of Congressional malfeasance.

Oryana works with over 150 vendors within 100 miles.

or seize banks accounts, halt trade with specific countries or companies, and even prevent individuals from being employed or receiving medical treatment.

In the 43 years since that law was passed, Congress has not met a single time to review any emergency declaration of any president.

Not once.

Such emergencies must also expire after one year, unless they are renewed with additional justification. Instead, they are routinely renewed with no justification. We currently have 31 declared emergencies, some going back more than four decades. It’s pretty close to absurd.

Congress intended to create some barriers for presidential emergency powers in 1976, then gave the president even more power with the International Emergency Economic Act of 1977. It allows the president to freeze

it past the initial round, it could be months before the Supreme Court ultimately has to decide. The plaintiffs will have a difficult time convincing the courts they should intervene in a political dispute. At the same time, Trump might have a hard time convincing the courts an emergency actually exists at the border.

The real mystery here is why we’re having this spat in the first place. The president could simply claim he’s winning, as he so frequently does about everything else.

Illegal immigration is already down, a trend that started around 2010 and has continued.

Caravans aside, there is no avalanche of humanity crashing through the border. Trump could claim the combination of his policies, tough talk, and a strong economy with low unemployment are solving the border crisis.

It’s a spin his talkers should have adopted early in the debate. He could have accepted a compromise that included $2 billion for his wall and billions more for technology upgrades and expansion, and significant increases in the number of border patrol personnel. The votes were already there. Trump could have claimed, with justification, that he promised increased border security, and we’re getting increased border security.

Instead, he’s trapped by the magical wall conjured up by his campaign staff, now a $57 million-per-mile fence of steel slats. If the military gets involved due to an emergency declaration, it’s a pretty good bet it will cost three times as much and take three times as long to complete.

Trump is not likely to get full funding for his 100-mile wall from the U.S. House. So we’ll either have another shutdown, he’ll declare an emergency, or he’ll accept a reasonable “down payment” and declare victory.

Trump has already won the battle for border security, wall or no wall. He should just say so and move along.

Crime & Rescue TAX CLERK CHARGED State police and the Michigan Attorney General allege that a former Michigan Department of Treasury clerk shuffled around money, forged tax returns, and signed checks over to her own account in order to siphon tens of thousands from state coffers.

Cheryl Anne Hall, 63, of Traverse City faces a 10-count indictment that includes charges of embezzlement by a public official of between $50,000 and $100,000, identity theft, making a false statement on a tax return, and larceny by conversion.

The charges stem from a two-year investigation that followed a tip from a taxpayer who noticed payment discrepancies. As a clerk in the Traverse City office, Hall took payments from taxpayers and had access to a computer system through which she could transfer money between taxpayer accounts.

Anyone who submitted tax returns to the Traverse City office and thinks they might have been a victim should call the Cadillac state police post at (231) 779-6040.

SERIAL SHOPLIFTER CHARGED A suspect — who has seven prior shoplifting convictions, three theft convictions, and who is currently on bond on a retail fraud charge in Leelanau County — faces a felony shoplifting charge in Grand Traverse County.

Joseph Lee Raphael, 48, faces a charge of first-degree retail fraud as a three-time habitual offender. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies investigated after a JCPenney employee watched as Raphael put several items worth $1,090 into a shopping cart, covered them with a coat and attempted to walk out of the store Dec. 31, according to the charge. The employee confronted Raphael, who agreed to return to the store then fled on foot.

COUPLE SAVED FROM GAS-FILLED HOME A woman called for help after a carbon monoxide alarm sounded, and she couldn’t revive her husband.

State police responded to a home in Otsego County’s Bagley Township at 4:30am Jan. 29, where a 60-year-old man was overcome by fumes.

When troopers arrived, they noticed a strong odor of propane outside the home. The 58-yearold woman who had called 911 was lethargic and having difficulty standing. They immediately got the woman outside to some fresh air.

The troopers then went back into the gasfilled home to retrieve the husband, who was in a back bedroom. They found the man in bed and unable to move. They carried him outside to fresh air.

Once outside, the man was able to communicate. He and his wife were taken to Otsego Memorial Hospital. The Otsego Fire Department inspected the house and confirmed that there was a gas leak.

by patrick sullivan psullivan@northernexpress.com

THREE INJURED IN TWO-BUICK CRASH Three people were injured when two Buicks crashed in an intersection in Leelanau County.

Deputies said a 27-year-old Honor man was headed north in a 1997 Buick on South Plowman Road when he entered into the intersection of M-72, driving into the path of an eastbound 1996 Buick driven by a 19-year-old Honor man.

The broadside crash pushed the first car into a utility pole; both drivers suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries; a female passenger in the first car suffered minor injuries. Everyone was taken to Munson Medical Center. The crash happened at 6:50am Jan. 29.

MAN IN HIGHWAY STRUCK Michigan State Police are trying to figure out what a Cheboygan man was doing lying in a highway before he was struck by at least two passing motorists.

Cheboygan County Sheriff’s deputies asked state police to take over the investigation after they were called to the crash scene on US-23 at 8:45pm Jan. 26 and discovered the deceased man, a resident of Cheboygan who was identified as a 58-year-old David Harbert.

Police closed the highway between Resta-while Road and Cordwood Road while they investigated; they attempted to determine why Harbert stopped his vehicle and got out onto the highway. Police said there was “some evidence” of alcohol use in Harbert’s vehicle; investigators found no indication that the two drivers who struck him (and stayed at the scene to cooperate) had been drinking.

There was evidence that a third vehicle might have struck Harbert. Anyone with information should call the state police Gaylord dispatch at (989) 732-5141.

PARTY ASSAULT REPOERTED Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s deputies are investigating after a woman said she was raped at a party.

The 21-year-old told police she attended a party “full of kids” in Garfield Township the night of Jan. 25, and at some point, passed out after taking a Xanax and getting drunk, said Lt. Chris Barsheff. She said that when she woke up, someone was having sex with her; she told deputies that she told the person to stop, and he did not.

The Traverse City woman called police late Saturday morning. A deputy took the woman to Munson Medical Center for a rape exam.

Investigators were attempting to learn the identity of the suspect.

EMPLOYEE MAKES THREATS A man was hospitalized after he made threats against his Cadillac-based employer.

Cadillac Police received a call at 7:10am Jan. 31 about threats made against employees at Avon Automotive. Officers checked the area and secured the building.

Police then went to check on the suspect, a 37-year-old Avon employee who lives in Manton.

They made contact with the man at his home and took him to Munson Cadillac for an evaluation.

MAN KILLED IN SNOWY CRASH A 48-year-old South Boardman man, who was a passenger in a pickup truck, died in a crash with a semi.

Terry Lee Duncan was killed in a crash that occurred amid a severe winter storm late morning Jan. 28 on US-131 in Fife Lake.

Grand Traverse Sheriff’s deputies said the driver of the pickup, who suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries, lost control and spun into the path of an oncoming semi. The semi driver was not injured.

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Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 7

SEE YA!

surprised by who’s reading this right now?

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NortherN express readers: Have a median income above $86,500 an incredible 92 percent of express readers have purchased food, wine, or products based on an ad they saw on our pages For advertising information contact: info@northernexpress.com

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N O R T H E R N

bY Mark Pontoni

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Back in 2008, I moved to northern Michigan to take a teaching job. Well, actually, I moved to northern Michigan so I could live with my new wife, who had been teaching in Petoskey for several years. The teaching job was a bonus. Now, just over 10 years later, I’m moving back downstate for a different teaching job … and the not-sonew wife is coming with me.

As such, after several years, this is my final column in Northern Express. The final few boxes will be packed by the time this column is printed, so I believe it is appropriate for me to reflect on what I learned by living in northern Michigan.

surprised by who’s reading this right now? expres s

NortherN express readers:

Have a median income above $86,500 an incredible 92 percent of express readers have purchased food, wine, or products based on an ad they saw on our pages For advertising information contact: info@northernexpress.com

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As a progressive in an area dominated by many who find my views odd at best, and reprehensible at worst, I learned not to take every insult, snub, death threat, and attack personally. This did not come easy. When I first started writing, I made every effort to engage in dialogue with every person who

As my great-grandmother and grandmother passed, my mother seemed poised to assume her rightful place as matriarch. But then came the ’60s and the ’70s. Second-generation Italian-Americans were so far removed from the life my mother lived that my mother never got to wear the crown she had waited so long to wear. Rebellion, change, and challenges to authority were the new playbook, and our country was far better because of it.

For my mother, however, it was a source of despair and bitterness.

Like today’s good ol’ boy wannabes, my mother spent most of her middle-age years angry at things that were far beyond her abilities to alter. The country is changing … and for the better.

As a progressive in an area dominated by many who find my views odd at best, and reprehensible at worst, I learned not to take every insult, snub, death threat, and attack personally.

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reached out to me in disagreement. I used to respect the process by which folks who disagreed could at least talk with each other in the hope of finding some understanding.

I realized I lived and worked in towns where the “good ol’ boys” had dominated politics for many years. And I learned to respect many of these men because they were solid advocates for what they believed was good for northern Michigan. Jack Waldvogel of Petoskey comes to mind as a man with whom I often disagreed. In the couple of times we interacted, I never once doubted his sincerity and confidence in what he believed. This was one man among many who had great hopes for our region and for our country, and that was worthy of my respect.

But look how far we have fallen during the last 10 years. I’d love to name names, but I can’t really see the point in adding to the woes of those who can’t hold a candle to men like Waldvogel. These men (and women) no longer have great hopes for our region.

All they have left are fears. The country is changing in many ways: demographically, ideologically, and politically. All of these changes are threats to their reactionary lifestyles, and there is no hope they can reverse the good things happening all around them. So now they’re just afraid.

This situation reminds me a lot of how I thought about my mother as she raised her family in an America that was very new to her. She was born in this country to Italian immigrants. Her mother and her grandmother were the prototypical Italian matriarchs. These two women, who wouldn’t reach nine feet if you stacked them on top of each other, ruled the family in the traditional way. When they issued their

8 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

edicts, no one even thought of questioning them. All decisions about dating, school, work, clothing, food, holidays, etc. were under their aegis.

We decided that a person of color was worthy of leading the country. Twice.

We decided that people had the right to marry whomever they loved, regardless of what it might say in Leviticus. We have resoundingly rejected the notion that the National Rifle Association is the fourth branch of government. All of these changes are good for us, both now and going forward … except of course for the racists and haters that make up Trump’s “base.” As it begins to sink in to them that making America really great is the exact opposite of what they believe it to be, their hope of stewarding the next generation has disappeared. And now they’re afraid and bitter.

One final note. After I announced that I was leaving my job here in the Great White North for an opportunity downstate, I received many letters from current and former students and their parents. There was genuine disappointment that someone who had made critical thinking an integral part of their daily lives was leaving. They wanted to know who to blame. It would be easy to blame the Trump supporters who were challenged and embarrassed by my columns. After all, they were the ones who tried to make my life miserable by attacking me, threatening me, and trying to get me fired. But don’t blame them; they are simply angry, bitter folks who know their world is changing far beyond their capacity to understand and accept it.

Blame those instead who had the authority and were in positions to stand up to them and defend the First Amendment but lacked the spine to do so. Blame them.

You can read more of Mark Pontoni’s thoughts on education, politics, sports, and family at www.thegrumblings.com.

Fashion Foibles -- Because white shoes are so distracting when you’re lining up your putt? According to Time magazine, Nike will be mowing over the competition with its new Air Max 1 golf shoes, which feature uppers covered with a green material that resembles grass. Matching green laces will further disguise your dogs as you play a round, but lest you think you’ll disappear altogether, fear not: The trademark Nike swoosh on the sides is bright white. The sneakers, yet to be released, are expected to retail for $140.

-- Just when you thought there was nothing new under the blue jeans sun: A Ukrainian designer is asking $377 for a pair of jeans that have one fitted leg and one flared leg. Ksenia Schnaider, who calls her design the Asymmetric Jean, told DazedDigital.com: “It’s good to get people talking, and they’re definitely going to make people turn their heads as you walk by!”

People With(out) Issues Rachel Childs, 29, of Pearland, Texas, is not autistic and doesn’t have a twin autistic sister, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Nevertheless, she hired a caregiver for her (fake) twin sister who is (not) autistic. The elaborate plot, which played out in early January, involved the caregiver picking up the “twin” at Childs’ house and taking her to the caregiver’s home, where he was hired to care for her overnight. But when Childs’ “twin” exhibited sexual conduct toward the caregiver, he became suspicious and investigated Childs, then contacted police. Childs was charged with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit assault and indecent exposure.

Precocious -- Employees of John J. Murphy Elementary School in Round Lake Park, Illinois, were surprised on Jan. 9 when a car drove into the drop-off lane and an 11-yearold student exited the driver’s seat. Witnesses alerted police, who issued an arrest warrant for the front-seat passenger, 31-year-old Khafilu M. Oshodi of Round Lake, for two counts of child endangerment; a 9-yearold was riding in the back seat. Police Chief George Filenko told the Lake County NewsSun the situation could have “resulted in any number of tragic scenarios.” The children have been placed with other relatives, and police are still looking for Oshodi.

-- Alijah Hernandez of Houston is a skilled barber in her father’s shop, reported KTRKTV on Jan. 17 -- which wouldn’t ordinarily be newsworthy. But Alijah is only 7 years old.

Her dad, Franky, says she’s been watching him since she was a toddler and started perfecting her skills three years ago. For her part, Alijah says cutting hair comes naturally to her; she practices on friends and family (with her dad supervising) and has already faced off in barber competitions across Texas.

What’s That up in the Sky? -- The rare super blood wolf moon of Jan. 20 was so captivating to some skywatchers on Florida’s Ponte Vedra Beach, that they didn’t notice when the tide rolled in and waterlogged their Honda CRV. The St. Johns County Sheriff ’s Office told News4Jax the occupants were able to get out of the car and move to safety, although the vehicle itself wasn’t recovered until the next day. A photo showed water up to the windshield on the front end.

-- Meanwhile, in West Palm Beach, Florida, two unnamed 24-year-olds chose to view the Jan. 20 eclipse by lying prone in

the middle of a dark road near the Apoxee Wilderness Trail. Which would have worked out fine, except around 11:30 p.m. a West Palm Beach police officer patrolling the area ran over the pair. Fortunately, reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel, he was cruising at just 5 mph, and the human speed bumps sustained only non-life-threatening injuries.

The officer was put on paid administrative leave while the incident was investigated.

Terrifying Technology Laura Lyons of Orinda, California, was in her kitchen on the afternoon of Jan. 20 when a loud alert noise blared in the living room, followed by a detailed warning from “Civil Defense” that intercontinental ballistic missiles were on their way from North Korea to Los Angeles, Chicago and Ohio. Lyons told the San Jose Mercury News the message warned residents they had three hours to evacuate. As she and her husband absorbed the news, they realized it had come from their Nest security camera -- not from the TV, where the RamsSaints game was proceeding as normal, and news channels were not reporting anything unusual. “It was five minutes of sheer terror,” she said. The Lyonses called 911 and then Nest, where a supervisor told them they had been victims of a “third-party hack” on their camera and speakers.

Self-Medicating When a 33-year-old unnamed Irish man was admitted to a Dublin hospital with swelling in his right forearm and a rash, he surprised the attending physician with the “cure” he had been using for his back pain.

For a year and a half, reported Canoe.com on Jan. 16, the man had been injecting his own semen into his right forearm. X-rays revealed a pool of the fluid under his skin, which had become infected. “He had devised this ‘cure’ independent of any medical advice,” noted Dr. Lisa Dunne in the Irish Medical Journal.

He also told Dr. Dunne that his back pain had worsened after lifting a heavy metal object.

Latest Religious Messages British retailer Marks & Spencer is in hot water with Muslims who claim the store’s brand of toilet paper is embossed with the Arabic symbol for the word “God.” An unnamed man posted a video to social media displaying a roll of M&S Aloe Vera 3-ply tissue and urging his Muslim brothers and sisters to avoid buying it or boycott the store altogether. Metro News reports that in response, Marks & Spencer says the symbol is of an aloe vera leaf: “The motif on the aloe vera toilet tissue, which we have been selling for over five years, is categorically of an aloe vera leaf, and we have investigated and confirmed this with our suppliers.”

Keep That to Yourself Dennis Palmer, 31, appeared to be guilty of more than TMI on Jan. 10 when police were called to a Walmart in Stuart, Florida.

TCPalm.com reported that Palmer was in the pillow aisle when he was seen exposing and touching himself inappropriately. Palmer told police “he was just itching himself because he has crabs.” But surveillance video recorded Palmer indulging in “rubbing” and activities other than scratching; “this continued for several minutes,” the affidavit stated. When police asked Palmer what he was thinking, he replied that “he wasn’t thinking, but he should have been thinking.” He was jailed for exposure of sexual organs.

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NWS… Where great coNverSatioNS begiN! Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 9

WHAT IF YOU HOLD A GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS MEETING AND NO ONE COMES? A small group of people suffering from gambling disorder in Traverse City are grappling with that question.

By Patrick Sullivan For the handful of people who regularly attend Traverse City’s twice-weekly Gamblers Anonymous meetings, something is amiss: New people rarely show up, and when they do, they almost always drop out after just a meeting or two.

“So many people come for a week or month and then they disappear,” said one GA member who has been a part of the group and resisted gambling for 15 years.

(He asked to remain completely anonymous for fear that revealing even his first name might put his anonymity at risk.) “You know, we have casinos all around us. And I know ’em all, because I’ve been there. And yet we only have from three to five or six people, maybe, on a regular basis.”

George, let’s call him, said he’s baffled why more people aren’t seeking help, because he suspects that given all of the opportunities to gamble in northern Michigan, it’s causing trouble in a lot of people’s lives.

“We’ve had people come in here and express themselves, they read the 20 questions [to identify problem gambling], they might answer yes to 17 out of 20, and they’re here for a few weeks. Maybe they think they’re cured, I don’t know,” he said.

“And you never see them again.”

“THEY NEVER STICK AROUND” George first sought help for gambling addiction at the insistence of his brother in October 2002. In the first months, he would attend GA meetings, but he still gambled.

That’s not uncommon for people who are first trying to quit.

But George said he resolved to actually

stop gambling in March 2004, and since then he’s stuck with GA, going to meetings every week, even after he moved to take a teaching job. George has since moved back to Traverse City, and he said he’s living a happy life. Nevertheless, after all these years, he said he needs to keep going to meetings in order to control his addiction. Nowadays, he finds satisfaction in helping others who are new to GA. Trouble is, new faces are rare.

At a recent Monday meeting at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, there were just two in-person attendees: George and a reporter. One more person joined through a video call.

Even the number of regular attendees cited by George overstates the number of people who actually go to GA in Traverse City. Of the handful of people at the meetings, typically two or three of them video call from elsewhere. Two of them call from the U.K., where they met George at meetings over there. Another one calls from a remote town in northern Canada that doesn’t have its own GA meetings. Out of desperation, a woman there learned about the Traverse City meeting on a gambling-addiction message board and contacted George.

Locally, that just leaves two or three people who regularly attend meetings.

“We’ve had at least hundreds of people go through this program, but they never stick around. Why is that?” George asked.

“Things aren’t bad enough? They have enough money?”

“THE PHONE NEVER RANG” That George has been in the program and successful for 15 years is a great asset

10 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

for the Traverse City group. It means he can shepherd newcomers and help them watch out for hidden dangers.

Some might seem obvious only once you’ve learned them. For instance, people who are addicted to gambling and trying to stop should not have access to money.

“You can’t have money,” George said.

“You just can’t. I had somebody manage my money for the first couple of years.”

George recalls that in his early years attending GA, there were no seasoned oldtimers with years of non-gambling under their belt to lead the group. It was a group of people who were more or less new, and they helped each other along.

“There wasn’t really any experience around the table; people were in and out, in and out, in and out,” he said.

If there were few people around the table then, it seems to George, there are even fewer today.

It’s a mystery why more people are not seeking treatment for gambling addiction, said Christopher Hindbaugh, executive director of Addiction Treatment Services in Traverse City.

“Gambling addiction is a bit of a mystery for us as well,” Hindbaugh said in an email.

“A couple of years ago the state made a big push to get more therapists certified, set up a hotline and referral process, etc., but alas, the phone never rang. We rarely get a call/ email about gambling.”

Nonetheless, Hindbaugh said, he knows there are people who struggle with gambling, because it often comes up during therapy with substance abuse counsellors.

“In other words, it is often a co-occurring concern, but people rarely seek treatment

just for gambling issues here,” he said.

Susan Kramer, behavioral health manager at Munson Medical Center, said people rarely seek gambling addiction treatment at the hospital, but when they do, Munson has two specialists who can offer outpatient therapy.

“It kind of ebbs and flows,” Kramer said.

“I would not say that it’s a common request, and it probably is very underreported and underserved.”

It’s not just Traverse City that seems to underachieve when it comes to GA attendance. George said he remembers that a decade ago, there used to be weekly GA meetings in Gaylord and Petoskey. Those meetings are no more.

“I JUST WANT TO GAMBLE” Some people use GA to get through rough patches. They attend when they’ve run out of money, and they bide their time until they can gamble again, George said.

He recalls one woman who openly discussed how she planned to leave the program and gamble again once she was back on her feet.

“I know of one person who said, ‘I just want to gamble. I love it so much, but I just can’t right now. So I’ll come to GA,” he said.

Although it might seem counterproductive, that attitude is OK and within the rules of GA. People who attend meetings, then falter and gamble are welcomed back. That’s where George was in his first 18 months in GA, though for him it wasn’t a premeditated plan to use the program as a break.

“People helped me out. I mean, the first year and a half, I was really just floating around,” George said.

forward,” she said.

George can also recall the faces of two people whom he’s gotten to know through GA who left the program, returned to gambling, spun out of control, and took their own lives.

Despite all of this, George isn’t opposed to gambling, per se. He understands that for some people, it’s an entertaining activity that does not become all-consuming, that doesn’t undermine the fabric of their being.

“I’m not a person waving banners about it, but I know the destruction,” he said. “Look. it’s a pleasurable thing to do, and I know there are a lot of people out there who enjoy going to the casino, and they go there with maybe their 30 bucks, and that’s all they spend.”

STAKES COULDN’T BE HIGHER At a more well-attended Traverse City GA meeting, on a Thursday in December, the group consisted of three in-person attendees including George (and a reporter) and three more who attended remotely via video.

Gamblers Anonymous began decades ago in California when two gambling addicts met by chance, found solace in discussing their problems with one another, and realized that a program based on the 12 steps from Alcoholics Anonymous could help them.

Their idea was featured in a newspaper and on television news, and the first GA meeting took place in September 1957 in Los Angeles.

At that December meeting in Traverse City, the group was discussing “step nine,” which is the step that calls for making amends to those people who have been wronged.

That led to some heavy discussion.

George led the talk. When he tells his

story, you can tell that it’s beaten a well-worn trail through its repeated telling over the years.

He recalled confessing to his mother that he had stolen from her. He recounted how he apologized to his brother. He lamented how, at his worst, his gambling had taken away his ability to be a good teacher, but that tracking down and making amends to old students had never seemed appropriate.

“When I was teaching school, I’d get out of school about four o’clock or so, and obviously head to the casino,” George said. “I might be there all night. I might sleep in my car because it was too stormy. I always had an extra set of clothing so that I could get up, you know, wherever I was at, and go back to teaching at 6:30 or 7 in the morning. That’s the kind of life I had those last few years of my teaching career. And it wasn’t pretty.”

In some circumstances, amends may be inappropriate. In others, they are impossible.

Barbara, not her real name, who calls in from Canada, said she cannot apologize to the people she wants to apologize to most — her son and daughter-in-law.

Because Barbara lives hours from the nearest casino, she turned to online gambling in 2005. By 2007, she had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her employer. She decided to confess and was charged with a crime and sent to jail.

While Barbara’s case was pending, she started a GA group in her small town, and numerous people came, looking for help.

Once her case hit the local newspaper, however, people stopped coming to her GA meetings. They didn’t want to be associated with GA for practical reasons, she said.

“Some of the members that were coming to those meetings were doing the same things I had done, but they hadn’t come

A SYSTEM WORKED UNTIL IT DIDN’T Amid criminal charges, jail, and publicity, a decade ago Barbara was forced to get clean without the help of GA, through therapy and commitment to staying away from betting.

And that worked.

Until it didn’t.

When Barbara recently relapsed, the episode almost ended in suicide.

She survived, but felt she couldn’t continue resisting the urge to gamble; she felt she needed the community of a GA group. That’s when she found the Traverse City GA group.

At the meeting in December, over an iPhone, Barbara cried as she described how gambling had ruined her relationship with her son, under whose name she’d taken out a credit card.

“You know, I know I have to make further amends to my son and his wife, but at this point, with the criminal charges and such, I just don’t think it’s the right time to try to approach them,” she said. “And as far as the other family members on my husband’s side, none of them want to have anything to do with me, see me or talk to me. … The ones that hurt the most and the ones that I know I really need to talk to are my son and his wife, and I just don’t think that’s ever going to be a possibility. So, step nine, I struggle with.”

George advised her that it’s possible that if enough time passes, one day she might be able to repair some of her relationships.

The other in-person member of the group, whom we’ll call Frank, said he was able to repair his relationship with his wife, but not with some of the rest of his family.

“I am blessed enough to have wife that is very forgiving and still with me,” Frank said.

“I’ve got two boys who are actually proud of me for taking full ownership and continuing to move forward and not gambling since 2012.”

Frank noted, though, that for a gambling addict, sometimes amends doesn’t mean saying sorry. Sometimes it means paying back large sums of money, and that can be a struggle.

“The financial to me isn’t near as obtainable as the trust and stuff that I broke with my wife and my friends and family and employer,” Frank said.

He said some people in his wife’s family have come to believe that he is a bad person, and they told him they would never forgive him. He doesn’t see himself as a bad person; he sees himself as a good person who did some bad things.

“You can’t force people to forgive you,” Frank said. “You can obviously show them that you are a changed person. You can apologize until you’re blue in the face. But you can’t control what they do. We can only control what we do.”

Today, Frank said he is completely committed to remaining gambling free, to the point that he’ll remove his names from door prizes at events.

“NOTHING WAS GOING TO STOP ME” One advantage a gambling addict has over an alcoholic or drug abuser is that while the condition can take a horrible financial, emotional, and psychological toll, it doesn’t directly affect the body.

“It’s that hidden or unseen addiction,” Frank said. “Looking at somebody, you can see if they’re drunk. A lot of times you can tell if they’re on drugs. But a gambling addict, you can’t tell.”

That makes it easier to hide.

Some casinos — including in northern Michigan — allow problem players to ban themselves from their gambling floors.

Those bans used to be for life, said Frank, who used to work at a casino. Now they’re

for six months.

The bans typically don’t prevent you from going to the casino to gamble, however.

What it means, in general, is that you will not be able to win.

“If you go up, you put a [player’s club] card in, you won’t get points. If you win, they will basically say, ‘You’re not going to get paid that jackpot,’” Frank said. “They can threaten you with trespass. But do they sit there and watch every person coming and going? No.” Another factor that makes banning yourself from a casino ineffective is that there’s always another casino a little further down the road.

“During my gambling days, I would travel the countryside,” George said. “Some people ban themselves from casinos, and I never did. Because if I was going to the U.P., I knew all the casinos there. I knew all the casinos south of here. I knew the Mt. Pleasant casino and Detroit. I’m a compulsive gambler, so I’d travel 50 or 100 miles to gamble. There was nothing that was going to stop me from gambling. Snowstorms. Nothing.”

Frank said he believes that easy access to gambling also makes it harder for some people who have joined GA to keep going to meetings.

“Personally, I think one of the other issues that prevents people from sticking with it is they may come and attended a meeting or two, and then they end up going back to the casino, and they are too proud to come back in here and say, “Hey, I stumbled,” and I think part of that’s pride,” he said. “And we’re not here to judge anybody. We’re here to support one another.”

GAMBLING DISORDER HOTLINE Messages seeking comment about policies or training to help identify problem gamblers went unreturned from the three casinos in the region, Odawa Casino, Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel, and Little River Casino Resort.

All three casinos have a “Responsible Gaming” link at the bottom of their home pages. That link leads to information about signs of gambling addiction, and it offers a number to call to seek help.

That phone number rings into an office in Detroit managed by Lori Mello, program manager for the Michigan Gambling Treatment and Prevention Program.

The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by counsellors who are at least masters-level clinicians trained specifically in treating gambling disorder.

The first thing a counselor might do for someone who is struggling with a gambling disorder — a term Mello said has taken over for addiction in the psychiatric field — is not to send the person to a GA meeting, but rather, to connect them with a counsellor in their area for professional one-on-one treatment.

The hotline does maintain a list of GA meetings across the state, but Mello said often, there isn’t one near a caller’s location.

“There are lots of pockets in the state where there are no meetings at all,” Mello said. “There’s a real dearth [in GA programs in Michigan]. It’s not like with AA or NA.” Gambling disorder is so difficult to treat, Mello said, in part because it is so misunderstood. A gambling problem comes with a stigma that drug and alcohol addictions no longer carry. Mello said people in the gambling treatment world see the field as about three decades behind substance abuse treatment.

“When you’re addicted to gambling, there’s a sense that something’s wrong with you,” Mello said. “Or people say, ‘Well, that’s ridiculous. Just stop going to the casino then.’”

To reach Michigan Problem Gambling Helpline, call (800) 270-7117.

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 11

Sturgeon Fishing: The Other Winter Sport

By Anna Faller Lake sturgeon, the prehistoric bottomdwelling fish that roams only a select few Midwestern waters, is a threatened species.

The sheer quantity of eggs an adult lake sturgeon carries makes the fish an especially attractive target for poachers; beyond its white meat, its roe reaps a pretty penny on the black market — up to $100 an ounce.

Nevertheless, the first Saturday in February draws hundreds of anglers to Cheboygan’s Black Lake in hopes of capturing one of these bottom-feeding behemoths. The question: If Lake sturgeon are such a vulnerable species, why does a fishing season for them even exist?

Enter Brenda Archambo. Archambo is the president of the Black Lake chapter of Sturgeon for Tomorrow, a nonprofit organization committed to the species’ preservation.

“In 1999,” she said, “the state [of Michigan] proposed a ban on all sturgeon harvest in the name of rehabilitation.” But, for residents of Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties, sturgeon fishing isn’t just leisure; it’s part of their lifestyle, and they wanted no part of any ban.

“We advocated strongly that [sturgeon season] was something that was deeply entrenched in our local culture,” said Archambo. “So, the anglers rose up and said, ‘In order to save our sport, we will [guard] the river [when sturgeon spawn] in springtime to [deter poaching] so that the population can continue to grow.’ [As a result], the state basically said, ‘We will continue to give you a season, but it will be a very minimal harvest.’”

Sturgeon Saturday, Super Bowl Sunday Black Lake spearing season is officially slated to start the first Saturday in February

and run until the following Wednesday.

But it very rarely lasts that long. “The season doesn’t typically last more than an hour or two, or at most, maybe one or two days,” said Andy Stireman, a Grand Traverse local and veteran angler. This is because the DNR places strict limitations on the number of Lake sturgeon harvested annually, which falls somewhere between 5 and 7 per year. “[The Black Lake sturgeon season] is a real anomaly,” Archambo said. “We must have a sustaining population in order to have a harvest. So, your interest — the over and above — is where the harvest comes in, about 1.2 percent, based on our population estimates.”

The 2019 Sturgeon season officially opens at 8:00am Feb. 2. To partake in sturgeon spearing, anglers need only to present a valid fishing license. Any angler intending to fish for Sturgeon must, however, be registered with the DNR in order to participate, and he or she must report any successful harvest to avoid going over quota.

“Typically, you register the Friday before,” said Stireman. “You show [the DNR] your fishing license and your Sturgeon permit (which is of no extra cost to the angler), and then you get flags. You have to tie these big, orange flags to your [fishing] shanty so they know sturgeon fisherman are in that shanty.” In order to maintain the year’s limit, any sturgeon harvested must be registered on-site: “Most of these fish are tagged,” said Stireman, “so after you pull [the Sturgeon] in, [the DNR] can tell you its gender, how old it is, where it was when it was tagged, all kinds of information. If they go a fish or two over, it can affect the quota for the following year.”

12 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

Hook, Line, and … Spear?

As if Sturgeon season isn’t anomalous enough, the means of catching one is almost as prehistoric as the species itself. “Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old,” said Stireman. “The bigger the fish, the older the fish.” Adult Sturgeon often weigh in at over 100 lbs. For a creature of this size, the typical line-and-reel set-up simply won’t suffice, and catching sturgeon that way is often accidental. Instead, Sturgeon anglers prefer spears. And they’re substantial. “They have 10 tines [in all], and each tine is a finger’s width,” Stireman said.

Of course, a spear of that size is far too large for anglers to lift. Instead, they rely on their shanties to do the dirty work. “When people think about spearing sturgeon, they think about wielding [the spear] and then shoving it down in the water,” said Carl Rogers, an angler from Traverse City. “But that’s not how it looks at all. There’s a wooden frame around the hole [hole in the ice], with a nail sticking out of it. That’s what the spear hangs on.”

If — and that’s a big if —a sturgeon happens to swim by, anglers are poised to let gravity do the heavy lifting. “You lift [the spear] up, aim it, and just push it,” said Stireman, “and if you do it right, it will pin the fish to the bottom of the lake.”

But for most anglers, actually spearing a sturgeon is secondary. Instead, the season is much more about celebrating the spoils of northern Michigan. “Of course, catching one would be the highlight, but it’s not really expected,” Rogers said. “It’s a reason to get away and do something in the wintertime and spend a couple of nights with your friends. Of all the times we went up there,

only one of us has seen [a sturgeon], and he missed [spearing] it.”

Black Lake Shivaree: The Season’s Hottest Shindig The real festivities, however, start after fishing is finished. Every year, the Sturgeon for Tomorrow group hosts the annual Black Lake Sturgeon Shivaree to celebrate the season. Dating back to the 1960s, the Shivaree is a weekend-long sturgeon festival, complete with winter activities and contests, a prize raffle, and even an entertainment tent pitched on Black Lake. “You walk out [to the shanty] from the access area to the lake,” said Rogers, “and they have music, food, beer, and dancing. Last time I was there, they had the largest sturgeon caught on the bench of a picnic table. It was pretty much the length of the picnic table, so people crowd around and take pictures.”

Off the ice, the soiree only snowballs. “If [fishing] ends early, you’re stuck up there in the middle of nowhere,” said Rogers, “so everyone eats and goes to bars. Some of the guys will even bring their sturgeon inside the bars. I have a video of a guy who brought his in, and the bar was ready for him with a bunch of snow on this big tray. Even nonfisherman and kids would go up to touch it.

The whole culture of sturgeon season in that area is just huge.”

Without the sturgeon season, there would simply wouldn’t be a season to celebrate. “How are we going to have our Sturgeon festival and break cabin fever if we don’t have a [sturgeon fishing] season?” said Archambo. “If you have no interaction with them , it’s hard to have a relationship.

It’s been quite a saga.”

Chef’s notes a local chef’s recipe we love, brought to you by fustini’s

The inspiration for this dish came on a walk in the woods a couple years ago. I was thinking about fall wild game dishes and knew I wanted to use elk.

Juniper grows all over the woods up here, and it’s a natural pair with game. I thought, Why not smoke the elk over juniper branches and berries? The crispy kale mimics the sound and texture of fall leaves underfoot. We round the dish out with an amazing hash of redskin potatoes, house-made chorizo sausage, onions and jalapeño. We add a butternut squash purée for a creamy texture and sweet balance to the spicy hash and a huckleberry red wine sauce to tie all the components together. A drizzle of Fustini’s Chipotle Olive Oil & Fustini’s Espresso Bean Vinegar offers a cohesive, sweet and sour yet slightly bitter touch that harmonizes very well with the smoky elk and killer hash. — Chef Jim Morse, The Boathouse

Juniper-Smoked Elk & Hash chef jim morse, the boathouse 8 bones Frenched elk rack (cut into two bone chops) 2 feet juniper branches, with berries (hickory or fruit wood will also work) • 1 lb. redskin potatoes, iced • ½ lb. chorizo sausage, cooked and crumbled • ¼ c. yellow onions, diced • 2 tbsp. jalapeño, iced • 1 lb., butternut squash, peeled an diced • 4 oz. cream • A few rasps or pinches fresg nutmeg • 1 bunch kale leaves, washed and stemmed • 1 oz. Fustini’s Arbequina Olive Oil • ¼ cup huckleberries or blueberries • 2 c. red wine • 2 c. beef stock • Fustini’s Chipotle Olive Oil to taste • Fustini’s Espresso Bean Vinegar to taste • kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste • •

Blissfest Music Organization Presents

Directions 1. Smoke the elk racks over indirect heat to absorb the flavor but not cook the meat. Set aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

2. Toss washed kale leaves in Fustini’s Arbequina Olive Oil. Sprinkle with salt, place on a sheet pan with a roasting rack and dry in an oven on the lowest setting for about an hour, or until crispy and crunchy.

3. Meanwhile, dice the potatoes, then toss with Fustini’s Chipotle Olive Oil and roast in oven on sheet pan until almost fully cooked and golden brown.

4. Cover the diced squash with cream, nutmeg, and a pinch of pepper. Simmer until squash is tender, and then purée in blender with cream until smooth. Keep warm.

5. For the sauce, combine the red wine and beef stock and reduce to about ½ cup. Add the huckleberries and reheat.

6. In a sauté pan, add another splash of Fustini’s Chipotle Olive Oil, sauté potatoes over medium heat until golden brown and crispy. Add the onions, jalapeño and chorizo and sauté another few minutes until the onions and peppers are cooked and the potatoes have absorbed that chorizo-chipotle goodness.

7. Finish the elk on the grill to your desired doneness — medium rare or medium recommended — let rest, then slice in half and serve on plates drizzled with Fustini’s Chipotle Olive Oil and Fustini’s Espresso Bean Vinegar.

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Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 13

By Todd VanSickle The 9mm pistol fit in my hands like a puzzle piece, making it easier to fire nine shots in about 30 seconds. The paper target with a large red diamond in the middle — 10 feet away — was riddled with holes, only a couple of shots landing close to where I was aiming.

After the first round of shooting, my instructor, Elsie Cunningham, asked if I would like to move the target.

“For the Michigan [Concealed Pistol License] it’s 21 feet,” she said of one of the requirements in the three hours of training at a gun range for obtaining a CPL. “Twentyone feet or less is home-defense or selfdefense with a firearm. Anything past that is considered murder.”

“Let’s go for murder,” I suggested, as I reloaded the gun’s clip.

“Okay,” Cunningham said. “We’ll live on the edge and put you at 22 feet.”

I should have kept it at 10 feet, because my shots became even more sporadic. But this just encouraged me to purchase another box of bullets and spend more time at the gun range, trying to improve my accuracy.

It didn’t improve much.

It was my first time at Shooters, an indoor gun and archery range located on the south side of Traverse City. Shooters offers customers the opportunity to rent firearms ranging from Glocks to AR 15s and shoot them on-site.

The shooting range — which also includes a sports store — has been open since 2011 and, like many other ranges, has only grown in popularity. Across northern Michigan, new ranges are popping up and old ones are seeing improvements.

In 2016, Michigan ranked fourth in the nation for number of user days spent at shooting ranges — both public and private, according to Lori Burford, Department of Natural Resources shooting range specialist.

Cunningham, a 24-year-old law enforcement student at Northwestern Michigan College, has worked at Shooters for about a year and a half. She loves her job because she gets to see all sorts of guns. She wore blue jeans with a snug, red cotton T-shirt emblazoned with the United States Marines logo, perhaps an homage to her father, a former marine, and her fiancé, who is currently serving. On her necklace were several silver charms, including a pair of tiny handcuffs, and in her right nostril she sported a golden stud piercing. She smiles a lot and becomes animated when she talks about her passion for firearms.

She has had her CPL since she turned 21 years old, the minimum age, and carries a Smith & Wesson M&P .45 Shield whenever she can.

“Of course I can’t carry it on campus,” Cunningham said. “That is the beauty of it — I can choose when I want to. I would rather have it and never have to need it, than to need it and never have it.”

Working at a gun store and shooting range, Cunningham sometimes encounters overbearing male egos from customers, she said.

“I know a little bit about a lot,” Cunningham said, downplaying her extensive knowledge of firearms. “I grew up hunting, I grew up fishing.

So this comes natural to me. When people come in with an ego, it’s their loss. I don’t have an ego. I get excited about stuff. I know a lot about firearm safety. … They didn’t hire me because I’m cute — that’s a bonus.”

Shooters is just one of about 383 ranges throughout Michigan, according to the DNR. “That number is always changing,” said Burford. “We don’t always get them up on the website right away.”

The newest range in Grand Traverse County is located on Supply Road, but is currently closed for the winter. The almost $1 million outdoor facility opened in September 2018 and has 12 stations for target shooting — three each, at 10, 25, 50 and 100 yards.

The DNR had a vehicle counter at the site Oct. 18–21. The counter read 102 cars for that

Locked and Loaded for Gun Ranges

Despite larger and louder movements against guns and gun violence, gun ownership in Michigan is on the rise, and with it, lots of new ranges and gunshops. Northern Express sends an amiable (and non-gun-owning) reporter to see what all the fuss is about.

weekend. Between November 11–18, there were 190 vehicles counted.

“Folks want to see some longer distances and some handgun shooting opportunities,” Burford said.

John Hampel is a fourth generation owner of a Traverse City family-run business that has recently spilt into two separate companies — a gun store and a lock business. The company turns 100 years old this year. Currently, Hampel owns the safe and lock shop and hasn’t had anything do with the gun-side of the operation for several years, which recently sold. Hampel said he is not the voice of the gun business; however, he is pro-gun and a NRA supporter.

“I know that gun ranges are popping up and staying in business, because of the right to carry,” Hampel said. “People have less and less places to go shooting. We have more and more people moving up here and no place to shoot. You can’t just go buy 100 acres when you move up here. We need more gun ranges.”

According to a Jan. 2, 2019, Michigan State Police report, 644,607 CPL applications were approved throughout the state, including 5,494 In Grand Traverse County; 1,666 in Kalkaska; 1,283 in Leelanau; 2,266 in Emmet; 1,909 in Otsego; 2,594 in Wexford; 1,881 in Antrim and 1,856 in Charlevoix.

Michigan State Police Lieutenant Travis House said ranges offer a safe place for gun enthusiasts to shoot.

“Generally, they’re set in an area that isn’t right on top of residential houses, so some can avoid confrontations with neighbors who use a backyard as a range,” Lieutenant House said.

“The big thing is the safety aspect of it.”

According to the lieutenant, there have been cases in the past where shooters didn’t take the correct precautions when target practicing in their backyard.

“When they don’t have a good berm, bullets can obviously end up on their neighbor’s property,” Lieutenant House said. “Or God forbid, hitting something or someone. That is the nice thing about having a range. They are going to

14 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

take some time to build those berms, so they are strong enough to keep those bullets contained.”

Target practicing in a backyard isn’t “necessarily illegal,” Lieutenant House said. It all depends where the residence is located and what the zoning ordinances are.

“Unless you live in an incorporated area, often times there is not [a law],” he said. “There are laws that prevent hunting within a certain range of a residence, but target practicing is not included in that.”

There are more than 1.25 million target shooters in Michigan, according to a recent report on shooting sports participation, prepared for the National Shooting Sports Foundation by the National Sporting Goods Association.

Hunters must comply to a 450-foot safety zone around buildings, but this does not apply to target shooters, according to the DNR. If a law enforcement officer receives a backyard target shooting complaint, the officer will see if there is an adequate berm in place and if there is a potential for danger.

Lieutenant House said there is a necessity for gun ranges, for both private and government users.

The public is not required to log any time at a gun range to own a firearm, but it is mandatory that the Michigan State Police conduct gun training at least three times a year. The Gaylord post utilizes the Otsego Sportsman’s Club or Camp Grayling. Other police posts either use nearby public or private

ranges, like the Cadillac range, which is only open to law enforcement.

“There are businesses and government agencies that need places to train,” House said.

“On top of that, there are a very large number of people who carry a concealed pistol. Not all of them have access to a backyard that is a safe place to shoot a firearm.”

He also said there is a recreation value to ranges.

“Often times these clubs are not only a place to practice, they will also hold competitions or sanctioned NRA events,” Lieutenant House said.

There are more than 1.25 million target shooters in Michigan, according to a recent report on shooting sports participation, prepared for the National Shooting Sports Foundation by the National Sporting Goods Association.

In a report on the 15-year history of shooting sports participation, the foundation found that, nationally, from 2001 to 2015, the number of people who participate in target shooting increased 28 percent overall and, among women, 64 percent.

“I appreciate the shooting sports because it is one of those avenues that doesn’t matter how old you are, how young you are, or what your physical fitness level is,” Burford said. “It takes focus, discipline and training.”

However, Lieutenant House doesn’t subscribe to the idea that if you build it, they will come.

“If you are thinking, if we build a whole bunch more gun ranges, then a bunch more people will buy guns to go use the gun ranges, that seems opposite of what is happening. It is driven by a need,” he said.

Burford said, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, 2015 was the highest recorded year for firearm sales nationwide.

Don Kline is the owner of Hot Shot Firearm Restoration in Petoskey. He has been doing firearm restoration for the past 10 years, but on Jan. 2, he opened a new expanded store that has been filling a void in the area after

MC Sports closed. His store does not have a gun range, but he does sell firearms and other sporting goods and has an archery simulator.

Kline said politics and “fear mongering” have helped his gun sales the most.

“Politics play a really big part in it,” Kline said. “I love it when we have a Democrat as president, because my sales go through the roof. I don’t believe half of what is on the Internet or what is on Fox News, even though I watch it, but when you have a sitting president running on a platform that they are going to stop gun violence — and I am talking about Obama; he was my best salesperson — sales go up.”

According to a CNBC study using Kensho, Sturm Ruger and American Outdoor Brands, gun sales rise 1.6 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, five days after a mass shooting.

The study looked at the companies’ stock market performance following mass shootings dating back five years.

Cunningham said Shooters’ sales seem to spike at random times and rely more on word of mouth about what firearms are popular. A lot of the store’s gun sales are smaller firearms, like Glocks. She added that customers want something smaller to carry on their person.

When it comes to purchasing guns online, Kline said stores like his are essentials for Internet transfers. As a Federal Firearms License holder, he is able to do a background check and complete the required Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473.

“The everyday Joe can have a gun sent here — they just can’t fill out the paper work,” Kline said. “This goes for every gun, every caliber. … We get everyone from the guy who works at the factory to the guy who owns the factory.”

Kline refers customers to Wildwood

Shooting Range, which also does tactical shooting training.

“They are a couple miles down the road,” Kline said. “They aren’t far from us.”

Kline is contemplating starting his own simulator handgun range that will utilize CO2, rather than bullets.

He said having a gun range nearby is not only beneficial to the economy, but also to the community. As a young boy, he remembers learning how to shoot from his father, who would take him to a .22 shooting range in the basement of a community center in Midland, Michigan.

“Because of the do-gooders, we can’t have that around the upper echelon,” Kline said. “It was a great place for my dad to take me when I was a kid to learn how to shoot a gun in a safe environment.”

In 2015, the DNR was awarded $4 million through the Pittman-Robertson Fund for the expansion and development of shooting ranges. The Supply Road range benefited from the grant and received partial funds for its development.

The Pittman-Robertson Fund comes from an excise tax on firearms and archery equipment that’s used for various projects related to wildlife and conservation, as well as shooting programs.

The federal funds are allocated to each state depending on the number of hunting licenses sold and the amount of public lands available for use. Each year the allocated funds vary, Burford said.

“We are seeing a great increase in the number of firearms being purchased, so what this means is this excise tax is increasing so there are more funds available to each state,” Burford said.

All told, about $7 million over a five-year period has been allocated to Michigan to develop and improve both private and public

shooting ranges, said Burford.

However, the Detroit Free Press reported that in 2017 about 621,000 hunters bought licenses, down 21 percent from 785,000 deer hunters in 1998. That decrease is expected to continue, according to an analysis by Michigan Technological University. Ultimately, the decrease could affect the amount of funds the state will receive in the future from the Pittman-Robertson Fund.

In March 2018, the DNR received another grant from the Pittman-Robertson fund for $1.25 million over a five-year period to provide up to 75 percent of funding for improvements to partner shooting ranges throughout Michigan. Some of the funds have already been awarded to selected ranges in need of updates, including the indoor range at Michigan Tech and Ogemaw Hills Sportsmen Association.

“The use is there, so we just want to make sure we are providing good, safe fun opportunities for people to go out and shoot,” Burford said.

After 100 rounds and two paper targets, I spent a little more than an hour at Shooters indoor gun range, which is about the size of a basketball court, with a mound of shredded tires at one end and brass casings strewn at the other end’s floor.

I can’t say my accuracy improved much, but my instructor was encouraging.

“You did great,” she said. “Shooting at 10 feet and shooting at 22 feet are two different things.”

Overall by the end of the session, I felt safer handling a pistol. It didn’t seem so intimidating, with all of its movable parts. I am unlikely to purchase a handgun any time soon now, but I know that next time I shoot, I’ll be upgrading my target to a zombie pizza delivery man — just one of many creepy targets for sale at the store.

SHOOTING RANGES BY COUNTY Find a place to test your aim: Antrim Chain O’Lakes Sport’s club Eagleville Cowboys Charlevoix Charlevoix Rod & Gun Club Jordan River Sport Club Emmet Emmet County Sportsmen’s Club Boyne Sporting Clays Club The North Range Harbor Springs Outdoors Club Wildwood Shooting Range Grand Traverse Kingsley Sportsman’s Club Gauthier’s Archery Pro Shop Nyes Trap Range Shooters Indoor Gun & Archery Range Grand Traverse Archers Walton Junction Sportsmans Club Supply Road Range Kalkaska Fife Lake Gun Club Kalkaska Conservation Club Adams Road Shooting Range Leelanau Cedar Rod & Gun Club Northport Sportsmen’s Club Otsego Northland Sportsmen’s Club Source: Department of Natural Resources

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Life in the Fat Lane

Writer says he was “blissful on the outside, self-hating underneath” Journalist, teacher, columnist, and podcaster Tommy Tomlinson had a big problem — literally: He weighed 460 pounds. He comes to the National Writers Stage on Wednesday, Feb. 13, to discuss his book, “The Elephant in the Room: One Fat Man’s Quest to Get Smaller in a Growing America,” a well-told tale of his fight against a debilitating food addiction.

Addiction, Disease, Poor Choices “The Elephant in the Room” is not another advice book full of recipes, exercises, and before-and-after photos. In fact, Tomlinson’s not even sure what to name his problem.

“Calling it a disease sounds weird, but maybe in the clinical sense it’s correct. Or maybe it’s just a bad habit. I know it’s very similar to addiction to drugs, gambling, shoplifting. You realize what’s happening, but the short-term pleasure is so attractive and powerful that it overwhelms the longterm harm you know you’re doing. ” He said he got to 460 pounds simply by making a lot of bad choices.

“Every time I ate a double cheeseburger, I was not unaware what I was doing,” he says. “But in the moment, [food] was more powerful. So [obesity] is also made up of a series of choices.”

To say those choices left Tomlinson in a difficult place is a grave understatement. He compares his (former) mental state to that of a heroin addict: “blissful on the outside, selfhating underneath, chained to an anchor in a bottomless ocean. No way to make it to the surface. Might as well go.”

Like any good journalist, Tomlinson wants to understand and explain how things happen; “The Elephant in the Room” is the result of his quest to understand how morbid obesity took over his life. With fine writing and an outstanding sense of humor, Tomlinson digs into his childhood and family culture, and explains in unsentimental detail what it feels like to be morbidly obese — a life full of condescending looks from strangers, testing chairs to see if they’ll hold his weight, and worrying that he’ll make his wife a widow. He also relays some of the day-to-day strategies he’s used to lose nearly 100 pounds so far. Spoiler alert: A commitment to get healthy (something Tomlinson struggled with for years), followed by tiny steps to better health by controlling the quantity and quality of what he eats, measuring his weight, and gradually exercising more (something he could do

16 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

with only great difficulty at his peak weight).

Northern Express spoke with Tommy Tomlinson about his book and evolution.

Northern Express: You write that inside of us “we all have a beast.”

Tommy Tomlinson: I didn’t want it to be just a book for people who are overweight. I wanted to appeal to broader audience.

Express: You are hard on yourself throughout the entire book. This couldn’t have been a fun book to write.

Tomlinson: It was emotionally difficult at times, but it’s been meaningful [and] a big part of my motivation to grow up. Even if I’d written it just for myself, [the book] would have helped me figure out who I am and how to make my life better.

Express: You say you’re not used to writing about yourself. But you’ve really opened up about your life — not only as a someone who struggles with obesity, but also as someone with a deep love of family and friends. Did all those years spent writing newspaper columns make it easier to speak so freely?

Tomlinson: Yes, as a columnist, I occasionally wrote something about myself. What I ended up doing in the book is taking all the reporting skills I’d developed by interviewing people and turning them on myself.

Express: You barely mention the bullying you’ve experienced. Any theories about why people belittle those who are different?

Tomlinson: Maybe they judge others harshly because they know deep down there’s a flaw in themselves. They want to drag others down so they can feel superior. No one wants to be at the bottom of the barrel. That’s a little pop psychology, but I think it’s true.

We’re all flawed human beings, even if it’s not immediately apparent. Fat is apparent, but some other addictions can be hidden.

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Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 17

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By Ross Boissoneau When Luke Winslow-King takes the stage at Old Town Playhouse Feb. 9, it will be just voice and guitar, and Winslow-King is completely OK with that.

“Playing solo — it’s a different approach and repertoire,” said Winslow-King. “I relate to the audience a different way.”

Winslow-King will open the second of two nights of shows by his friend Joshua Davis. Miriam Pico opens the first night (see sidebar).

Winslow-King’s career is marked with the ups and downs typical of a traveling musician. He grew up in Cadillac, then went to Interlochen. While touring the country with Seth Bernard and Daniel Kahn, performing the music of Woodie Guthrie, his car — with all their equipment — was stolen in New Orleans.

Despite the harsh welcome, WinslowKing fell in love with the city and its music, going on to study at the University of New Orleans and then St. Charles University in Prague in the Czech Republic. Following Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to New York City for a couple years, where he was a music therapist for developmentally disabled persons at the Institutes of Applied Human Dynamics, in the Bronx, and taught at the La Velle School for the Blind. His return to the Big Easy coincided with his self-titled debut album.

In the years since, he performed with numerous musicians in New Orleans and toured across the country, sharing the stage with the likes of Roseanne Cash, Jack White, Taj Mahal, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Chris Thile.

It hasn’t all been upbeat. While visiting northern Michigan in 2014 he was apprehended with less than a gram of marijuana. “Today it would be legal,” he said.

Winslow-King, technically a resident of New Orleans then, was considered by the judge to be a flight risk. He spent two weeks in jail — much of it in solitary confinement because of a peanut allergy.

Davis was among those who petitioned the court to have him let out of jail. “That was a milestone in our friendship,” said Winslow-King. “Josh and I have been friends for 20 years. When I was in high school, Josh was up and running with Steppin’ In It, and I was a fan.”

He wrote songs while incarcerated, and then more when he was released and found his marriage disintegrating. Those songs

18 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

became the bedrock of his previous album, I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always, as well as influencing his newest album, Blue Mesa.

Winslow-King said he didn’t intend for Trouble to define either his marriage or his musical philosophy, but it was what came out of that time. “Most of the songs revolve around that topic,” he admitted. “I wrote it out of survival, to get on with life.”

On Blue Mesa, Winslow continues his journey. The opener, “You Got Mine,” was written with friend and musician “Washboard” Lissa Driscoll (who passed away in September 2017). “Break Down the Walls” stems from his time in jail and shortly thereafter, as he moved through his divorce. When told that the first notes recall Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me,” he launched into an explanation of the chord changes and diatonic melodies of both songs, evidence of his music education background. “You can compare me to Bill Withers all day long,” he said.

Most of the album was recorded while Winslow-King and his band were on tour in Europe. His guitarist, Roberto Luti, hails from Italy, and the band had almost a week there between dates. Luti suggested they check out a local recording studio he knew of, and that’s when and where they recorded Blue Mesa.

Winslow-King is comfortable in many styles. He had a blues band when he was growing up, then studied classical music at both Interlochen and in college. He incorporated the smorgasbord of sounds he found in New Orleans, from old-time jazz to country and Zydeco. Now, with Blue Mesa, he’s come almost full circle.

“It’s danceable, back to the roots of blues rock,” he said, mentioning Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan as inspirations for the recording. “It’s music people can relate to,” he said.

The sessions included a full band, aided and abetted by horns and additional vocalists. For this show, Winslow-King is excited to perform solo, just him and his guitar. He said the laid-back vibe allows him to experiment with his music. While he has an idea of the songs he intends to perform, he might change his mind based on what he’s sensing from the crowd. “There’s a long list of songs I prefer to do solo. I have a song list, rather than a set list. I’ll take requests.”

Tickets are $30 and are available at www.mynorthtickets.com.

Old Town Playhouse Solo Series Davis headlines, Pico opens Two nights, three performers, four shows. Joshua Davis has enlisted friends Miriam Pico and Luke Winslow-King to open his two concerts at Old Town Playhouse Feb. 8 and 9. All will be playing unaccompanied.

Davis is celebrating the release of his latest recording, Live at the Robin, a solo show from the Robin in Lansing. “I love playing with bands, sharing the music with people on stage. But there’s something about solo, playing off the cuff,” he said. He said one of the perks for the performer is the ability to shift mid-stream without worrying about whether the rest of the band will follow. “Halfway through I can change tempo or the song, do something I’ve played only in my living room.”

When he decided to do a solo show, he thought of playing at a different venue. “I was talking to Gary [Bolton, building manager] at Old Town Playhouse and thought of Old Town Playhouse.” Then there was the question of expanding the show with an opening act, and he thought of his friends Miriam Pico and Luke Winslow-King. “Miriam and Luke were the first to cross our minds. I admire both of them, love their music and thought it would be fun to collaborate.”

Well-known for her own collaborative efforts with keyboardist David Chown, Pico she said she is doing more solo work these days. “I’m excited,” said Pico. “I do a lot by myself now. It’s mostly originals.”

That doesn’t mean the music will be unfamiliar to the audience. Pico said she always does a couple things the audience will know. “There’s always a singalong. That’s everyone’s favorite part of the show,” she said.

The concept of concerts at Old Town Playhouse isn’t new, but it is unusual. “When we did Always, Patsy Cline, it brought in a different audience,” said OTP Executive Director Phil Murphy, referring to the musical about the late country legend which was performed at OTP in 2009. The country music fans in attendance were not the typical OTP audience, which suggested that maybe there was a way to use the facility to serve other interests.

Enter Judy Harrison and Rebooted, her country and classic rock band. “Judy had been kicking around the idea [of a Patsy Cline show] and did two shows a year apart.

It brought in that other audience again,” said Murphy of the musical revue Remembering Patsy Cline.

Last year, the playhouse hosted the local tribute group Peter, Paul and Mary Remembered. “They’re coming back this year,” said Murphy. The facility also hosted The Accidentals.

The playhouse’s availability is limited. In addition to performances, rehearsals and set designing preclude using the venue for many other activities. And though the production for a concert is a less involved than that of a play, a one-night show usually means a day for setup and one for teardown. So these two shows are actually four nights.

Murphy said in an ideal world, those attending a show at Old Town Playhouse for the first time might consider coming back for one of its plays. “We’re a producing theatre.

We don’t want to get into the concert business, but it’s something we can do occasionally. There are other venues, and we don’t want to step on their toes.”

Showtime each night is 7:30. Tickets for each show are $30 and are available at www.mynorthtickets.com.

*

Happy EVERY Day! Join us at the LOBBY BAR for Happy Hour every day of the week from 3 - 6pm, seven days a week.

Food specials. $3.50 bottled beer. $4.00 well cocktails or $6.00 house wines. *MUST PROVIDE PROOF OF EMPLOYMENT IN MEDICAL INDUSTRY. VALID ON REGULAR PRICED MERCHANDISE.

Live music Friday & Saturday evenings.

Hotel Indigo Traverse City 263 W. Grandview Parkway Traverse City, MI 49684 t: 231.932.0500 Reservations: 877.8.INDIGO (846.3446) hotelindigo.com/TraverseCityMI

facebook.com/hotelindigo @hotelindigo

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1120 CARVER STREET, TRAVERSE CITY 231 946-0789 Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 19

The Lost Art of Animal Trapping

Alive, well, and on Etsy via Beaver Island

By Ross Boissoneau Mark Valente always loved the outdoors.

So perhaps it wasn’t surprising that after spending his early years in the Motor City, he decamped to northern Michigan. “I grew up in Detroit, and I hated it. I got out at 21. I wanted to be outside.”

So he moved to Beaver Island, and celebrated the great outdoors by making a living hunting and trapping, then selling the fur from the coyotes and beavers he caught.

Eventually he decided it made more sense (and money) to make the products himself.

He found some used sewing machines made specifically for fur and taught himself how to make patterns and sew.

Enter — or rather, re-enter — Laura Green, who decided to run the Beaver Island Half Marathon in 2009. The St. Johns native was working in Chicago, but she had visited the island many years previously in the summer, as her godparents had moved there from St. Johns. In fact, she had shared a summertime romance some 14 years earlier with Valente, and after the race, they ran into one another again.

The two hit it off — again — and soon Green had abandoned the Windy City for Beaver Island as well. “I worked in the restaurant business in Chicago. I was spinning my wheels and looking for a change. It was perfect timing,” she said.

By this time, Valente’s Flattail Furs had morphed into a successful mail-order business, ripe for expansion. So in 2011 the twosome opened a small brick-andmortar location in St. James and added an e-commerce site on Etsy.

Green said moving the products online has helped boost sales. “I’ve learned

photography, taking product shots, social media,” she said.

Flattail Furs is named for the conspicuous tail of the island’s namesake. Beavers are the second-largest rodent on earth, after the South American capybara, and Valente and Green make a variety of products using fur from the beaver, as well as the other animals they trap on the island, such as coyotes. The couple also use the animals they raise, which include foxes, guinea fowl, peacocks and peahens, goats, even silkie chickens. Among the products they sell are practical items like hats, earmuffs, scarves, and mittens, as well as things like keychains and earrings.

The best product they sell, according to Valente, is the fox hats. Some also include fur from the native black beavers. The hats are not the most popular, however. That honor goes to — wait for it — beaver fur can and bottle cozies. “We have a couple ladies who put in a really large cozie order,” said Green.

How large are those orders? They estimate over the years they’ve sold them close to 1,000.

And what better souvenir than beaver cozies from Beaver Island? “People say they are great, better than a T-shirt,” said Valente.

Also a customer favorite: the beaver teeth earrings. “I drill out the bones and make beads, a beaver bone necklace. I’ve been doing that for years. The beaver teeth are hollow, they crack and break [easily], but I found a way to preserve them. They are another big seller.

“We try to use everything,” he continued, including grinding up the beaver meat to feed the other animals. Their menagerie includes five goats, five peacocks, chickens and 27 pairs of foxes.

As one might expect of items handmade

20 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

one at a time, the prices are reasonable but not inexpensive. A gold fox fur headband, which can double as a scarf or collar, runs $150. A pair of coyote fur gauntlet mittens is $250. Beaver fur earmuffs are $32. The cozies, which come in a variety of neoprene colors on the inside, are $20. Keychains start at $12, earrings at $20, necklaces at $30.

Keeping up with orders is always a challenge. They ship the pelts to Idaho to be tanned; that’s home to the best quality tanning they’ve found. Many of the mittens, hats and the like are made to order, so they take the tanned pelts and other parts and pieces of the animals and create them one at a time.

The winter is the best time to trap, and it’s also breeding season for their foxes. Between hunting, trapping, and taking care of their animals, they put in some long hours, which means there isn’t a lot of time to produce the products. “It’s hard keeping up and making stuff. I’m making a lot in the summer,” said Valente. That’s also when their shop is up and running in St. James.

While it’s hard work, they enjoy their lives and sharing what they do with others.

“We invite people to the farm. We like to show kids. Fur farming isn’t what you see on the internet,” said Valente. “We’re in it because we love the animals.”

If that sounds a bit disingenuous, Valente went on to explain: “I’m passionate about it, and I like to educate people. Every animal gets attention, vaccinated, a good diet. Foxes in the wild live 1½ to 2½ years, and we have some that are 11 years old.”

“We want to make sure their quality of life is the best it can be,” said Green. “If you don’t take care of farm animals, whether it’s for meat or fur, that will be reflected in the quality” of the end product.

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 21

feb 02

saturday

ALPENFROST: Gaylord.

Tday includes the Snow Slide & Swiss Alps Excavation, Frosty 5K, Soup Cook-Off, Free Skate, Alpenfrost Queen & Little Miss Pageant, Guided Snowshoe Hike, MI Beer & Wine Festival & much more. gaylordalpenfrost.com

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GROUNDHOG SHADOWFEST: Downtown Charlevoix. Today features a pancake breakfast, Official Kick-Off with Joe Charlevoix, Super Soup Contest, Snowboard Rails Contest, Groundhog Scavenger Hunt, Groundhog History for Children by the Historical Society, live music by Sleeping Gypsies, & much more. Find on Facebook.

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WHITE PINE STAMPEDE: 9:30am, Mancelona High School. This premier cross-country ski event will feature a 10K fun race, 20K race & 45K race. It will honor Race Founder & Director Jack McKaig, who passed away in June 2018.

The 45K starts at 9:30am; the 20K at 10:30am; & the 10K at 11:30am. Races end at Shanty Creek & include the Short’s Cool-Down Party & Awards Ceremony at 1:30pm, featuring lunch & Shorts beer. Registration: $95. The 10K cost is $40. whitepinestampede.org

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25 CENT MOVIES: 10am, The Lyric, Harbor Springs. Featuring “Born Free.”

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ARCADIA DUNES - BALDY HIKE: 10am. Hike to the top of Old Baldy & see panoramic views of Lake Michigan. Presented by GT Regional Land Conservancy. gtrlc.org

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KID’S ART DAY: 10am-noon, Oliver Art Center, Frankfort. Young artists, six & under, will have fun making early valentines. Kids ages seven & up will look at the world through the eyes of famous artists & create their own works of art. $2 donation appreciated. oliverartcenterfrankfort.org

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NMC FESTIVAL OF FOODS: 10am-3pm, The Hagerty Center, NMC, TC. See live demonstrations by area chefs & gourmet food artisans.

Also enjoy tastings throughout. $99. nmc.edu

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WINTER HIKE WITH ERIC HEMENWAY: 10am-noon, McCune Nature Preserve, Petoskey. Look at what the Odawa people did historically to survive the harsh winters of years past. Pre-registration requested: 231.347.0991.

Free. landtrust.org/events

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HABITAT-GTR HOMEOWNERSHIP INFO SESSION: 11am, Fife Lake Public Library.

RSVP required. 941-4663, ext. 121.

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VINE TO WINE SNOWSHOE TOUR: 11am4pm. A snowshoe hike with guides, stopping at Suttons Bay Ciders, Ciccone Vineyards & BigLittle Wines. Enjoy a lunch of chili & soups with wine purchase pick up service. Tour starts at BigLittle & L. Mawby Vineyards, Suttons Bay. $55. grandtraversebiketours.com/vine-to-winesnowshoe-tour.html

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VOLUNTEER OPEN HOUSE: 11am-3pm, Discovery Center - Great Lakes, TC. The Discovery Center is a collaboration of five non-profit organizations with two things in common: a passion for the Great Lakes & a need for volunteer help. Stop by to talk with representatives of each org about how you can support your local non-profits dedicated to Great Lakes history, education, stewardship & recreation. discoverygreatlakes.org

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SNOWSHOES, VINES & WINES: 12-5pm, Black Star Farms, Suttons Bay. blackstarfarms. com/snowshoes-vines-wines

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AUTHOR SIGNING: 1-3pm, Horizon Books, TC. Debi Helm will sign her book “Secrets of Dating After Fifty.” horizonbooks.com

“THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME”: 2pm & 7pm, Cadillac Elks Club. Presented by Cadillac Footliters. $11. cadillacfootliters.com/tickets

february

----------------------

SNOW & YOGA ADVENTURE: 2pm, Groen Nature Preserve, Johannesburg. Go on a selfguided snowshoe or XX skiing tour around the preserve. Meet Amy M. from Yoga-45 at 3pm to gather at firepit for yoga, a warm drink, something sweet & fellowship. Pre-register. Donation to cover cost of snacks. yoga-45.com

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A GRASS RIVER GROUNDHOG DAY: 3-6pm, Townline Ciderworks, Williamsburg. A 50th Anniversary Celebration to support GRNA’s Education Program. At 3pm there will be an orchard hike/snowshoe/ski with a specialty cider pour in the orchard. From 4-6pm, there will be live music indoors performed by Grass River’s Education Director James Dake, along with ciders, & food delivery available from the Elk Rapids General Store. Free. grassriver.org

02-09 send your dates to: events@traverseticker.com

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“LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS”: 5:30pm, Tucker’s, Northport. Northport Community Arts Center’s Feb. dinner theatre production. $60, includes dinner. northportcac.org/events/thelast-of-the-red-hot-lovers

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A PLASTIC OCEAN SCREENING & FUNDRAISER FOR FLOW (FOR THE LOVE OF WATER): 6-8pm, Ethanology, Elk Rapids.

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MICHIGAN WILD GAME DINNER: 6:30pm, The Boathouse, TC. A five-course “wild game” dinner paired with wine from Bowers Harbor Vineyards. $15 of each ticket & a silent auction will benefit Conservation Resource Alliance to support coldwater habitat restoration. $75/person. boathouseonwestbay.com/event-tickets

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MIDDLE SCHOOL PRESENTS “MARY POPPINS, JR.”: 7pm, Harbor Springs Performing Arts Center. $7 adults, $5 students.

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“SYLVIA”: 7:30pm, Old Town Playhouse Studio Theatre @ the Depot, TC. Enjoy this comedy about a marriage & a dog. $17. oldtownplayhouse.com

Gopherwood Concerts presents Indiana’s The Legendary Trainhoppers at Cadillac Elks Lodge on Sat., Feb. 9 at 8pm. Enjoy American folk with these songwriters/performers. Tickets: $7-$15. mynorthtickets.com

BLISSFEST COMMUNITY DANCE: 7:30pm, Red Sky Stage, Petoskey. Contras & squares, plus circles, waltzes & more. Music provided

by Peacemeal & Cynthia Donahey will be calling. All dances taught. No partner necessary. $5/person, $7/couple, $10/family. redskystage.com

YOGA + BEER: Noon, Silver Spruce Brewing Co., TC. A one hour flow class. Bring your own mat. Donations appreciated. eventbrite.com

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CABIN FEVER W/ LOCAL ARTIST CHARLIE MILLARD & SPECIAL GUESTS: 7:30pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey. Tickets: $15 members, $20 non-members, & $5 students. crookedtree.org

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U OF MICHIGAN MEN’S GLEE CLUB IN CONCERT: 7:30pm, First Congregational Church, TC. “This is Our Song.” Buy tickets online. Go to “Events” & then go to “Reserve a Seat.” $15 adults, $10 students. fcctc.org

feb 03

sunday

RECOVERY YOGA AT RUNNING FIT: 9:30am, Running Fit, downtown TC. A 50 minute, all-levels class designed to enhance recovery for athletic performance. The goal is to build strength, flexibility, focusing on lengthening tight hamstrings, calves, quadriceps & hip flexors. Donations appreciated. eventbrite.com

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THE OUTFITTER NORDIC SKI LOPPET: 9:30am-3pm. Nordic skiers travel 16 miles of freshly groomed trail from Harbor Springs to Cross Village. Select your mileage from a point-to-point route running 16 miles (give or take) between LaCount Rd. (west of State Rd.) at Laura & Vern Kors’ barn & the Crow’s Nest restaurant on State Rd., just south of Cross

22 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

Village. $40. outfitterharborsprings.com/event/ xc-ski-loppet

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WOMEN’S HISTORY PROJECT ANNUAL SOUPER SUNDAY EVENT: 12:30pm, Traverse Area District Library, McGuire Community Room, TC. Kathy Firestone, Leelanau County author, artist & historian, will share her research on the history of Power Island. Hearty lunch of soup, bread & dessert. Reservations required: sansep19@earthlink.net or 703-5677925. $5 donation. whpnm.org

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“SYLVIA”: 2pm, Old Town Playhouse Studio Theatre @ the Depot, TC. Enjoy this comedy about a marriage & a dog. $17. oldtownplayhouse.com

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“LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS”: 3pm, Tucker’s, Northport. Northport Community Arts Center’s Feb. dinner theatre production. $60, includes dinner. northportcac.org/events/thelast-of-the-red-hot-lovers

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KITTY DONOHOE: 3pm, Sleder’s Family Tavern, TC. This Ann Arbor based songwriter & Michigan Emmy recipient draws from her Irish heritage & American roots. $20 advance; $25 door. 947-9213.

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MIDDLE SCHOOL PRESENTS “MARY POPPINS, JR.”: 3pm, Harbor Springs Performing Arts Center. $7 adults, $5 students.

feb 04

monday

COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: amical, TC. Celebrate amical’s 25th year

with amical alumni whom have gone on to achieve even greater success within the industry & beyond. Featuring past staffers & favorites from the TC & Chicago restaurant scenes.

Call 941-8888 for reservations. amical.com/ alumni-week

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BEREAVED PARENT SUPPORT GROUP: Michael’s Place, 1212 Veterans Dr., TC. Held the first & third Mondays of each month from 5:30-6:45pm. Open to any parent who has experienced the loss of a child. 947-6453 or GoodGrief@MyMichaelsPlace.net Free. mymichaelsplace.net/support-group-programs

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“HEALTH IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF”: 6:30-8pm, First Congregational Church, TC. Featuring Dr. Robert Breakey. Presented by Plant-Based Lifestyle in TC. pbltc.org

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HERE:SAY STORYTELLING OPEN MIC: 7pm, The Workshop Brewing Co., TC. Come prepared to tell a 7-minute story & throw your name in the basket. Performers will be selected randomly until the show ends. Your name wasn’t selected? Come to the next Open Mic on the first Mon. of the next month. Free. Find on Facebook.

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SLABTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION WINTER MEETING: 7pm, Traverse Bay United Methodist Church, TC.

feb 05

tuesday

GET CRAFTY: Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. 2019 is the year of the pig. Make a cute one out of a water bottle. Held at 11am & 2pm. greatlakeskids.org/newsevents/#calendar

TEEN GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP: Michael’s Place, 1212 Veterans Dr., TC. Held the first & third Tuesdays of each month from 4-5pm.

Open to teens who have experienced the death of a loved one. 947-6453 or goodgrief@mymichaelsplace.net Free. mymichaelsplace.net/ teen-support-group

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)

---------------------AAUW FEBRUARY MEETING: 5:30pm, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, TC. Enjoy a light supper & hear guest speaker, local author Valerie Winans, talk about travel writing & getting published. Free. aauwtc.org

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IMPACT 100 TRAVERSE CITY MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT SOCIAL: 5:30pm, Smoke & Porter, TC. Open to all women who give $1,000 - 100% of which will be given to non-profits in the five county area in $100,000+ grant increments. Free. impacttc.org/events

---------------------TCNEWTECH: 5:30-9pm, City Opera House, TC. Five presenters are allowed 5 minutes each to present & 5 minutes of question & answer. Between presenters, the audience is allowed to make brief announcements for things such as job openings, persons seeking employment, & other events happening in the area related to technology. 2/5 will be a special edition, HealthTech Night, focused on the development of health & wellness integration in the region. Free; must register. cityoperahouse. org/tcnewtech

---------------------AMERICAN CHESTNUTS & HYPOVIRULENCE: 6pm, Boardman River Nature Center, TC. Dr. Carmen Medina Mora is a former graduate student & colleague of renowned chestnut expert & MSU professor Dr. Dennis Fulbright.

She will speak at the meeting of the Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan. For info visit: mganm.org Suggested $5 donation.

---------------------PARKINSON’S NETWORK NORTH EVENING SUPPORT GROUP: 6pm, Munson Community Health Center, TC. Learn the steps to take to assist someone after a fall. 947-7389. parkinsonsnetworknorth.org

---------------------DETOX YOGA FLOW: 6:15pm, Press On Juice Cafe, TC. This one hour class involves a lot of twists & poses to help eliminate toxins from the body through movement & breath.

Bring your own mat. Donations appreciated. eventbrite.com

---------------------“COPING WITH YOUR PARTNER’S CO-EXISTING CONDITIONS”: 6:30pm, TC. This meeting is held for neurotypical spouses & partners of adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. The exact TC location is provided when the neurotypical family member joins NW Michigan NT Support at tinyurl.com/NWMichNTSupport or contacts Carol Danly at 231-313-8744 or nwmints@gmail.com before noon on the meeting day.

---------------------“WATCH PARTY”: 6:30pm, Lucky Dog Bar & Grille, Beulah. Michigan’s 49th Governor Gretchen Whitmer will be making her first State of the State address. Enjoy networking, appetizers & a cash bar at 6:30pm, & then watch Governor Whitmer at 7pm. An after speech group discussion will be held. Hosted by the Benzie County Chamber of Commerce Government Relations Committee.

---------------------GT DEMS HOST PROGRESSIVE POTLUCK: 7-9pm, The Little Fleet, TC. Featuring a presentation from Poesis Community Farms about their work to preserve food diversity in northern MI. Please bring a friend & a dish to pass. The Little Fleet donates 10% of all drink sales to the guest organization each month, which will be Poesis Farms for Feb. Questions? Email: precinct3@gtdems.org

feb 06

wednesday

COMMUNITY COFFEE BRAINSTORMING SESSION: 9-11am, Toonies Fish & Steakhouse, Bellaire.

RSVP. bellairechamber.org

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ZONTA CLUB OF TC FEB. PROGRAM: Noon, Hagerty Center, TC. Speakers include Fred Sitkis, executive director of Inland Seas Educational Association & Constanza Hazelwood of NMC Great Lakes Water Studies Institute. For tickets email: RColeman@gtpavilions.org $18. zontacluboftraversecity.org

---------------------“DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION: WHAT IS IT & WHAT CAN I DO?”: Noon, Leelanau County Government Center, Lower Level Community Room, Suttons Bay. This forum is presented by the League of Women Voters of Leelanau County. LWVLC business meeting will follow. lwvleelanau.org

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)

---------------------FEBRUARY RECESS: 5-7pm, Walstrom Marine, TC. Networking happy hour event catered

by Harrington’s By The Bay, with beer from Founders & Short’s Brewing Co., & prizes including a sunset cruise for 8, $100 Propellers gift card, $50 Garden Goods gift card, & Walstrom logo gear with tickets to the Feb. 15 City Opera House Laith Al-Saadi show. Sponsored by Caliber Home Loans. $10. traverseticker.com

---------------------PETOSKEY BUSINESS AFTER HOURS RESCHEDULED!: 5-7pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey. ‘Decades Theme.’ Kicking off 100th anniversary. $10 members; $15 not-yet members. petoskeychamber.com/businessafter-hours

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ARTS ACADEMY BAND CARNEGIE HALL PREVIEW: 7:30pm, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Corson Auditorium. Hear the Interlochen Arts Academy band with the Cleveland Orchestra’s Factory 2nds Brass Trio and Academy Dance and Creative Writing Departments before their Carnegie Hall debut. $11 full, $8 senior, $8 youth. tickets.interlochen.org

feb 07

thursday

FREE HEART MONTH ACTIVITIES: McLaren Gaylord Family Practice. 9-11am: Health Screenings: Blood pressure, BMI, cholesterol, glucose & more. 11am-1pm: Community CPR. mclaren.org/northernmichigan/health-month.aspx

---------------------INTERACTIVE STORY TIME: 11am-noon, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Featuring “The Snowy Day” by Ezra Jack Keats. greatlakeskids.org

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)

---------------------HAPPY HOUR FOR A CAUSE AT PEARL’S NEW ORLEANS KITCHEN, ELK RAPIDS: 5-7pm. A 50th Anniversary Celebration to Support GRNA’s Education Program. Your $10 goes to Grass River while you enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres & happy hour prices. grassriver.org

---------------------HABITAT-GTR HOMEOWNERSHIP INFO SESSION: 6pm, Kalkaska County Public Library. RSVP required: 941-4663, ext. 121.

---------------------POTLUCK & OFF THE WALL MOVIE NIGHT: Helena Township Community Center, Alden.

Potluck, 6pm; movie, 7pm. Sign up for potluck: 231-331-4318.

---------------------DETOX YOGA FLOW: (See Tues., Feb. 5)

GAME NIGHT: 7pm, NCMC, Student & Community Resource Center, Iron Horse Café, Petoskey. 231-439-6370. Free.

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OLD MISSION PENINSULA HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEETING: 7pm, Old Township Hall, TC. Karen Schmidt, board chair & executive director of the Botanic Gardens, will present “From a State Hospital Farm to a Public Garden - Past, Present & Future of the Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park.” 231-223-7400.

Free. omphistoricalsociety.org

---------------------“SYLVIA”: (See Sat., Feb. 2) ---------------------FREE DEMONSTRATION COOKING CLASSES: 7:30pm, Oryana Community Co-op Café, TC. “ Healthy Meals in 15 Minutes.” eventbrite.com

feb 08

friday

TC WINTER BIKE TO WORK + SCHOOL DAY: Celebrate riding bikes all year long & help TC become the Winter Biking Champion Of The World as they compete against northern cities in Canada, Europe & the US. elgruponorte.org/winter/bikeday

---------------------DISCOVER WITH ME: 10am-noon, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Do Something Special With Me: Create a valentine keepsake with your child. greatlakeskids.org

----------------------

FRIENDS OF THE MANISTEE COUNTY LIBRARY BOOKLOVER’S SALE: 10am-4pm, Book House, behind the Manistee Library.

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STORYTIME AT LELAND TOWNSHIP LIBRARY: 10:30am. Stories & play designed to promote joy & growth in literacy. Children ages 0-6 & their caregivers welcome. Free. lelandlibrary.org

---------------------DOWNTOWN HARBOR SPRINGS 2019 ICE FEST: Featuring ice sculptures, carving demos, chili cook off, broomball tourney, fat tire bike demo, snowshoe demo, sled dogs, ice boating demo, music & more. Find on Facebook.

---------------------CANDLELIGHT HIKE: 5-8pm, Mt. McSauba, sledding hill parking lot, Charlevoix. Presented

by Charlevoix Recreation & Visit Charlevoix.

Enjoy snowshoeing, hiking or cross-country skiing on candle-lit trails. Enjoy hot chocolate by a fire afterwards.

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)\

---------------------“LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS”: (See Sat., Feb. 2)

---------------------CABIN FEVER ARTIST TALKS: 5:30pm, Oliver Art Center, Frankfort. Featuring Pierce Getsinger, furniture. Free. oliverartcenterfrankfort.org

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GOLDEN-FOWLER CELEBRITY DREAMROOM CLASSIC: 5:30-8:30pm, Golden-Fowler Home Furnishings, TC. Enjoy an evening of style, color & comfort to benefit Child and Family Services of Northwestern Michigan.

Featuring live entertainment, a huge silent auction, & local food & beverages. Attendees visit each “DreamRoom” & cast votes for their favorite room (or rooms). Votes are $1 each.

The celebrity with the most votes at the end of the night wins. $30 per person/$50 per couple. mynorthtickets.com/events/dreamroom-2019

---------------------THE STOUT CHALLENGE: 5:30-10pm, The Little Fleet, TC. A local competition among 11 TC area breweries. Each brewery will produce their best stout & submit it. Two-hundred beer lovers will get tickets, be judges & choose their favorite brew in a blind-tasting. $35-$65. mynorthtickets.com/events/2019stout-challenge

DADDY DAUGHTER SWEETHEART DANCE: 6-8pm, Great Lakes Children’s Museum, TC. Daddy & daughter couple: $50. $10 each additional daughter. greatlakeskids.org

---------------------FRIDAY FAMILY FUN NIGHT: 6-9pm, Table Health, GT Commons, TC. Enjoy a potluck dinner, games for kids & adults, music & more.

Table Health will provide a healthy dish to pass & recipes to share. Participants are welcome to bring healthy, whole food side dishes, main dishes, appetizers, or dessert. RSVP. Free.

TableHealthTC.com/events

---------------------CLEARWATER SIERRA CLUB MEETING: 6:30pm, Horizon Books, lower level, TC. Includes electing a new Chair position, & talking about upcoming events & prospective issues, including PFAS. Free. facebook.com/ClearwaterConservationCommittee

---------------------“SYLVIA”: (See Sat., Feb. 2) ---------------------HEIKKI LUNTA PARTY: 7:30pm, Treetops Resort, Gaylord. Party of the Snow Gods. The weekly celebration carries on the tradition of asking for abundant snowfall. Enjoy a big bonfire, entertainment by Tommy Tropic, s’mores, hot chocolate, a tube-pulling contest, & more.

Free. treetops.com

---------------------JOSHUA DAVIS WSG MIRIAM PICO: 7:30pm, Old Town Playhouse, TC. Joshua writes & performs songs that “blend the roots of American music with gritty rock ‘n’ roll and vintage soul.”

He was a top-three finalist on NBC’s eighth season of The Voice. Miriam held the title role of OTP’s 2011 production of “Evita.” $30. oldtownplayhouse.com

feb 09

saturday

ANNUAL WINTERFEST: Beulah. Features the Poker Run, frozen turkey bowling, Chili Cookoff, Benzie County Fire & EMS ice rescue demo, frozen fish toss, rubber duck race, Winterfest Parade, Outhouse Sprint & much more. clcba. org/event/winterfest

----------------------

NORTH AMERICAN VASA 43RD ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF RACES: Feb. 9-10. Today includes VASA Freestyle Races: 50km Okerstrom Ski Marathon, 27km George Kuhn Half Ski Marathon, 12km Korteloppet, Junior VASA, 6km freestyle Ski Race (for kids 14-19 years of age), 6km Freestyle Fun Ski Tour; Short’s Grand Fat Bike Race, 40K, & Short’s-n-Fat Bike Race, 20K. vasa.org

---------------------FRIENDS OF THE MANISTEE COUNTY LIBRARY BOOKLOVER’S SALE: 10am-3pm, Book House, behind the Manistee Library.

---------------------GREENWOOD FOUNDATION SNOWSHOE & CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING ADVENTURE: 10am-noon, Greenwood Foundation, near Wolverine. Pre-register. Free. landtrust.org

---------------------MAKE A GIFT SERIES: BEADED ART: 10amnoon, Interlochen Public Library. For adults. Sign up: 231-276-6767. Free. tadl.org/interlochen

---------------------PROPOSED UPPER MANISTEE HEADWATERS PRESERVE HIKE: 10am. Bring your own winter gear, including snowshoes or skis.

Presented by the GT Regional Land Conservancy. gtrlc.org

---------------------SUPER SATURDAY SPECIAL: 10am-2pm, TBAISD Career-Tech Center, TC. This free community event includes tax preparation being done for free & a free Health & Wellness Fair. Register: 231-590-0100. nmcaa.net

---------------------25 CENT KIDS MOVIES: 11am, The Lyric, Harbor Springs. Featuring “Ice Age.”

---------------------4TH ANNUAL WINESHOEING EVENT: 11am, Maple Moon Sugarbush & Winery, Petoskey.

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 23

You will receive a guided tour, wine before & after snowshoeing, a bowl of chili, a roaring fire, & a souvenir glass to take home. Snowshoes are provided by Bearcub Outfitters & available to borrow on-site. Reservations required: 231-4879058. Guided snowshoeing departs at 11:30am, 1:30pm, & 3:30pm. $25. mmsyrup.com

---------------------TASTE THE PASSION: 11am-5pm, Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail. Enjoy sweet & savory bites paired with wine, a Snow Fun Photo Contest, pop-up shopping & more. Tickets include a souvenir wine glass & wine and food pairings at each of the 24 participating wineries. $40 for both days. lpwines.com/events/taste-the-passion

---------------------WATERFOWL ON THE RIVER: 11am, Grass River Natural Area, Bellaire. Learn to ID birds on the water using mounts indoors & take a hike to the river. grassriver.org

---------------------DOWNTOWN HARBOR SPRINGS 2019 ICE FEST: (See Fri., Feb. 8)

---------------------FUN IN THE SNOW - FUNDRAISER FOR TART TRAILS: 1-6pm, Brengman Brothers, TC. Explore Brengman Brothers’ property trails while fat tire biking, snowshoeing & crosscountry skiing. Warm up & refuel after with chili & soup, wine, hot chocolate & coffee. All donations for chili & soup go to Tart Trails, as well as a portion of all wine & tasting sales. brengmanbrothers.com/events/fun-in-the-snow

---------------------9TH ANNUAL OUTHOUSE SPRINT: Downtown Beulah. Build your outhouse, mount it on skis & push it for a 30 yd. sprint down a snow covered track. Bring your outhouse to the Trailhead building & register by 2pm. Be prepared to pull your entry in the parade at 3:30pm through downtown Beulah. The race will be held immediately after the parade at the Trailhead. clcba.org

---------------------AUTHOR SIGNING: 2-4pm, Horizon Books, TC. Ruthy Kirwan will sign her book “Healthy Sheet Pan Cookbook.” horizonbooks.com

----------------------

A READING OF MARY OLIVER’S POETRY & PROSE: 3-5pm, Horizon Books, lower level, TC. Help read or enjoy listening at this tribute to Oliver’s life & work. Presented by TC Authors.

ROCK N JAM: 4:30-8pm, The Rock of Kingsley.

Music lovers of all ages are welcome to play & sing along, dance or listen in. Free. facebook. com/pg/therockofkingsleyMI/events

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)

---------------------“LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS”: (See Sat., Feb. 2)

---------------------“A TIME TO SHINE”: 7pm, Great Lakes Center for the Arts, Bay Harbor. Presented by Voices Without Borders. A variety show featuring northern MI talent. $10 general admission. greatlakescfa.org

---------------------BAYSIDE TRAVELLERS CONTRA DANCE: 401 River St., Elk Rapids. There will be a basic skills workshop from 7-7:30pm & the dancing will be held from 7:30-10:30pm. The live band will be Harbor Hoedown. $11 adult, $7 student, $9 member. dancetc.com

---------------------“SYLVIA”: (See Sat., Feb. 2) ---------------------DAVINA AND THE VAGABONDS: 7:30pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Petoskey. Enjoy this high-energy quintet who has performed in 45 states, two Canadian provinces & 12 European countries. $20 advance. blissfest.org

---------------------JOSHUA DAVIS WSG LUKE WINSLOWKING: 7:30pm, Old Town Playhouse, TC. Joshua writes & performs songs that “blend the roots of American music with gritty rock ‘n’ roll and vintage soul.” He was a top-three finalist on NBC’s eighth season of The Voice. Luke brings his smoky vocals & sharp guitar playing to his mix of Delta blues, folk, country, jazz & rock ‘n roll. $30. oldtownplayhouse.com

FRESHWATER CONCERT: 8pm, Freshwater Art Gallery/Concert Venue, Boyne City. Featuring guitar virtuoso Albert Lee. 231-582-2588. $35 advance/$40 door. freshwaterartgallery.com

---------------------GOOD ON PAPER IMPROV: 8-9:30pm, West Bay Beach Holiday Inn Resort, TC. $10. westbaybeachresorttraversecity.com

---------------------GOPHERWOOD CONCERT: 8-10:30pm, Cadillac Elks Lodge. Featuring The Legendary Trainhoppers. Enjoy these Indiana songwriters/ performers in the American folk tradition. $7$15. mynorthtickets.com/events/the-legendary-trainhoppers

---------------------HELL ON HEELS PRESENTS DOWN WITH LOVE: 8pm, Red Sky Stage, Petoskey. A lip syncing, dancing & singing adventure with comedy & crassness. Featuring Mercedes Benz-Over, Kelly Ann Jefferies, Vajojo Visage & King Roth. $10 advance; $15 door. redskystage.com

feb 10

sunday

BOY SCOUT SUNDAY PANCAKE BREAKFAST: 8:30am12:30pm, Central United Methodist Church, TC. Free will offering. tcpack36.com

-------------

NORTH AMERICAN VASA 43RD ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF RACES: Feb. 9-10. Today includes: 35km Lombard Loppet, 16km Chemical Bank Classic, 6km Classic Race, & 6km Fun Tour. vasa.org

---------------------YOGA RECOVERY AT RUNNING FIT: (See Sun., Feb. 3)

---------------------TASTE THE PASSION: 12-5pm, Leelanau Peninsula Wine Trail. Enjoy sweet & savory bites paired with wine, a Snow Fun Photo Contest, pop-up shopping & more. Tickets include a souvenir wine glass & wine and food pairings at each of the 24 participating wineries. $40 for both days. lpwines.com/events/taste-thepassion

---------------------YOGA + BEER: (See Sun., Feb. 3) ---------------------“A MAN AGAINST INSANITY” BOOK LAUNCH: 2pm, Kirkbride Hall, The Village at GT Commons, TC. Presented by Mission Point Press. Featuring a panel discussion that will include former employees of the State Hospital as well as family members of former patients.

In this book, originally published in 1957, author Paul de Kruif tells the story of Dr. Jack Ferguson, a family physician who originally made a name for himself by perfecting a three-minute lobotomy. Free. missionpointpress.com

---------------------“SYLVIA”: (See Sun., Feb. 3) ---------------------GARDEN STORYTELLER SERIES: 2-3:30pm, The Botanic Garden at Historic Barns Park, TC. Jenifer Strauss, Michigan Humanities touring artist & storyteller, will present an interactive program for families. Afterwards head out for a winter story walk to look for signs of the season & then warm up with hot chocolate. RSVP. Free. mynorthtickets.com/events/garden-storyteller-series-winter

---------------------“LAST OF THE RED HOT LOVERS”: (See Sun., Feb. 3)

---------------------SPEAKERS SERIES: 4pm, Village Arts Building, Northport. Photographer Bill Muempfers will give a power point presentation on taking vacation photographs, the correct camera & equipment, & how to store photographs. Sponsored by the Northport Arts Association. Free. northportartsassociation.org

---------------------COOKBOOK DINNER SERIES PRESENTS AMICAL ALUMNI WEEK: (See Mon., Feb. 4)

24 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

ongoing

DEBTORS ANONYMOUS: Tuesdays, 6:307:30pm, Cowell Family Cancer Center, Rm. 3002, TC. A twelve step program for those with money problems. debtorsanonymous.org

---------------------RANGER-LED SNOWSHOE HIKE: Saturdays, 1pm, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Empire. Meet at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center. Snowshoes will be loaned at no charge to participants who do not have their own. Reservations required: 231-326-4700, ext. 5010.

---------------------SNOWSHOE SUNDAYS: 12-5pm, Rove Estate Vineyard & Tasting Room, TC. Bring your snowshoes or skis. roveestate.com

---------------------STORY STEW: Peninsula Community Library, Old Mission Peninsula School, TC. Held every Thurs. at 10am, with the fourth Thurs. offering free books for kids courtesy of Born to Read & Twilight Rotary. Featuring stories, crafts & songs. peninsulacommunitylibrary.org

---------------------THREADS FIBER ARTS GROUP: Mondays, 10am, Peninsula Community Library, Old Mission Peninsula School, TC. Bring your own needlework project & work among friends. peninsulacommunitylibrary.org

---------------------WINTER MUSIC JAMS: Gaylord Area Council for the Arts, Gaylord. Held every Sun. through winter from 3-5pm for musicians of all skill levels. Learn & network with other musicians.

Bring your instrument, music & a friend. gaylordarts.org

---------------------WINTER WALK WEDNESDAYS: Presented

by Norte. All community members are invited to commit to walking to work, school, as an errand or just for fun every Weds. through March. elgruponorte.org/winter/walk

---------------------BOYNE CITY INDOOR FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 9am-noon, City Hall, Boyne City.

---------------------GAYLORD DOWNTOWN FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 10am-2pm, The Alpine Plaza, main hallway, Gaylord.

---------------------THE VILLAGE @ GT COMMONS, TC INDOOR FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 10am-2pm. Held inside the Mercato. Enjoy local fresh produce, eggs, farm fresh cheese, local meats & more.

art

BLACK & WHITE & A LITTLE RED EXHIBIT: Runs through March 1 at Gaylord Area Council for the Arts, Gaylord. Open during Art Center hours of 11am-3pm on Tues. through Fri. & 122pm on Sat. A reception will be held on Feb. 9 from 5-7pm. gaylordarts.org

---------------------FURNITURE, FIBER, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND SCULPTURE: Oliver Art Center, Frankfort. Runs through Feb. 22. oliverartcenterfrankfort.org

----------------------

GRAND TRAVERSE ART BOMB: Runs through April 6 at Right Brain Brewery, TC. A collaborative art show with talent from around northern MI. Featuring three reception events throughout the show. It supports artists & their creative endeavors, by giving them an opportunity to showcase their talents with minimal cost. gt-artbomb.wixsite.com/2019

---------------------LOCAL ARTIST SPENCER MCQUEEN: Higher Art Gallery, TC. Spencer presents his show “You’re So Yourself.” Runs through Feb. 8. higherartgallery.com

---------------------WINE LABEL ART COMPETITION: Mission Point Lighthouse Friends and Bowers Harbor Vineyards are sponsoring a contest to design a label to be used for the BHV 2019 Lighthouse Pinot Grigio release. Visit bowersharbor. com/events for details. Submission deadline is March 11. The winning entry wins a $250 cash

prize & will be displayed on each 2019 Lighthouse wine bottle.

---------------------CROOKED TREE ARTS CENTER, PETOSKEY: - HERE AND THERE: Runs through March 30.

A photographic exhibition showcasing the work of photographers Jin Lee, Larson Shindelman & Regan Golden.

- 2019 JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION: Held in Bonfield Gallery. Juried by John Fergus-Jean, this exhibition includes 43 photographs by 34 exhibiting photographers of local & regional acclaim. Runs through March 30.

- 2019 CROOKED TREE PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY JURIED FINE ART SHOW: Runs through March 2. Juried by current Crooked Tree Photography Society members. Showcases the work of fifteen current members. Subject matter includes, but is not limited to, nature, landscapes, wildlife & northern MI scenes. crookedtree.org

---------------------CROOKED TREE ARTS CENTER, TC: - FRESH CUTS: THE ART OF PAPERCRAFT: Runs through Feb. 16. crookedtree.org

----------------------

DENNOS MUSEUM CENTER, NMC, TC: - “ENTIRE LIFE IN A PACKAGE”: Runs Feb. 3 – May 5. The story of millions of refugees with millions of packages, suitcases...sacks.

“Life packages” that hold the desire to survive.

In this exhibition Ben-Ami sculpts the packages carried by refugees shown in Reuter’s new photos in iron & then mounts them to the photo in place of the photographic image of the package.

- 2019 NORTHWEST MICHIGAN REGIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION: Runs Feb. 3 – May 5.

Featuring art made by local artists over the last year, juried by a regional arts professional.

Hours: Mon. - Sat.: 10am-5pm; Thurs.: 10am8pm; Sun.: 1-5pm. dennosmuseum.org

NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN BESTSELLERS For the week ending 1/27/2019

HARDCOVER FICTION Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens G.P. Putnam’s Sons $27.00 The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg Houghton Mifflin Harcourt $25.00 Annelies by David R. Gillham Viking $26.00 PAPERBACK FICTION Likeness by Tana French Penguin Books $17.00 Freddie Fernorter: Day of the Dinosaurs by Jonathan Rand AudioCraft Publishing $4.99 Mrs. Frisby& the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien Aladdin Paperbacks $8.99 HARDCOVER NON-FICTION Salt Fat Acid Heat by Samin Nosrat Simon & Schuster $37.50 Becoming by Michelle Obama Crown Publishing Group $32.50 Educated by Tara Westover Random House $28.00 PAPERBACK NON-FICTION You are a Badass by Jen Sincero Running Press $16.00 Trails of M-22 by Jim Dufresne Michigan Trail Maps $19.95 Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers Vintage $16.95 Compiled by Horizon Books: Traverse City & Cadillac

MODERN

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM MEET THE ELECTRIC LADY Dance-rockers James Murphy and LCD Soundsystem are heading your way this week with a live in-studio album titled Electric Lady Sessions, named after the sessions themselves, which were recorded at New York City’s famed Electric Lady Studios. Soundsystem cruised through a dozen live renditions of tracks from its American Dream album, plus several fan favorite tunes and three fun covers (The Human League’s “Seconds,” Heaven 17’s “We Don’t Need This,” and Chic’s “I Want Your Love”). The album will be available in outlets Feb. 8 and can also be snagged in digital and vinyl versions …

The 2019 Brit Awards have doled out nominations, with multiple nods going to Florence and the Machine, The 1975, Anne-Marie, and Dua Lipa, plus preview awards that were already granted to American artists Drake, Ariana Grande, and Travis Scott. In the best group category this year are Arctic Monkeys and Gorillaz; female solo artists include Lily Allen and Jorja Smith; male artists include Sam Smith and Aphex Twin. And the Mastercard Album of the Year will be chosen from sets

by The 1975, Anne-Marie, Florence and the Machine, Jorja Smith, and George

James Murphy

ROCK

BY KRISTI KATES

Ezra. The awards will be handed out on Feb. 20 during special ceremonies at London’s O2 Arena …

In more awards news — the Songwriters Hall of Fame has named honorees for its 2019 class; all will be inaugurated at a special ceremony at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel in June. Included are country singer Tom T. Hall, R&B musician Dallas Austin, songwriter Jack Tempchin (“Peaceful Easy Feeling”), John Prine, Missy Elliott, and Yusuf (formerly known as Cat Stevens), with additional special awards honorees to be announced soon …

Canadian DJ and producer Deadmau5 has been working on an unusual project, one that places him in the role of composer.

He’s just scored the new Netflix original movie Polar, an action/noir movie based on Dark Horse Comics’ graphic novel of the same name. The full soundtrack/ score is out this week on Deadmau5’s own Mau5trap record label, and it includes the standout instrumental “Midas Heel,” as well as additional single “Drama Free,” featuring indie-diva singer Lights …

LINK OF THE WEEK Coachella 2019 has released more of its confirmed lineup, and fans of all pop genres

I lost 203 pounds and

are sure to find something to like on the schedule. Headliners include Tame Impala, Ariana Grande, and Childish Gambino.

Coachella attendees will also be treated to live tunes from Kid Cudi, Billie Eilish, Bassnectar, Khalid, Zedd, Chvrches, Diplo, DJ Snake, The 1975, and many, more. Check out www.coachella.com for all the details, tickets, and this year’s complete roster …

THE BUZZ Detroit artists Mark Sleeman and Leah Barnett, who play music as the duo Career Club, are poised as one of the Motor City’s bands to watch for 2019 …

Michigan classic rocker Bob Seger just welcomed Kid Rock on stage for one of the stops on the former’s Travelin’ Man

found my wings.

tour, said to be Seger’s final tour before he retires …

The Faster Horses Festival is heading to Brooklyn, Michigan, July 19-21 this year, with performances from Keith Urban, Zac Brown, Toby Keith, Old Dominion, and more …

Our neighbors in Canada have renamed their non-profit Music Canada Live organization The Canadian Live Musician Association, representing a wide range of businesses and personnel working in the live concerts business … and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Comments, questions, rants, raves, suggestions on this column? Send ’em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com.

DOWNTOWN

Ken Laurence of Honor can fly his Piper Aerostar again, thanks to weight loss surgery.

Are you ready to take off toward better health?

Attend a Bariatric Surgery Seminar.

SUNDAY 12:30 • 3:30 • 8:30 PM MON/WED 12:30 • 6 • 8:30 PM TUESDAY 12:30 • 3:15 • 6 PM THURSDAY 3:15 • 6 • 8:30 PM

February 12 | 6 - 8 pm Cowell Family Cancer Center Conference Room 1, Lower Level 217 S. Madison St., Traverse City, MI

TRAVERSE CITY

SUNDAY 6 PM MON/WED 3:15 PM TUESDAY 8:30 PM THURSDAY 12:30 PM

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ROGER AND MER WED 10:30 AM - Just 25¢ 10 THiNGS i HATE AbOUT YOUPG-13

Also available via video conference at these Munson Healthcare locations: Cadillac Hospital, Charlevoix Hospital, Grayling Hospital, and Manistee Hospital.

FRIDAY NIGHT FLICKS - $3 or 2 for $5 - BFF Night!

DOWNTOWN

IN CLINCH PARK

To learn more or to register for an upcoming seminar, call 800-533-5520, or visit munsonhealthcare.org/bariatrics.

Blue Distinction Centers (BDC) met overall quality measures for patient safety and outcomes, developed with input from the medical community. A Local Blue Plan may require additional criteria for providers located in its own service area; for details, contact your Local Blue Plan. Blue Distinction Centers+ (BDC+) also met cost measures that address consumers’ need for affordable healthcare. Each provider’s cost of care is evaluated using data from its Local Blue Plan. Providers in CA, ID, NY, PA, and WA may lie in two Local Blue Plans’ areas, resulting in two evaluations for cost of care; and their own Local Blue Plans decide whether one or both cost of care evaluation(s) must meet BDC+ national criteria.

National criteria for BDC and BDC+ are displayed on www.bcbs.com. Individual outcomes may vary. For details on a provider’s in network status or your own policy’s coverage, contact your Local Blue Plan and ask your provider before making an appointment. Neither Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association nor any Blue Plans are responsible for non-covered charges or other losses or damages resulting from Blue Distinction or other provider finder information or care received from Blue Distinction or other providers.

SUNDAY 1 • 3:15 • 5:30 • 7:45 PM MONDAY 2:15 • 4:30 • 7 PM TUE - THU 1:30 • 4 • 6:30 • 8:45 PM 231-947-4800

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 25

Mon - Ladies Night - $1 off drinks & $5 martinis with Jukebox Tues - $2 well drinks & shots 8-9:30 TC Comedy Collective

Wed - Get it in the can for $1 w/DJ JLAR

Thurs - $1 off all drinks & $2 Coors Lt. pints

For Traverse City area news and events, visit TraverseTicker.com

FOURSCORE by kristi kates

Echobelly – On – MOV

with Medicine Bell w/Real Rock 105/95.5

The revamped edition of this U.K. No. 4 chart achiever is a great introduction to the band, who is frequently compared to the likes of The Breeders or Lush for its mix of grungy, guitar-based instrumental backgrounds and space-drone vocals. Opener “Car Fiction,” the slick drive of “Something Hot in a Cold Country,” and the futuristic “Great Things” maintain the band’s glampunk feel, while the alternate vocal lines on “Go Away” add to the song’s in-your-face feel.

Fri Feb 8 - Buckets of Beer starting at $8 (2-8pm)

Happy Hour: Joe Wilson Trio then: Electric Red Sat Feb 9 - Electric Red Sun Feb 10- KARAOKE (10PM-2AM)

941-1930 downtown TC check us out at unionstreetstationtc.net

Lupe Fiasco – Drogas Wave – 1st and 15th Prod.

At two dozen tracks and nearly two hours of music, Drogas Wave, the follow-up to Fiasco’s major label effort Drogas Light, finds the artist free from that label’s obligations and better poised to do some audio experimenting. The venting is real here; many of the tracks deal with the artist feeling trapped in his corporate record deal. Now unshackled, he drops out songs like the expansive “Mural Jr.,” the retro-sprinkled “Hip-Hop Saved My Life,” and the equally nostalgic “Stack That Cheese,” an audio trip back through Fiasco’s own career.

SHOW THE LOVE, SHARE THE SPA.

VALENTINE’S DAY OFFER Give the gift of the relaxation they deserve.

With each Gift Card purchase of $150, you’ll get to choose a free bonus gift!

Select from decadent Lollia scented Hand Cream, Soap, or Shower Gel! Expires February 14, 2019.

The Ataris – Blue Skies, Broken Hearts, Next 12 Exits – Kung Fu

Also in the revamp department this week is this limited-edition blue vinyl release of the Ataris’ landmark sophomore album. The Indiana punkers, who initially conquered the charts with their hit cover of Don Henley’s “Boys of Summer,” remind fans what their best is made of: a blend radio-ready power-rock hooks (“Losing Streak,” “Better Way”) with catchy, stripped-down acoustic reboots (“My Hotel Year”) and outright punk anthems (“Angry Nerd Rock.”)

SPA SOCIALS

Share an experience at The Spa with friends and family with discounted pricing on manicures, pedicures, brows, and blowouts, plus complimentary sparkling wine!

THURSDAYS | 4-8PM WWW.SPABAYHARBOR.COM | 231.439.4046

3600 VILLAGE HARBOR DRIVE, BAY HARBOR, MI Express Spa GC04, Ad Feb 19.indd 1• Northern Express Weekly 26Northern • february 2019

1/31/2019 3:27:35 PM

Sam Phillips – World on Sticks – Littlebox

If you’ve watched any of the award-winning Amazon Prime streaming series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you’ve probably heard Phillips’ voice already. Her calm, only occasionally barbed vocals are layered lightly over spare folk-pop arrangements that blend in strings and percussion suites on tracks like the dark nightclub-esque “American Landfill Strings,” the almost-country “Roll ‘Em,” and the pop-inflected title track.

The reel

by meg weichman

STAN & OLLIE on the basis of sex

I

Far from a “nice mess,” Stan & Ollie is a lovely and wistful ode to famed slapstick duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, as well as to the bygone era of comedy they represent.

Uncanny performances, a warmhearted script, touching moments, and a gentle wit are just some of the bittersweet charms of a film that traces Laurel and Hardy in the twilight of their careers.

And as shocking as it might be to some (specifically anyone born before 1940 or any card-carrying members of the TCM Backlot), many will read this and ask, Laurel & Hardy who? But for a period staring in the 1930s, they were known the world over and are still regarded as one of history’s greatest comedy duos. Successfully navigating the transition from silent film to talkies, Laurel and Hardy made more than 100 films together (including the Oscar-winning short The Music Box, a personal favorite).

And in a crafty opening long take, director Jon S. Baird gives us a pretty nifty crash course into the mens’ personalities, relationships, and work as the camera follows Stan (Steve Coogan) and Ollie (John C. Reilly) through the studio backlot and onto the set of their latest film. Oliver, known as Babe to his friends, has a weakness for gambling, food, and women, and his many marriages have cost him dearly. But that doesn’t stop him from grabbing a donut to bring to his new lady love, the set’s script girl. Stan, on the other hand, is much more serious and business-minded, preoccupied with getting them out of their contract with Hal Roach Studios so they can get paid more and take a share of their wildly successful films’ profits.

But Ollie can’t afford to be risky right now — he’s got alimony to pay and isn’t keen on the idea of leaving.

After a taste of the pair in action, we move forward 16 years to find them no longer the kings of any movie set. Nope, they’re somewhat estranged but, in efforts to secure funding for a new Robin Hood film, they’re going on tour in the U.K. to prove there’s still interest in their act.

They’re working with a slick and seedy promoter (Rufus Jones), who has only been able to book them in second-tier, rundown theaters and hotels. People in these small towns can’t believe the actual Laurel and Hardy would be in such low-rent places, let alone play to half-empty crowds. But by embracing the PR machine, Stan and Ollie are able turn the tour around, doing the bits that made them famous while working on

n addition to this summer’s hit documentary RBG, we now have a biopic that serves as the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s own superhero origin story, if you will. It follows Ruth as she studies to become a lawyer at Harvard and then jumps ahead to her first groundbreaking case as an attorney; she takes advantage of an obscure bit of tax code that prevents a man from benefiting from a tax credit to set a legal precedent for sex-based discrimination cases. Director Mimi Leder (of the beyond brilliant The Leftovers), working from a script written by RBG’s nephew Daniel Stiepleman, takes a standard approach to her subject. Sure it has its rousing moments, is earnest in its respect, and has the best of intentions, yet it can’t avoid that TV biopic sheen. There’s nothing very remarkable about the filmmaking, but in a way, this less flashy approach is perhaps more true to Ruth and her personality. Quiet, humble, and unassuming, a more dynamic film would not capture her essence. So, final verdict? On the Basis of Sex is impassioned enough to make a case for its existence.

some new material along the way.

And what a treat it is to watch their perfectly recreated routines play out. There’s a little patter, a little song and dance, and plenty of slapstick. They’re both childlike in their delivery, with Laurel (the brains behind the scenes) playing the stooge, and Hardy, the crank. It’s comedy that we’re certainly not used to seeing these days, but it’s a style of comedy so effortless, timeless, and simple that its appeal is immediately apparent.

And in addition to the entertainment of watching Laurel and Hardy at work, you practically get a bonus act in the form of their wives, who arrive to visit their husbands when the tour reaches London. There’s the petite and sweet Lucille Hardy (Shirley Henderson) and the tough and abrasive would-be dancer from Russia, Ida Laurel (Nina Arianda). Some of the biggest laughs in the picture come from them, thanks to a chemistry and rapport that rivals that of their husbands.

It’s not all laughs, of course; a sense of melancholy runs throughout the film — especially as long-held regrets and resentments bubble up to the surface, and Hardy’s health falls into an even more apparent state of decline. As a whole, Stan & Ollie follows an unremarkable plotting.

But while it does bring on the sentimentality in the final act — how much they love performing together and care for each other becomes clear — it’s subdued enough to come across as genuine.

This genuineness, as well as the depth of their relationship, is the result of Coogan and Reilly’s performances, which not only succeed due to their physical resemblances (Reilly spent four hours in the makeup chair each day of shooting) but also the way Stan and Ollie seem to be a natural extension of Coogan and Reilly’s own personas.

So while this good-natured, compassionate, and slightly old-fashioned (in a good way!) biopic might not generate the kind of attention that leads to a major rediscovery of Laurel & Hardy in the public consciousness, those who do enjoy the film’s understated appeal will see why Laurel & Hardy have endured — and why they’ll likely continue to do so.

Meg Weichman is a perma-intern at the Traverse City Film Festival and a trained film archivist.

if beale street could talk

D

irector Barry Jenkins follows up his Oscar Best Picturewinning, near-perfect second feature, Moonlight, with an adaptation of a 1974 James Baldwin novel about a young African American couple and their families in early 1970s Harlem and a devastating injustice they face. And it’s a tribute to the film, the filmmaking, and the story that Jenkins creates something so beautiful out of something so painful.

Sure, there’s a plot, and it’s very compelling, and sure, there’s social commentary about the systemic oppression of Blacks in America, and it’s potent and resonant, but what stays with you most is the film’s profound feeling. Beause at its core, If Beale Street Could Talk is a love story — a gorgeous, aching, swooning romance of exquisite longing and intoxicating visuals. Practically a tonal poem of a film, the warm colors and music dazzle the senses and transport, allowing the luminous glow of their love to wash over you. And just like Moonlight, this is a film where one wordless glance can cut straight to the heart.

vice

D

ick Cheney was second in command (first, some would perhaps argue) of our country for eight years. He’s one of the most influential forces of the 21st century, and yet he’s someone we seem to know next to nothing about.

In Adam McKay’s (Step Brothers) latest “serious” film, McKay pulls back the curtain on the ultra secretive former vice president for an unconventional and absurdly original biopic. An absolutely savage satire that is as funny as it is mournful, it’s a totally diverse work that functions almost as a cinematic essay, using a meta and irreverent style. And it’s a style McKay mastered in his Oscar-winning film The Big Short, where using a humorous approach to teach us about another extremely alarming part of our recent history, the 2008 housing crisis, was put to nothing less than absolutely exhilarating use. And while Vice is similarly illuminating and entertaining, here the playful mix of storytelling techniques can frustrate as much as it exhilarates. Playing Cheney is an unrecognizable Christian Bale, who has already swept up too many awards to share here, and he’s joined by Amy Adams as Cheney’s wife, Lynne, and a supporting cast that includes Sam Rockwell and Steve Carell. Satire had to be the approach here. A film that chronicles nothing less than the moral decay of the country is almost too upsetting. So while Vice is certainly funny at times, it’s no laughing matter.

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 27

nitelife

FEB 02 - feb 10 edited by jamie kauffold

Send Nitelife to: events@traverseticker.com

Grand Traverse & Kalkaska

123 SPEAKEASY, TC 2/5 -- Peter Bergin, 7 GT DISTILLERY, TC Fri. – Younce Guitar Duo, 7-9:30 KILKENNY'S, TC 2/1-2 -- 5th Gear, 9:30 2/3 -- DJ Bre-Z, 8 2/8-9 -- Ben Daniels Band, 9:30 LEFT FOOT CHARLEY, TC 2/4 -- Open Mic Night w/ Rob Coonrod, 6-9 2/8 -- Jim Moore, 6-8 PARK PLACE HOTEL, TC BEACON LOUNGE: Thurs,Fri,Sat — Tom Kaufmann, 8:30 SAIL INN BAR & GRILL, TC Thurs. & Sat. -- Phattrax DJs & Karaoke, 9 SLEDER'S FAMILY TAVERN, TC 2/3 -- Kitty Donohoe, 3

THE WORKSHOP BREWING CO., TC Tue -- TC Celtic - Traditional Irish Music, 6:30-9 Wed -- Jazz Jam, 6-10 2/8 -- DJ Ladybird, 8 2/9 -- Sean Miller, 8

TC WHISKEY CO. 2/7 -- Paul Livingston, 6-8 2/10 -- Drew Hale, 3-5 THE DISH CAFE, TC 2/4 -- Comedy Open Mic Night w/ Kamikaze Comedy, 8 Tues, Sat -- Matt Smith, 5-7

UNION STREET STATION, TC 2/2 -- Kung Fu Rodeo, 10 2/3,2/10 -- Karaoke, 10 2/4 -- Jukebox, 10 2/5 -- TC Comedy Collective, 8-9:30 2/6 -- DJ JLAR, 10 2/7 -- Medicine Bell w/ Real Rock 105/95.5, 10 2/8 -- Happy Hour w/ Joe Wilson Trio; then Electric Red 2/9 -- Electric Red, 10

THE HAYLOFT INN, TC Thu -- Roundup Radio Show Open Mic Night, 8 THE LITTLE FLEET, TC 2/5 -- Frances Luke Accord @ The Yurt, 7-10 Wed -- Tiki Night w/ DJ, 3 2/10 -- Heavy Color @ The Yurt, 6-9 THE PARLOR, TC 2/2 -- Joe Wilson, 8 2/6 -- Rob Coonrod, 8 2/7 -- Chris Smith, 8 2/8 -- Blue Footed Booby, 8 2/9 -- Chris Sterr, 8

WEST BAY BEACH HOLIDAY INN RESORT, TC 2/8 -- 5th GEAR Band @ View, 7 Thurs. – Jeff Haas Trio & Laurie Sears, 6-8:30

Otsego, Crawford & Central ALPINE TAVERN & EATERY, GAYLORD Sat -- Live Music, 6-9

OTSEGO RESORT, GAYLORD 2/9 -- Adam Hoppe, 9 THE SITZMARK: 2/2 -- Galactic Sherpas, 5-8; Sandy Kennedy, 9-11:45

SNOWBELT BREWING CO., GAYLORD 2/5 -- Open Mic Hosted by Phil Gorny, 7

Emmet & Cheboygan BEARDS BREWERY, PETOSKEY 2/2 -- Greg Vadnais Quartet, 8-11 2/3 -- Eliza Thorp, 6-9 2/8 -- Brotha James & The Real Ingredients, 8-11 2/9 -- Adam Labeaux, 8-11 2/10 -- Owen James, 6-9 BOYNE HIGHLANDS, HARBOR SPRINGS MAIN DINING ROOM: 2/2 -- Chris Calleja, 6 2/9 -- Michelle Chenard, 6 SLOPESIDE LOUNGE: 2/7 -- Pete Kehoe, 6

LEO’S NEIGHBORHOOD TAVERN, PETOSKEY Thurs — Karaoke w/ DJ Michael Willford, 10 NUB'S NOB, HARBOR SPRINGS NUB'S PUB: 2/2,2/9 -- Pete Kehoe, 3-6

2/8 -- Chris Calleja, 9 2/9 -- Sean Bielby, 9 ZOO BAR: 2/2 -- Metro Rockway, 4:30 2/9 -- The Remedee, 4:30 CITY PARK GRILL, PETOSKEY 2/8 – Annex Karaoke, 9 2/9 -- The Marsupials, 10

PIERSON'S GRILLE & SPIRITS, HARBOR SPRINGS Tue -- The Pistil Whips, 8-11

KNOT JUST A BAR, BAY HARBOR Mon,Tues,Thurs — Live music

THE SIDE DOOR SALOON, PETOSKEY Sat. – Karaoke, 8

Leelanau & Benzie BIG CAT BREWING CO., CEDAR 2/6 -- Elizabeth Landry, 6:30-8:30 DICK’S POUR HOUSE, LAKE LEELANAU Sat. — Karaoke, 10-2 LAKE ANN BREWING CO. 2/5 -- Roger Brown & Joe Wilson, 6:30-9:30 LEELANAU SANDS CASINO, BIRCH ROOM, PESHAWBESTOWN 2/2 -- Risque, 8

2/3 -- Storm the Mic - Hosted by Blake Elliott, 6-9 2/8 -- Lynn Thompson, 8-10 2/9 -- E Minor, 8-10

2/9 -- TC Knuckleheads, 8 LUMBERJACK'S BAR & GRILL, HONOR Fri & Sat -- Phattrax DJs & Karaoke, 9

THE 231 BAR & GRILLE, THOMPSONVILLE 2/2 -- Tim Thayer, 7-10

ST. AMBROSE CELLARS, BEULAH 2/2 -- Dale Wicks, 6-9 STORMCLOUD BREWING FRANKFORT 2/2 -- Evan Burgess, 8-10

VILLA MARINE, FRANKFORT Tue -- Open Mic, 8-11

CO.,

Antrim & Charlevoix ETHANOLOGY, ELK RAPIDS 2/2 -- Younce Guitar Duo, 8-11 2/9 -- Funkwagon, 8-11

SHORT'S BREWING CO., BELLAIRE 2/5 -- Open Mic, 7:30-10 2/8 -- A Brighter Bloom, 8-11

LAKE STREET PUB, BOYNE CITY Sat -- Karaoke, 8-11

TORCH LAKE CAFÉ, CENTRAL LAKE 1st & 3rd Mon. – Trivia, 7 Weds. -- Lee Malone Thurs. -- Open mic

RED MESA GRILL, BOYNE CITY 2/5 -- Wink from Soul Patch, 6-9

Fri. & Sat. -- Leanna’s Deep Blue Boys 2nd Sun. -- Pine River Jazz

Send us your free live music listings to events@traverseticker.com CELEBRATING THE PERSONALITIES OF

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FEAST! Spring RestauranTour Issue

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spring 2018 NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • APRIL 09 - april 15, 2018 • Vol. 28 No. 15

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • may 14 - may 20, 2018 • Vol. 28 No. 20

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • january 14 - January 20, 2019 • Vol. 29 No. 02 Michael Poehlman Photography

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T R AV E R S E C I T Y , M I C H I G A N | s o u l s q u e e z e c e l l a r s . c o m

28 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

the ADViCE GOddESS America’s Next Top Remodel

Q

: I’m seeing so many women on Instagram who’ve had themselves made over to be super hot through cosmetic surgery and injectable fillers. They all have the same face -- with big, luscious lips and huge doll-like eyes. In every shot, they’re in full makeup -crazy eyeliner, tons of contouring. Do guys actually like this plastic Barbie look? Are guys cool with cosmetic surgery in general?

--Curious

A

: If only these women of Instagram were honest in their photo credits: “Hair by Luigi. Makeup by Annabelle. Face by Dow Corning.”

Countless men insist that they prefer “the natural look” — no makeup (let alone surgical re-mod) — yet they never go “Wow... gorgeous!” when you sashay toward them with a face full of unconcealed pimples. Helpfully, zoologist John R. Krebs and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins explain that “living organisms” can easily be tricked by crude fakes -- fakes that bear only the itsy-bitsiest resemblance to the organisms’ real life stimuli.

They give the example of what I call “Popsicle birdie” — how “a black-headed gull will show its normal aggressive response to a stuffed gull’s head mounted on a stick, with no body.”

And then there’s the male stickleback fish, which gets red on the underside when in mating mode and will attack any other redbellied male that enters its territory. In fact, mail also seems to be a problem -- which is to say, a researcher’s male sticklebacks were observed attacking the side of their aquarium when a red mail van passed by the window of the lab.

Well, guess what, fellow humans: We shouldn’t be too quick to feel superior to our friends with beaks, gills, and tails. Krebs and Dawkins note that a man can get “sexually aroused” by a mere photo of a naked woman.

Of course, he knows it isn’t an actual woman, but the photo “has enough visual stimuli in common with the real thing to have a similar effect on his physiology.”

Though it’s unlikely that women getting their faces remade in Klonedashian-esque ways are versed in anthropology, the enhancements they’re having done align with the female facial features that anthropologists like Douglas Jones have found are attractive to men across cultures. These are “neotenous” features — meaning somewhat babylike ones

BY Amy Alkon

— like big eyes, full lips, a small jaw and chin, and clear skin. These features are basically evolution’s billboard, advertising a highly desirable interior — meaning that they are cues to health and fertility. (Of course, men just think HAWWWT.) However, though men evolved to prioritize looks in a woman, it’s obviously not all they value — especially when they’re hoping to get into a relationship. So these cosmetically and surgically redeveloped features may catch a man’s eye — but then, mentally, he may take a step back: “Oh, wait— she’s gotten all this work done.” And beyond how we all tend to feel threatened and even angered by fakery, many men see a woman’s extensive re-mod as a red flag, reflecting less-than-healthy psychology — an empty interior hidden behind a fancy paint job and a new, um, deck.

Also, consider that women who get their faces and bodies remade often seem to go by the reality TV standard, which seems to stem from stripper standards — exaggerated in-yourface sexuality. Research by Cari Goetz that I cited in a recent column finds that women with an overtly sexual look are generally not seen as long-term mating material by men.

Though that research explored what women wore — scanty attire — it’s possible that women who wear a pile of makeup, with an overtly sexual look, would trigger the same reaction in men: basically, thumbs-up for a hookup or regular sex sessions — not so much on introducing Mom to a woman who looks as if her work uniform is sequin nipple tassels.

However, there’s a counterpoint to all of this. Consider that it’s now possible, through medical innovation, to survive many diseases and conditions that were usually fatal. We don’t expect people with diseases to do what’s “natural”— suffer terribly and die.

Maybe we’re a little too harsh on women who jump ahead in the beauty hierarchy through cosmetic procedures. (After all, we don’t knock men for using Rogaine, those little blue pills, or deodorant.)

Additionally, maybe stigmatizing any sort of line-jumping stops discussion of the need for restraint in beauty-upgrading. As I see it, the most successful “work” is the sort we don’t notice — women who look like themselves, only, uh, “better rested” or something.

Ultimately, if a woman invites a man to meet her closest relatives, he isn’t at a loss for whether she’s asking him to a family reunion or to hit the aisle in Home Depot where they sell that expandable foam insulation stuff that people spray into their walls.

“Jonesin” Crosswords

"Most Generous"--great things that share initials. by Matt Jones ACROSS 1 Nevertheless 4 Bosc center 8 Augments 14 Gold, to CortÈs 15 “Let me sleep ___” 16 Round figure?

17 “Elementary” star Lucy 18 Fictitious nursery rhyme writer 20 ___’s razor (logical principle) 22 Tappan ___ Bridge (span demolished in January 2019) 23 Mice, to owls 24 Snug as ___ ...

26 Haphazard 29 Lit 32 Handled farm tool 33 They’re unnamed until the end, on some game shows 37 Reddit Q&A feature 38 Bored response 39 “Fight Club” chemical 42 Thanks, to Tom·s 47 Prefix for liberal or conservative 48 Aptly titled 1999 debut album (and genre) for Eiffel 65 49 Mandibles 54 Wolf’s intended victims, in a story 55 Currency exchange fee 56 Female sheep 58 Carne ___ 61 Like some doughnuts 65 Earn the crown 66 Active volcano in Sicily 67 Regular breakfast choice?

68 “Your point being...?”

69 Assents 70 Fully satisfy 71 “Woohoo!

DOWN 1 “Seize the day” acronym

2 Clapton or Idle 3 Cereal mascot since 1963 4 Get to work?

5 “Starpeace” musician Yoko 6 Nabisco brand 7 Air beyond the clouds 8 Condensed, as a pocket dict.

9 NYC’s ___ Hammarskjˆld Plaza 10 Bit of rain 11 Brick-and-mortar operation 12 Stuns, in a way 13 Follows directions 19 Ultra-wide shoe width 21 Kind of 25 Gina of “Cocktail” and “Showgirls” 27 Make happy 28 Pugilist’s stats 29 “You may say ___ dreamer” 30 Place with memberships 31 “Electra Woman and ___ Girl” (‘70s series) 34 Stop-and-___ (some landings) 35 Push for 36 Escapes 40 NBA legend ___ Ming 41 Ability that may be just lucky guessing 43 Opens, as a lock 44 Senior suit 45 King Minos’ daughter who aided Theseus 46 Gear parts 49 Full of fruit, like some doughnuts 50 Swirly marble 51 Towelettes 52 Moray, e.g.

53 Q-Tip ends 57 Pound of poetry books 59 Actress Meyer 60 “Toy Story” boy 62 Laredo-to-Galveston dir.

63 Pedal next to the brake 64 Take in

Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 29

A Summer Escape

Recess Wednesday, February 6th 5PM-7PM AT WALSTROM MARINE

(ACROSS FROM THE GREAT WOLF LODGE)

Enter to win: 3-HOUR CHARTERED SUNSET CRUISE ON GRAND TRAVERSE BAY FOR 8 PEOPLE ($800 VALUE) $10 cover charge for food from Harrington’s By The Bay, beer/wine/soda, and great networking!

aSTRO

lOGY

head? Not many people can. It requires great flexibility. Before comedian Robin Williams was famous, he spontaneously did just that when he auditioned for the role of the extraterrestrial immigrant Mork, the hero of the TV sitcom Mork and Mindy. The casting director was impressed with Williams’ odd but amusing gesture, and hired him immediately. If you’re presented with an opportunity sometime soon, I encourage you to be inspired by the comedian’s ingenuity. What might you do to cinch your audition, to make a splashy first impression, to convince interested parties that you’re the right person?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): There are

two kinds of minor, boring little tasks. One is when you’re attending to a detail that’s not in service to a higher purpose; the other is when you’re attending to a detail that is a crucial step in the process of fulfilling an important goal.

An example of the first might be when you try in vain to scour a permanent stain on a part of the kitchen counter that no one ever sees. An example of the second is when you download an update for an existing piece of software so your computer works better and you can raise your efficiency levels as you pursue a pet project. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to keep this distinction in mind as you focus on the minor, boring little tasks that are crucial steps in the process of eventually fulfilling an important goal.

PIScES (Feb. 19-March 20): Twitter wit

Notorious Debi Hope advises us, “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low selfesteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assho--s.” That’s wise counsel for you to keep in mind during the next three weeks. Let me add a few corollaries. First, stave off any temptation you might have to believe that others know what’s good for you better than you do. Second, figure out what everyone thinks of you and aggressively liberate yourself from their opinions. Third, if anyone even hints at not giving you the respect you deserve, banish them for at least three weeks.

ARIES

(March 21-April 19): Climbing mountains has been a popular adventure since the nineteenth century, but there are still many peaks around the world that no one has ever ascended. They include the 24,591-fot-high Muchu Chhish in Pakistan, 23,691-foot Karjiang South in Tibet, and 12,600-foot Sauyr Zhotasy on the border of China and Kazakhstan. If there are any Aries mountaineers reading this horoscope who have been dreaming about conquering an unclimbed peak, 2019 will be a great time to do it, and now would be a perfect moment to plan or launch your quest. As for the rest of you Aries, what’s your personal equivalent of reaching the top of an unclimbed peak?

“Lose Yourself” was a featured track in the movie 8 Mile, and it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. The creator himself was not present at the Oscar ceremony to accept his award, however. He was so convinced his song would lose that he stayed home. At the moment that presenter Barbra Streisand announced Eminem’s triumph, he was asleep in front of the TV with his daughter, who was watching cartoons. In contrast to him, I hope you will be fully available and on the scene for the recognition or acknowledgment that should be coming your way sometime soon.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): While enjoying its

leisure time, the peregrine falcon glides around at 50 miles per hour. But when it’s motivated by the desire to eat, it may swoop and dart at a velocity of 220 miles per hour. Amazing! In accordance with your astrological omens, Gemini, I propose that we make the peregrine falcon your spirit creature for the next three weeks.

I suspect you will have extraordinary speed and agility and focus whenever you’re hunting for exactly what you want. So here’s a crucial question: what exactly do you want?

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Now and then

the sun shines and rain falls at the same time.

The meteorological name for the phenomenon is “sunshower,” but folklore provides other terms. Hawaiians may call it “liquid sunshine”

30 • february 04, 2019 • Northern Express Weekly

BY ROB BREZSNY

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Can you sit on your own

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Eminem’s song

Recess is brought to you by

JAN 04 - FEB 10

or “ghost rain.” Speakers of the Tangkhul language in India imagine it as “the wedding of a human and spirit.” Some Russians refer to it as “mushroom rain,” since it’s thought to encourage the growth of mushrooms. Whatever you might prefer to call it, Cancerian, I suspect that the foreseeable future will bring you delightful paradoxes in a similar vein. And in my opinion, that will be very lucky for you, since you’ll be in the right frame of mind and spirit to thrive amidst just such situations.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): A study by the Fidelity

financial services company revealed that in 43% of all couples, neither partner has an accurate knowledge of how much money the other partner earns. Meanwhile, research by the National Institute of Health concludes that among heterosexual couples, 36 percent of husbands misperceive how frequently their wives have orgasms. I bring this to your attention in order to sharpen your focus on how crucial it is to communicate clearly with your closest allies. I mean, it’s rarely a good idea to be ignorant about what’s going on with those close to you, but it’ll be an especially bad idea during the next six weeks.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Torre Mayor

is one of the tallest skyscrapers in Mexico City. When workers finished its construction in 2003, it was one of the world’s most earthquake-proof buildings, designed to hold steady during an 8.5-level temblor. Over the course of 2019, Virgo, I’d love to see you erect the metaphorical equivalent of that unshakable structure in your own life. The astrological omens suggest that doing so is quite possible. And the coming weeks will be an excellent time to launch that project or intensify your efforts to manifest it.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Multitalented Libran

singer and actor Donald Glover uses the name of Childish Gambino when he performs his music. How did he select that alias? He used an online random name generator created by the rap group Wu-Tang Clan. I tried the same generator and got “Fearless Warlock” as my new moniker. You might want to try it yourself, Libra. The coming weeks will be an excellent time to add layers to your identity and expand your persona and mutate your self-image. The generator is here: tinyurl. com/yournewname. (P.S.: If you don’t like the first one you’re offered, keep trying until you get one you like.)

ScORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Leonardo da

Vinci’s painting Salvator Mundi sold for $450 million in 2017. Just twelve years earlier, an art collector had bought it for $10,000. Why did its value increase so extravagantly? Because in 2005, no one was sure it was an authentic da Vinci painting. It was damaged and had been covered with other layers of paint that hid the original image. After extensive efforts at restoration, the truth about it emerged. I foresee the possibility of a comparable, if less dramatic, development in your life during the next ten months, Scorpio. Your work to rehabilitate or renovate an underestimated resource could bring big dividends.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): We can

behold colors because of specialized cells in our eyes called cones. Most of us have three types of cones, but a few rare people have four. This enables them to see far more hues than the rest of us. Are you a tetrachromat, a person with super-vision? Whether you are or not, I suspect you will have extra powerful perceptual capacities in the coming weeks. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will be able to see more than you usually do. The world will seem brighter and deeper and more vivid. I urge you to deploy your temporary superpower to maximum advantage.

NORTHERN EXPRESS

CLASSIFIEDS EMPLOYMENT

REAL ESTATE

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OTHER $200 MICROBLADING SPECIAL! Tired of filling in your brows daily? Thinning brows? TC Studio!

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VALENTINE’S MASSAGE TO YOU! (Across N. Michigan): Treat yourself & your Valentine to a great gift! Call Stephen: (231) 439-5099.

ANTIQUE STORE CLOSING SALE Lola’s Antiques, 402 South Union is closing. Our last day is January 31. Everything will be discounted.

All reasonable offers will be considered. Our store hours during the sales will be 10 AM to 4PM January 24,25,26,28&29.

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Northern Express Weekly • february 04, 2019 • 31

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FEBRUARY 14 | 4PM–9PM