Northern Express - January 08, 2024

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• Get to know the 2024 Downtown Sound artists • Step inside the Malted Vinyl listening lounge • Can’t-miss January and February festivals

NORTHERN MICHIGAN’S WEEKLY • january 08 - january 14, 2024 • Vol. 34 No. 01 Good Morning Bedlam, photo by Tom Smouse

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 1

2 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

letters A Love Letter to Nub’s Nob Good article on “The Cost of Ski Season.”

I found it interesting, though, that you didn’t mention Nub’s Nob Ski Resort in Emmet County, across the Pleasantview valley from The Highlands (formerly known as Boyne Highlands) in the Harbor Springs area.

Nub’s has consistently won awards over the years in the ski resort industry throughout the Midwest for their snowmaking capabilities and expertise. Their grooming equipment is state of the art, and they were the first ski resort in northwest lower Michigan to acquire the newest groomers more than 25 years ago that utilize a tiller system to grind the snow finer than before.

Nub’s continues to update their equipment and increase their snowmaking capacity each ski season while outperforming other ski resorts in snowmaking and grooming.

Nub’s Nob does one thing only—skiing— and they do it very well. They don’t have a conference center or an indoor water park, no spa or hotel services, no golf courses, not even a pool. What they do offer is the finest skiing available in a safe, family-friendly environment for locals, seasonal residents, and tourists. The view of Little Traverse Bay from the top of the ski hill is spectacular, too. It’s no wonder that area high school ski teams go to Nub’s for practice and ski meets.

I am not an employee of Nub’s but have been a loyal customer for many years. I encourage this publication to reach out to Nub’s in the future for information on the local ski industry.

Tamara Stevens | Harbor Springs Penny Wise, Pound Foolish Aren’t we supposed to be the country of “liberty and justice for all?” If so, then why does Consumers Power get to run roughshod over the rights of Traverse City residents, our government, and our college by cutting an 80-foot swath of large trees that protect and buffer a neighborhood in the city?

In this time of climate crisis, we need resilience, and we need to “harden the grid” by burying our power lines. (See The RecordEagle of Dec. 24th, Sec D for a complete article on this).

Michigan is ranked 43rd in the nation in terms of grid reliability. With more severe storms predicted for our future, installing high-powered lines underground is not only more reliable but also safer for all. It is also less maintenance in the longer term.

Don’t allow Consumers Power to destroy neighborhoods with their destructive tree cutting.

Protect “Tree City” for a future of cleaner air and water—our gifts from the trees. They are critical for a livable future in this age of uncertainty.

Ann Rogers | Traverse City Where Is He Shopping?

In his letter to the editor in December, Mr. Wierenga rambles on about the supposed accomplishments of Mr. Biden and his party that have occurred in the past. How about we talk about what is occurring now?

Complete open border letting in hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, some smuggling serious drugs that are killing our people and making the cartels rich. Of course, Mr. Biden and his party keep telling us the border is secure. A visible lie.

We have inflation and Mr. Biden says there is none. Really, where is he shopping?

He is allowing the statues of our founders to be torn down. He gave Afghanistan back to the Taliban and allowed 13 Americans to be killed. He has allowed America to decline rapidly in the world stature, allowing other countries—China, Russia, Iran, to name a few—to take advantage of us.

CONTENTS

feature

Blissful Sounds at Crooked Tree.......................10 Shoulder Season Celebrations..........................14 More People, More Visits, More Dialogue........16 Making the Nectar of the Gods........................18 Cold Faithful..........................................................21 A New Groove.......................................................24

columns & stuff

Top Ten..........................................................4 Spectator/Stephen Tuttle..................................6 Guest Opinion...................................................7 Weird..........................................................23 Dates..........................................................26 Nitelife.........................................................28 Crossword...................................................28 Astro..............................................................29 Classifieds.................................................30

You know your business.

We know your business insurance.

Ken Schoenberg | Harbor Springs The Time for Action Is Now Recent letters to Northern Express have cited different “scientific” sources which have referred to climate change and whether current evidence actually supports dangerous changes in the earth’s atmosphere.

Whether you agree or disagree with these sources, there is one point that cannot be debated and which is almost universally accepted by the scientific community. And that point is that the year 2023 will be recorded as the warmest year on record.

This dramatic rise in the temperature of our atmosphere and our oceans have led to weather events that have destroyed entire communities and economies. The response to these events is obvious and the response by our leaders should be immediate and productive. And the solutions to climate change are out there and can be implemented.

But the time for debate is over…the time for action is now.

George Robson | Petoskey

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

Northern Express Weekly is published by Eyes Only Media, LLC. Publisher: Luke Haase PO Box 4020 Traverse City, Michigan 49685 Phone: (231) 947-8787 Fax: 947-2425 email: info@northernexpress.com www.northernexpress.com Editor: Jillian Manning Finance Manager: Libby Shutler Distribution Manager: Roger Racine Sales: Lisa Gillespie, Kaitlyn Nance, Michele Young, Todd Norris, Abby Walton Porter, Caroline Bloemer For ad sales in Petoskey, Harbor Springs, Boyne & Charlevoix, call (231) 838-6948 Creative Director: Kyra Cross Poehlman Distribution: Joe Evancho, Sarah Rodery Roger Racine, Gary Twardowski Charlie Brookfield, Rachel Cara Listings Editor: Jamie Kauffold

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Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 3

this week’s

top ten Cask, Flask, and Fork

The Frostbite Trail is back for 2024!

No, that’s not just what we’re calling a walk in the woods without proper boots—the Frostbite Trail is a winter tasting and food experience hosted by 11 businesses in Antrim and Charlevoix counties. There are four Saturday dates scheduled for 2024: Jan. 14, Feb. 10, March 23, and April 20. Visit between 12pm and 6pm to sample a small bite food tasting with a pour of wine, beer, or cider. (Cost is $12 per person at each stop.) This weekend’s theme is “handhelds,” with menus available on the participating location’s websites: Townline Ciderworks, BOS Wine, Short’s Pull Barn, WaterFire Vineyards, Torch Lake Cellars, Cellar 1914/ Shooks Farms, Bier’s Inwood Brewery, Folklor Wine and Cider, Lost Cellars, BluDot Farm and Vineyard, and Spare Key Winery.

Photo by Lantana Foods

The British Are Coming!

Look out for the British Invasion—this annual show on Saturday, Jan. 13, at 7:30pm by Dale Rieger and local talent benefits and takes place at the Cheboygan Opera House. Enjoy hearing some of the biggest hits from bands such as The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Who. Tickets are $10-$40 including fees. (231) 627-5841; theoperahouse.org

4 Hey, read It!

The Christmas Guest

When American exchange student Ashley Smith is invited to spend winter break in the Cotswolds with posh classmate Emma Chapman, she can hardly believe her luck. A cozy English cottage covered in snow and packed with holiday guests sounds like a dream come true to Ashley, who had already resigned herself to spending a lonely Christmas stuck in London. The arrival of Emma’s handsome brother, Adam, only sweetens the deal. But what begins as an idyllic few days doused in booze turns into a nightmare when rumors surrounding the murder of a local teen upend the festivities. Has Ashley walked into a fairy tale or something far more ominous? Set 30 years later in New York, The Christmas Guest from bestselling author Peter Swanson relives the events of that fateful Christmas Eve through a long-lost diary—and one unwitting killer’s conscience.

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2 tastemaker

Lantana Foods’ Sriracha Carrot Hummus

We ate a lot of good food over the holidays, but there was a new star we noticed on the veggies and dip platter: Lantana Foods’ Sriracha Carrot Hummus. Somehow, even when sugar cookies and sugar plums were in reach, we kept going back for that hummus from funky Ferndale. (Our arteries are probably thanking us for that one.) The dip is savory, spicy— yes, you can feel the heat of the sriracha—and even a little bit sweet, thanks to the addition of an apricot and sunflower seed topping. Post holiday party sampling, we hustled to the grocery store to find a tub of our own. Much to our relief, we spotted those bright orange stripes at Meijer, Tom’s, and Oleson’s ($4.99-$5.99). Bonus: We found plenty more hummus varieties and recipes for tasty, hummus-inspired dishes at lantanafoods.com.

4 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

MEAD•BEER•WINE•FOOD•LIVE MUSIC INDOOR DINING•IGLOOS•DISC GOLF OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK

SCAN FOR MUSIC AND EVENTS

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6 Retired Recess Miss those good old days on the playground? Well, they’re coming back… this time with a twist. Starting Jan. 11, Mt. Holiday in Traverse City will host Retired Recess every Thursday from 12-4pm, a chance for active retired (or almost retired) older kids to gather, ski, socialize, eat, and have fun. (Note: The skiing part is weather dependent, but the rest happens every Thursday snow or shine! Stay up to date on Holiday’s ski conditions at their Facebook page, @mtholiday.) Mt. Holiday will offer discounted lift tickets, rentals, and a tubing run, and the ski hill’s T Bar restaurant will be open for lunch. Retired Recess is put on by a group of local friends hoping to make connections with retired folks who want to have fun with “kids” their own age—just like you used to in elementary school.

Stuff We Love: Sauces, Dollars, Farms, and Schools You normally see Paul Newman’s face staring at you in the grocery aisle from a jar of salsa, spaghetti sauce, or salad dressing. But now you can find the benefits of Newman’s Own at work in our community, too. After a national voting competition sponsored by the Newman’s Own Foundation, the Traverse City-based Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities was at the top of the nonprofit pack and received a $10,000 grant for their Farm to School program. The initiative, per Groundwork’s website, “supports local farms and protects farmland by helping schools serve locally grown food while educating students about why local food is good for health, environment and economy.” Farm to School got its start in 2002 and has connected children and farmers here in northern Michigan for more than two decades. Learn more at groundworkcenter.org/farm-to-school.

Who Do You Find Fascinating?

It’s that time of year again, when we’re starting to put together our annual list of Fascinating People from across northern Michigan— and we need your help! These 20 people are inspiring, curious, creative, and maybe even a little bit strange.

They help make their communities brighter, more vibrant places to live.

Last year, we featured a water rights activist, an ultra-marathoner, and even an extraterrestrial composer. We also got to tell the stories of multiple teachers, musicians, chefs, and artists who inspire the people they interact with every day. If you know someone fascinating, send us a quick email by Jan. 23 at info@northernexpress.com with their name and a few sentences about what makes them special. Then, stay tuned for our Fascinating People issue later this winter to see who made the 2024 list!

8 Advertisement

Building Bridges with Music has outdone themselves once again this year to commemorate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On Monday, January 15th, MLK will be celebrated in a special FREE ‘one show, two venue’ extravaganza at The Alluvion AND Milliken Auditorium. The program will feature the acclaimed musical and literary masterpiece inspired by the life and times of legendary poet, Phillis Wheatley, performed by composer Marion Hayden and her Detroit all-star octet. PLUS, NMC Cantus Children’s Choir and Chamber Singers, PLUS SkyeLea Martin, Jimmy Olson, Joe Wilson & Kevin Larose. FREE TICKETS at mynorthtickets.com. You choose your preferred venue. Either way you see the whole show! PLUS, all day free events at Commongrounds including: interactive art and music for pre-schoolers & elementary and a FREE COMMUNITY LUNCH from 12-2 pm at the newly opened NoBo Mrkt.

Sponsored by Building Bridges with Music. www.thealluvion.org

Bottoms Up Tap 30 Pourhouse’s Iced Cinnamon Roll While you might know Tap 30 Pourhouse in Petoskey for their dozens of rotating craft beer selections, it’s their spin on spirits that’ll have you hooked—and their signature Iced Cinnamon Roll cocktail always hits the sweet spot! A spice-infused take on the classic White Russian, this dessert-worthy sip combines Old Forester whiskey infused with cinnamon and vanilla bean along with a house-made coffee liqueur (ingredients: Gypsy Vodka and local coffee) and a splash of heavy whipping cream. Shaken and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, it tastes just like the infamous breakfast bake. We love one paired with a scratch-made Bacon Smash Burger and a side of sweet potato fries (but we won’t judge if you treat yourself first!). Enjoy an Iced Cinnamon Roll cocktail ($13) at Tap 30 Pourhouse at 422 E. Mitchell St. in Petoskey. tap30.com

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 5

PLAYING WITH FIRE

ARTS ACADEMY

spectator By steven Tuttle Science is always trying to stay at least one step ahead of our needs and sometimes ahead of things we likely don’t need at all. Let’s see what 2024 has in store for us.

There is now such a thing as a micro nuclear power plant. Small enough to be moved by truck and able to fit inside a standard shipping container, they could generate enough power for a neighborhood or a small community. Their portability might be useful in the aftermath of a natural disaster or for an isolated off-grid settlement. Additionally, the uranium they use, U-235, is less enriched than that used in full-size reactors and would be far more difficult to weaponize.

species. It is not abnormal for new insect species to be found annually, but the treasure trove of new wasps was pretty unusual. In addition, biologists discovered a giant crab spider in Ecuador—legs 2-3 inches long and it can move sideways, like a crab—and a snail-eating snake that hangs out in southern Panama and northern Colombia.

(As is always the case, these “new discoveries” were neither new nor a discovery to the indigenous people living in the areas where all the new animals were found.)

Then there was this; a somewhat new field of science now being called “resurrection biology,”

When not trying evermore creative ways to use nuclear energy, the scientific community is discovering new animal species and trying to reanimate old ones.

The Sleeping Beauty Feb. 9-11 | Corson Auditorium

On the significant downside, these small reactors are, at least thus far, much less efficient than their full-sized relatives, and they produce significant amounts of waste. We’ve made strides in developing ways to repurpose and recycle nuclear waste, but not enough.

Maybe the solution is fusion, the so-called Holy Grail of energy research. According to our Department of Energy, fusion occurs when the nuclei of atoms of light elements, usually hydrogen and helium, are forced to combine under extreme pressure or heat, creating a massive energy release. The byproduct of this reaction is not radioactive waste but helium, which dissipates into the atmosphere without much incident.

American scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have successfully created a fusion reaction in which they produced more energy than was used in developing the experiment, a first now duplicated at least three additional times.

Saturday • Feb. 17 Celebrate all things winter with a day of free, family-friendly activities.

interlochen.org/tickets 6 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

Not much energy was created and not for very long—fractions of a second and then a few seconds—but that it could be done at all is considered a significant breakthrough.

And according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, while fusion does not create radioactive waste or used fuel cells, it does create radiation of the sort that isn’t good for living things in the immediate vicinity. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists says current technologies and materials will not withstand the heat required to produce useful amounts of fusion energy, and cold fusion is still an unproven theory.

When not trying evermore creative ways to use nuclear energy, the scientific community is discovering new animal species and trying to reanimate old ones.

According to the Natural History Museum, a stunning 815 new animal species were researched last year, including 619 new wasp

and it’s hard to see how this is a good idea.

These are folks who want to resurrect extinct species using their DNA. Among their favorite targets are the wooly mammoth, a giant relative of our elephant that last existed around 1650 BCE; the quagga, a kind of horse/zebra combination that disappeared in 1883; a massive bovine creature called the auroch which vanished in 1627; the passenger pigeon, which we managed to wipe out with commercial hunting and just-for-fun slaughter in the early 20th century; and the Tasmanian tiger, a predatory marsupial, the last of which died in captivity in 1936.

While there is a certain appeal in bringing back that which we’ve destroyed, the notion raises some troubling questions and realities.

Some of these are large animals requiring significant habitat that no longer exists.

Additionally, the air they breathed, the water they drank, and the food they ate have all changed significantly. It is not clear they could survive now or how they would compete with or out-compete existing species.

We may be resurrecting real trouble in another area. As the Siberian permafrost continues to melt, really old viruses are coming back to life, and scientists are extracting deeper and deeper samples and discovering truly ancient potential trouble. Our National Institutes of Health says viruses up to 65,000 years old have reawakened from their long slumber. These are ancient tiny critters just waiting to come back to life we may not recognize, understand, or have a defense against.

As climate change softens and melts additional layers of permafrost, more and more of our ancient viral and bacterial history will emerge.

It won’t all be harmless.

So, we’re playing with the literal fire of nuclear reactions and the figurative fire of resurrecting species and viruses…all without knowing where either will lead.

WHERE THE LEMON TREE GROWS: AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE MIDDLE EAST Guest Opinion

by Isiah Smith, Jr. Lemon tree, very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

— Will Holt The war is raging in Gaza, and the Middle East is becoming a disaster zone. Daily, the situation grows more dire. The war is well into its third month, and the almost demonic disregard for human life is inexplicable. The casualties on both sides are massive, and as of this writing, the fighting and killing continue unabated.

Americans view the chaos and carnage, and as they habitually do, take sides and find someone to demonize. Thoughtlessly, they

The Lemon Tree tells the true story of two families who share a common history emanating from the walls of Jerusalem stone located on the coastal plain east of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. From one solitary house, and the distinctive lemon tree in its garden, we follow a path that leads to separate and collective histories. We learn of lives intertwined, of two families, and find a much larger story of two people on one land.

Published in 2006, The Lemon Tree unfolds against the background of the first Arab Israeli War’s 50th anniversary. It begins in 1967, when Bashir Khairi, a 25-yearold Palestinian man, returns from exile in the West Bank to knock on the door of the house in al-Ramla in Israel where he once

Each side thinks only they know the truth. It’s amazing how much truth one can find securely wrapped in the warm cocoon of ignorance... turn against each other for the serious crime of expressing views and opinions at odds with their own.

Each side thinks only they know the truth.

It’s amazing how much truth one can find securely wrapped in the warm cocoon of ignorance, conclusions formed without having to leave the comfort of predetermined and fiercely held beliefs.

Some Americans are found guilty of having independent thoughts about the HamasIsrael war and are duly punished. For example, at the recent congressional hearings, three university presidents were grilled McCarthystyle about their views on what constitutes antisemitism. The University of Pennsylvania President lost her job; two other universities narrowly escaped professional and public floggings. This is the price one pays for not following the wisdom of the crowds.

We’ve experienced this phenomenon before.

Not so long ago, critics of the Iraq war were subject to personal and professional ruin.

Later, men caught in the #MeToo net were automatically unlovable, unemployable, and unfriendable. Who needs evidence when the self-righteous mob smelled blood? The roll call of tainted men grew steadily: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Maher, Chris Matthews, and Garrison Keillor to name just a few.

I think before you offer an opinion on important issues, such as the seemingly intractable Middle East tragedy, you should know what you are talking about. Stated more strongly: All Americans must become better informed about the facts and should reject “alternative facts.”

One place to start learning about the Arabs and Jews in the Middle East is the book The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan.

lived. There, he will meet Dalia Eshkenazi, a young Israeli college student who was, until that moment, unaware of the history of her house and her country. Through this biography, the author highlights how two families on opposite sides of the conflict— the al-Khairis and the Eshkenazis—are connected on a level that transcends both faith and human fallibility.

Both groups deny reality, which leads them to attempt to demonize and destroy the brother they insist is the other. As Aldous Huxley wrote, “reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid.”

TAKE A LOOK OUTSIDE

The Lemon Tree circles back in time to the 1930s, when Bashir’s father, Ahmad, carefully built his family’s house out of stone and planted a lemon tree in the backyard. Although the tree would take several years to bear fruit, if at all, Ahmad believed in patience and thought he had time to see the tree flower.

The book’s major theme is the parallels between the Jewish and Palestinian experiences. The question today is whether they will ever reconcile. The strongest answer to this question may be found in The Lemon Tree: By the end of the book, Dalia and Bashir’s friendship has become more distant, but Dalia, ever hopeful, replanted the lemon tree that had died in her backyard, hoping for a better future.

WOULDN’T YOU RATHER

The solution, it seems to me, is either a choice between a one-state solution where both groups share equally in all the land, or a two-state solution where each group has their own land. Both solutions require the same thing: Mutual respect for the humanity of the other and the other’s right to exist.

TRAVERSE CITY GOLF PERFORMANCE CENTER

Isiah Smith, Jr. is a retired government attorney.

BE HERE?

6270 SECORD RD - TRAVERSE CITY, MI - TCGOLFPERFORMANCE.COM

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 7

Where community comes

together

Entertainment Education Cultural Enrichment

Seven years at a magical school and the Puffs… who just happen to be there too.

MAINSTAGE

tickets ON SALE!

January 12, 13, 18, 19, 20 @ 7pm

231.947.2210

January 13, 14, 20 @ 2pm

OldTownPlayhouse.com

Old Town Playhouse - 148 East 8th Street

“Jonesin” Crosswords "Best of 2023"--it's quite the year. by Matt Jones

RESTAURANT & BAKERY

8 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

ACROSS 1. "Asteroid City" director Anderson 4. Calendar pages 8. Active sorts 13. "Yeah, right" laugh 14. "There oughta be ___ against that!"

15. Ibuprofen option 16. Game whose sequel was Time's #1 best video game of 2023 18. Early parlor game (and nothing to do with drawing first blood) 19. Take an unfair share 20. His Best Supporting Actor Oscar win was part of CBC's best pop culture moments of 2023 22. "University Challenge" airer, informally, with "the" 24. Be down 25. Monday, in France 26. "Fine with me" 28. Ice, in Germany 30. Part of a sword 31. Diane Morgan-starring British mockumentary series that landed on many U.S. "Best of 2023" lists 34. "___ the fields we go" ("Jingle Bells") 35. Got an ___ effort 36. Word after even or odd when describing mammals with hooves 38. Actress Carrere of "Wayne's World" 41. Highest-placing Taylor Swift song (at #19) on Rolling Stone's "100 Best Songs of 2023" 46. Tonsillectomy docs 48. Ending for racket or rocket 49. Former Georgian president Shevardnadze 50. Consume 52. Custard fruit 54. Netflix stopped mailing them in 2023 55. With 59-Across, Hayao Miyazaki's final film, which made many 2023 top ten lists 57. ___ Khan University (Karachi institution) 58. Dirty clothes basket 59. See 55-Across 63. East Coast toll-paying convenience 64. "Game of Thrones" actress Chaplin 65. Masseur's specialty 66. Second effort

67. Basic training figs.

68. "Lord of the Rings" beast DOWN 1. "Huh...?!"

2. Animal that goes for a long swim?

3. New Hampshire senator Jeanne with a rhyming surname 4. "Deputy ___" (TV canine) 5. Chicken-king connector 6. Oldest of the "Animaniacs" siblings 7. "Popeye" kid whose name has an apostrophe 8. Actress Hannah of "Kill Bill" 9. Not-so-see-through 10. Major Spanish newspaper 11. Brand with a new label 12. More rocky 15. Hosp. heart ward 17. Like some cheesecakes 21. Beneficiary of, as an estate 22. Ballpoint brand 23. Ostrich kin 24. "Oh ___!" (Marcia Brady quote, in that episode with the football) 27. ___ Stadium (L.A. venue that hosted Super Bowl LVI) 29. Candy maker Russell 32. City near Buffalo, NY 33. Take advice from 37. Lackey 38. Cranky infant, perhaps 39. Befogged 40. Endeavor 42. Alphabetically last U.S. state capital 43. Former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave 44. O'Hare's airport code 45. Dictionary entries (abbr.)

47. Not quite good 51. Rhyming works 53. Like a specially formed committee 56. Many mos.

57. Shouts of discovery 60. Brian with the 2022 album "ForeverAndEverNoMore" 61. Not just my 62. "The Voice" network

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 9

blissful sounds at crooked tree Seven shows to catch in Petoskey this winter

By Ross Boissoneau Crooked Tree Arts Center and Blissfest Music Organization are teaming up once again for their Downtown Sound series, a slate of shows held at the downtown Petoskey art center.

The music runs the gamut, from folk to blues, jazz to Celtic, with stops in between and all around.

Monica Stokes, marketing and communications director for Crooked Tree, says the decision to collaborate was an easy one. “We’ve been doing events in the space [Crooked Tree Arts Center’s auditorium] separately for over a decade. Blissfest knows the artists better; we have the space. Coming together produces a better product,” she says.

And a more diverse one, one that hopefully will engage different audiences, acquainting those familiar with Blissfest with Crooked Tree and vice versa. Sometimes it’s an audience altogether different from what either might attract; such was the case last year when Brian Vander Ark, founder of the Verve Pipe, performed. Caroline Barlow, artistic director for Blissfest, says that show brought in people who might not typically attend events helmed by either organization.

Northern Express connected with the artists headed north for a Downtown Sound performance this winter. Here’s what they had to say about their musical style, their favorite artists, and the songs they’re proudest of.

djangophonique, jan. 13

Guitarist Andrew Brown launched the band as an homage to the hot club swing jazz, but his musical influences extend far beyond that. His father was a professional musician, working in the Motown studios, and his uncle was a jazz bassist.

With those influences and those of the many musicians who visited his home, it’s no wonder he played his first show at age nine, penned a folk opera at 14, and was a member of several rock bands in high school before founding the folksy Appleseed Collective.

As that band slowed, he began to explore the sounds of the early swing jazz personified by the Hot Club of France and its offspring. Djangophonique debuted in 2019.

“It’s a social music, like bluegrass,” he says. “I love this and want to bring this to my life and to other people’s lives.” The band includes another guitarist, a clarinetist, and a bassist.

He says the group straddles the middle ground between traditional and progressive.

Brown also lauds the new addition to his group, vocalist Katie Smith, who returned to her home state after working across the country. Though she earned an undergraduate degree in acting, “I did more singing than acting in New York. Then I moved to Oregon.”

She connected with the band upon her return to Michigan. “There’s something compelling about the vibe of it,” she says. “When we started working together, it was a natural fit.”

Q&A with Djangophonique Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Nostalgic, vibrant, mysterious Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: I would say listen to our video from the show at the Alluvion, which includes tunes by Fats Waller, Cole Porter, and Richard and Robert Sherman.

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: Andrew: Obviously Django, but really my dad, Doug Brown.

Katie: Probably Björk. It seemed like she was really expressing her authentic self.

Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Les Doigts de L’Homme, a French Gypsy jazz-inspired hot club jazz band

Good Morning Bedlam, Jan. 20

The folk-rock duo of Isaak Gill Elker (guitar and vocals) and Victoria Elker (bass and vocals) is noted for its dynamic performances and harmony vocals. Critics have hailed their “beautifully crafted roots music with range and depth” and “beautiful rootsy folk authenticity.”

They don’t shy away from such descriptions, but theirs is not a sleepy, down-home sort of music, but rather a performance meant to generate enthusiasm, maybe even some hand-clapping. Accolades? They won the John Hartford Memorial Festival Band Competition and were finalists at the Northwest String Summit Band Competition.

Q&A with Good Morning Bedlam Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Energetic pop folk Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: It’s definitely hard to get a feel for us in one song, but if I had to choose I’d say “Sticks & Stones.”

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: The Avett Brothers are our biggest inspiration, followed closely by the band Wild Child.

Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: I’ve got to go with The Beatles!

10 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

the pairs, feb. 17

gasoline gypsies, feb. 2

Drummer Joe Makowski says the Detroit-area band harkens back to classic rock with a rootsy appeal. “We all got lucky,” he says in finding like-minded individuals with the same musical goals.

He grew up in a musical family in Port Huron and gravitated toward drums. While the rest of the band is also from the east side of the state, Makowski takes pains to say how much they enjoy visiting and performing on our side of Michigan. Case in point: The video for their song “Under the Weather” was shot in Elk Rapids.

The band is now reaching out to the Midwest and beyond, with gigs in Ohio, Indiana, the Carolinas, and even Texas. Makowski says the band will be doing some recording this winter along with a handful of concerts.

So why do audiences appreciate them, and why should people come to their show? “The energy. We’re really about a good time,” Makowski says, onstage and beyond. “We’re pretty down-to-earth guys. Our fans have become friends. We’ll hang out and have a beer before the show.”

Q&A with Gasoline Gypsies Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Rock, folk, Americana Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: “Gravel Roads.” It’s gotten airtime on the History channel. It has the energy.

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: I’m a big Zeppelin/John Bonham guy. Bonzo was my inspiration. As far as the band, the Allman Brothers, Steely Dan, old classic rock.

Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: I’m dying to see Lukas Nelson.

mr. B, feb. 10

Mark Braun grew up in Flint, and in his early teens enjoyed music by the likes of the Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones.

He wanted to get to the roots of the music that had influenced them and learned about players like Blind John Davis, Little Brother Montgomery, and Jimmy Yancey. “I heard it and immediately fell for it. I went nuts for it,” he says.

He became friends with many of those first generation blues musicians, spending time on the bandstand, in their homes, even traveling with them. He also was influenced by the jazz pianists whose roots were in the blues, such as Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, and Ray Bryant.

Braun says he’s spent a lot of his life as a solo act or a duo with a drummer, so he’s comfortable taking the stage with just a piano and a microphone. “You have freedom—you can pivot. With a backing band, you need to be on the same page. There’s less freedom and space.”

Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t also enjoy working with other musicians. “You add instruments and the sonic landscape changes,” he says. “There’s more opportunity for depth. And you can have a [musical] conversation.”

One thing always holds true. “Blues piano is at the heart of it all.”

Q&A with Mr. B

Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: Three of them I’ve written: “Little Brother,” “My Sunday Best,” and “Hallelujah Train.”

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: Once I start I’ll never stop—there were hundreds. John Lee Hooker, Boogie Woogie Red, [the others above].

Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: A pianist in Houston, Quennel Gaskin. He’s not well-known outside of gospel. He’s like the Art Tatum of gospel. And Monty Alexander. I’ve played with him.

Q&A with The Pairs Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Quirky, dynamic, hopeful Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: We would have to recommend three songs, and that’s because there are three very unique songwriters steering this ship. All our styles are held together by the common thread of choral harmonies. We’ve selected three songs that showcase [our] individual styles off of our most recently released album, When Will We Find Our Way?: “Annie’s Daughter,” “Find Our Way,” and “Superhuman.”

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: All three of us have different inspirations that influence our writing and performing, but some collective artistic inspirations would be Alanis Morissette, Tune-Yards, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joseph, Sylvan Esso, and First Aid Kit. Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Renée: Talking Heads Noelle: Alanis Morissette Hillary: Radiohead

grace theisen, march 2

Named an Artist to Watch by Local Spins last year, the self-described “queer Americana/Blues artist” originally hails from Kalamazoo and returned there after a sojourn to Nashville.

Her love for music started in her childhood living room, harmonizing to folk and blues songs with her family. She moved to Music City to run the nonprofit she established, Songs Against Slavery. Its mission was to raise awareness and fight sex trafficking through benefit concerts, eventually raising over $375,000.

Since returning to her home state, she has remained busy on the music scene, recently performing at The Ark in Ann Arbor with the Ebird & Friends holiday show. She told Local Spins she grew up on bluegrass and blues but also loves pop, hip-hop, and R&B and soul, so her songwriting draws from all those genres and influences.

Q&A with Grace Theisen Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Sometimes we have a violin player, a sax player, and you never know what Carolyn Koebel [drums/percussion] is going to pull out of her bag of world instruments, so we decided to start calling my musical style “Androgynous Americana” because you never know what you’re going to get! t to y

JAN UARY 31 - FEBRUARY 3, 2024 gh ou Br

ou by

Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

TICKETS ON SALE NOVEMBER 24th A: Our current show is mostly new songs that aren’t released yet, but I would say listen to @ TCCOMEDYFEST.COM “Master of Fire” and “Honey’s Dripping.” Those are my most current releases as of 2022 and 2023. We do still play “Behind The Rain” and “Down To The River,” which are crowd favorites! :

Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Personal, inspiring (I hope), genuine

Canadian singers and songwriters Renée Coughlin, Noelle Frances Coughlin, and Hillary Watson are classically trained, but the music of the trio (yes, a trio dubbed The Pairs) essays a down-home feel. So much so that their shows “blur the line between the stage and the crowd as if we’ve pulled up a seat around their family’s lively kitchen table.”

They’ve been compared with everyone from the Roches to John Prine—not bad for three friends who came together to play music that soothed their achy hearts.

While said in jest, the music explores everything from heartache to joy.

Q: Which artist(s)more inspired you80 to pursue careeracross in music?

Featuring than artistsafrom the state and country A: I grew up listening to anything from Patty Griffin, Emmlou Harris, Billy Joel, to a lot of blues music like Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters,atB.B. and Buddy Guy. My cousin Featuring performances theseKing, fine venues Jordan Lunardini was City in a blues band, so I spent my childhoodOld going to his shows Encore Traverse City Opera Themost ofWorkshop Town Hotel in smoky clubs and saturated with the music of theCo. blues Playhouse greats! I now listen 201 blues Comedy ClubgettingHouse Alluvion Brewing Indigo to all types of music to pull inspiration from, including Larkin Poe, Brandi Carlile, Tracy Chapman, Alicia Keys, and my currentProudly favorite queerbyartist, GFlip. sponsored Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Currently it’s a toss-up between Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile.

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 11

the pairs, feb. 17

gasoline gypsies, feb. 2

Drummer Joe Makowski says the Detroit-area band harkens back to classic rock with a rootsy appeal. “We all got lucky,” he says in finding like-minded individuals with the same musical goals.

He grew up in a musical family in Port Huron and gravitated toward drums. While the rest of the band is also from the east side of the state, Makowski takes pains to say how much they enjoy visiting and performing on our side of Michigan. Case in point: The video for their song “Under the Weather” was shot in Elk Rapids.

The band is now reaching out to the Midwest and beyond, with gigs in Ohio, Indiana, the Carolinas, and even Texas. Makowski says the band will be doing some recording this winter along with a handful of concerts.

So why do audiences appreciate them, and why should people come to their show? “The energy. We’re really about a good time,” Makowski says, onstage and beyond. “We’re pretty down-to-earth guys. Our fans have become friends. We’ll hang out and have a beer before the show.”

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Q&A with Gasoline Gypsies

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Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

HAPPY HOUR - HOUSE-SMOKED MEATS A: Rock, folk, Americana Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: “Gravel Roads.” It’s gotten airtime on the History channel. It has the energy.

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: I’m a big Zeppelin/John Bonham guy. Bonzo was my inspiration. As far as the band, the Allman Brothers, Steely Dan,423 oldSclassic UNIONrock.

ST, TRAVERSE CITY Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

BLUETRACTOR.NET | 231.922.9515 A: I’m dying to see Lukas Nelson.

mr. B, feb. 10

CRYSTAL HURRY

Mark Braun grew up in Flint, and in his early teens enjoyed music by the likes of the Allman Brothers and the Rolling Stones.

He wanted to get to the roots of the music that had influenced them and learned about players like Blind John Davis, Little Brother Montgomery, and Jimmy Yancey. “I heard it and immediately fell for it. I went nuts for it,” he says.

He became friends with many of those first generation blues musicians, spending time on the bandstand, in their homes, even traveling with them. He also was influenced by the jazz pianists whose roots were in the blues, such as Horace Silver, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, and Ray Bryant.

Braun says he’s spent a lot of his life as a solo act or a duo with a drummer, so he’s comfortable taking the stage with just a piano and a microphone. “You have freedom—you can pivot. With a backing band, you need to be on the same page. There’s less freedom and space.”

Which doesn’t mean he doesn’t also enjoy working with other musicians. “You add instruments and the sonic landscape changes,” he says. “There’s more opportunity for depth. And you can have a [musical] conversation.”

One thing always holds true. “Blues piano is at the heart of it all.”

Q&A with Mr. B Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Personal, inspiring (I hope), genuine Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: Three of them I’ve written: “Little Brother,” “My Sunday Best,” and “Hallelujah Train.”

Q: Which inspired you to pursue a career in music?

SAVEartist(s) MONEY: BUY ONLINE. A: Once I start I’ll never stop—there were hundreds. John Lee Hooker, Boogie GetRed, your liftothers tickets, rentals and lessons Woogie [the above]. for the 2023-24 winter season online Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick? atincrystalmountain.com/ski A: Anow pianist Houston, Quennel Gaskin. He’s not well-known ofV gospel.

T Houtside OMPSON I L L E , M He’s I like the Art Tatum of gospel. And Monty Alexander. I’ve played with him.

12 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

Canadian singers and songwriters Renée Coughlin, Noelle Frances Coughlin, and Hillary Watson are classically trained, but the music of the trio (yes, a trio dubbed The Pairs) essays a down-home feel. So much so that their shows “blur the line between the stage and the crowd as if we’ve pulled up a seat around their family’s lively kitchen table.”

They’ve been compared with everyone from the Roches to John Prine—not bad for three friends who came together to play music that soothed their achy hearts.

While said in jest, the music explores everything from heartache to joy.

Q&A with The Pairs Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Quirky, dynamic, hopeful Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: We would have to recommend three songs, and that’s because there are three very unique songwriters steering this ship. All our styles are held together by the common thread of choral harmonies. We’ve selected three songs that showcase [our] individual styles off of our most recently released album, When Will We Find Our Way?: “Annie’s Daughter,” “Find Our Way,” and “Superhuman.”

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: All three of us have different inspirations that influence our writing and performing, but some collective artistic inspirations would be Alanis Morissette, Tune-Yards, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Joseph, Sylvan Esso, and First Aid Kit. Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Renée: Talking Heads Noelle: Alanis Morissette Hillary: Radiohead

grace theisen, march 2

Named an Artist to Watch by Local Spins last year, the self-described “queer Americana/Blues artist” originally hails from Kalamazoo and returned there after a sojourn to Nashville.

Her love for music started in her childhood living room, harmonizing to folk and blues songs with her family. She moved to Music City to run the nonprofit she established, Songs Against Slavery. Its mission was to raise awareness and fight sex trafficking through benefit concerts, eventually raising over $375,000.

Since returning to her home state, she has remained busy on the music scene, recently performing at The Ark in Ann Arbor with the Ebird & Friends holiday show. She told Local Spins she grew up on bluegrass and blues but also loves pop, hip-hop, and R&B and soul, so her songwriting draws from all those genres and influences.

Q&A with Grace Theisen Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Sometimes we have a violin player, a sax player, and you never know what Carolyn Koebel [drums/percussion] is going to pull out of her bag of world instruments, so we decided to start calling my musical style “Androgynous Americana” because you never know what you’re going to get!

Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: Our current show is mostly new songs that aren’t released yet, but I would say listen to “Master of Fire” and “Honey’s Dripping.” Those are my most current releases as of 2022 and 2023. We do still play “Behind The Rain” and “Down To The River,” which are crowd favorites!

Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: I grew up listening to anything from Patty Griffin, Emmlou Harris, Billy Joel, to a lot of blues music like Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Buddy Guy. My cousin Jordan Lunardini was in a blues band, so I spent most of my childhood going to his shows in smoky blues clubs and getting saturated with the music of the blues greats! I now listen to all types of music to pull inspiration from, including Larkin Poe, Brandi Carlile, Tracy Chapman, Alicia Keys, and my current favorite queer artist, GFlip.

Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Currently it’s a toss-up between Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile.

Weeknight Happenings MONDAY - FRIDAY

Social Hour | 4 PM - 6 PM $5 off signature cocktails, $5 off wines by the glass, and $5 draft beers

blackthorn, march 16

Blackthorn has been performing its mix of jigs and reels, sea shanties, traditional, ancient, and modern music since 1984. The band works to capture the history and legend of Ireland and its people from throughout the centuries. Bandleader Richard McMullan was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and brings the stories and songs of his native land to every stage he plays on.

While there may be just four people onstage, it’s littered with instruments, as each member is proficient on multiple fronts. McMullen himself plays guitar, mandolin, cittern, bodhrán, and bones, along with being the band’s lead vocalist. Bass guitar, fiddle, wooden flute, accordion, tin whistle, electric keyboards, and more might feature on any one tune, along with its four-part harmonies.

Blackthorn’s shows are also unique in its variety of tunes, tempos, and textures.

For its efforts, Blackthorn was voted Best Folk Band/Artist by the readers of Detroit Metro Times.

The group regularly plays Irish pubs and establishments in the Detroit area and has also led tours to the Emerald Isle. But you don’t need a passport to take a trip with them.

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Q&A with Blackthorn Q: How would you describe your musical style in three words?

A: Engaging, uplifting, storytelling Q: What song of yours would you recommend to give a feel for your music?

A: “Carrick-a-Rede” (the opening track on the band’s One Bright March Morning) Q: Which artist(s) inspired you to pursue a career in music?

A: Planxty, Andy Irvine, Patrick Street, Richard Thompson Q: If you could see any musician/group perform, who would you pick?

A: Peter Gabriel

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Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 13

Shoulder Season Celebrations Comedy festivals, fat tire bike races, concerts, and more await in winter ’24

By Ross Boissoneau Winter isn’t just coming—it’s here. While the fire may indeed be so delightful, that’s no reason to stay inside, sip hot cocoa, and brood until April. Not when there are restaurants, shopping, ski hills, movies, plays, laughs, and music to be found. If you’re having a good time, the weather outside is much less frightful.

There’s so much to do as the mercury dips, and it’s a great time for those who live in Up North to explore without being trampled by tourists. The hills and trails beckon, and the downtowns are slower but still vibrant. And so, without further ado, here are 15 events to look forward to in January and February.

TRAVERSE CITY “There’s always something happening, especially downtown,” says Abby Seittler. As the downtown experience coordinator for Traverse City’s Downtown Development Authority, she might not be completely objective, but that doesn’t mean she’s wrong.

The two biggest events of the winter are already on the downtown calendar. First is the Traverse City Comedy Fest, returning for its second year Jan. 31 through Feb. 3. Traverse City Restaurant Week follows, running Feb. 25 through March 2.

This year’s Comedy Fest features headliners Zainab Johnson, Rory Scovel, Joe List, Norm Stulz, and Dwayne Kennedy. Local and regional talent will tickle your funny bones as well, including Good On Paper, Tilt Think Improv, The Sal & Bob Show, and more. The festival is held at various venues, including the Alluvion, Old Town Playhouse, City Opera House, Encore 201, and TC Comedy Club.

“It’s a great event,” says Mickey Graham, director of sports and events for Traverse City Tourism. “Last year was a huge success. It proved these kinds of events can thrive in Traverse City.”

While the Comedy Fest is newer—at least in its current iteration (a different comedy festival was held in TC from 2010 to 2015 in connection with the Traverse City Film Festival)—Traverse City Restaurant Week has been a staple since 2011.

“We love Restaurant Week,” says Seittler. “It’s a great way for people to try a new restaurant.” She expects there will be upwards of 40 eateries participating, from downtown staples to those on the outskirts or even outside of Traverse City proper.

If laughing and eating aren’t your thing—well, we’re worried about you. But there’s still more to enjoy in TC: the North American Vasa takes place Feb. 10 and 11 at Timber Ridge Resort, while the 2024 USA Mixed Doubles Curling National Championships will be held at the Traverse City Curling Club Feb. 27 through March 3. The 2024 Special Olympics State Winter Games will run Jan. 30-Feb. 2 at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa, Schuss Village at Shanty Creek Resort, and Howe Arena.

Those into a different kind of competition can take part in the Traverse City Bourbon Fest Feb. 16 at Visions Weddings and Banquets.

Traverse City DDA CEO Jean Derenzy says it’s important to keep the downtown enticing for visitors and residents alike, and the so-called offseason is a perfect way for those who might avoid the summertime throngs. “It’s busy downtown, so some are not into it in July and August. There’s something for everyone, if not in July then in January.”

14 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

PETOSKEY Hopefully New Year’s revelers have recovered by the second weekend of ’24, because they’ll need all their get-up-and-go for the Fat & Flurrious Bike Race on Jan. 13. Part of the Tour De Fat, the Northern Michigan Fat Tire Bike Series, the race takes place on the Avalanche Preserve trails in Boyne City. Great views of Lake Charlevoix are a given, but the racers may be too busy whooshing around the trail to take much notice.

That’s just the start, according to Jim Powell, executive director of the Petoskey Area Visitors Bureau. He touts not just Petoskey, but the whole Little Traverse region, including Petoskey proper, Boyne City, Boyne Falls, and Harbor Springs.

The lattermost hosts the Harbor Springs Ice Festival Feb. 9 and 10. Rachel Roon, the interim DDA director for Harbor Springs, says the event will include all manner of fun, from games in the park, sledding and s'mores at Kiwanis Park, and trivia at Stafford’s Pier, while the ice sculptures take center stage all around town.

“Harbor Springs has small-town charm,” says Roon. “Walking through downtown, everyone is excited for that weekend. It doesn’t matter if it’s 10 below or a 50-degree day.” (Though we bet the ice carvers would no doubt prefer the former.)

Those ice carvers can take their lessons learned across Little Traverse Bay the next weekend. Petoskey’s Winter Wonderland Weekend Feb. 16-19 will feature ice carving demonstrations, downtown shopping and restaurant specials, a scavenger hunt through the downtown shops, and a Downtown Dollars shopping contest, all within the boundaries of the Downtown Petoskey Social District.

Of course, that’s not all. “One of the biggest things is we’re home to three of northern Michigan’s best ski resorts,” Powell says. All three are celebrating anniversaries this year: Boyne Highlands turns 60, Nub’s Nob 65, and Boyne Mountain 75. “It speaks to the heritage of skiing in the region.”

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CADILLAC The Cadillac Visitors Bureau touts its appeal front and center on its website: “Finding something to do in the cold weather months is EASY in Cadillac.” Spoiler alert: They’re right. The slopes beckon at Caberfae, and you can even hit the waters. Seriously—the Pine River Paddlesports Center offers guided winter rafting trips.

Kathy Adair Morin, head of the Cadillac Visitors Bureau, says it’s all about taking in the area at your preferred pace. For her, it doesn’t get any better than the Lantern Lit Hikes on the Heritage Nature Trail. “It’s my favorite thing,” she says.

Those hikes take place at the trails surrounding the Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center on Friday nights during the winter through Feb. 9. “It’s a one-mile loop. There’s a bonfire, hot chocolate, the center to warm up. Snowshoes are available, or you can just hike,” Morin says.

For those more on the go, Cadillac’s premier event is the Fatty Caddy fat tire bike race, taking place Feb. 24 at the Cadillac Pathways. (It’s the series finale for the Tour De Fat.) Morin says last year’s frosty fun led to numerous racers finishing the race with beards full of icicles. She notes the trail is maintained by the Northern Michigan Mountain Bike Association, keeping the trails for fat tire bikes and cross-country and snowshoeing separate.

Cadillac has long been known as a headquarters for snowmobiles, and Morin says that continues, with one caveat: Snowmobiles need more snow than non-motorized trails. “It’s declined because of the lack of snow” the last couple years, she says, but if we get a snowy winter, she’s confident they’ll be back.

Oh, there’s fun indoors too. The Gopherwood concert series has been a Cadillac mainstay since 1984, and this winter it kicks off with Steppin’ In It on Jan. 13 at the Cadillac Elks Lodge. The Venue Event Center welcomes national touring acts, including Hinder Jan. 31 and Chris Cagle Feb. 3. And the Cadillac Public Library offers a popular History Speaker Series.

Morin says downtown Cadillac has a lot to offer. “It’s easy to navigate,” she says, “and it’s affordable and family friendly. People are pleasantly surprised. The shops, social district for walking and drinking, great dining, Cadillac Commons with fire.”

She echoes the others when talking about the downtown restaurants and retailers, noting they both need and deserve the support of the community. “They’re our friends, they’re our neighbors,” she says.

Morin also says the CVB and the Cadillac Area Chamber of Commerce are working together to better connect the downtown with Cadillac West, where Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac meet. “Downtown is more of a destination; West is more tourism-dependent and a pass-through for traffic. We want it all to be vibrant.”

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Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 15

more people, more visits, more dialogue Organizations that work with people experiencing homeless continue to see an uptick in the demand for their services

By Art Bukowski Resources designed to assist people experiencing homelessness in the region are all under strain in the early days of 2024.

Unhoused people in the Grand Traverse region are assisted by a variety of organizations that meet basic needs, from temporary shelter to assistance with food and hygiene. All these organizations are reporting an exponential increase in the use of their services.

“The number of guests we’re seeing is at a record right now—it’s staggering,” says Brad Gerlach, facility manager and volunteer coordinator at Safe Harbor. “We’re at capacity every night, and we’ve had to turn people away.”

Safe Harbor, which began as a collection of churches opening their doors overnight for people experiencing homelessness, now has a permanent 84-bed shelter in Traverse City. Over at the Jubilee House, another facility dedicated to the cause, unhoused people can receive mail, shower, and tend to other basic needs. It’s the same story there, Rev. Derek Quinn tells us.

“November, which is the last month we have statistics for, saw the greatest number

of visits to Jubilee House that we’ve ever recorded,” says Quinn, who runs the house as a program of Grace Episcopal Church.

“We’ve definitely gotten to the point where we’re seeing a trend line with a true upward trajectory.”

More, but Different Though advocates say a fully accurate census is sometimes hard to pin down for a variety of reasons, the five-county Grand Traverse region has had a relatively stable population that hovers around 200250 people experiencing homelessness for several years. It’s up around 275 now, marking a relatively minor increase. The bigger issue may be the way people are interacting with services.

“I think the difference is they’re coming in a more concentrated way. Instead of people just coming and stopping by at Jubilee House, maybe being here for an hour and doing a load of laundry and grabbing a shower and then moving on, we’re seeing more people who want to come and stay for the whole day or for large chunks of time,” Quinn says. “When that happens and more people come in and not as many people are leaving, we end up with a lot more people in

16 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

Ryan Hannon

Ashley Halladay-Schmandt the house.”

Ryan Hannon is the community engagement officer at Goodwill Northern Michigan after serving for more than a decade as the organization’s street outreach coordinator. He’s interacted with thousands of people living without permanent homes over the years, and another big difference he’s seeing these days is the physical attributes of the people he’s helping.

“One of the biggest trends I think is we’re working with more physically frail people. There’s a big shortage of adult foster

care housing around the state and especially around here,” he says. “So we’re seeing more intense needs for these people, and people who are aging as well.”

Advocates say more people are also ending up in Traverse City from around the region as other municipalities crack down on homelessness. Some areas will arrest unhoused people for trespassing or other concerns.

“Some of the townships have taken steps toward criminalization of homelessness,” says Ashley Halladay-Schmandt, director

Goodwill Inn

Safe Harbor

Jubilee House

Derek Quinn

of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness. “And if we don’t have people feeling like they can safely camp in certain regions, they’re all going to the city.”

The Housing Issue The Coalition, a group of many organizations dedicated to ending homelessness in the region, has an ambitious goal of ending chronic homelessness— defined as people who have been homeless for a year or longer and are disabled in some way—by 2028. The number of people in this category currently sits around 70. There will only be one way to fix that, HalladaySchmandt says.

“Data really speaks to the fact that communities that have severe shortages in housing have people staying homeless for longer periods of time, and the biggest reason we have 70 people experiencing chronic homelessness is because we don’t have enough housing,” she says. “We’re always going to have some people who are homeless, but when we don’t have enough outflow because there’s not enough housing, people stay homeless longer, their needs get worse, and their health gets worse.”

Advocates are also keeping an eye on people who have only recently fallen into homelessness, perhaps living in their vehicles

or other forms of owned shelter that isn’t a traditional home. They tell us it’s hard to say if that number is increasing or decreasing.

Jim Perra is rector at Grace Episcopal, which runs Jubilee house. Another new challenge, he says, is it’s getting harder to stay housed for an increasingly large segment of the population. Housing prices have skyrocketed while wages have risen much more slowly, and services are less accessible.

Simply put, more people are getting closer to the danger zone than ever before.

“There is less and less margin of error for living,” he said. “A lot of the people who are becoming homeless are just one way or another falling off the grid.”

And while people definitely come to Traverse City here from more rural areas to access the broadest network of support services in northern Michigan, Perra wishes to strongly dispel the notion that people experiencing homelessness come here with the goal of coasting or living on handouts.

“Whenever I hear someone say that people are coming to Traverse City to be homeless, it makes me want to throw something across the room,” he said. “There is no cushy place to be homeless.”

All Eyes on the Pines The wooded corner near the intersection

of 14th and Division streets (popularly known as the Pines) has contained a homeless encampment for decades, in large part because the city does not criminalize people who camp there. But a recent tree trimming at the site has made it a stark visual reminder of how a certain segment of the population lives, leading to lots of discourse on the issue in meeting rooms, social media groups, and more.

If nothing else, the increased attention will hopefully drive meaningful change on the issue, advocates hope.

“People are talking about it like they’ve never talked about homelessness before.

Ryan [Hannon] and I are being asked to speak at neighborhood associations, things like that, and it’s a great education opportunity,” Halladay-Schmandt says. “It lays the groundwork and gives us a platform to talk about the need for housing.”

Quinn agrees. The more dialogue the better, he says, and the Pines is driving a lot of dialogue.

“I do think that anything that helps us move the conversation forward on how we are ultimately going to choose to house everyone in our community is ultimately an okay thing,” Quinn explains. “And as much as I would like to see the Pines not exist because we’ve provided all the housing

Jim Perra

we need, we know that that’s not going to happen instantly.”

Since the people at the Pines have become more physically visible, neighbors with good intentions have left food, blankets, and more.

But for a variety of reasons, the items can’t always be utilized or properly stored, and they simply serve to clutter the area further. For that reason, advocates strongly discourage anyone from dropping off donations of any kind at the Pines.

“We’ve seen a lot of people who want to do good and are well-intentioned drop things off at the Pines, but it becomes very overwhelming and ends up creating a considerable amount of garbage,” HalladaySchmandt said. “There are more effective ways to help.”

Safe Harbor seeks funding and volunteers, for instance, and Goodwill Northern Michigan’s webpage (look for “Homeless Donations” under the “Donate” tab) includes a variety of ways people can donate money or needed items. Halladay-Schmandt said she’s always happy to speak with individuals who want to help in an effort to best direct their generosity of time or treasure.

For more information, head to: endhomelessnessnmi.org; gtsafeharbor.org; goodwillnmi.org; gracetraversecity.org

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 17

Making the Nectar of the Gods Behind the scenes with local ice wine makers

These frozen grapes from Chateau Chantal are waiting to be turned into decadent ice wine.

By Greg Tasker In just a matter of weeks, if Mother Nature cooperates, clusters of frozen Riesling and other selected grapes clinging to barren, gnarly vines will be harvested, perhaps in the dark of night or in the flurry of snow.

There’s much more work ahead—in frigid conditions as well—but the end result months later will be a unique style of wine not found everywhere: ice wine.

A Rare Treat Ice wine traces its roots to Germany, where it’s known as eiswein and originated in the late 18th century. For a region to produce ice wine, the climate has to be warm enough for grapes to accumulate sugar and to ripen and cold enough for them to freeze.

Canada is the world’s biggest producer of ice wine, while other regions include New York’s Finger Lakes and other Great Lakes states. Grapes commonly used for ice wine include Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Gewurztraminer, Gruner Veltliner, Chenin Blanc, and Vidal Blanc.

Ice wine is made by a handful of wineries in northern Michigan, one of the few wine regions in the world with the right weather conditions to produce the dessert-style wine popular among tasting room customers. It’s often referred to as the “Nectar of the Gods” because of its light gold color and rich sweetness.

“I think part of the appeal of ice wine is that it is rare,” says Lee Lutes, head winemaker at Black Star Farms, which maintains vineyards and tasting rooms on both Old Mission and Leelanau peninsulas.

“The Midwest palate is sweet—that’s part of the appeal. But ice wine is a scarce commodity; you can’t make it everywhere.

They don’t make it in California—or, if they do, they’re doing it artificially.”

A Risky Business No matter the region or the grape, producing ice wine is not for the faint of heart (or thin of skin).

Even in the fall harvest, Michigan wineries endure rain, sleet, and snow, but just imagine what’s in store during a winter harvest. Vintners and their crews share stories of hand-picking frozen grapes in the frigid wee hours of the morning, enduring howling winds, falling temperatures, kneedeep snow, and even the occasional blizzard.

There are, of course, strict rules about the harvesting, handling, and labeling of ice wine. Those regulations require the grapes to be harvested frozen naturally on the vine while the air temperature is about 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The grapes must remain at this temperature (or below) for at least 24 to 48 hours before being picked. Typically, the grapes are picked during a very short window and pressed immediately.

Leaving these grapes on the vine well into late fall or early winter allows for more sugar concentration. When temperatures fall below a certain level, the water in the grapes freeze, but not the sugar. Pressing them immediately, before they thaw, retains the water but releases small amounts of concentrated, sweet juice.

The lower yields of juice, as well as the more labor-intensive process, means higher prices and smaller bottles (typically 375-ml bottles) for ice wine.

But while cold temperatures are required to freeze the grapes, vintners can’t leave the grapes on vines too long. The grapes can freeze and become as hard as marbles, meaning no juice can be extracted. There is also the risk of loss—leaving the grapes on the vine because the desired temperatures never occurred.

There are other risks as well. The longer

18 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

An alcohol refractometer can measure ripeness, alcohol by volume, and sugar content, among other uses.

the grapes hang, the more the sugar is concentrated, attracting the attention of deer, squirrels, birds, raccoons, and other animals. Many winemakers cover the vines in nets as they await the final harvest of the season. The grapes also are subject to the damaging quirks of Mother Nature—hail, wind, or even warmer temperatures.

A Drink to Celebrate And then there’s the wine making process, which is another shift from the norm. Pressing frozen grapes requires special equipment—a high pressure press,

Lutes says. The high sugar levels require special strains of yeast and a slower-thannormal fermentation.

The fermentation can take months, in comparison to days or weeks for other wines.

Most wineries don’t put the latest ice wine on the shelves until the past vintage is sold out.

Black Star Farms began producing ice wine around the time of the winery’s founding more than 25 years ago, but the winery has not been able to make ice wine every year, as sometimes things “don’t line up well enough,” Lutes says. The last ice wine harvest—in January 2022—was the first

A cold winter day at Chateau Chantal.

since 2013. Black Star’s 2021 A Capella Ice Wine ($98), made from Riesling, is on the shelves in the winery’s tasting rooms but is not expected to last much longer.

Chateau Chantal has had better luck and is one of Michigan’s oldest ice wine producers. The Old Mission Peninsula winery has been making ice wine out of Riesling nearly since it opened its doors 30 years ago. More recently, the family-owned winery has been making ice wine out of

Chateau Chantal's Ice Wine Harvest Festival will be held Jan. 27.

Cabernet Franc as well.

“We’ve had a really good reaction to Cabernet Franc,” says Kyle Brownley, Chateau Chantal’s director of marketing who has regularly joined the crew during the ice wine harvest to take photographs. “The color is very pretty—a light red. It has a different flavor profile than you’d expect from ice wine.

“Many ice wines have the same flavor profile because they’re made out of Riesling. When you bring in a red varietal,

it adds something extra. We get berry fruit flavors versus honey flavors from Riesling,” he adds.

Chateau Chantal has several ice wines available now—Ice Wine Estate ($90), Ice Wine Estate Cab Franc ($90), and Vidal Ice ($45). The winery celebrates the unique and popular libation every January with an Ice Wine Harvest Festival, when visitors can taste the ice wine vintages available in the tasting room and peek behind the curtain

on the art of winemaking.

“The Ice Wine Festival is a great opportunity to see a winery in the winter,” Brownley says. “You can see the vineyard where we harvested the grapes for ice wine and tour the cellar where we focus on the process of making ice wine.”

This year’s Ice Wine Harvest Festival will be held Saturday, Jan. 27, from 11am to 5pm. For more information, visit chateauchantal.com.

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COLD FAITHFUL A brief history of Gaylord’s cool ice tree tradition

By Rachel Pasche Since the 1950s, Gaylord has been home to an annual winter tradition that is unlike any other: an enormous ice tree.

Visitors who stop by the northern Michigan village will find an icy structure in front of the county courthouse building, standing as nearly tall as the building itself (depending on the month) and looking like an evergreen completely covered in a thick layer of ice. While this wintry form was once solely made up of old Christmas trees and ice, it has since evolved, now consisting of a steel frame and a whole lot of water.

What started as a few members of a maintenance crew having a bit of fun has evolved into a tradition over half a century long, drawing locals and tourists alike to marvel at this icy spectacle.

So how did this beautiful, weird, frosty tree come to be? Let’s go back in time and find out.

How It Started The first mention of the ice tree in historical records is in January of 1957.

The purported beginning of the tradition starts with Jim Jenkins, brother to former Mayor John Jenkins. Jim and other members of the maintenance crew were responsible for creating and maintaining the local ice rink.

Discarded Christmas trees were “planted” around the edge of the rink in snow banks and hosed down with water, creating a windbreak for the users of the rink.

Some extra Christmas trees had been piled off to the side of the ice rink, and the maintenance crew regularly sprayed those down, too, until layers of ice built up on the pile and the resulting icy structure received multiple compliments from townsfolk. This first ice tree, records show, was 21 feet tall.

The experiment moved to the courthouse lawn for the following winter, where it’s remained in the years since. In 1965, the pile of trees was replaced with a metal frame with

a pipe that pumped water out of the top. (We know what you’re thinking: A pipe spewing water in frigid temperatures is bound to have some problems. The design did pose some issues initially, but the town solved these by ensuring the water ran continuously and using increased water pressure.)

Phil Alexander, who initially started the Otsego County Historical Museum 25 years ago and served as a board member for 10 years, has researched the Gaylord Ice Tree over the years. He says much of the credit of keeping the tradition alive goes to Jim Lappan, who took it upon himself to make sure the ice tree made a reappearance year after year and gave the Historical Society a whole notebook full of drawings, clippings, and other information that provided insight into the history of this tradition.

One year in the beginning of the ice tree’s history, the town held a competition to name this icy sculpture. “Cold Faithful” was elected the winner, though unfortunately, the name hasn’t seemed to stick. Today, a contest is held annually to determine the date the ice tree will fully melt. (As anyone who lives in northern Michigan knows, predicting when winter ends and spring will fully begin is a tricky business!)

How It’s Going The timing, shape, size, and weight of the tree are all dictated by the weather, the Otsego County Maintenance Department says. The scaffolding for the ice tree is usually built during the first week of below-freezing weather. The Maintenance Department can’t start spraying water over the structure until the weather remains below freezing, which can be anytime between November and early January, depending on the year.

How large the tree is able to get and the shape it takes is something determined by wind, temperature, and snowfall, which allows the tree to differ from year to year.

The tree begins with a trickle of water running over the scaffolding and gradually

A 1960s-era image of Cold Faithful.

increases in pressure and volume as the days pass and the ice tree starts to take shape.

While the size and weight of the tree aren’t recorded annually, some statistics taken throughout the years claim that the tree usually reaches between 190 and 200 tons at its seasonal peak. It has also been recorded to be as tall as 35 feet. One year, in the winter of 2013-2014, the tree’s shape had to be altered, as it had become so large it was threatening the courthouse it’s built in front of.

Christy Walcott, the director of marketing and communications for the Gaylord Tourism Bureau, says the town hasn’t, and doesn’t have plans to, check if their Ice Tree really is “the World’s Largest,” but maintains the title sheerly out of the fact that no other town in the world has come forth with a more impressive version.

While the ice tree doesn’t have any festivals or events surrounding it, a worker at the Otsego County Office says the tree usually serves as a “focal point” during the town’s annual winter festival, Alpenfrost, which returns on Feb. 17 in 2024.

Walcott says the 2024 ice tree structure is up, though warmer winter temps have kept it from taking on its fully frozen form. (Here's hoping the recent string of colder days will remedy that!)

The tree continues to charm and awe those who see it, serving as an annual wintry monument that gives the Alpine village of Gaylord a little extra charm during the long winter months.

Find the Gaylord Ice Tree in front of the Otsego County Building at 225 W Main St.

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 21

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Bright Idea If you're looking for a crafty project for 2023, the online shop Savor has you covered, Slate reported. For the low, low price of $46.95, you can put together your own "In Case I Go Missing" binder, which Savor says "makes it super easy for the true-crime obsessed to record their key stats for their loved ones." Those facts include medical and financial information, fingerprints and lists of "hangout spots." One woman said she added "a hair sample just in case they need it for DNA testing." Elizabeth Jeglic, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, soothingly says, "The majority of adults will not go missing or be kidnapped."

Her colleague Patrick McLaughlin offers some ideas for the kit, though: recent photos, the unlock code for your phone, pics of tattoos, scars or birthmarks, handwriting samples -but he warns that such binders might not be admissible as evidence.

The Aristocrats Wow! Things went literally and physically south on July 11 at a press dinner on New York's Upper East side in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. According to Page Six, as Kennedy answered questions, someone posed one about climate change, but before Kennedy could answer, Doug Dechert, the event host, screamed, "The climate hoax!"

Which brought a scold from art critic Anthony Haden-Guest, who called him a "miserable blob." The two continued their exchange, with Kennedy calmly looking on, until Dechert loudly released a "prolonged fart" while yelling, helpfully, "I'm farting!" After attempts to change the subject and more verbal antics, the evening wound down. The next day, Dechert told Page Six, "I apologize for using my flatulence as a medium of public commentary in your presence." How do I get on this guest list?

Bright Idea Michael Raduga, 40, founder of the Phase Research Center in Russia, but -- critically -- NOT a doctor or neurosurgeon, nearly lost his life in June when he tried to implant a chip in his brain on his own, in his living room in Kazakhstan. The Daily Mail reported that Raduga lost more than a liter of blood in his quest to control his dreams. He said he practiced on five sheep's brains and watched hours of neurosurgery on YouTube before starting on his own head. "During the first 30 minutes I was ready to give up many times because ... I was afraid I could just lose consciousness," Raduga said. "I finished the surgery, I took a shower and I worked for 10 hours straight. People didn't know." But neurosurgeon Alex Green of the University of Oxford wasn't having it. "This is an extremely dangerous thing to do," he said.

"We are probably decades away from being able to synthesize new experiences."

Weird Fashion It's about time! Japanese garment company Takikou has developed a wearable bean bag, Oddity Central reported. "This concept was born out of the idea of a cushion that would allow you to totally let go, anytime, anywhere," said the company's Shogo Takikawa. "You can put this on and chill out in your living room or loads of other places." The bean bag is available in different sizes and colors, but it does weigh about 11 pounds (which might make you want

to sit down more often). Prices range from $60 to $119.

New World Order Tired of your John Hancock looking like a child's scribble? Priscilla Molina of Los Angeles can help with that. The Associated Press reported that Molina's business, Planet of Names, will make over anyone's signature for between $10 and $55. People seeking her service are "not happy with their signatures.

They don't relate to who they are. They don't give the message they want to convey to the world," Molina said. She designs up to 300 custom signatures per month, and offers a range of styles, from elegant and artistic to ... illegible.

Can't Possibly Be True Pastor John Lindell of the James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, claimed on the congregation's livestream on March 15 that a "creative miracle" had taken place the day before at the church's Joplin location, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Lindell explained that "prayer team members" had prayed over Kristina Dines, who had had three toes amputated after her husband shot her in 2015. "As the ladies prayed for Krissy ... all three toes grew, and by that point, were longer than her pinky toe," Lindell said in the livestream.

"Within an hour, nails began to grow on all the toes," he added. While Dines hasn't commented to the paper, she said in a video on Twitter that she saw the toes reforming. "Listen, do you understand? I can stand on tippy toes.

No, I couldn't do that (before) because I didn't have toes to tippy on," Dines said. During the livestream, Lindell also suggested to parishioners that other miracles are coming: "... some people in this room -- you're gonna raise people from the dead. It's going to happen."

Stay tuned.

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Compelling Explanation In Dallas, grocery worker Coby Todd, 21, is sure that a "mischievous child ghost" pushed a shopping cart into his car as he was leaving work, Fox News reported on March 30. The day before, Todd had gone "ghost hunting" at a home in Frontier Village, Texas, and had sensed the presence of a "little boy" spirit, he said. He thinks the spirit followed him home and to work the next day. "Maybe he was trying to play with me," Todd said. He checked out the store's security footage to see who might have pushed the cart, and it does appear to suddenly turn and roll on its own toward Todd's car. The damage amounts to about $25,000, and Todd said "it upset me. It's not fake."

Creme de la Weird The Mondaiji Con Cafe Daku (loosely translated: Problem Child Concept Cafe) in Sapporo, Japan, was forced to fire one of its waitresses in April after she was discovered to be adding her own blood to cocktails, the Daily Mail reported. The cafe owner called her actions "absolutely not acceptable" and said the establishment would close while every drinking glass was replaced. "We will hire a contractor to clean the store, change glasses and dispose of alcoholic beverages that may have been contaminated," he said. He called her actions "part-time job terrorism." A local doctor said anyone who had patronized the cafe should visit a doctor and have a blood test. **

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 23

A New Groove Malted Vinyl brings unique “listening lounge” concept to downtown Petoskey

By Craig Manning Vinyl records are back, baby, and there’s no better place in northern Michigan to listen to them than at Malted Vinyl, a new bar and “listening lounge” located in downtown Petoskey.

Once thought a dead format, vinyl roared back to life in the 2000s and 2010s, gaining enough steam to account for 43 percent of all album sales last year in the United States.

Taylor Swift, the biggest music star of the moment, has even adopted vinyl as her pet format, moving nearly 1.7 million vinyl records in 2022 alone.

The Listening Lounge The resurgence of vinyl was part of what motivated Malted Vinyl founder Missy Leverett to open a new business in Petoskey, but certainly not the only factor. The vinyl boom, plus a global pandemic and a timely exit from her previous career, put Leverett in the right place at the right time with the right idea, and Malted Vinyl was the result.

“My background is not music at all; it’s skincare and marketing,” Leverett says. “I spent 25 years in corporate America and was offered a buyout in 2021, which I jumped at. In addition, COVID had allowed my family the opportunity to move to northern Michigan; we’d had a vacation place up here forever. Pretty soon, my husband, Jesse, and I were looking at each other and saying, ‘OK, what should we do now?’ I’d been working the same job since before I even graduated college, so it was my first time looking at different opportunities. We started asking,

‘What could the community need?’”

For an answer, Leverett says she looked to her own family. “The one thing that we could all always rally around was music,” she says.

“We’d go down to the basement and listen to music and just introduce each other to different types and forms of music through different artists.”

Those basement listening sessions provided the framework for Malted Vinyl, a business inspired by the communal power of music and indebted to “the Tokyo listening lounges of the 1950s.”

The establishment, located at 316 East Mitchell Street in downtown Petoskey, boasts an extensive library of vinyl records, a six-zone high-fidelity stereo system, and a bar that serves up craft beer and cocktails, including both traditional and zero-proof options. Whether you’re looking for a vibey spot to enjoy a night with friends or a welcoming sanctuary where you can really experience the music you love, Malted Vinyl is the place to be.

One of a Kind Central to the appeal of Malted Vinyl is its novelty. While there are plenty of restaurants, bars, breweries, and other hangout spots in northern Michigan, there’s no place quite like this.

Those unique attributes are creating substantial buzz for the business, which Leverett says has drawn a lot of customers and a lot of positive feedback since opening its doors in August. In the leadup to that opening, though, Malted Vinyl’s outlier status also posed some unique challenges.

Where there’s a fairly well-established

24 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

playbook for entrepreneurs looking to open their first restaurants or breweries, listening lounges are less well-trod territory. From finding the right space to outfitting their new digs with hi-fi audio equipment and tracking down a well-rounded collection of records, Leverett says she and her husband were wandering without a map as they worked to bring their vision to life.

“The space was probably the hardest thing to find,” Leverett says. “My husband and I thought this was a viable business last October [2022], but we didn’t sign a lease until March. We spent six months looking for the right space. But we’re very happy with where we landed, right down in the Gaslight District. We really wanted a space that would be discoverable while also feeling intimate, and I think we found that.”

The next step was outfitting that space— which is “much larger” than what the Leveretts initially envisioned—with a sound system good enough to justify a business model where listening to music is the primary activity. For that, Malted Vinyl partnered with Waara Technologies of Traverse City to get an “audiophile system” perfectly suited to the size and layout of the space.

“It’s a McIntosh and JBL system, and it sounds great,” Leverett says. “We have six different stereo zones as you move through the lounge, so you can truly be immersed in the music no matter where you are in the building. And it’s loud but it’s not overpowering; you can still have a conversation, because the zones are set up to really envelope you in music, as opposed to just throwing it at you.”

Now Spinning Finally, there was the most open-ended task of all: Building up a collection of vinyl records.

As any die-hard vinyl collector will tell you, there’s no such thing as a “comprehensive” library. There’s always another white whale to track down, another artist’s discography to complete, another new album that captures your heart and ears and demands to be purchased. As such, one of the most difficult questions the Leveretts had to answer when establishing Malted Vinyl was about which records they’d have on hand for patrons to listen to.

“The core of the collection was my husband’s, who has been collecting for years,” Leverett explains. “When we decided to do this business, the marketer in me kicked in, and I created a giant spreadsheet inventorying everything we had. I was looking not just at the specific records, but also at the genres we had represented as well as the era the music was from. And the takeaway was, ‘OK, we really need to broaden your collection.”

So began a six-month record-buying spree, with the end goal of assembling a more well-rounded collection to serve as Malted Vinyl’s in-house library.

Some purchases were aimed at filling in gaps in the catalogs of artists the Leveretts were sure would be popular among their future clientele. “The Beatles’ White Album is one we didn’t have that we knew we had to procure,” Leverett recalls. Other pickups helped add new genres to the mix (“Country music was definitely an area where we weren’t very deep with Jesse’s natural collection”)

SMALL CLASS SIZES AMAZING TEACHERS or make sure the collection was up to date (“About 60 percent of the collection was ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, so we needed to get some newer stuff ”). Malted Vinyl ended up with “just over 400 records” when it launched, with many of the newer acquisitions bought at RPM Records in Traverse City.

Leverett is certain the collection at Malted Vinyl will continue to grow over time, though she chuckles when noting that there are roughly 35-40 albums that seem to be dominating most of the turntable time so far. The house rule is that each customer gets to pick one side of a record to play, and some artists and albums are simply more popular than others.

The most common pick so far?

“Fleetwood Mac is by far the number one request,” Leverett says.

Even if Rumours is getting the most play, though, that doesn’t mean there’s not a diversity of sounds pouring out of the speakers. Every Wednesday, for instance, customers can also bring their own records from home to play over the Malted Vinyl system. And in the future, Leverett says she and her husband want to add special events that showcase their catalog more fully.

“One thing we’re looking at doing is ‘complete listenings,’ where we take an evening and listen to all the albums we have from an artist, from the start of their career to the end,” Leverett says. “So, for example, we have six Elton John albums, and if you listen to them in order, you can really hear the evolution. We think that’s a fun opportunity to mix things up.”

Mixed Tapes and Mixed Drinks Speaking of mixing things up, while the music is the main course at Malted Vinyl, it’s not the only draw. In fact, Leverett was just as passionate about getting the bar component right, especially when it came to non-alcoholic offerings.

“I was looking at the zero-proof trends, and it really seemed like the rest of the world is ahead of [northern Michigan] in that area,” she says. “Two summers ago, we were up in Marquette and there were great zero-proof drinks almost everywhere you went. Petoskey didn’t have that option available yet, so I really wanted to bring that to the table with this listening lounge experience—along with, of course, the kind of great traditional cocktails a lot of places do.”

As for food, Malted Vinyl has limited offerings—“just some small plates and some cheese and charcuterie,” Leverett says—but no plans to add a more full-service restaurant in the future. The goal, always, is to keep the focus on the music.

“We want to be a place where people just go out and hang out,” Leverett concludes.

“Petoskey already has lots of fabulous food, and we’re about a block from all the great restaurants.

So, what we’ve noticed is that people will come in for a drink and to hang out, then they’ll leave to get dinner and enjoy downtown Petoskey… and then they’ll come back.”

Malted Vinyl is currently open 4-10pm Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays and 4-11pm Fridays and Saturdays.

INDOOR/OUTDOOR LEARNING BATA BUS TRANSPORTATION

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Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 25

jan 06

Saturday VEGMICHIGAN -

TC: Stone Hound Brewing Co., TC. Celebrate the New Year at Stonehound with a 100% plant-based menu. Arrive beginning at 1pm. meetup.com/traverse-city-vegmichigan-meetup/events/297966291/?utm_ medium=referral&utm_campaign=share-btn_ savedevents_share_modal&utm_source=link ----------------------------WINTER TRAILS DAY, CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN: 1pm, Crystal Mountain, Thompsonville. Children & adults new to snow sports are offered the chance to try cross country skiing for FREE. This one-hour free clinic includes a lesson & rental equipment. Must register in advance. crystalmountain.com/ event/winter-trails-day ----------------------------LOOK WHO’S TALKING HEADS: 2pm & 7:30pm, The Alluvion, TC. A remix parody of the 1989 film “Look Who’s Talking” with music by The Talking Heads. The story revolves around parenthood as well as the idea of found family, & seeks to celebrate that not all families look alike but that a strong community is key to raising a happy child. $28 - $38. mashuprockandrollmusical.com/upcoming-shows-tickets ----------------------------COMEDY W/ KATRINA BROWN: 7-8:30pm, Traverse City Comedy Club, TC. The youngest of seven children, Katrina will say the things you wish you were bold enough to say.

She has no filter when it comes to keeping her material real, relatable & honest. $25$30. mynorthtickets.com/events/comedywkatrina-brown-1-6-2024

jan 09

tuesday POP-UP PEEPERS: SPEC-

TACULAR SNOWFLAKES: 10am, Boardman River Nature Center, TC. An adult-accompanied program for early learners ages 3-5 years old, of all experience levels with the natural world.

These 60-minute nature programs include music, discovery hikes, stories & crafts. Registration: $5/child per session. Register. natureiscalling.org ----------------------------QUILTS FOR KIDS: 10am-noon, Peninsula Community Library, TC. Join Kellie Chase to transform fabrics into patchwork quilts for kids facing serious trauma. Materials provided. RSVP. peninsulacommunitylibrary.org ----------------------------PARKINSON’S NETWORK NORTH SUPPORT GROUP: 1pm, The Presbyterian Church of TC. Speaker at 1:15pm. For questions call Hettie: 947-7389. If TC schools are closed due to inclement weather, meetings will be cancelled. Free. wwwpnntc.org ----------------------------GRAND TRAVERSE KENNEL CLUB MEETING: Incredible Mo’s, Grawn. 6pm meet & greet; 7pm meeting. Free. grandtraversekennelclub.com

jan 10

wednesday GAYLORD BUSINESS AF-

TER HOURS: 5pm, El Patron Mexican Grill, Gaylord.

Wear your “winter blues” to be entered into a special door prize drawing. $5 members; $10 not-yet members.

----------------------------JANUARY RECESS: 5-7pm, Cherry Capital Airport, TC. After-work happy hour for adults. Drinks, food, prizes & networking.

Enjoy a chili bar & TC Whiskey & local beer/ wine selections. Prizes include a $400 United Airlines voucher, 90 min. Swedish massage

from Studio Pro Massage, & dermaplaning & facial gift certificate from TC Studio. $10. traverseticker.com/recess ----------------------------TEEN ESCAPE ROOM: 5-6:30pm, East Bay Branch Library, TC. Find clues, solve puzzles, & break the code before time runs out.

For ages 12-18. Pizza will be provided. Free. tadl.org/event/teen-escape-room-12194

jan 11

friday BLANCO SUAVE W/ WA-

TERBED: Lake Superior neo-soul at its finest. Featuring opening duo Waterbed aka Jimmy Olson & Matt McCalpin. 7:30-10pm, The Alluvion, TC. $10 advance tickets; $15 door. thealluvion.org/ tickets/blanco-suave-waterbed ----------------------------CADILLAC FOOTLITERS PRESENTS “NOISES OFF”: 7pm, Elenbaas Performing Arts Center, McBain High School. This play-within-a-play captures a touring theatre troupe’s production of “Nothing On” in three stages: dress rehearsal, the opening performance, & a performance toward the end of a debilitating run. GA online: $11. cadillacfootliters.ludus.com/index.php ----------------------------PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A SCHOOL OF MAGIC: 7pm, Old Town Playhouse, TC. This is the story of a regular boy who finds out he’s a wizard & goes to a school of magic in England where he makes two best friends

26 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

06-14

send your dates to: events@traverseticker.com thursday STUFFY OVERNIGHT: Bel-

laire Public Library. Children can bring their favorite stuffed toy today after 9am & leave them overnight. Watch the library’s Facebook page to see all the fun your stuffy has without you. Pick up tired stuffies on Fri., Jan. 12 after 9am. Free. bellairelibrary.org ----------------------------RETIRED RECESS - OLDER KIDS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN!: Noon-4pm, Mt. Holiday, TC. This is a unique initiative catering to those who wish to ski & play with kids their own age. Held every Thurs. Free.

----------------------------MINDFULNESS FOR SENIORS: 12:30pm, Glen Lake Library, Empire. Explore techniques for stress reduction & wellness promotion with Wendy Weckstein of Northern Michigan Psychiatric Services. Contact the library to register: 231.326.5361 or email: info@glenlakelibrary.net. glenlakelibrary.net ----------------------------“THE HOME FRONT DURING WORLD WAR II”: 4pm, The Mills Community House, Benzonia. Presented by Michael Nagle as part of the Benzie Area Historical Society’s Benzonia Academy Lecture Series. benziemuseum.org ----------------------------FREE BELLY DANCE CLASS PARTY: 6pm, Garden Spa & Salt Room, 2322 US-31, TC. For beginners of all ages, sizes, shapes; no dance experience necessary. Feel the magic of the Middle East come alive through the art of dance. AmiraHamzarRaks.com ----------------------------STEPPIN’ IN IT: 7pm, Dennos Museum Center, Milliken Auditorium, NMC, TC. This band has been playing traditional American folk & blues & old-time string music for more than 20 years. Catch them at their Dennos debut!

They are made up of singer/songwriter Joshua Davis on guitar, Dominic John Suchyta on standup bass, & Andy Wilson on harmonica with twin brother Joe Wilson on steel guitar. $25-$35. simpletix.com/e/steppin-in-it-tickets-149591

jan 12

january

Although they’ve played American folk and blues and old-time string music for over 20 years, Steppin’ In It performs their Dennos Museum Center debut on Thurs., Jan. 11 at 7pm in Milliken Auditorium. They bring singer/songwriter Joshua Davis on guitar, Dominic John Suchyta on standup bass, and Andy Wilson on harmonica with twin brother Joe Wilson on steel guitar. Tickets: $25-$35. simpletix.com/e/steppin-in-it-tickets-149591. A couple nights later you’ll find them at the Elks Lodge Cadillac #680 on Sat., Jan. 13 at 7pm as part of the Gopherwood Concerts Series; this time they bring special guest Zak Bunce. Tickets: $30. gopherwoodconcerts.org

& has seven increasingly eventful years of adventures. Performed by Young Company students. Adults: $21; youth under 18: $12. oldtownplayhouse.com/young-company/performances/puffs.html ----------------------------RACHEL BROOKE BAND: 7pm, Masonic Lodge 222, TC. $10. facebook.com/events/s/ the-rachel-brooke-band-at-trav/1000898054 334477/?mibextid=RQdjqZ ----------------------------COMEDY W/ KATE BRINDLE: 7:15-8:45pm, Traverse City Comedy Club, TC. Kate has performed her sarcastic & happy style of comedy on the Canadian Broadcast Channel, Cox Cable, & Comcast Cable. She advanced in the California’s Funniest Female Contest, & was featured in the Oddball Comedy Festival & International Great Plains Comedy Festival. $25-$30. mynorthtickets.com/events/ comedy-wkate-brindle-1-12-2024

jan 13

saturday PARADISE LAKE ASSOCI-

ATION ICE FISHING TOURNAMENT: 8am-5pm, Chubbs Marina & Market, Carp Lake.

Cash payouts each division: 1st, 2nd, 3rd: walleye, panfish, pike & mystery weight. Adult pre-registration, $25; day of, $30.

12 & under, $20. 231-626-1035.

----------------------------POLAR PLUMAGE: EXPLORING WINTER BIRDS ON FOOT: 9am. Meet at Oleson Pavilion, behind Boardman River Nature Center, TC. Join GTCD naturalists & Grand Traverse Audubon Board member Kirk Waterstripe on a community birdwatching hike on the Natural Education Reserve. This less than 1 mile loop hike is free & open to all ages & experience levels. Pre-registration is required. natureiscalling.org/events

FAT & FLURRIOUS: 10am, Boyne City. A fat tire bike race with a challenging & difficult course, not designed for beginners. Two race divisions: sport class (one lap around Avalanche) & open class (2 or 3 laps around Avalanche). Each lap is 7 miles. $60. fatandflurrious.com ----------------------------OPEN STUDIO, PETOSKEY: 10am-1pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Visual Arts Room, Petoskey. Drop-in art for the whole family.

Free. crookedtree.org/event/ctac-petoskey/ open-studio-january-13-0 ----------------------------LITTLE WAVES: This is a musical children’s program series hosted by the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra. Each session includes a multimedia musical storybook time & a chance to see one or more instruments of the orchestra up close. Held at 10:30am at Petoskey District Library & 1pm at Charlevoix Public Library. 231-487-0010. Free. glcorchestra.org/education/little-waves ----------------------------BREAK OUT OF THE BOX!: 11am, Peninsula Community Library, TC. Preteens/teens can try to crack the code to the lock box & solve a winter mystery for a prize. RSVP. peninsulacommunitylibrary.org ----------------------------POETRY READING WITH C. SCOTT MILLS: Noon, Leland Township Library, Leland. Scott will read from his new book “Drift Gestures.”

Free. lelandlibrary.org/programs-events ----------------------------HIGH SCHOOL PORTFOLIO REVIEWS: WINTER 2024: 2-4pm, Crooked Tree Arts Center, Lower Carnegie Studio, Petoskey.

Students in grades 8-12 who are interested in receiving feedback on their artwork & creative portfolios &/or are looking to qualify for merit-based scholarships for CTAC’s High School Portfolio program can sign up. Free. crookedtree.org/class/ctac-petoskey/highschool-portfolio-reviews-winter-2024

PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A SCHOOL OF MAGIC: (See Fri., Jan. 12, except today’s times are 2pm & 7pm.)

----------------------------SLEDDING & S’MORES: 4-6pm, Kiwanis Park, Harbor Springs. 231-526-2104.

----------------------------GOPHERWOOD CONCERTS PRESENTS STEPPIN’ IN IT WSG ZAK BUNCE: 7pm, Elks Lodge Cadillac #680. This band has been playing traditional American folk & blues & old-time string music for more than 20 years. They are made up of singer/songwriter Joshua Davis on guitar, Dominic John Suchyta on standup bass, & Andy Wilson on harmonica with twin brother Joe Wilson on steel guitar. $30. gopherwoodconcerts.org ----------------------------DOWNTOWN SOUND PERFORMING ARTS SERIES: DJANGOPHONIQUE: 7:30-9pm, Crooked Arts Center, Theater, Petoskey. This virtuosic, instrumentally driven quartet is led by guitar player Andrew Brown, who has studied the language of Django Reinhardt’s jazz manouche. $30 members; $40 non-members; $10 students. crookedtree.org/event/ctacpetoskey/ctac-presents-djangophonique ----------------------------GOOD ON PAPER IMPROV: 8-10pm, Traverse City Comedy Club, TC. Enjoy this cross between Saturday Night Live & Whose Line Is It, Anyway?. This group has been performing for over 10 years. $18. mynorthtickets.com/ events/good-on-paper-improv-1-13-2024

jan 14

sunday “ROWING AGAINST THE

WAVES”: 2pm, Helena Township Community Center, Alden. Local author Reg Sprik discusses his autobiography that highlights his life as a young boy growing up in rural northern Michigan during the Great Depression. 231-331-4318. Free.

----------------------------PUFFS OR SEVEN INCREASINGLY EVENTFUL YEARS AT A SCHOOL OF MAGIC: (See Fri., Jan. 12, except today’s time is 2pm.)

----------------------------“OUR TOWN” AUDITIONS: 4-6pm, Cadillac Footliters Clubhouse, 3841 Walker Ave., Cadillac. This is a large cast with a wide variety of roles for ages 12+. sites.google.com/cadillacfootliters.com/our-town-hub ----------------------------GREAT LAKES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA’S SUNDAY SERIES: REPERIO: This trio includes Nancy Stagnitta, Ya-Ju Chuang, & Dane Philipsen. 4pm, First Presbyterian Church of Boyne City. Free. glcorchestra.org

art ART EXHIBIT: KATI ROSENBAUGH &

LYNN STEPHENSON: City Opera House, TC. Enjoy contrasting visual arts mediums & styles - each taking inspiration from the beauty of northern Michigan. The exhibit runs from Jan. 7 - Feb. 29 with an Artist Reception on Jan. 11 from 5-7pm in the Harry A. & Margaret D. Towsley Foundation Lobby on the 2nd floor. cityoperahouse.org ----------------------------GUILD MEMBER SALON SHOW 2024: Runs from Jan. 9 - Feb. 16 at Crooked Tree Arts Center, Carnegie Galleries, TC. Featuring more than 100 artists, this recurring exhibition opportunity rotates between CTAC’s Petoskey & TC locations each year, & fea-

tures work by Crooked Tree Arts Center’s Artist Guild Members. An opening reception will be held on Jan. 12 from 5-7pm. crookedtree. org/event/ctac-traverse-city/guild-membersalon-show-2024 ----------------------------“ESCAPING THE FRAME”: Commongrounds, 414 E. 8th St., TC. Etching prints

by Dorothy Anderson Grow. Runs through Jan. 7.

----------------------------ANNUAL WINTER MEMBER EXHIBITION: Runs through Jan. 12 at Oliver Art Center, Frankfort. The Oliver Art Center is open Tues. - Sat., 10am-4pm & Sun., noon-4pm. oliverartcenterfrankfort.org ----------------------------“BARBARA REICH EXHIBIT: ART IN THE LIBRARY”: Bonobo Winery, library, TC. This exhibit features a select collection of Barbara’s original paintings that focus on still life & snow.

Runs through Feb. 26. barbarareich.com ----------------------------CROOKED TREE ARTS CENTER, PETOSKEY: - CULTIVATED: RELATIONSHIPS WITH NATURE: Runs from Jan. 13 - Feb. 24 in Bonfield Gallery. Contemporary photographs, fiber works, & installations explore the concept of cultivation. An opening reception will be held on Jan. 13 from 5:30-7pm. crookedtree.org/event/ctac-petoskey/cultivated-relationships-nature - FIELDS OF VISION: JURIED FINE ART EXHIBITION: Runs from Jan. 13 - Feb. 24 in Gilbert Gallery. Annual juried all-media exhibition featuring works by Michigan artists. An opening reception will be held on Jan. 13 from 5:30-7pm. crookedtree.org/event/ctac-petoskey/fields-vision-juried-fine-art-exhibition - MICHIGAN MEDITATIONS: Runs from Jan. 6 - Feb. 3 in Atrium Gallery. Michigan pastel artists Linda Klenczar & Sharon Wade unite for this exhibition. Despite their depictions of contrasting settings—outside & inside, organic & structured, nature & urban—these artists are united by their desire to capture a sense of peace. crookedtree.org/event/ctacpetoskey/michigan-meditations ----------------------------DENNOS MUSEUM CENTER, NMC, TC: - “A SEPARATE SHINING: SELECTIONS FROM THE TUSEN TAKK FOUNDATION COLLECTION”: The Tusen Takk Foundation & the Dennos Museum present this exhibition representing artists who have participated in its artist-in-residence program to date. Taking its title from the poem “Joy”

by Hilda Conkling, the exhibition surveys the artist’s exploration of the intangible, the unseen qualities of joy, beauty, & hope.

Runs through Jan. 7. Open Tues. through Sun., 11am-4pm. dennosmuseum.org/art/ now-on-view/index.html - “PASSAGES: THE ART OF RON GIANOLA”: Gianola’s paintings are the result of a fifty-plus year long experience with the Art Spirit, pursuing the possibilities of a personal transformative vision, engaging emotion, expression, & the poetry of visual music.

Runs through Jan. 7. Open Tues. through Sun., 11am-4pm. dennosmuseum.org/art/ now-on-view/index.html - “STEPHEN DUREN: A LIFE OF PAINTING”: This exhibit brings together works by artist Stephen Duren that cover his sixtyyear career & bring greater definition to his artistic contributions. Runs through Jan. 7.

Open Tues. through Sun., 11am-4pm. dennosmuseum.org/art/now-on-view/index.html - NORTHLAND WEAVERS & FIBER ARTS GUILD’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION: Runs through March 3 & includes the work of 27 current & past members. Open Tues. through Sun., 11am-4pm. dennosmuseum.org

FULL BAR FOR ALL SHOWS MON JAN

FUNKY FUN MONDAYS

8th

6:00 THU JAN

11th

6:00 FRI JAN

12th

7:30

W ITH LIVE PAINTING BY ARTIST LISA FLAHIVE

WAT E R B E D

AKA JIMMY OLSON AND MAT T MCCALPIN

5

WSG DJ R AS MAR CO

$

MON JAN

15th

ALL DAY

WED JAN

17th

7:00

performers take the stage to tell true, first-person stories about their tangles with the law.

sliding scale donation

10

$

THU JAN

18th

6:00 MON JAN

22nd

W ITH LIVE PAINTING BY ARTIST LISA FLAHIVE

FUNKY FUN MONDAYS

6:00 WED JAN

24th

7:00

Amber Hasan, Erica Bourdon, Ramon Gaitan and Kyler Bradley will take the stage to share their stories about how they come alive.

Mindful, aware, present, grateful.

15

$

THU JAN

25th

6:00 FRI JAN

26th

7:30 SAT JAN

27th

7:30 MON JAN

29th

WITH VERY SPECIAL GUESTS ANTHONY STANCO, MARION HAYDEN, TARIQ GARDNER AND LISA FLAHIVE

MATTHEW COCHRAN AND THE INTERLOCHEN GUITAR ENSEMBLE WITH SPECIAL GUEST KATE BOTELLO

28

$

ALLUVION JAZZ SERIES • 1 OF 8

The Bill Sears Quintet With One Accord feat. Xavier Davis, Bobby Ferrazza, Rodney Whitaker & Keith Hall

20

$

FUNKY FUN MONDAYS

6:00

W W W. T H E A L L U V I O N . O R G Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 27

Grand Traverse & Kalkaska ENCORE 201, TC 1/6 & 1/12-13 -- DJ Ricky T, 9-2 FRESH COAST BEER WORKS, TC 1/12 – Shayne Arsenault, 7-10 KILKENNY'S IRISH PUBLIC HOUSE, TC 9:30: 1/5-6 – Pulse of the Atom Thu -- DJ Leo 1/12-13 -- Risque KINGSLEY LOCAL BREWING 1/8 -- Trivia, 6-8 1/9 -- Open Mic, 6-8 1/13 -- Keith Scott, 7-9 LEFT FOOT CHARLEY, TC BARREL ROOM: 1/8 -- Open Mic w/ Rob Coonrod, 6-9 TASTING ROOM: 1/12 -- Rob Coonrod, 5-7

LIL BO, TC Tues. – Trivia, 8-10 Sun. – Karaoke, 8

1/12 -- Blue Footed Booby, 8-11 1/13 -- Mal & Mike, 8-11

MIDDLECOAST BREWING CO., TC 1/12 -- Jesse Jefferson, 6-9 SORELLINA'S, TC SLATE RESTAURANT: Thurs. -- Tom Kaufmann on Piano, 5-8 Fri. & Sat. – Tom Kaufmann on Piano, 6-9 THE ALLUVION, TC 1/8 -- Funky Uncle, 6-8 1/11 -- Jeff Haas Trio Feat. Laurie Sears & Lisa Flahive, 6-8 1/12 -- Waterbed w/ DJ Ras Marco, 7:30-9:30 THE PARLOR, TC 1/9 -- Jimmy Olson, 5-8; Jesse Jefferson, 8-11 1/10 -- Wink Solo, 8-11

THE WORKSHOP BREWING CO., TC 1/6 -- Delilah DeWylde, 8-10 Tue -- Open Mic Night, 7-9 Wed -- Jazz Show & Jam, 6-8 Thurs -- Trivia Night, 7-8 1/12 -- Keith Scott, 8-10 1/13 -- Jazz Cabbage, 8-10

nitelife

ETHANOLOGY, ELK RAPIDS 7: 1/6 -- John Piatek Duo 1/7 -- DJ Franck 1/13 -- Peter Allen Jensen

BRIDGE STREET TAP ROOM, CHARLEVOIX 1/9 -- Patrick Ryan, 7

FIRESIDE LOUNGE, BELLAIRE 1/6 -- The Return Series: Episode 1: Darrell, 6:30-9:30 1/12 -- Rick Woods, 6:30-9:30 1/13 -- Dance Party w/ DJ Mark, 8-11

Relax and enjoy Mark Daisy with his acoustic jams at Ciccone Vineyard & Winery in Suttons Bay on Sat., Jan. 13 from 2-4:30pm.

Otsego, Crawford & Central JAX NORTHSIDE, CHARLEVOIX Weds. -- Trivia Night, 7-9

BOYNE VALLEY VINEYARDS, PETOSKEY 2-6: 1/6 -- Chris Calleja 1/13 -- Michelle Chenard CITY PARK GRILL, PETOSKEY 1/9 -- Trivia Night, 7-9 1/12 -- Annex Karaoke, 9:30 GYPSY DISTILLERY, PETOSKEY 1/11 – Trivia Night, 6:30-8:30

HIGH FIVE SPIRITS, PETOSKEY TASTING ROOM, 9: 1/6 -- Sean Bielby 1/12 -- DJ Parker Marshall 1/13 -- Michelle Chenard MAMMOTH DISTILLING, BAY HARBOR 1/11 -- Trivia, 7-9 NOGGIN ROOM PUB, PETOSKEY 1/6 -- Adam Hoppe, 7-10 1/10 -- PubStumper's Trivia, 6:30 1/12 -- Chris Koury, 7-10 1/13 -- Donald Benjamin, 7-10

TORCH LAKE CAFÉ, CENTRAL LAKE Thu -- Open Mic & Nick Vasquez, 7 Fri - Sat -- Leanna Collins & Ivan Greilick, 7:30 Sun -- Trivia, 5:30; Dominic Fortuna, 6:30

TO-GO ORDERS AVAILALBLE 231-252-4157

Sun-Tues: 12-9pm, Thurs: 4-9pm, Fri-Sat: 12-10pm Kitchen open ’til 8:30pm Sun-Tues & Thurs, 9pm Fri & Sat

DRINK SPECIALS (3-6 Monday-Friday) :

$2 well drinks, $2 domestic drafts, $2.50 domestic bottles, $5 Hornitos margarita SUNDAY - $6 Ketel One Bloody Mary & $4 Mimosas

DAILY FOOD SPECIALS (3-6pm): Mon- $1 chips and salsa

Tues- $1 enchiladas

Fri - $5 hot pretzels w/ beer cheese

221 E State St. - downtown TC

ODAWA CASINO RESORT, PETOSKEY VICTORIES: 1/12 -- The Blitz, 9 POND HILL FARM, HARBOR SPRINGS 1/6 -- Jeff & Rob Duo, 5-8 1/13 -- Ty Parkin & The Old Souls, 4-8 THE BEAU, CHEBOYGAN 1/6 -- 2nd Year Anniversary Party w/ 11 Bands & Musicians, 5 1/11 -- Musicians Playground ‘Open Mic,’ 7 1/13 -- Sam & Justus, 8

Record your favorite cover songs Record your own original music Record poetry Register & distribute songs In-studio professional photoshoots available Music & sound therapy w/ LMSW All styles welcome Se habla Espanol tambien B Y

6 0 4 0

Book 7 days a week maraschinostudios@gmail.com Call or text 231-735-3355 1317 W South Airport Rd in TC

28 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

ALPINE TAVERN & EATERY, GAYLORD 6-9: 1/12 -- Nelson Olstrom 1/13 -- Kenny Thompson

M U SIC

C.R.A.V.E., GAYLORD 6-9: 1/6 -- Rick Woods 1/12 -- Randy Reszka 1/13 -- Lou Thumser

Leelanau & Benzie CICCONE VINEYARD & WINERY, SUTTONS BAY 1/13 -- Mark Daisy, 2-4:30

Gift Certificates Available

E HAV WE NDAY 0 SU IG 1 L F N T&B E RK TIC K ETWO N

Send Nitelife to: events@traverseticker.com

UNION STREET STATION, TC 1/6 -- Disco Night 1Wave DJs, 10

Emmet & Cheboygan BEARDS BREWERY, PETOSKEY ROOT CELLAR: 1/13 -- John Piatek Duo, 6

edited by jamie kauffold

TRAVERSE CITY COMEDY CLUB, TC 1/5 – Comedy w/ Katrina Brown, 7:15-8:45 1/6 – Comedy w/ Katrina Brown, 7-8:30 1/12 – Comedy w/ Kate Brindle, 7:15-8:45 1/13 – Good On Paper Improv, 8-10

Antrim & Charlevoix BOYNE CITY TAP ROOM 7-9: 1/6 & 1/13 -- Patrick Ryan 1/11 -- Adam and The Cabana Boys Fri -- Patrick Ryan & Josh Raber

jan 06 -jan 14

CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN, THOMPSONVILLE SLOPESIDE TENT, NEAR CRYSTAL CLIPPER CHAIRLIFT, 3-5: 1/6 -- Rhett & John 1/13 -- Luke Woltanski 1/14 -- Carl Pawluk VISTA LOUNGE: 1/6 -- Meg Gunia, 2-5; TC Knuckleheads, 8-11 1/12 -- Tommy B. & The Verk, 8-11 1/13 -- Carl Pawluk, 2-5; Tommy B. & The Verk, 8-11 1/14 -- Jesse Jefferson, 2-5; Jim Hawley, 8-11

DICK'S POUR HOUSE, LAKE LEELANAU Sat. -- Karaoke, 10-1 GLEN ARBOR WINES, GLEN ARBOR 1/6 & 1/13 – Saturday Night Live Music, 7-9 1/9 – Luke Woltanski, 5:30-8 IRON FISH DISTILLERY, THOMPSONVILLE 6-8: 1/6 -- Kevin Paul 1/12 – Elizabeth Landry 1/13 -- Wink LAKE ANN BREWING CO. 1/6 -- John Paul, 6:30-9:30 1/11 -- Trivia Night, 7-9 1/12 -- Levi Britton, 6:30-9:30

ST. AMBROSE CELLARS, BEULAH 1/6 -- Honky Tonk Hippies, 5-7 1/7 -- Kid's Open Mic Hosted by Chris Winkelmann, 3-5:30 1/11 -- Open Mic Thursdays, 6-8:30 SHADY LANE CELLARS, SUTTONS BAY 1/12 -- Friday Night Live w/ Billy & The Kid, 5-8 STORMCLOUD BREWING CO., FRANKFORT 7-9: 1/9 -- Open Mic Night w/ Andrew Littlefield 1/13 -- Jake Frysinger THE HOMESTEAD RESORT, GLEN ARBOR WHISKERS BAR & GRILL, 6-9: 1/6 – Billy & The Kid 1/13 – Bryan Poirer

lOGY

JAN 08 - JAN 14

BY ROB BREZSNY

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In 2024, I predict you will be blessed with elegant and educational expansion— but also challenged by the possibility of excessive, messy expansion. Soulful magnificence could vie for your attention with exorbitant extravagance. Even as you are offered valuable novelties that enhance your sacred and practical quests, you may be tempted with lesser inducements you don’t really need. For optimal results, Capricorn, I urge you to avoid getting distracted by irrelevant goodies. Usher your fate away from pretty baubles and towards felicitous beauty.

Dine Alps in the

6 Countries in 6 Weeks JANUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 22

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author

Eduardo Galeano mourned how our institutions condition us to divorce our minds from our hearts and our bodies from our souls. Even sadder, many of us deal with these daunting schisms by becoming numb to them. The good news, Virgo, is that I expect 2024 to be one of the best times ever for you to foster reconciliation between the split-off parts of yourself. Let’s call this the Year of Unification. May you be inspired to create both subtle and spectacular fusions of your fragmented parts. Visualize your thoughts and feelings weaving together in elegant harmony. Imagine your material and spiritual needs finding common sources of nourishment.

bridge to cross the river of life. Even if you are holed up in your studio working on a novel, painting, or invention, you are absolutely dependent on the efforts of many people to provide you with food, water, electricity, clothes, furniture, and all the other goodies that keep you functioning. It's also unlikely that anyone could create anything of value without having received a whole lot of love and support from other humans. Sorry for the rant, Pisces. It’s a preface for my very positive prediction: In 2024, you will have substantial help in building your bridge across the river of life.

Weekly 3 Course Prix Fixe Menu

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Why do birds

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): According to ancient

Greek myth, the half-divine hero Heracles consulted the Oracle of Delphi for guidance.

He was assigned to perform 12 daunting feats, most of which modern people would regard as unethical, like killing and stealing. There was one labor that encouraged integrity, though. Heracles had to clean the stables where over a thousand divine cattle lived. The place hadn't been scrubbed in 30 years! As I meditated on your hero's journey in the coming months, Libra, I concluded that you'd be wise to begin with a less grandiose version of Heracles' work in the stables. Have fun as you cheerfully tidy up everything in your life! By doing so, you will earn the power to experience many deep and colorful adventures in the coming months.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I will name two taboos I think you should break in 2024.

The first is the theory that you must hurt or suppress yourself to help others. The second is that you must hurt or suppress others to benefit yourself. Please scour away any delusion you might have that those two strategies could genuinely serve you. In their place, substitute these hypotheses: 1. Being good to yourself is the best way to prepare for helping others. 2.

Being good to others is the best way to benefit yourself.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “Doubt has killed more dreams than failure ever will,” says Sagittarian author Suzy Kassem. Many of us have had the experience of avoiding a quest for success because we are too afraid of being defeated or demoralized. "Loss aversion" is a well-known psychological concept that applies when we are so anxious about potential loss that we don't pursue the possible gain. In my astrological estimation, you Centaurs should be especially on guard against this inhibiting factor in 2024. I am confident you can rise above it, but to do so, you must be alert for its temptation—and eager to summon new reserves

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Some people

feel that “wealth” refers primarily to financial resources. If you’re wealthy, it means you have a lot of money, luxurious possessions, and lavish opportunities to travel. But wealth can also be measured in other ways. Do you have an abundance of love in your life? Have you enjoyed many soulful adventures? Does your emotional intelligence provide rich support for your heady intelligence? I bring this up, Aquarius, because I believe 2024 will be a time when your wealth will increase. The question for you to ruminate on: How do you define wealth?

PISCES (Feb 19-March 20): “No one

can build you the bridge on which you, and only you, must cross the river of life,” said philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Here's my response to that bold declaration: It's utterly WRONG! No one in the history of the world has ever built anything solely by their own efforts, let alone a

sing? They must be expressing their joy at being alive, right? And in some cases, they are trying to impress and attract potential mates.

Ornithologists tell us that birds are also staking out their turf by chirping their melodies. Flaunting their vigor is a sign to other birds of how strong and commanding they are. In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you Aries humans to sing more than ever before in 2024. Like birds, you have a mandate to boost your joie de vivre and wield more authority. Here are 10 reasons why singing is good for your health: tinyurl.com/HealthySinging

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Which zodiac sign is most likely to have a green thumb? Who would most astrologers regard as the best gardener? Who would I call on if I wanted advice on when to harvest peaches, how to love and care for roses as they grow, or how to discern which weeds might be helpful and useful? The answer, according to my survey, is Taurus. And I believe you Bulls will be even more fecund than usual around plants in 2024. Even further, I expect you to be extra fertile and creative in every area of your life. I hereby dub you Maestro of the Magic of Germination and Growth.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Research I've found suggests that 70 percent of us have experienced at least one traumatic event in our lives. But I suspect the percentage is higher.

For starters, everyone has experienced the dicey expulsion from the warm, nurturing womb. That's usually not a low-stress event. The good news, Gemini, is that now and then there come phases when we have more power than usual to heal from our traumas. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, the coming months will be one of those curative times for you.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): At their best, Libras foster vibrant harmony that energizes social situations. At their best, Scorpios stimulate the talents and beauty of those they engage with. Generous Leos and Sagittarians inspire enthusiasm in others by expressing their innate radiance. Many of us may get contact highs from visionary, deep-feeling Pisceans. In 2024, Cancerian, I believe you can call on all these modes as you brighten and nurture the people in your sphere—even if you have no Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Leo, or Pisces influences in your astrological chart.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Here are my wishes for you in 2024. 1. I hope you will rigorously study historical patterns in your life story. I hope you will gather robust insights into the rhythms and themes of your amazing journey.

2.

You will see clearly what parts of your past are worth keeping and which are better outgrown and left behind. 3. You will come to a new appreciation of the heroic quest you have been on. You will feel excited about how much further your quest can go. 4. You will feel gratitude for the deep inner sources that have been guiding you all these years. 5. You will be pleased to realize how much you have grown and ripened.

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MON, JAN 15, 2024 Doors 6:30 PM, Showtime 7

TWO VENUES LIVESTREAMED MILLIKEN AUDITORIUM

The Life & Times of Phillis Wheatley featuring

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NMC Cantus

Children’s Choir directed by

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NMC Chamber Singers directed by

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event: FREE ticketed www.mynorthtickets.com

Northern Express Weekly • January 08, 2024 • 29

N O RT H E R N E X P R E S S

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HIRING GENERAL MANAGER FOR PLAYA BOWLS Playa Bowls is New Jersey’s Original Acai Shop™, and our mission is to bring super fruit bowls to the masses using only the freshest, highest-quality ingredients while providing a fantastic in-store brand experience. We're hiring a General Manager for the Traverse City location. If you enjoy fast-paced environments, career growth, entrepreneurial thinking, innovation, and an occasional silly food pun, we want you! ___________________________________ NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN COLLEGE IS HIRING! NMC is seeking a Records and Registration Assistant to provide customer service and support to our records and registration department. $18.27 per hour full-time year round with full benefits. Apply online by January 23rd at 8 am, NMC is an EOE, www.nmc.edu/non-discrimination

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30 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly

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32 • January 08, 2024 • Northern Express Weekly