April 18-24, 2012

ONLINE THIS WEEK ONLY! Save 50% at Smith Floral & Greenhouses GREENFIELD see page 12 ANTIQUES see page 23 2 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 3

Library of Michigan’s

night for notables Honoring Michigan’s notable authors Celebrating Michigan PeoPle, Places & events

saturday, april 28, 2012 5:30 P.M. - 8:30 P.M. The Library of Michigan 702 West Kalamazoo Street, Lansing

Featured speakers: 2010 and 2011 National Book Award Winners for Fiction Jesmyn Ward (Salvage the Bones) and Jaimy Gordon (Lord of Misrule) Moderated by National Book Award Finalist Bonnie Jo Campbell (American Salvage)

Hors d’oeuvres & Michigan Beer and Wine

Many 2012 Michigan Notable Books authors will be available for book signings.

host committee: $125 (Includes Pre-Reception and Photo Op with Featured Speakers and Authors beginning at 4:30 p.m.) general admission: $35 per person

For more information call (517) 373-1297 or visit michigan.gov/notablebooks.

This space donated in part by City Pulse. 4 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012 Volume 11, Issue 36 Have something to say about a local issue

or an item that appeared in our pages? 1905 E. Michigan Ave. • Lansing, MI 48912 (517) 371-5600 • Fax: (517) 999 -6061 www.lansingcitypulse.com 2.) Write a guest column: 1.) Write a letter to the editor. News & Opinion...... 4 Advertising inquiries: (517) 999-5061 • E-mail: [email protected] Contact Berl Schwartz for more Classified ad inquiries: (517) 999-5066 Public Notices...... 4, 6 or email [email protected] • Snail mail: City Pulse, 1905 E. Michigan information: Cover Story...... 7 Editor and Publisher Ave., Lansing, MI 48912 [email protected] Berl Schwartz or (517) 999-5061 Arts & Culture...... 10 [email protected] • (517) 999-5061 Theater...... 15, 17 Arts & Culture Editor • Fax: (517) 371-5800 James Sanford Movies...... 11 [email protected] • (517) 999-5068 (Please include your name, address and telephone number so we can reach you. Keep letters to 250 words or On the Town Editor fewer. City Pulse reserves the right to edit letters and columns.) Books...... 17 Jessica Checkeroski Advice Goddess...... 18 [email protected] • (517) 999-5069 Staff Writers PUBLIC NOTICES Classifieds...... 18 Lawrence Cosentino Jonesin’ Crossword...... 18 [email protected] The Ingham County Housing Commission, on behalf of the Ingham County Land Bank is accepting Andy Balaskovitz proposals for the demolition and disposal of various properties listed in Bid Packet# NSP2 Out on the Town...... 19 [email protected] 11-009-02 available April 18, 2012 online at www.inghamlandbank.org or at the Ingham County Turn it Down ...... 20 Production Manager Land Bank NSP2 Office, 600 W. Maple Street, Lansing, Michigan 48906, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Rachel Harper Monday through Friday. Proposals will be due at the NSP2 office before 11:30 am on May 2, 2012. Freewill Astrology...... 25 [email protected] • (517) 999-5066 The Bid Opening will be May 2, 2012 at 11:31 a.m. The Ingham County Land Bank is an Equal Food ...... 26 Social Media Consultant Employment Opportunity Employer. Women- and Minority-Owned Businesses are encouraged Julie Powers to apply. [email protected] • Twitter: @JPowers155 Advertising Monique Goch, Sales Consultant The Ingham County Housing Commission, on behalf of the Ingham County Land Bank is accepting [email protected] • (517) 999-5062 proposals for the Removal and Disposal of Hazardous Materials, including but not limited to Shelly Olson asbestos, mercury and various containerized material, at sites listed in the Bid Packet# NSP2 [email protected] • (517) 643-1703 11-009-01, which can be obtained online at www.inghamlandbank.org or at the Ingham County Holly Ekwejunor-Etchie Land Bank NSP2 office, located at 600 W. Maple Street, Lansing, Michigan 48906 between the [email protected] • (309) 714-0383 hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Bid Packets will be available April 18, 2012. Assistant to the Publisher Joan Bolander Proposals are due at the NSP2 offices before 11:00 am on May 2, 2012. The Bid Opening will be Editor & Publisher May 2, 2012 at 11:01 am. The Ingham County Land Bank is an Equal Employment Opportunity Berl [email protected] Employer. Women- and Minority-Owned Businesses are encouraged to apply. Contributors: Brian Bienkowski, Justin Bilicki, Bill Castanier, Schwartz Mary C. Cusack, Jeff Hammer, Tom Helma, Christopher Horb, Sam Inglot Terry Link, Kyle Melinn, Adam Molner, Dennis Preston, Allan I. NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING Ross, Joe Torok, Rich Tupica, Susan Woods, Paul Wozniak, Amanda EAST LANSING CITY COUNCIL 7 p.m. Wednesdays Harrell-Seyburn, Ute Von Der Heyden, Judy Winter Interns: Tony Alan, Allison M. Berryman, Alyssa Firth, Adam This week Ilenich, Genna Musial Notice is hereby given of the following public hearing to be held by the East Lansing City Council Delivery drivers: Abdulmahdi Al-Rabiah, Dave Fisher, Karen on Tuesday, May 15, 2012, at 7:30 p.m., Council Chambers, 101 Linden Street, to consider the Bernero Chief of Staff Randy Hannan and Lansing City Navarra, Noelle Navarra, Brent Robison, Steve Stevens following: Council President Brian Jeffries A public hearing will be held to reconsider an application from Dino Cascardo Holdings, Lansing, LLC for Special Use Permit approval for the property at Tim Wendel, author of “Summer of ‘68” 504 Michigan Avenue. The applicant is requesting approval to allow the sale of packaged beer, wine, and spirits. Erica (Baby Gaga) Moul The City of East Lansing will provide reasonable accommodations, such as interpreters for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered at this meeting, upon notice to the City of East Lansing, prior to the meeting. Individuals with disabilities requiring reasonable VINCE JOY accommodations or services should write or call the City Manager’s Office, 410 Abbot Road, East JOHN SCHNEIDER by Lansing, MI 48823 (517) 319-6920, TDD 1-800-649-3777.

FEC@E<K?@JN<i\\e_flj\j )4''0(+'.& City Clerk j\\gX^\() #06+37'5 UGGRCIG

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

The City of East Lansing in the Counties of Clinton and Ingham

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE ADOPTION OF THE BROWNFIELD PLAN #17 FOR THE CITY OF EAST LANSING PURSUANT TO AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH ACT 381, 1996, AS AMENDED, OF THE PUBLIC ACTS OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

Please take notice that a Public Hearing shall be held before the Council of the City of East Lansing on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 7:30 pm in Council Chambers, 101 Linden Street, East Lansing, MI 48823 on the adoption of the Brownfield Plan #17 for the City of East Lansing, within which the Authority shall exercise its powers, all pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act, being Act 381 of the Public Acts of the State of Michigan of 1996, as amended.

The brownfield site includes the property at 514 Michigan Avenue. The property consists of land and there is no personal property included. A detailed legal description of the property along with maps and a copy of the Brownfield Plan #17 are available for public inspection in the Department of Planning and Community Development, City of East Lansing, 517-319-6930.

Please note that all aspects of the Brownfield Plan are open for discussion at the public hearing, at which all interested persons will be provided an opportunity to be heard and written communication will be received and considered. The City of East Lansing will provide reasonable accommodations, such as interpreters for the hearing impaired and audio tapes of printed materials being considered at this meeting, upon notice to the City of East Lansing prior to the meeting. Individuals with disabilities requiring reasonable accommodations or services should write or call the City Manager’s Office, 410 Abbott Road, East Lansing, MI, 48823, 517-319-6920, TDD 1-800-649-3777.

Marie McKenna City Clerk City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 5

What’s in a study? Eyesore Beneath the politics of consolidat- Washington Office ing Lansing police operations, a Complex when web of studies and planning another location is on the table; and on of the week The Bernero administration is forg- the fact that the city ing ahead with plans to move its Police has annually appro- Department into the old National Guard priated money since Armory, despite a nearly finished study 2008 on consolida- that suggests at least one more option: the tion plans that have current North Precinct building. seemingly turned up Moreover, the owner of the North little more than an

Precinct is willing to sell, which would incomplete study. Andy Balaskovitz/City Pulse satisfy one of the administration’s objec- Gamble would The Lansing Police Department’s North Precinct, 740 May St. tives: no longer paying rent. not release the pre- Mayor Virg Bernero wants to move the department out of the “We’ve said we’re perfectly happy to liminary study to rented facility to a former National Guard armory south of REO do build-outs and sell it,” said Harry City Pulse until City Town, but the plan is drawing City Council opposition. Hepler, resident agent of Summit Street Council members Development Co. LLC, which owns the all had a chance to review it. roof leaks for not less than the past five building. The city already owns the old “What is problematic is this is the first (5) years.” While that’s resulted in “55 sep- Property: armory, now called the South Washington time I’m hearing we’re ready to go on some- arate complaints since 2007, even then, Ranney Park Office Complex, at 2500 S. Washington thing,” Council President Brian Jeffries said the North Precinct roof has not been naturalization Ave. The state sold it last year for $1, but during a Police Department budget hear- repaired,” according to the affidavit. area as part of that deal, the city had to pay ing Monday night. He added that he “didn’t Hepler said it has been repaired. Steve Owner: City of $22,000 for an adjacent piece of land. even know” a firm was hired to do the study. Purchase, president of the property man- Lansing The study, which began in 2010, cost Lansing-based architectural and planning agement company, H Inc., then produced Owner says: “Indicative of the city living within $175,000, Chad Gamble, the city’s chief firm C2AE conducted the study. “I’d like to an email from Yankowsi on March 26, 17 its means.” operating officer, said. The administra- see a copy of whatever it is you have done so days after Yankowski signed the affidavit, tion has been sitting on preliminary data I can be brought up to speed on this.” saying: “No reported leaks from over the Opponents of the city’s naturalization plan since at least December, before former Gamble said the report essentially sug- weekend that I’m aware of.” that was announced last year have the right to Finance Director Jerry Ambrose left the gests two buildings — the former armory “I went up on the 10th floor of City Hall proclaim: “Hate to say I told you so.” city to work on the emergency manager or the current North Precinct — and a for the first time in three years,” Hepler The city stopped mowing certain areas of team in Flint, said Kevin Feuka, business variety of renovation options for either said in his office Friday about attending 14 parks throughout the city last year as part development manager at C2AE, the firm of those buildings. But no one from the the prior Monday’s City Council meeting. of that plan. The goal was to save money. But that conducted the study. administration has entertained the idea “I looked up and counted 28 leaky ceiling City Council members and concerned citizens But the administration has been pre- publicly of buying out the space it’s leasing tiles. People in glass houses … .” warned the administration about unintended paring for consolidation since 2008, when for the North Precinct. When asked if it’s The State Journal also reported that consequences. One was trash build-up in the it began appropriating money from the 100 percent certain that the city will move Summit Street Development had to file long grass. General Fund for consolidation studies. into the former armory, Gamble said: “I for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being Turns out they were right on at least one In total, the administration says less than think that is high on our priorities.” And accused of defaulting on a loan worth of the parks. About three days a week I walk $200,000 has actually been spent on plans. there are benefits to the armory, Gamble more than $5 million. Hepler said the through the north end of Ranney Park and have The upcoming fiscal year appropriation said: It’s at the “geographical center of original bank that issued the loan was tak- noticed the slow accumulation of random trash would more than triple that and go beyond the city,” the city owns it, and at the North en over by the Federal Deposit Insurance and recyclables — McDonald’s packaging, plastic studies to actual design work. In other words, Precinct there are “building maintenance Corp. and that the new Ohio-based bank, water bottles, empty cigarette packs and plastic the beginning of moving to the armory. issues we’re trying to get figured out.” First Financial, refused to extend it after bags — since the snow melted in the conspicu- Nearly everyone at City Hall agrees on “We want to make an investment,” the loan came to a term end. “Then sud- ously unmowed area. The long grass acts as a the need to move police operations into one Gamble said, “but make it smart.” denly out of nowhere, this affidavit.” natural catch basin. building that the city owns — not rents, as The former armory was built in the Szymanski, chief of the LPD, said the Chad Gamble, the city’s chief operating officer it does for more than $300,000 a year at early 1960s and includes about 95,000 idea of separate precincts goes back to the and director of the Public Service Department, its North Precinct on May Street between square feet of floor area, property records Hollister administration, when studies said the accumulating trash is: “Indicative of the Saginaw Street and Oakland Avenue, just show. The North Precinct is about 24,000 showed the importance of having a larger city living within its means. There’s lots of things west of Pennsylvania Avenue. Police admin- square feet. neighborhood presence. we wish we could do.” istration and the jail are at City Hall down- As for “building maintenance issues” at “The decentralizing of services has “Naturalization” is a nice way to package it town. The South Precinct will hopefully be the North Precinct, those are disputed by served its purpose,” Szymanski told the — but judging on the amount of trash in these completely empty by June, said Police Chief Hepler, the landlord. Council. “The time has come to consolidate areas, “collection zones” would be a more apt Teresa Szymanski. On maintenance issues, Hepler said into one building. We have heard from front title. But the administration has encoun- the administration’s position is analogous line officers and detectives that this greatly tered Council opposition in the past week to proving a perfectly good car is faulty enhances our ability to coordinate with — Andy Balaskovitz on several fronts: On its desire to use as a way to justify buying a new car. The one another. I’ve also heard from commu- “Eyesore of the Week” is our look at some of the about 7 percent of police millage revenue Lansing State Journal reported late last nity members that paying rent is a waste of seedier properties in Lansing. It rotates each week with Eye (approved by voters in November) for month that Lansing Police Capt. Mike money and that it’s time to get out of leases.” Candy of the Week. If you have a suggestion, please e-mail upfront architectural and design costs; on Yankowski signed an affidavit saying, in [email protected] or call 999-5064. its apparent decision to settle on the South part, that the precinct “has had serious — Andy Balaskovitz 6 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012 ‘Go Local’ means invest local

Transparency and civil society. It’s as if the first ques- note: I have been tion an entrepreneur asks is, "What can involved with I make that I love and the world needs?” Capital Area Local as opposed to ”How can I become finan- First as a founding cially well off?” To grow an idea, one board member and does need enough financial flow to both more recently in keep the business afloat and support the efforts to stimulate owner(s); but businesses with a heart, sustainable local whose owners see their own success tied community devel- to the health and well-being of the larg- opment. er community in which they are housed, As a dues-paying are getting additional support through member of CALF, last week I was the increased visibility of ‘Go Local’ ini- able to view without additional cost tiatives. (a privilege of membership) a webinar Next month, Grand Rapids will host from the Business Alliance for Local the national conference of the ‘Go Local’ Living Economies that is part of their movement. The 10th Annual BALLE “Accelerating Community Capital” Conference, which runs May 15-19, series. The webinar featured the folks will attract more than a thousand local from Slow Money North Carolina, who entrepreneurs from around the coun- have crafted a mechanism for connect- try who are building community while ing small local entrepreneurs who need building their own livelihoods and who an infusion of cash with local citizens will share their ideas, enthusiasm and willing to lend a hand. In less than two energy for local community develop- years they have helped funnel invest- ment. Zingerman’s CEO Paul Saginaw is ments of more than $500,000 into one of the national leaders of this move- the hands of those trying to grow their ment, as is restaurateur Judy Wicks local businesses. Investments as low as and Longfellow Clubs owner Laury $500 and as large as $25,000 have been Hammel. They and many more entre- hatched through this relationship-build- preneurs will be there to share their ing mechanism. stories on how local businesses deeply Unbeknownst to me, we exercised committed to a community can build Friday, April 20: a similar approach locally in the past community wealth. 7 pm: Screening of The Greenhorns documentary couple of months. A local businessper- One of the conference keynotes will 107 South Kedzie Hall, MSU Campus son was stymied in an attempt to accel- be by Grand Rapids’ own Fred Keller, Saturday, April 21: erate her business because of a needed CEO of Cascade Engineering. Cascade 3-5 pm: Town hall discussion and kids’ crafts session immediate infusion of about $1,500. Engineering is Michigan’s first certi- 5-7 pm: Local music, food and drink at an indoor farmers’ market Insufficient cash flow in her business fied B-Corporation, a new form of was going to delay this significant busi- corporation that affirms community 333 East Grand River, East Lansing (former Barnes & Noble space) ness accelerator for months. I floated interest as part of its charter. With the idea to her of raising the needed more than 1,000 employees spread funds through folks who already sup- among 14 business activities, Cascade For more information, go to broadmuseum.msu.edu ported her business. A short email note Engineering strives for a triple-bottom- Supported by The Christman Company and the City of East Lansing to a list I created of potential investors line return — financial, social and envi- to invest $100 each proved success- ronmental. ful. Actually, we received commitments Attending one of the earlier BALLE Follow us on Twitter exceeding what was needed. One poten- conferences a few years ago inspired me if you wanna know what’s up in #lovelansing tial investor suggested being paid back to try and spark the localization focus, @citypulse through a gift card worth more than the harnessing the combined energy of local PUBLIC NOTICES initial investment, thus continuing the entrepreneurs to simultaneously build a CITY OF LANSING support for the business beyond the ini- collaborative network of businesses that NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING tial investment. could strengthen the local community The business owner loved the idea overall. I would unabashedly encourage Z-2-2012, 3303 N. East Street Rezoning from “F” Commercial District to “G-2” Wholesale District and offered a generous return on invest- any local businessperson or community ment for those who preferred that development-minded citizen to attend The Lansing City Council will hold a public hearing on Monday, May 7, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. in Council option. this inspiring event next month. If you Chambers, 10th Floor, Lansing City Hall, 124 W. Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI, to consider Z-2-2012. This is a request by Auto Warehouse Body Shop to rezone the properties at 3303 N. East Street, This idea of building stronger rela- happen to join CALF before you regis- legally described as: tionships between a community and ter, you’ll receive a discount now that local businesses is the foundation of CALF has become a local BALLE net- OUTLOT A EXCEPT NORTH 100 FEET ALSO EXCEPT SOUTH 200 FEET; SUPERVISOR'S PLAT OF SCHWORER'S BLOOMFIELD FARMS the many ”Go Local” networks thriv- work member. ing across the country and around the And among other things, you’ll from “F” Professional Office District to “G-2” Wholesale District. The purpose of the rezoning is to world. Perhaps it’s a response to glo- have free access to a year’s worth of permit the use of the subject property for an automotive body shop (motor vehicle repair station). balization or to the “There is no alter- online webinars for building local For more information about this case, phone City Council Offices on City business days, Monday native” mindset that globalizers since prosperity. through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. at 483-4177. If you are interested in this matter, please Margaret Thatcher have been selling us. (Terry Link was the founding attend the public hearing or send a representative. Written comments will be accepted between 8 But at its heart, I think, is the desire to director of MSU's Office of Campus a.m. and 5 p.m. on City business days if received before 5 p.m., Monday, Monday, May 7, 2012, at the City Council Offices, Tenth Floor, City Hall, 124 West Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48933 1696. build communities that are about strong Sustainability and recently retired as relationships — between each other, director of the Greater Lansing Food Chris Swope, Lansing City Clerk between businesses, between businesses Bank.) City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 7 John Schneider’s good streak How Lansing’s workaday knight took the city to heart

By LAWRENCE COSENTINO forest scene. For 24 years, John Schneider woke “I don’t see all that much difference Lansing up with a fanfare for the common between that feeling I had in the 1970s and man, in a voice as gentle and clear as a what I do now,” he said. “I wish we could help muted trumpet. everybody, but if you can do it one person at Let’s get this lady’s heat turned back on. a time, sometimes that’s all you can do.” Let’s get this child an operation. Schneider Schneider grew up in a middle-class patted the back of good, kicked the ass neighborhood in northwest Detroit where of bad and took trenchant note of almost his father, John Schneider Sr., was a everything else in town, on a human scale, mailman. On summer nights, he sat on the about 8,000 times. porch and listened to his father tell stories Lawrence Cosentino/City Pulse That note dropped out of the city’s about the people and places on his route. Schneider reminisced at his Lansing State Journal desk last week with a stack of morning chord when Schneider, 63, wrote “He put some effort into it,” Schneider retirement cards and his successor, columnist Mark Mayes, over his right shoulder. his last Lansing State Journal column said. “Knowing how much information to Sunday. withhold and how much to give, what sort “So I wrote this column — er, I wrote then awash in Pulitzers. Schneider snagged He could have pushed a mailbag or of pace. There’s a gift to that.” this radio play — about this father and son a part-time job as copy boy at the Free Press, worked on an assembly line all those years, But John Schneider Jr. was far from who go hunting,” he said, ignoring the slip. under the stewardship of fabled editor Neal and nearly did. Instead, he combined the destined to be a writer. Had he taken the “I embellished a little bit. Despite myself, I Shine, “when it was really a writer’s paper.” daily-grind work ethic of his Detroit roots path of least resistance, as he almost did started to enjoy writing it.” “Journalism students were just aflame with the knightly passion of the Watergate- several times, that morning note would The play got an honorable mention in with this idealism,” he said. “I don’t see era journalism he absorbed in the early never have sounded over Lansing. Hundreds a scholastic writing contest. The Detroit that so much in the younger journalists 1970s. of people might have been chewed up in the News printed the names of the winners. anymore.” He picked up the lance in one hand, the bureaucratic gears Schneider loved to spike “I remember my dad cutting it out and He also kindled a flame for a whip-smart lunch bucket in the other, and went quietly with his pen. carrying it in his wallet, showing it to his classmate at Wayne State, Sharon Emery, to work. Neither of his parents graduated from buddies.” his wife of 37 years this June. Emery also “The collateral effects were to help people, high school. All his uncles worked Detroit Mr. Nicek asked Schneider if he had ever worked at the Free Press, in the advertising and I guess I’ve got that streak,” he said last auto factories. The library was just a place thought about journalism. department. week, relaxing with a beer at his kitchen to cool off during the summer. “It might have been the first time I heard When Emery’s former boyfriend moved table “But it’s such fun to do, it doesn’t feel “I was a greaser. All I cared about was that word,” he said. to a farm in Alberta, city boy Schneider like this mission or anything.” my cool car, my cool clothes, my girlfriend At 19, Schneider was stationed on the hustled into the picture. Meanwhile, he sent Schneider talks dry, but his trail is wet. and my job. My grades were abysmal in high aircraft carrier U.S.S. Forrestal in the resumes to all the big papers and a lot of Last week, I talked to a woman in California school. It just wasn’t important to me.” Mediterranean. With a lot of time to spare small ones. whose two deaf children got cochlear While still in high school, Schneider at sea, he started reading Hemingway, “I was so eager to get to work that school implants because of a column Schneider joined the Navy on a program that offered Fitzgerald, “all the classics I should have seemed like an obstacle to getting out in the wrote in 1988. After 24 years, she cried at the a one-year delay in deployment. His dad read in high school.” He explored ports of field and working,” he said. mention of his name. There are hundreds, and uncle got him a job in the post office, call in France, Italy and Spain, walking past He took the first offer he got: county probably thousands, of similar stories. where his years in the Navy would count as the bars to see how people lived, and kept a reporter/farm editor at the Sidney Daily How do you wrap your head around a seniority. journal almost every day. News in Ohio, 12,000 circulation. Jeff career like that? “For a little while, it looked like I was Two days after he was discharged in fall Billiel, Schneider’s editor at the Daily News, Schneider took a swig and flashed his going to deliver mail, get out of the Navy, 1969, he and a Navy buddy filled out job is now the paper’s publisher. Irish grin. marry Karen Coopersmith and that would applications at GM Diesel on Telegraph “He was very good at telling a story in “I was just very lucky to have the ability to be my life.” Road. With labor in short supply, they were human terms so you really felt it,” Billiel help people and get paid for it.” He learned the job in two weeks. asked to start work the next Monday. said. “He was only here four years, and a lot “I thought, ‘Man, this is it? I don’t think “That’s another step that might have of people here still remember him.” ‘I was a greaser’ so.’” doomed me,” he said. “My friend took it. But the learning curve was steep. “He John Schneider’s other voice, the one He got an inkling of another life from He was rolling in money for a long time, knew absolutely nothing about rural life or you hear when you’re sitting on his back Mr. Nicek, an English teacher at Cody High working overtime.” agriculture,” Billiel recalled. “I remember porch, is more elusive than his print voice. School. Schneider was tempted, but he balked, him asking me, ‘What’s a hy-fer?’ (for His leathery rasp drifts past you, like wood Nicek told his 11th grade English class to thinking again of Mr. Nicek and the play. ‘heifer.’) We had a lot of fun at his expense.” smoke. He doesn’t raise his voice, but it write a radio play. Despite his high school grades, he enrolled On one of his first assignments, Schneider somehow it carries, like an owl’s. “I didn’t want to do it. I waited until the in journalism at Wayne State University on asked a farmer how many times a month An avid hunter, Schneider is at home night before it was due.” the G.I. bill. he milked his cow. “Oh, about 60,” was the in the woods. His house, tucked into rural Sitting at the kitchen table with the blank polite reply. Alaiedon Township only 15 minutes from page in front of him, his mind kept drifting ‘Colorful, manly’ On a small-town paper, duties were downtown Lansing, smells of burning logs to the most vivid experience of his life so far: In Detroit and across the country, various. A fashion shoot featured the he chopped on his thickly wooded property. a hunting trip with his dad to Hillman, near journalists were covering world-shaking reporter, in majestic blow-dried blond locks, He’s spent many hours, bow in hand, Alpena, the year before. The city-bound stories, from race riots to Vietnam to modeling “colorful, many fall fashions” on perched on a ladder stand on a tree behind father and son didn’t get a deer, but they saw Watergate. Wayne State’s journalism Sidney’s courthouse square. his house. As we talked, he sat on his porch, one — Schneider’s first — and he loved the department was packed with pros from the wearing a flannel shirt, under a print of a time in the woods with his dad. Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, See Schneider, Page 8 8 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

daily column, but Nixon was more interested mother found him in the hospital bathroom, Schneider in moving up the editorial ladder. flushing the toilet and slamming the door Schneider was at another crossroads. He over and over. from page 7 had a nemesis at the Journal, editor Tom “He didn’t know what sound was,” Keeton Callinan, who canceled a weekly column by said, crying. On the way home, Leanna But Schneider made the most of the job, Schenider because he wrote too much about started to sing. winning the farm community’s trust while his family. One year after the column ran, Mitchell seizing any chance to flex his investigative “Callinan damn near drove me out of said “Mama” for the first time. He is now a chops. When a local sheriff made a habit the business,” Schneider said. “I was so student film-maker, living in Arizona, with of buying groceries for himself, his dog and frustrated at one point I actually went down a script in production. Leanna is a globe- his horse on the county tab, a deputy tipped and got a civil service test application. I trotting speaker and consultant. Schneider off. never filled it out.” Keeton had been told her kids would “Due primarily to John’s reporting, the The Journal’s publisher, Mel Applegate, never talk and was advised to put them into sheriff had to leave office,” Billiel said. was sympathetic. He ordered the column an institution. While Schneider worked at the Daily reinstated and lobbied for Schneider to take “We never forget him,” she said of News, Emery wrote for a competing paper, over The Onlooker. Schneider. “We think of him all the time.” the Troy Daily News. But he still wasn’t sure he wanted the gig. One night, the couple found themselves “I was fairly young, in my 30s, and I Town meeting in the middle of a labor riot in downtown still felt I had something to prove,” he said. Schneider took a journeyman’s approach Sidney. “I thought maybe I’d do that for a while to the writing game. Every morning, he “We were tear gassed together,” Schneider and get a job with the Chicago Tribune or went to his desk, rubbed his lucky baseball, said. something.” checked his messages and planned the next It sounds romantic, but when Schneider Schneider didn’t care much for Hough’s day’s column. got inside information on the riot from the brighter-side triviality. “His style was kind of The 2012 edition of Who’s Who in sheriff, he refused to share it with his wife. hambone folksy,” Schneider said. “Who’s got Baseball, with Justin Verlander on the cover, Courtesy of Sidney Daily News the oldest refrigerator in Lansing. Turnips sat on his desk last week. Rake Muck Young reporter John Schneider did a little that looked like Richard Nixon. Hell, they all “You can’t get a base hit every time. All along, Schneider wanted to go back bit of everything at his first job at the Sidney do, don’t they?” Maybe one out of three, you feel proud of. to Michigan. Soon after he became news (Ohio) Daily News, including modeling He told the editors he’d take on the One out of 10, you feel really proud of.” editor, he fired off another round of resumes clothes for a feature story. But he also cost column, but only if he could do it his way. Not every day brought a Richard Prangley to the Michigan dailies. In January 1977, a corrupt sheriff his job. In his first column, June 1, Schneider into the room. he was hired as assistant city editor at the announced he would write about “the Seasonal nods to Christmas, Valentine’s Lansing State Journal. was the least bit challenged was closeted,” comic-tragic consequences that often occur Day and so on got harder and harder to He lasted two weeks in the job. Schneider said. “It was a warehouse. No when self-important bureaucrats hide freshen up as the years went by. “The reporters were having all the fun,” education or training at all.” When Prangley behind rules, policies and regulations to “The readers want it, so you have to do he said. “I was sitting at a desk, making was released 15 years later, unable to read avoid behaving like human beings.” it,” he said. “Easter is especially hard because assignments, editing copy and laying out or write, he came to Lansing, determined to He also wanted to praise do-gooders, as it’s so religious. And Mother’s Day is a real pages.” see the governor. Hough did, offering a public nod to motorists bitch.” Schneider found his editor, Hal Fielding, Impressed with Prangley’s pluck, who rescued ducklings and firemen who got But Schneider was in the game for the sympathetic. He took a cut in pay and Schneider smelled a major story. cats out of trees. long haul. Readers adopted him as a loyal jumped at the next opening for a writer A front-page feature story and a series of “The cat was OK and everybody was companion, whether he curled up by the — the East Lansing city beat, which was follow-ups spurred Gov. William Milliken to happy,” was the closer of a June 1988 column. fire, jumped on a bone or growled at the heating up. create a new civil service classification just so “Later, I wrote columns about how that screen door. Mickey Hirten, editor of the Just 10 days after Schneider started at Prangley could deliver mail for state offices. was a waste of taxpayer’s money,” he said Lansing State Journal, was already a fan the Journal, a young woman, Martha Sue Prangley worked 30 years, retired, and with a grin. when he came to the paper in 2001. Young, disappeared. lives in Lansing. He became an advocate for As Schneider hit his stride and his family “He was the voice of the paper, for all She was murdered by her former fiancé, the disabled and appeared on TV and visited took root in Lansing, his thoughts of moving intents and purposes,” Hirten said. “To do Donald Miller, the only serial killer in East the White House. In 1998, Schneider took a to a major market faded. that, you need a certain temperament and Lansing history. Soon Schneider joined a month sabbatical and expanded the series “I don’t know exactly when that dream big helping of strong journalistic skills, and top Journal writer, Mark Nixon, to cover the into a book for Grand Rapids’ Eerdmans sort of — I can’t really say it died, all of a he’s got both.” fast-breaking story. Press, “Waiting for Home.” The Prangley sudden didn’t become all that important to Nixon called Schneider’s column a “daily Well before Schneider took on his daily story was a career high for Schneider, but he me,” he said. “I felt like I was born to do this.” town meeting” where “a mechanic with no column, soulless institutions were his views it more as a life lesson. Acknowledging all of John Schneider’s pull whatsoever at City Hall can stand up favorite target. “He was called a low-grade imbecile with good deeds is no more feasible than writing in the back of the room and have his voice “He had a bumper sticker: Rake Muck,” no chance of any learning anything, but in a sonnet about all of Al Kaline’s base hits. To heard.” Nixon recalled. spite of all this, he was determined to carve dip a spoon into the ocean, go back to 1988, When Nixon left the Journal to become One day in the mid-1970s, a man walked out a decent life for himself,” Schneider Schneider’s first year as daily columnist. a spokesman for the Board of Water and into the Lansing State Journal newsroom marveled. “He wanted to become self- Two deaf East Lansing siblings, 4-year- Light, the time came for his ox to be gored. carrying a packet of papers. sufficient and he did it. I still don’t know old Mitchell Gingras and his 6-year-old “John would find out that one of our “He looked like a wild street person,” how, and why he wasn’t totally bitter.” sister, Leanna, needed cochlear implants. crews had butchered somebody’s tree. He Schneider said. “All the reporters ducked. Prangley and Schneider still see each Insurance wouldn’t pay, but a sympathetic was very polite, but it was ‘O.K., Nixon, what They didn’t want to talk to this guy. I guess I other and go to movies together. “He’s family friend brought the matter to are you going to do?’ He relishes the role, was the slowest to duck.” helped me. Every time I think I got it hard, Schneider. but never tries to rub it in.” The man introduced himself as Richard look at Richard.” The day after Schneider’s column ran, Looking back, Schneider is amazed at the Prangley. He told Schneider that in 1956, checks started to arrive. Soon there was autonomy he had. at age 6, he was thrown into the Coldwater The cat was OK enough for both children to have the “There were times when an editor would State Home and Training Center, where he “I always wanted to be a columnist,” operation. A third child in need was helped try to insert themselves, but it never lasted was beaten and molested. His parents were Schneider said. “I thought pretty much as well with the extra money. and they would go away,” he said. He flatly advised to put him into an institution and everybody in journalism did.” “I had garbage bags full of letters in declared that he was never asked to write, told he could never live outside, even though In 1988, popular “Onlooker” columnist the basement,” Viki Keeton-Gingras, their or not to write, anything because of pressure his learning disability was mild by today’s Jim Hough retired, opening up a premier mother, said last week. “I would sit down, from advertisers. lights. space at the Journal. Most staffers thought read them and cry. I still have them.” “These were days when anybody who Nixon would be Hough’s successor in the Right after Mitchell got his implant, his See Schneider, Page 9 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 9 Schneider from page 8 “I was proud that nobody told me to ease up on Meijer or Shaheen Chevrolet, anybody.” In a fall 2002 column, Schneider grabbed a “Citizen Kane” moment when he chided State Journal publisher Michael Kane for including a commemorative 9/11 supplement in the paper and requiring readers to opt out to avoid payment. Schneider told Kane the opt-out provision was illegal under state law, but Kane waffled. “I think he said it was a gray area,” Schneider recalled. “It wasn’t.” Schneider printed Kane’s reply, and filled the next day’s Lawrence Cosentino/City Pulse Courtesy of John Schneider column with irate letters from readers. Schneider spends a lot of time in the In 2009, at son Justin’s wedding. From right to left, Justin, 31; Schneider’s wife, Sharon Schneider wondered how Kane would woods around his Alaiedon Township Emery; John Schneider; Benjamin, now 28; and Caitlin, 25. Schneider’s oldest daughter, react. He even talked with Emery about home and joins his extended family for Jessica, drowned in an accident in 2002. what they would do if he were fired. hunting and epic poker games at a retreat The next day, columnist and publisher near Petoskey each year. in my noggin.” a recent read, Char Harbach’s baseball had a talk. Just don’t confuse Schneider with Mitch bestseller, “The Art of Fielding” (too much “He told me he thought the second sincerity. Albom, the Detroit Free Press columnist love story and not enough baseball). column was kind of piling it on,” Schneider “I never thought it would turn into 15 or who bedewed the best-seller lists with wet But a reference to “Moby-Dick” in said. “That was the end of it.” 20 columns,” he said. “It was a real catharsis material like “Tuesdays With Morrie” and Harbach’s book made Schneider prick up for me.” “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” his eyes. The epic of the elusive white whale, Human touch The series of columns following Jessica’s “If I ever write a book like that, I hope you the embodiment of life’s ultimate mysteries, Schneider enjoyed writing about his death burned with the human touch that come up here and just shoot me,” Schneider is the first in a long list of books he plans to own family, and readers eagerly sought a lifted Schneider’s work above the average said. “There’s a fine line between something crack in the coming months. reflection of their own lives in his family’s watchdog column. When Schneider and that expresses emotion and something that “It really made me realized I hadn’t read ups and downs. Nixon worked together at the Journal, Nixon just makes you want to brush your teeth.” it since high school,” he said. “I don’t think “Nobody wants to see home movies,” recalls more conversations about the craft of Schneider was also disappointed with I appreciated it enough. I want to savor it.” Schneider said, “but if I can come up with writing than about the grind of reporting. some sort of universal truths about how we “We’d talk about sweating bullets looking live, I find that rewarding.” for the right analogy, the right verb,” Nixon In a 1988 column, he described his said. “John was, and is, a voracious reader. feelings as he cut his tie in half to outfit The beauty of the written word means a lot his 3-year-old son, Justin, for pre-school to him.” graduation. “In the time it took to draw the In retirement, Schneider plans to knot around his neck, he went from post- work in shorter and longer forms than his toddler to miniature baby-faced man,” he accustomed 700-word straitjacket. He’ll wrote. keep up his blog (johnschneiderblog.com) 13 years later, Justin no longer fit the and maybe “stare down that scary first blank description. page of the novel that’s been rattling around “I just happened to be driving past him and there he was with a cigarette,” Schneider said. The shock generated another column. “He just hit the ceiling,” Schneider said. “I told him he was right, I apologized and that was the end of it.” Schneider’s comfort with writing about himself and his family was put to a severe test when his daughter, Jessica, drowned in Farenheit 2002 at age 25. FARENHEIT GOES “It’s difficult to write about a subject like that without getting maudlin,” he said. “To me, that destroys it because I’ve read COUNTRY Laidback maudlin things, and that doesn’t appeal to with with Fridays me.” His first thought after the accident was that he would never write a personal column again. “Soon afterward, there was an instant realization that I had to. It was a matter of STARTING APRIL 26 EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT STARTING APRIL 20TH hours. If I was a writer, there was no way I could avoid the subject.” EACH AND EVERY THURSDAY DJ Randy Ross from 96.5 Quiet Storm playing He pitched the columns perfectly, in 9P-2A // DANCE LESSONS OFFERED all your favorite grown hits! prose as transparent as a window into his Free Buffet for Happy Hour! struggling mind. Readers responded more DRINK SPECIALS ALL NIGHT LONG warmly than ever to his frankness and 10 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

Arts& Culture art • books • film • music • theater Common Ground adds Bush and Kevin Costner By CITY PULSE STAFF in 2008. Costner and Modern Canadian band Three Days Grace, No one can say the Common Ground West come to Common Ground which has charted with “Animal I Music Festival isn't full of surprises: It's July 11. Have Become” and “Break,” plays added Bush, Three Days Grace and Kevin Bush, performing July 9, ruled July 14. Costner and Modern West to the schedule. the airwaves in the mid-1990s Concerts are held at Adado Yes, that's the same Kevin Costner you with songs such as “Everything Riverfront Park in Lansing. Tickets know from “Field of Dreams,” “Dances Zen” and “Glycerine.” The British for all three shows will be priced at With Wolves” and “The Bodyguard.” He band's latest CD, “The Sea of $15 during a 13-hour sale from 8 formed the Modern West band in 2007 and Memories,” was released last a.m.-9 p.m. Friday. Visit www.com- released a country album, “Untold Truths,” September. Kevin Costner mongroundfest.com for details.

For Bell’s first tour with the Academy as lead- Fiddler on er, he didn’t wait for the wind to blow from home plate. For starters, he’s tackling Beethoven’s epic violin concerto without a maestro. the podium “I’ll be standing up and playing it, as I would Joshua Bell becomes normally, except there won’t be a conductor, an conductor of Academy of in-between,” he said. (There he goes again. Cover your ears, Toscanini.) “During the parts where I St. Martin in the Fields don’t play, I’ll turn around and be a conductor. It’s a bit of a juggling act.” By LAWRENCE COSENTINO Far from bifurcating his brain, Bell finds that Courtesy Photo Joe Cronin, Hall of Fame player-manager of double duty forces him to focus harder. “I have “Chelsea Lately” star Loni Love is a the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s, joked about to be very aware of everything going on, every native of Detroit who used to do comedy sending himself up to pinch-hit whenever the instrument at every time, but that’s really some- shows in college. When she moved to Los wind was blowing away from home plate. thing every soloist should do anyway,” he said. Angeles, her hobby became her career. There hasn’t been a player-manager in base- It’s one thing to play and conduct baroque ball since Pete Rose in the 1980s, but the breed masters like Bach or Vivaldi while sitting a chair is far from extinct. Classical violinist Joshua as first among equals, as Bell and other guests Bell, already destined for the Fiddle Hall of have done many times with the Academy. It’s Funny kind Fame, will both solo with and conduct the another thing to multi-task while navigating fabled Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in a storm fronts of Beethoven. of Love meaty all-Beethoven program at the Wharton “I know the piece better,” he said. “I feel like Center Saturday. I play my own part better because of my forced It’s homecoming week In a phone interview last month, Bell, still understanding of every part because I’m leading for ‘America's Sister,’ boyish at 44, cracked wise about his punishing everybody.” comedian Loni Love new gig. The player-conductor learning curve cuts “Normally, on tour with an orchestra, I’ll play both ways, making demands on the orchestra, By ALLISON M. BERRYMAN a concerto, and I can already start eating my too. When Bell and the band play Beethoven’s This weekend, Loni Love returns to her dinner during the second half of the concert,” he Fourth Symphony to close Saturday’s concert, home state and to her first love: standup said. “This is more work.” Courtesy Photo Bell will sit down, like a concertmaster, project- comedy. But it’s clearly a dream job for an incandes- Joshua Bell conducts and plays ing his will with the expressive face and torso The comedian plays Thursday, Friday cent artist with musical ideas to burn. solos with the Academy of St. moves that have become his trademark. If Bell’s and Saturday at Connxtions Comedy Club. “Doing it this way has forced me to really get Martin in the Fields chamber violin bow gets too busy, some other part of his She is best known for her role as a recurring inside the orchestra and get inside the score of orchestra. "It’s a bit of a juggling anatomy — usually his bouncing hair — takes panelist on E!’s hit show “Chelsea Lately” the piece, beyond my part,” he said. act,” admits the 44-year-old. over. and appearances on truTV’s “The Smoking “In a way, it’s getting rid of the middle man. It “It’s something I started to develop, figuring Gun Presents: The World’s Dumbest.” She actually becomes more organic with the orches- out the language of how to cue and inspire every is often referred to as “America’s Sister” tra.” musician on stage with my vision of the piece,” he said. because of her ability to connect with a Academy of St. Bell immediately backtracked, per- The result is a symphony-turned-chamber-music, an orches- wide range of audiences. Martin in the Fields haps picturing the epic scowl on Herbert tral super-brain crackling with cross-connections, instead of a top- “In the entertainment industry, everyone von Karajan’s or Georg Solti’s faces at down operation. should be represented,” Love, 40, said in a Joshua Bell, being called a “middle man.” “Everyone really has to take charge in a way they don’t have to phone interview. “And I represent a lot of director and violin “Of course, playing with a great con- when there’s a conductor with a baton in front,” Bell said. “But that people. I represent the fat asses, I represent 8 p.m. Saturday, April 21 ductor can be very inspiring. But not adds to the musical experience. It becomes more visceral, more the females, I represent the black people, Wharton Center having a conductor feels very natural to engaged from every single player.” I represent the people that love bacon. I’m $25-$78 (800) WHARTON me.” Bell isn’t only seen in Beethoven’s company these days. He relatable because I don’t talk about just one www.whartoncenter.com The mop-haired Indiana kid earned played an all-star gig March 28 with an eclectic roster that includ- thing.” his new stripes the hard way. Last fall, ed Emmylou Harris, Carole King and Merle Haggard at the open- Love’s Connxtions dates may be her after many acclaimed gigs with Britain’s ing of Las Vegas’ Smith Center. first performances in Lansing, but she will venerable chamber ensemble, he was the first American to be “I love doing those kinds of things,” he said. “I shared a dressing not be far from home. The comic grew up named its music director, by vote of the musicians, with the bless- room with (jazz trumpeter) Arturo Sandoval.” in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass Housing ing of its famous founder, Sir Neville Marriner. Bell is only the sec- ond man, after Marriner, to be named director. See Bell, Page 12 See Love, Page 12 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 11

Lansing Ready to run Marathon Sunday, April 22 Lansing Marathon is set for Sunday 8 a.m. full-marathon ($100 registration) By CITY PULSE STAFF 8 a.m. marathon relay ($270 registration for a An estimated 2,000 runners are expected to participate in the team of six) first Lansing Marathon on Sunday. The 26.2 mile course begins 8:15 a.m. 5K run/walk ($25 at the Accident Fund building and runners will travel through registration) 9:30 a.m. half-marathon Kircher Park, Potter Park Zoo, Michigan State University and REO ($60 registration) Town before finishing at the Capitol Building. Participants have Race packets must be seven hours to complete the marathon, which begins at 8 a.m. picked up in person between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. A relay for teams of six also begins at 8 a.m., followed by a 5K Saturday, April 21, at the run/walk at 8:15 and a half-marathon at 9:30. A 1.5K race for kids Health & Fitness Expo takes place at 11:30 a.m. Saturday; details are still being confirmed, at Cooley Law School Stadium, 505 E. Michigan according to the marathon's website. Ave. Lansing. Proceeds from the marathon support such charities as the Lansing A 1.5K race for kids takes place at 11:30 a.m. Moves the World Foundation, Lansing Boys and Girls Club, the Saturday, April 21; details South Lansing Community Development Association, the American are still being confirmed. Cancer Society and the Greater Lansing Food Bank. Register online at March 22 - April 22, 2012 lansingmarathon.com “Director Tony Caselli chose his cast well.” - City Pulse “And the actors are all winner.” - Lansing State Journal

“. . . lighthearted romance Seek ‘Shelter’; you'll find a great psychological thriller with a great score” - MLive.com Curtis (Michael Shannon) knows there’s a loving wife named Samantha (Jessica Book & Lyrics by Alan Gordon something wrong, but he’s not sure exactly Chastain) and a lovely 6-year-old daugh- Music by Mark Sutton-Smith “From the very first number what it is. He hears thunder when there ter, Hannah (Tova Stewart). you know you’re in for are no clouds in the sky. But the closer we look, the more cracks Directed by Tony Caselli He wakes up screaming from night- we see in the picture: money is tight, so something special.” Featuring: Leslie Hull, Emily Sutton-Smith mares in which hundreds of birds swoop Samantha sells crafts on the weekends - lansingonlinenews.com and Joseph Zettelmaier down upon him, oily rain falls and a seis- to raise extra cash; Hannah is hearing- mic jolt shakes his house, causing his living impaired and needs surgery; Curtis’ moth- Performances: Williamston Theatre room furniture to hang er (Kathy Baker in an electrifying cameo) Thursday & Friday @ 8PM 122 S Putnam St.,Williamston ‘Take Shelter’ suspended in mid-air, is a paranoid schizophrenic who has spent Saturday @ 3PM & 8PM 517-655-7469 Presented by East like something out decades in an institution. Sunday @ 2PM www.williamstontheatre.org Lansing Film Society of “Inception.” Could Naturally, Curtis is beginning to won- 7 and 9:15 p.m. Friday, April 20, Saturday, April these terrifying visions der if he is headed in the same direction; 21 and Sunday, April 22 be premonitions, or after all, he is now 35, the same age his Wells Hall, Michigan are they merely warn- mom was when she was diagnosed. State University ing signs that he’s los- Although he appears to be a mountain A weekly look at the issues 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, Wednesday, April 25 ing touch with reality? of a man, Shannon expertly plays against and the people behind the issues and Thursday, April 26 That’s the “Twilight his size: Inside the body of a linebacker is Hannah Community Zone”-style premise someone being torn apart by fears he can’t Center, 819 Abbot in Greater Lansing Road, East Lansing of writer-director Jeff express and questions he can’t answer. $8; $6 seniors; $3 Nichols’ marvelous Curtis struggles to keep going, but his students psychological thriller journey becomes more daunting with each This week’s guest: elff.com “Take Shelter.” new day. Set in a small Ohio town that seems Chastain provides a sensitive, insight- John Schneider to have been brought to its knees by the ful reading of Samantha, who clings to her recession, “Shelter” initially paints what faith as Curtis’ troubles become increas-

Former Lansing State looks like a comforting portrait of family ingly apparent. This riveting drama man-

Journal Columnist life. ages to tie the nerves in knots while break-

Curtis has a steady job in construction, ing your heart at the same time.

Hosted by Berl Schwartz [ [ Sundays at 11 & 11:30 a.m. Now also on “Ring Kings: Mayweather vs Cotto” Comcast Channel 30 Boxing superstar Floyd "Money" Mayweather US 127 & Lake Lansing Rd on Channel 16 in Lansing in Meridian Township at vs World Champion Miguel Cotto who will 11:30 a.m. & 11:30 p.m. Sundays! defend his WBA Super Welterweight World title. www.NCGmovies.com May 5, 2012 at 9 p.m. (517) 316-9100 O South Cedar at I-96 Student Discount with ID Watch past episodes at vimeo.com/channels/citypulse (517) 393-7469 ID required for “R” rated films 12 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

2009, she was named one of the “Top 10 Love Comics to Watch” by both Variety and Comedy Central. from page 10 Love says performing for a Michigan audience is different from doing shows for Projects before she moved west to pursue a the celebrity-fixated crowds of Los Angeles. career in electrical engineering. “Midwestern people are hardworking “I started doing comedy in college to people that are make extra money,” Love said. “When family-oriented,” Loni Love I moved to L.A. I went to a comedy club Love said. “They to check it out, and I noticed that there laugh at things Connxtions Comedy Club 2900 North East St., weren’t a lot of women performing that that affect their Lansing particular night. I thought there should own lives, whereas 8 p.m. Thursday, April have been more representation of females with L.A audi- 19, and 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday, April 20 and in the comedy arena.” ences, they tend to Saturday, April 21 It wasn’t long before Love became a want to laugh at $12-$17 regular in the Los Angeles comedy scene, the stars. Detroit (517) 374-4242 and what started as what she calls a and Lansing is www.connxtionscomedyclub. com “means to an end” turned out to be her more down home. true calling. To me, it’s a better “One day, there happened to be layoffs at show because they are real people.” my job, and I told my boss, ‘Save somebody After spending much of her career per- else’s job and lay me off and I’ll try comedy forming in front of a camera, Love said she’s professionally.’ I haven’t looked back since.” eager to get in front of a live audience again. Love found success when her one- “Standup is one of the last form of speech hour Comedy Central special “Loni Love: or performance that allows you to be your- America’s Sister” premiered in 2007. In self,” Love said. DEAL OF THE WEEK no wish to be pigeonholed. Bell “If I go to Europe, they say, ‘You’re American, play Samuel Barber,’” he from page 10 lamented. USE BONUS CODE: FLWR8 “If I did that over and over, I would Shortly before, he got the call to play a start to be the guy that plays the American Feb. 14 soiree for Vice President Joseph music. So I try to keep people guessing by Biden and his guest, Chinese Vice playing a lot of things. As a modern-day SAVE 50% President Xi Jinping. classical musician, you wear many hats Bell just returned from a March tour of already. To try to get inside the style of AT Smith Floral & Greenhouses China after laying down the soundtrack for bluegrass or jazz is not so strange.” on SaveLansing.com Zhang Yimou’s epic film “Flowers of War.” The Academy gig takes Bell’s career “I don’t think (Jinping) knows much back to the classics, only with deeper about classical music, but he was very involvement and more opportunities than impressed the Chinese had chosen me to a hired-gun soloist. play for their film,” he said. “With the Academy I’m able to explore Bell has often ventured beyond classical the symphonic repertoire,” he said. “These music, including the 1999 album, “Short are works I’ve known my whole life as an Trip Home,” a fine foray into bluegrass appreciator, but now I get to put my stamp with bassist Edgar Meyer. Bell says he has on it.”

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Haeg’s manifesto echoes that of Gass Art farmers and the Broad, with its ambitious talk of “bridging audiences of artists, architects, Broad Museum infiltrates environmentalists, foodies, urban plan- the soil with the launch ners and typical homeowners.” Where is the art in all of this? In your of ‘The Land Grant’ mind, mostly. Although Land Use artists- in-residence may or may not produce By LAWRENCE COSENTINO physical objects like Franceschini’s garden What would happen if Fritz Haeg, sculptures, Gass suggested that their work the L.A. artist/gardener and (literally) is closer to conceptual or performance art. groundbreaking author of “Attack on the “They work in the medium of social Front Lawn,” brought his message of liber- activity, whether it’s farming, building, ated land use to the only university in the and teaching,” she said. “They’re doing nation with a turfgrass library? things people do every The culture shock of the ultramodern day; they’re just framing Eli and Edythe Broad Museum springing them in an aesthetic and up at agricultural-rooted Michigan State philosophical context.” University has already been compared to a Haeg’s “edible spaceship landing in a cornfield. Little did estates,” for example, we know the infiltration would start from is mental amalgam of the grass roots. what gardens are and If “The Land Grant: Art, Agriculture, what they are not. Sustainability,” a new artist residency “If we see that our program to be launched this week by the Lawrence Cosentino/City Pulse neighbor’s typical lawn Broad, is any indi- "Barns Are Noble" declare the signs in the windows of the former instead can be a beauti- ‘The Land Grant: cation, art can Barnes & Noble bookstore in East Lansing. The building is being ful food garden, perhaps Art, Agriculture, speed the plow temporarily revamped this weekend to serve as a location for the we begin to look at the Sustainability’ — and divert and Broad Art Museum's "Land Grant" project. The two-day event was city around us with new Sponsored by the Eli and subvert it — in the brainchild of Broad Museum curator Alison Gass, right. eyes,” Haeg wrote in the Edythe Broad Art Museum ways yet unimag- book. “The seemingly 7 p.m. Friday, April 20: ined in East “I love the example this sets in terms Right away, she wanted a program that inevitable urban struc- Screening of "The Lansing. of finding art in uncommon places,” Gass would graft the university’s land-grant his- tures unravel as we begin to realize we Greenhorns," 107 South Kedzie Hall, MSU The Broad said. tory with 21st-century sustainability issues have a choice.” Saturday, April 21: Museum build- It begins with a Friday screening of — a concern she found in common with The art of art-ifying life, a primary tenet 333 East Grand River ing isn’t set to “The Greenhorns,” a film about young professors across several departments. of much contemporary art, extends to the Ave., East Lansing (former Barnes & Noble space) open until late farmers, with producer/director Severine While Gass was a curator at San choice of venue for the Land Grant kick- 3-5 p.m. Town hall meeting September, but Tscharner Fleming on hand to answer Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art, she off. Gass was saddened to see the Barnes to explore what The Land curator and Land questions. got to know the work of Amy Franceschini, & Noble bookstore on Grand River Avenue Grant means for MSU. Grant project mas- At 3 p.m. Saturday, there will be a town founder of Futurefarmers (a wry riff on close Dec. 31, only a few weeks after she 3-5 p.m. Students for the Broad Art Museum present termind Alison hall discussion with the first Land Grant the Future Farmers of America) a San moved to town. farming and sustainability Gass is already artists in residence, Amy Franceschini and Francisco-based artist-activist collective. “Part of what I want the Land Grant activities for kids of all ages. thinking outside Fritz Haeg, along with Laingsburg farmer “She did this amazing community gar- project to do is reactivate senses of what 5-7 p.m. Indoor farmers' the steel and glass Alex Bryan and a slate of sustainability- den in San Francisco City Hall and a series spaces can be,” Gass said. “I love the idea of market featuring local food box. conscious MSU brains, from landscape of sculptures you could use in a garden that seizing a single moment in this building’s and musical performances. Free A series of planners to organic gardeners. From 5 to 7 we bought for the museum,” Gass said. long life and totally changing its meaning broadmuseum.msu.edu between-the- p.m., a community party is planned, with Gass also enlisted Haeg, the kind of for a minute.” cracks “art as local food, beer, music and art. un-hierarchical, all-over-the-place artist Gass and her team are already scanning social practice” The idea for a major mashup of art and Gass wants the Broad Museum to show- for more ways to infiltrate and art-ify the public events will launch the Land Grant land use came to Gass as soon as she came case. His projects turn up at places like the surrounding university and community. project Friday and Saturday, inside the to MSU last fall and began to take in spec- Tate Modern in London and the Whitney Maybe farmers can reciprocate by sneak- temporarily reclaimed husk of the defunct tacles like Beale Gardens, the agricultural Museum of American Art, but he isn’t ing into the Broad Museum and growing Barnes & Noble bookstore across from the pavilion, the surrounding farmland, and, above popping in on Martha Stewart’s a few radishes before Jeff Koons takes museum. yes, the turfgrass study center. show to talk about his “edible estates.” notice.

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Baby Gaga hits the road “As an actor, that’s my job,” Moul says, ‘Blonde’ Moul has performed as her alterego “to create, and inspire people.” Baby Gaga at Spiral Dance Bar, Lansing Moul says Baby Gaga doesn’t try to Pride 2011 and Michigan State University. exactly replicate its progenitor’s perfor- and beyond Soon she’ll be making a bigger scene, as mance, but reinterprets it instead. “I want A sorority sister gets the first licensed Lady Gaga tribute artist. my own thing,” Moul says. “I think that’s The Grand Rapids native leaves (Lady Gaga’s) message, too: Be yourself.” Sgt.’s Soups schooled in MSU musical Lansing on June 6 to start a national tour; Moul creates all of her own costumes By ALYSSA FIRTH AND JON JAMES she'll settle in Las Vegas this fall. from modified thrift store finds. “I take my and Sandwiches Director Rob Roznowski says What leads someone to become a trib- BeDazzler to an old jacket,” she says. “I’m a Michigan State University’s “Legally ute artist? For Moul, 22, it was a desire big fan of safety pins, nail polish and glue.” $.50 o Blonde” will be a moving production — to excite in others the same positive reac- She says that helped her stand out when any Soup & Sandwich Combo fast-moving, that is. tion that her idol inspired in her. After auditioning for recruiters in Las Vegas. “I Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 MSU senior Erika Moul — known for attending Lady Gaga’s first Monster Ball make pretty much everything from scratch. her Lady Gaga impersonation as Baby tour in Detroit, Moul says she was struck There’s nothing creative about wearing a Gaga — plays Elle Woods, a former soror- that Lady Gaga’s performance could be so Halloween USA costume.” $5 o ity girl who becomes an unlikely Harvard motivational and that she could encour- Like her muse, Baby Gaga has an ener- Purchase of $20 Law student after her boyfriend, Warner ages her fans to be free to be who they are. gy and quirkiness that can’t be ignored. Soups, Pastas, Grains & Snacks (Wes Haskell) dumps her before heading “For me,” Moul says, “life isn’t about find- 517-262-1994 to Harvard himself. ing who I am, but creating who I am. Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 Although the plot is basically the same “My goal is for every show to be able to as the popular 2001 Reese Witherspoon touch at least one person out there that’s Hickory $5 o movie, the musical’s songs help quicken insecure — to touch someone the way I Corners Purchase of $20 the pace. For example, Elle’s depression was touched at (Lady Gaga’s) concert.” over her breakup with Warner and her Greenhouse Fresh produce decision to attend and Gardens and Gourmet foods Harvard Law Lansing’s Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 ‘Legally Blonde’ School is packed April 20-29 $5 o purchase of $20 into a seven-min- Wines Michigan State ute musical piece. Premier Hard Ciders Apple Brandy University Theatre This is also Pasant Theatre, Apple Vodka the MSU Theatre Plant Fresh Cider Wharton Center Jams 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 Department’s first Salsa p.m. Saturdays; 2 p.m. production using Supplier! Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 Sundays; 7:30 p.m. April 25 and 26. "show control," an Monday-Friday 7:30am-5pm Pre-show talk at 1:15 p.m. automated scen- Saturday, April 21; post- ery system that Saturday 7:30am Noon show talk on April 26 - employs a turn- $20; $15 for students Purchase www.whartoncenter.com table. $2 o of $10 (800) WHARTON “The scenery moves as quick- Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 ly as the songs Photo by G. "Max" Maxin IV move,” Roznowski said. The play is choreographed by three The cast of MSU's "Legally Blonde" students, and Roznowski plans to discuss includes, clockwise from top, Scott Long, how they worked together in the pre-show Trish Hubbard, Chris Robinson, Kelly Buy one gelato (any size) and post-show discussions on April 22 Studnicki, Erika Moul, Casey Shipman, Get a baby cone HALF OFF and 26. Claudia Dibbs and Neva Keuroglian. Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 Market Massage Birthday Registered 420 is coming! &Patient Purchase a 15 to 30-min Massage & Receive $2 o with this coupon! Discounts Stop in & register Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 to win our Annual 420 Giveaway! At Cottage Gardens you’ll find wholesale & retail ornamental $2 o purchase of $10 trees, shrubs & perennials Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 decorative benches birdbaths $2 o unique garden statuary & ornaments horticulture reference books Ricotta Salatta & Hills bulk hardwood, brown & red mulch Pecorino Romana Homecured Imported from Italy Cheese 517.487.9090 Cottage Gardens, Cannot be used with any other discounts or specials | exp. 5/2/2012 Serving the Lansing Area Since 1974 A Tradition of Quality Since 1923 Lansing City Market 1041 N. Cedar • Lansing, MI 325 City Market Dr., Lansing www.sucasajewelers.com 2611 S. 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MASTERWORKS SIX Viva vinyl! Local shops await annual Record Store Day sales Fantasies & By RICH TUPICA Each year on the third Saturday in Rich Tupica/City Pulse April, vinyl-record junkies congregate out- side independent record shops, waiting Record Lounge owner Heather Frarey for the doors to open in hopes of getting prepares for Saturday's Record Store Day. Fairy Tales their hands on limited slabs of wax, freshly pressed for Record Store Day. not that high, and once in a while a release While the 4-year-old event is a day vali- will totally tank and we will sit on a pile of MASTERWORKS SERIES PRESENTED BY THE LOOMIS LAW FIRM dating the love of digging through crates of copies. LANSING SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA LPs and 7-inches, it’s also a huge financial “On the other hand, many customers boost for the indie shops. Local stores par- get out the door with a huge bag of other ticipating this year include Flat, Black and records, which makes this a huge sales day.” Timothy Muffitt Charlie Albright Circular, The Record Lounge and Schuler Howard said he projects this year’s top A collaboration with the 2012 Gilmore CONDUCTOR Books and Music (Eastwood). Record Store Day sellers to be the “Flaming International Keyboard Festival “For the last few years, Record Store Lips and Heady Fwends” set, as well as the PIANO RAVEL Day has been the best day we’ve ever had,” Flaming Lips/Mastodon 7-inch split and said Heather Frarey, owner of the Record the Phish “Junta” LP set. Mother Goose Suite Lounge in East Lansing. A few of the other big-name releas- Prior to the chaotic sales day, Frarey said es include Animal Collective, Bruce RACHMANINOFF ordering the exclusive Record Store Day Springsteen, Metallica, Paul McCartney, Rhapsody on a Theme 12-inches and singles from distributors, Ryan Adams, Regina Spektor, Black Keys, of Paganini pressed by an assortment of major and The Byrds, The White Stripes and Gorillaz. indie labels, can be a headache. Record Store Day is often topped off STRAVINSKY “You may order five copies of something, with in-store performances from local and Petrouchka but because of the limited amount pressed national acts. This year, Record Lounge has you may only be allocated two copies, so a roster of bands playing inside the store that is very frustrating,” Frarey said. “Also, from 7 to 11 p.m., and also up the street MAY 10, 2012 8:00 P you have to spend a lot of money to get all at Espresso Royale (527 East Grand River the releases into the shop. Otherwise, I look Avenue) from noon to 5 p.m. Proceeds WHARTON CENTER for PERFORMING ARTS forward to Record Store Day all year. It's collected at the in-stores will benefit the amazing what it's done for vinyl, as well as residents of Dexter, which was recently the indie record store community world- hit by a tornado. Some of the performers wide.” include Kyle Pentecost, Tiger! Tiger!, Tania Flat, Black and Circular manager Jon Hayward, Jory Stulz, Fertile Brainsoil, Howard said the event is also a “frantic” Sherman's Wake and Sabertooth Fiancee. sales day at his East Lansing store. The Meanwhile Flat, Black and Circular 517-487-5001 • LANSINGSYMPHONY.ORG day starts with around 30 people lined up, hosts Lansing rockers Lord Vapid and waiting to get inside. Jackpine Snag. Out-of-town indie bands MASTERWORKS SERIES PRESENTED BY THE LOOMIS LAW FIRM CONCERT SPONSORS DAN & JAN HINES JOE ANTHONY ARTS COUNCIL OF GREATER LANSING CITY OF LANSING “It is our biggest sales day,” Howard said. include A New Benjamin Britten (from LANSING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS “We actually don't make that much off of New York), and Drunken Barn Dance Record Store Day releases. The markup is (from Ypsilanti).

Music Made in Michigan Shine On! The Best of BackStage Pass The Chenille Sisters, The Lash, Seeley & Baldori, Seth & May, Orrick Ewing, Larry McCray, and more! Thursday, April 19, at 10 p.m. “BackStage Pass” is repeated Saturdays at 11 p.m. on WKAR-TV and Saturdays at 8 p.m. on WKAR World.

College of Communication Arts and Sciences Watch #BSPwkar online anytime at WKAR.org! City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 17

to add some details to be controversial, and we all harder even than writing complex appel- ‘Justice’ help set a scene.” remember the Anita Hill/ late briefs. Just finding the time to write In “The Last Justice,” Clarence Thomas hear- with a busy law practice and spending time an assassin murders ings. As I dug in, I learned with my wife and three young children was is served six Supreme Court jus- it’s been controversial extraordinarily difficult. Much of the book MSU adjunct professor tices as they are hear- since the very beginning: was written between the hours of 11 p.m. ing a case. Solicitor John Rutledge — George to 3 a.m., or on an airplane or train, as long pens a legal thriller General Jefferson Washington’s nominee for as I could write without getting too tired.” By KURT ANTHONY KRUG McKenna, the govern- chief justice — tried drown- For Franze, the best part about writing ment’s top lawyer in ing himself after he was this novel was detailing the workings of the Being an appellate lawyer was both an the Supreme Court, is rejected by the Senate. As Supreme Court. asset and a hindrance for author Anthony placed in charge of a the wheels were turning, I “I got to write something I was familiar J. Franze when he was writing his first nov- multi-agency commis- realized that replacing just with and also introduce readers to an insti- el, “The Last Justice.” sion that is investigat- one justice can be a drama- tution a lot of people don’t know too much “It was helpful because when you’ve ing the slayings. As filled, contentious event in about. It’s not only an important institution, chosen to write for a living, whether you’re Congress butts heads our country. What would it’s also got an air of mystery about it,” he writing as a lawyer, a journalist, or in over who is going to happen if the nation were said. “People know it exists, but somebody some context, you enjoy the process and replace the murdered Courtesy Photo faced with a situation where once did a survey and more of the public get a lot of experience,” said Franze, 41, an justices, McKenna It took almost five years for the president would have could identify Judge Judy before they could adjunct professor of law in Michigan State himself becomes a sus- Anthony J. Franze to complete the opportunity to replace a Supreme Court justice. I took something I University’s Washington, D.C., Semester pect. He has no choice his novel "The Last Justice." the majority of the Supreme love and try to integrate accurate Supreme Program. “On the other hand, legal writing but to go on the lam in Court or all of it? That was Court history and procedures into what I and fiction writing are quite different. As a an effort to prove his innocence. the spark. From there, I wrote the first hope is a fast-paced story and introduce lawyer, I try and say as much as I can in as “The idea for (the book) came about two pages of the book and it took off from readers to a fascinating world.” few words as possible and cut out unnec- when I was actually doing research for there.” essary detail. I’m still a believer of less-is- an academic article and looking into the It took Franze a little more than five more in fiction writing, but I admit that Supreme Court confirmation process,” years to complete his book. “Writing the my editor made me go back in a few places Franze said. “I know that the process can novel was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,

mother who fondly recalls former adven- reach of any of the actors, and the middle Not-so-fine tures in professional photography with portion flows quite smoothly. her husband, Phil (Christian Powell). Unfortunately, beyond the exquisitely Coming Soon Lauren's lines like “after 10 years and detailed set designed by Sump, Molly wine two kids,” provide borderline-excessive Epstein and Delvin-Knowlton, this pro- to Schuler of okemos ‘Vino Veritas’ is diluted exposition as well as the explanation for duction suffers from a lack of sincerity. by unconvincing acting Lauren's current anti-provincial cyni- JIM ABBOTT cism. Phil, on the other hand, is content By PAUL WOZNIAK with trivial knowledge and a love of junk presents his memoir In addition to its power to impair our food and guilty-pleasure films. Curious vision, speech and judgment, imbibing Their neighbors and close friends, Imperfect too much alcohol can also coerce peo- Ridley (John Roache) and Claire (Abbie Born without a right hand, Jim ple into saying what they really mean. Tykocki), attend the same church and Book Shop Abbott as a boy dreamed of being Hence the premise of “Vino Veritas” — share in baby-sitting duties. Quality used & collectible a great athlete. Raised in Flint, roughly translated “in wine, truth” — a Lansing Civic Players and director books in all categories Mich., by parents who saw in his play by David McGregor about unbri- Tony Sump should be commended for condition not a disability but an dled honesty. attempting a script with a number of extraordinary opportunity, Jim Although the script suffers from unbri- interesting layers and changing character became a two-sport standout in dled preachiness toward the end, the pri- dynamics. The material is not beyond the high school, then an ace pitcher mary problem in this Lansing for UofM. Review Civic Players production stems from an overall lack of As a 19-year-old, Jim beat the honest performances. vaunted Cuban National Team. Set on Halloween night, “Vino Veritas” By 21, he’d won the gold medal finds two married couples meeting up to game at the 1988 Olympics and prepare for the dreaded annual costume cracked the starting rotation of party. But the Peruvian pre-party aperi- the California Angels. In 1993 he tif (made from the Specials would don Yankee pinstripes and skin of the blue ‘Vino Veritas’ Every deliver a one-of-a-kind no-hitter. dart tree frog) is no ordinary drink. Lansing Civic Players Month In this honest and insightful mem- Curry Lane Theatre After one glass 6025 Curry Lane, Lansing oir, Jim reveals the insecurities of each and a series of 8 p.m. Thursday, April 19 and a life spent as the different one. intrusive questions, Friday, April 20; 2 and 8 p.m. With a riveting pitch-by-pitch ac- Saturday, April 21 the couples' con- Thursday prices: $10 adults, count of his no-hitter providing the versation quickly $8 students, seniors and We have so many ideal frame for his story, he devolves into a military Friday, Saturday, Sunday prices: $14 adults, $12 offers readers an extraordinary night of humor- students, seniors and military books its scary! and unforgettable memoir. ously dark revela- (888) 419-5458 tions that test the www.lansingcivicplayers.org 307 E. Grand River * E. Lansing 7 p.m. Wed. may 2 boundaries of every Mon - Sat 10 - 7, Sun 12 - 5 relationship in the room. 332-0112 * www.curiousbooks.com For more information, visit Amanda Devlin-Knowlton plays www.schulerbooks.com Lauren, a socially repressed wife and we validate parking 18 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

Advice Goddess © 2011 Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. Inner booty & Romeo must dial To read more of Amy's advice and Q: In your answer at it: a broke, girlfriendless guy sleeping on pair of shoes for sale on eBay. And you actu- guidance, please visit our Web site at www.lansingcitypulse.com to “Dismayed,” the a buddy’s couch, gnawing on pizza crusts ally don’t need to “give a stranger several 32-year-old woman and complaining about how superficial ways to access (you)”; just explain that you with a Ph.D. who was women are — and what a tub Megan Fox has aren’t comfortable giving out your number, unimpressed by the become. Being honest about what women and ask for his. Use caller ID blocking to Amy alkon [email protected] men she was meeting, want and realistic about how you stack up is keep your number from being displayed (dial I was struck by how how you improve your chances of having love *67 before dialing his number), or call from cold and calculating it all sounds: Women in your life. You can either optimize what you Skype. evolved to marry money and power; men have to offer or scale back your demands for It’s good to be cautious, but in all prob- look for eye candy to parade around on their supermodeliciousness. So, maybe you can’t ability this man’s asking for your number to arms. As a man who doesn’t bring money or get Miss Universe, but make your peace with see whether meeting you seems worth an power to the table, what do I have to give up? that and you could end up living happily ever hour of his time, not because it’s the first Why can’t you just fall in love like you got hit after with Miss Hottie of the Cul-de-Sac. step in coming to your home and torturing by a ton of bricks and have that be enough? Winning her isn’t a simple matter of flashing you for days. There ultimately may be tor- —Male Romantic a bunch of cash. The protector-provider stuff ture involved, but probably not the kind they just gets you in the door so you can show her write screaming headlines about: “Woman A: Day to day in a relationship, it’s inner the stuff money can’t buy. That’s when you Has Coffee with Man from Dating Site; beauty that counts. Unfortunately, it takes convince her that the two of you can have a Dies a Little on the Inside During Their 37 outer beauty to draw a man close enough to beautiful future together — one filled with Minutes Together.” find out how wonderful a woman is on the liberal applications of CoverGirl Heal The inside…which is why cosmetics companies Wounded Squirrel. make bajillions with stuff like L’Oreal Visible Jonesin' Crossword By Matt Jones Radiance and not L’Oreal Sandwich-Making Q: I’m online dating, and I’m uncomfort- Kit To Feed The Homeless. able giving my number out, probably because “Who’s in Charge People wax on about “love at first sight” I’m reluctant to give a stranger several ways Here?”— four who (or getting “hit by a ton of bricks”) because to access me. Also, I consider myself a good the reality — “My genes made me drool on judge of character, and phone calls don’t should be. your shoe” — doesn’t sound very romantic reveal as much as seeing a man’s manner- by Matt Jones or nice. As evolutionary psychologist Dr. isms, body language, etc. I like to get to know Michael Mills explained on my radio show, a man through emails and then meet and, Across our genes don’t care if we’re happy. They’re if the chemistry is there, open myself up to 1 Plenty of selfish little buggers, manipulating us to do calls. This arrangement seemed fine until 6 Coffeehouse drink 10 Post your thoughts whatever it takes so they can hop on to the today, when it was greatly stressed that a online phone conversation would help the process next generation. If one big purple eyeball on 14 Hit the town a woman were an indicator of her health and along. 15 “Get ___” fertility, Playboy would be called Cornea, and —Woman On Hold 16 Hawaiian island where men in bars would be chatting up women’s much of “Lost” was foreheads instead of their cleavage. Instead, A:A person’s nonverbal expressions can filmed men evolved to go for women with the fea- tell you many things — whether they’re tense, 17 Room under a roof tures that actually do indicate fertility, like angry, socially awkward — but probably not 18 WWI spy ___ Hari youth and an hourglass figure. Women, on everything you need to know: “Uh-oh…that’s 19 Mufasa, for one the other hand, evolved to be hot for men the posture of a man with human remains in 20 Big shot overseeing who can protect and provide, as women who his freezer.” metamorphoses? 23 Brother of Michael went for wimpy deadbeats would’ve been Understandably, you’re grasping for con- and Jermaine more likely to have children who starved to trol and privacy — probably because you 24 Buenos Aires’ loc. death or got eaten by lions. (Genetic fail!) give up much of both in online dating. But, 25 Dunking Ming 53 Big shot in the salad 7 Cracked open a smidge 35 Heat ‘n’ eat consider the ridiculousness: You’re standing 27 Big shot in the flexible factory? 8 Take to the polls 39 Patsy’s “Absolutely If the reality seems depressing to you, firm on telephonic privacy after posting your straw industry? 59 Guilty or not guilty 9 Genesis album that Fabulous” friend check out the results of thumbing one’s nose picture and hopes and dreams like you’re a 34 ___ Domani wine 61 Furniture giant looks like a rhyme 44 Shoe string 36 Big berry 62 Spotted laugher scheme 47 Nobel Prize-winning Interested in placing a classified ad in City Pulse? 37 “La Traviata” com- 63 Brazen 10 Meat sauce novelist ___ Gordimer City Pulse Classifieds Call (517) 999-5066 or email [email protected] poser 64 D.C. team 11 Grizzly hideaway 48 Be indecisive 38 Fend (off) to join its 65 Fencing swords 12 “I’m onto your 52 Semiconductor Avon Representatives Wanted City Pulse is seeking candidates 40 Cuba or Curacao: Join my award winning team! 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©2011 Jonesin’ Crosswords • For answers to this puzzle, call: 1-900-226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Must be 18+. Or to bill to your credit card, call: 1-800-655-6548. Ans wers Page 25 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 19 Listings deadline is 5 p.m. the THURSDAY BEFORE publication. Paid classes will be listed in print at the cost of one enrollment (maximum $20). Please submit them to the events calendar at www.lansingcitypulse.com. If you need help, please call Jessica at (517) 999-5069. E-mail information to [email protected]. APRIL 20-22 From the page to the stage A favorite book comes to the Riverwalk Theatre stage, as All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre presents “The Little Prince” April 20-22 and 27-29. The play follows an aviator (played by Grace Hinkley) stranded in the Sahara Desert as he embarks upon a two-week journey with a child known as “the little prince” (played by Olivia Sawa). The production is directed by Paul Bourne, and has been adapted by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar from the original 1943 book by Antoine de Saint Exupery. The cast of more than 60 youths — ranging in age from 9 to 18 — comes from East Lansing, Okemos, Haslett, Williamston, Grand Ledge, Dewitt, Perry, Bath, Holt, Dimondale and Lainsburg. Through April 29. Riverwalk Theatre, 228 Museum Drive, Lansing. 7 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 4:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. $7 adults, $5 for 17 and under. (517) 482-5700, or www.cityofeastlansing.com/allofus. Courtesy Photo APRIL 21 Flavor for the week Wednesday, April 18 This weekend, the Community Relations Coalition will unveil the first-ever Taste of East Lansing. The event features Classes and Seminars food samples served by Noodles & Company, The State Room, Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub, Sultan’s Restaurant, Grande Paraders Square Dance Club. Round Menna’s Joint, Spartan Signature Catering, Goombas Pizza and Swagath Indian Cuisine. The day includes a raffle, dancing and alternating and more. 7:30 p.m. $4 members; $5. Holt 9th Grade Campus, 5780 Holt entertainment from West Michigan Capoeira dance group and music from Capital City Groove, Bard Owls and Three Road, Holt. (517) 694-0087. Eyed Fish. “This is a great opportunity for East Lansing community members from all walks of life to come together Meditation. For beginners and experienced. 7-9 for a fun evening that truly showcases our local community,” said CRC Intern Coordinator Olivia Seifert. 5-8 p.m. p.m. FREE. Vietnamese Buddhist Temple, 3015 S. $2 for food tickets, $1 for raffle tickets. Parking Lot 1, off of Albert Ave. and in Ann Street Plaza, East Lansing. www. Washington Square, Lansing. (517) 351-5866. WeAllLiveHere.org/TasteofEastLansing. Community Yoga. Power yoga class. 6:30-8 p.m. FREE. Just B Yoga, 106 Island Ave., Lansing. (517) 488-5260. Drop-in figure drawing. Easels and drawing APRIL 22 boards provided, bring other supplies. 7:30-10 p.m. ‘Mother Earth’ comes to life $5, $3 students. Kresge Art Museum, located at Physics and Auditorium roads, MSU Campus, East The Greater Lansing Ballet Company celebrates Earth Day through dance Lansing. (517) 337-1170. at Pattengill Middle School. First choreographed by Barbara Banasikowski Parent Workshop. Help youth make healthy deci- Smith in 2002, “Mother Earth” is an original ballet that addresses ecological sions and avoid consequences of pregnancy and issues, with creatures portraying the many facets of the planet: The birds more. 7-9 p.m. FREE. Eastern High School, 220 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 541-8771. become Mother Earth’s voice, butterflies serve as her arms and lions Anime & Manga Drawing. For teens, to learn become her legs. “Mother Earth” stresses the effect of human negligence how to draw their own characters in the popular and the importance of protecting Earth and coexisting with nature. 3 Japanese Anime style. 3-5:30 p.m. FREE. East Lan- p.m. $18, $15 students and seniors, $8 children 12 and under. Pattengill sing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing. Auditorium at Pattengill Middle School, 626 Marshall St., Lansing. (517) 372- (517) 351-2420. Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Discussion. 6-7 9887. www.greaterlansingballet.org. p.m. FREE. Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ, 125 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 484- 7434. www.PilgrimUCC.com. The Ecological Role of Fungi. With Paul Olexia, Professor Emeritus Kalamazoo College. 7 p.m. FREE. Courtesy Photo Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mount Hope Ave., Lansing. (517) 887-0596. www.wildoneslansing.org. APRIL 22 See Out on the Town, Page 21 Wander through the woods The Fenner Conservancy teams up with the Michigan State University R. Knott Fisheries and Wildlife Club, along with six other MSU clubs and Lawn, Landscape & Snow Services Lawn, Landscape & Snow Services organizations, to celebrate Earth Day. Beginning at 7 a.m., participants will Mowing Vacation Mowing Eavestroughs Cleaned Spring Cleanups have the opportunity to take part in activities such as bird mist netting, Rolling Garden Tilling Stump Grinding small mammal trapping, pond dipping, wildflower identification hikes, Bushes Trimmed or Pulled Sidewalks Edged herpetological surveys and bird identification hikes. Tree identification Tree & Brush Removal & Hauling Seeding hikes will be led by university students and professionals. Fenner Nature Snow Removal & Salting Since 1986 Center will also kick off its butterfly garden restoration, and teams FREE ESTIMATES will be formed for the Garlic Mustard Pull Challenge. Those interested in 517 517 volunteering are asked to sign up at www.mynaturecenter.org. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. 993-2052 694-7502 FREE. Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mt. Hope Ave., Lansing. (517) 483-4224. Courtesy Photo 20 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

will be elements of trance, electro, and house, all in form songs off their latest album, one. But to me, it’s just not appealing. I think even- “New Flower,” along with some tually that will mature. Also, as far as the people just other fan favorites, at the Ten turn it getting into the music, their tastes will also mature. Pound Fiddle on Friday. Prior to They will pick a sound.” meeting, they both had a strong While this is DJ Dan’s first trip to Lansing, Wherrett background in songwriting and said he’s “always loved” Detroit. “For me, Detroit performing. They also had a people have always seemed serious about the shared love of folk, blues, and Down music. They go out for the music. A lot of people go rock, including mutual influenc- A survey of Lansing's out so they can be seen with their friends, I always es like Neil Young, Patti Griffin, felt people in Detroit came out because they had and Woody Guthrie. musical Landscape specific DJs they wanted to hear and they are very They met in 2003 at the Ann By Rich Tupica passionate about those DJs.” Arbor Folk Festival, and by early Opening the show is a roster of Michigan DJs, 2006 they had released their DJ Dan S pins house at The Loft including Xάos (techno-house-electro), Superdre first collaborative LP through (deep house/minimal), AKDJ (funk/dubstep), Earthwork Collective, simply Elemnt (house), Juan & Sketch (breaks/house/ called “Seth Bernard and Daisy scratching,) Ruckus (electro funk), Andy & Roque May.” Courtesy Photo Coke Dick Motorcycle Awesome (house), Dubboi (ghettotech), Fireant & Fahzee Friday, April 20 @ Ten Pound Fiddle (dubstep). The after party is set for the Six Lounge – Unitarian Universalist Church, 855 Grove Street East This show features the Bay City-based band Vince in downtown East Lansing, with more live music Lansing, all ages. Box office at 7 p.m., doors 7:30 p.m., 8 Dynamic, an indie-pop band that blends together from Hugh Cleal, WilliamPaul, Nimbus, PepStep & p.m. show. Tickets are $15 public, $12 Fiddle members, diverse influences from Weezer, The Beach Boys Crackula and Breezy. $5 students. and The Carpenters. Friday, April 20 @ The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, Coke Dick Motorcycle Awesome Saturday, April 21 @ Gone Wired Café, 2021 E $15 advance, $20 at door, 18 and over, doors at 9 p.m. Michigan Ave, Lansing, all ages, $5, 9 p.m. to mid- drops 'Fog City' Seth & May play the Fiddle night. Aside from having a thoroughly obnoxious Superchrist brings old-school (yet creative) band name, Coke Dick Motorcycle thrash to Mac's Awesome also has a new CD, “Fog City.” The Lansing- based punk/thrash band releases the disc Friday at Since 1998, Superchrist has been banging out some Courtesy Photo DJ Dan Oade’s Hidden Camel in REO Town. This spe- genuine old-school trash metal. The Chicago-based cial “4-20” album release show also serves as the headbangers play Mac’s Bar on Saturday. Opening "My whole sound is kind of this funky house, band’s tour kick-off show. Since its first release the show are Lurking Corpses (horror-punk/metal funky disco and a bit of techno,” said DJ Dan, who in 2004, the band has played hundreds of shows from Fort Wayne), Scaphism (Boston-based death is playing The Loft Friday. The event is hosted by X across Michigan and the Eastern half of the United metal) and Sauron. Since 2000, Sauron has been Theory Collaboration: “Lansing's newest electronic States. Opening the show are local pop-punks Frank and a force in Lansing trash metal. It includes Victor music movement.” DJ Dan (a.k.a. Daniel Wherrett) Earnest and The Fisticuffs (Chicago-based Irish punk). “Lore Lord” Ruiz (guitar), Mike “Skinthrasher” has been a fixture in the techno scene since 1991, Friday, April 20 @ Oade’s Hidden Camel, 1210 South Hudson (drums) and Doomy G. Blackthrash (bass/ when he began to make a name for himself in Washington Ave, Lansing, 21 and over. $5, 9 p.m. vocals). Fans of Motorhead, Sodom, Kreator or Los Angeles. Since then he’s toured the world and Exodus may want to check out this show. Great Lakes Collective released stacks of records. “I’ve definitely gone more Saturday, April 21 @ Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., underground,” Wherrett said in a phone interview. hosts indie show at Gone Wired Lansing, 18 and over. $7, 18 and over, 9 p.m. “I’ve decided to go back to my roots and play funk- Vince Dynamic, Mountain Nobility, One Short of ier house — more underground stuff. I really have Half a Dozen, Joseph & Stephanie Huson and Jory Courtesy Photo Stultz (formerly of the Sunset Club) play an all-ages no desire to go into the mainstream.” May Erlewine and Samuel Seth Bernard Wherrett said he’s happy to avoid the trends (think show at Gone Wired Café on Saturday. The event David Guetta) and continue making his own path. In addition to being a married couple, Samuel Seth is hosted by the Great Lakes Collective, which has “I’ve noticed that since (electronic music) has Bernard and May Erlewine are also a respected duo been hosting shows and promoting a list of talented become more commercial, in the same song there in the Michigan folk community. The pair will per- locals for the past couple years. Post it at www. facebook.com/turn it down

To be listed in Live and Local, e-mail your information to [email protected] by Thursday of the week before publication. Wednesday THursday FRIday sat u r day 621, 621 E. Michigan Ave. Phil Denny, 8 p.m. Ray Potter/DJ Craig, 8:30 p.m. Brandon Marceal/DJ Radd1, 9 p.m. DJ Leeky, 9 p.m. Connxtions Comedy Club 2900 N. East St. Comedy Open Mic, 8 p.m. Loni Love, 8 p.m. Loni Love, 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. Loni Love, 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. Colonial Bar, 3425 S. MLK Jr. Blvd. DJ, 9 p.m. Homespun, 9 p.m. Homespun, 9 p.m. Brannigan Brothers, 210 S. Washington Square Jammin' DJs, 9 p.m. Jammin' DJs, 9 p.m. Jammin' DJs, 9 p.m. Crunchy's, 254 W. Grand River Ave. Cloud Magic, 10 p.m. Karaoke, 9 p.m. Karaoke, 9 p.m. Karaoke, 9 p.m. The Exchange, 314 E. Michigan Ave. Tryst Thursdays, 8:30 p.m. Showdown, 9 p.m. Showdown, 9 p.m. The Firm, 227 S. Washington Square DnW Sound DJs, 9 p.m. Various DJs, 9 p.m. DJ Donnie D, 9 p.m. Grand Café/Sir Pizza, 201 E. Grand River Ave. Driver & Rider Show, 7 p.m. Kathy Ford Band, 7:30 p.m. Karaoke with Joanie Daniels, 7 p.m. Lady Luck, 8 p.m. Green Door, 2005 E. Michigan Ave. Stan Budzynski & Third Degree, 9:30 p.m. Hydrophonics, 9:30 p.m. Squids, 9:30 p.m. Soulstice, 9 a.m. The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave. As Empires Decay, 7 p.m. DJ Dan, 9 p.m. Red Cedar Ransom, 3 p.m. Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave. Wavvy Hands, 9 p.m. Vive Le Vox, 9 p.m. Freddy Todd, 9 p.m. Superchrist, 9 p.m. Moriarty's Pub, 802 E. Michigan Ave. Rob Kladja Open Mic, 9 p.m. Big Willy, 10 p.m. Big Willy, 10 p.m. Rick's American Cafe, 224 Abbott Road DJ Dan, 10:30 p.m. ICE DJs, 10:30 p.m. The Crutches, 10:30 p.m. The Crutches, 10:30 p.m. Rookies, 16460 S. US 27 Sea Cruisers, 7-10 p.m. Water Pong DJ with Ryan, 9 p.m. Karaoke with Bob, 9 p.m. Karaoke with Bob, 9 p.m. Rum Runners, 601 East Michigan Ave. Open Mic Night, 9 p.m. Dueling Pianos & DJ, 9 p.m. Dueling Pianos & DJ, 7 p.m. Dueling Pianos & DJ, 7 p.m. Unicorn Tavern, 327 E. Grand River Ave. Frog & the Beeftones, 9 p.m. Blind Ambition, 9 p.m. Blind Ambition, 9 p.m. Whiskey Barrel Saloon, 410 S. Clippert St. DJ, 9 p.m. DJ, 9 p.m. Dani Jamerson Band, 9 p.m. Dani Jamerson Band, 9 p.m. Sunday Open Jam with Bad Gravy, 9:30 p.m., Green Door; Karaoke, 9 p.m. Drag Queens Gone Wild, 11 p.m., Spiral Dance Bar; DJ Mike, 9:30 p.m., LeRoy's Bar & Grill; Open Mic, 5 p.m., Uli's Haus of Rock. Monday Steppin' In It, 9:30 p.m., Green Door: Easy Babies funk trio, 10 p.m., The Exchange. Open-Mic Mondays, 6:30 p.m., Michigan Brewing Company-Lansing. Tuesday Tommy Foster & Guitar Bob, 9 p.m., The Exchange; Neon Tuesday, 9 p.m., Mac's Bar. Jazz Tuesday Open Jam, 9 p.m., Stober's Bar, 812 E. Michigan Ave. City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 21

Thursday, April 19 9-10 a.m. Price Varies. Flap Jack, S. Waverly Road, East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, East Out on the town Waverly. (517) 373-0826. Lansing. (517) 351-2420. Classes and Seminars from page 19 Gregg Granger. Author of "Sailing Faith: The Long Yoga 2XL. Learn to move with confidence. 7:15-8:15 Music Way Home." 7 p.m. FREE. Schuler Books & Music, p.m. $8 suggested donation. Just B Yoga, 106 Island Carol Hess. Professor of Musicology, on what do Jazz Thursdays. Various artists featured each 1982 Grand River Ave. Okemos. (517) 349-8840. Ave., Lansing. (517) 488-5260. we in the U.S. know about Latin American music. week. 6:30-9:30 p.m. FREE. Mumbai Cuisine, 340 Eating Disorders Annonymous Meeting. A 7 p.m. FREE. MSU Library, 100 Main Library, MSU Albert St., East Lansing. (517) 336-4150.. group of people recovering from eating disorders Campus, East Lansing. www.lib.msu.edu. Jazz Octet I, II, III, IV. Live music. 7:30 p.m. $10, $8 Friday, April 20 who talk about recovery. 7 p.m. FREE. CADL Mason seniors, FREE students. MSU Music Building Auditorium, Classes and Seminars Library, 145 W. Ash St., Mason. (517) 899-3515. MSU Campus, East Lansing. www.music.msu.edu. Relics of the Big Bang. Emphasizes research cur- Events Yoga Classes for Beginners. With Gaby Kende, New Horizons Band Performance. Band rently underway at CERN. 8 p.m. $3, $2.50 students Overeaters Anonymous. 7 p.m. FREE. Grand yoga teacher and certified yoga therapist. 9:30-11 Performance. 2 p.m. FREE. Independence Village of and seniors, $2 kids. Abrams Planetarium, 400 E. Ledge Baptist Church, 1120 W. Willow Hwy., Grand a.m. $84 for 8 weeks. Center for Yoga, 1780 E. Grand East Lansing, 2530 Marfitt Road, East Lansing. (517) Grand River Ave., East Lansing. (517) 355-4676. Ledge. (517) 256-6954. River Ave., East Lansing. (517) 351-6640. 355-7661. cms.msu.edu. Cork and Canvas. An instructional art class. We Practice Your English. Speaking and listening to Advising Day. For the University of Michigan-Flint Steve Lippia. Jazz. 7:30 p.m. $15-35. Wharton Cen- provide the canvas, paint and instruction. Bring a English in a friendly, relaxing atmosphere. 7-8 p.m. in Lansing. 2-6 p.m. FREE. Lansing Community Col- ter, MSU Campus, East Lansing. (517) 353-1982. beverage. 6-8:30 p.m. $25. 1210 Turner St., Lansing. FREE. East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, lege University Center, 422 N. Washington Sqruare, LCC Vocal Pop & Jazz Ensemble. Vocal jazz (517) 999-1212. East Lansing. (517) 351-2420. Lansing. (517) 483-9727. classics and contemporary pop music, directed Our Daily Work/Lives. Paul Lawrie on African Youth Service Corps. East side youth grow food, Computer Class. Learn Microsoft office. 7 p.m. by Kelly Stuible. 7:30 p.m. FREE. Dart Auditorium, Americans and penal labor in the American Military develop leadership skills. Ages 11-17. 3:30-5:30 p.m. FREE. Community of Christ, 1514 W. Miller Road, Lansing Community College, 500 N. Capitol Ave., 1917-1919. 12:15-1:30 p.m. FREE. MSU Museum Audi- FREE. Hunter Park Community Garden House, 1400 Lansing. (517) 882-3122. Lansing. (517) 483-1488. torium, MSU Campus, East Lansing. www.museum. block of E. Kalamazoo St., Lansing. (517) 999-3910. Farm to Table. On raising backyard chickens. 7 Drum Circle. All ages, instruments provided. 6:30 msu.edu. Knee High Naturalist. Ages 2-5 for a playgroup p.m. FREE. CADL Stockbridge Library, 200 Wood St., p.m. FREE. Marshall Music, 3240 E. Saginaw St., MSU Community Club Luncheon. Recipients featuring a different nature theme each week. 1-2 Stockbridge. (517) 851-7810. Lansing. (517) 337-9700. www.marshallmusic.com. of the Endowed Scholarships, and the Irene Arens p.m. $5. Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mount Hope Successful Gardening. Learn to garden wiser, Scholarship announced. 11:30 a.m. Call for price. Ave., Lansing. (517) 483-4224. low maintenance plants, labor saving techniques University Club, 3435 Forest Road, Lansing. (517) Colonial Village Neighborhood Meeting. The and more. 7 p.m. FREE. Dewitt District Library, 13101 Theater 655-1378. www.universityclubofmsu.org. Association meets on the third Wednesday. 7-8:30 Schavey Road, DeWitt. (517) 669-3156. "The Usual: A Musical Love Story." Original mu- The Land Grant. Residency program for artists p.m. FREE. Grace United Methodist, 1900 Boston Deck Building. Workshop from Greater Lansing sical about love in a neighborhood bar. 8 p.m. $22. focusing on land use, food and urban development. Blvd., Lansing. (517) 482-5750. Housing Coalition classes. 6-8 p.m. FREE. Lowe's Williamston Theatre, 122 S. Putnam, Williamston. 7 p.m. FREE. South Kedzie Hall, corner of Farm Medication. Safely dispose of medications. 9 (lansing), S. Cedar St., Lansing. (517) 699-2940. (517) 655-SHOW. a.m.-6 p.m. FREE. PGPA Pharmacy, 3544 Meridian Lane and Auditorium. www.broadmuseum.msu.edu/ Crossings Drive, Suite 120, Okemos. (517) 381-7472. events/LandGrant. Events Literature and Poetry "Spy Kids 4." Part of Flick's Family Film Fest. Time Morning Storytime. All ages welcome for stories, Writers Roundtable. Get feedback and connect varies, $4 adults, FREE for kids. Celebration Cinema, Events songs, rhymes. 10:30 a.m. FREE. Delta Township with other writers. 6-7:45 p.m. FREE. Delta Township 200 E. Edgewood Blvd., Lansing. Alcoholics Anonymous. Open meeting for family District Library, 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) District Library, 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) DTDL Book Club. Discuss Melanie Benjamin's "The and friends with American Sign Language interpreta- 321-4014. 321-4014 ext. 4. Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb." 6-7:30 p.m. Karaoke. Every Thursday night with Atomic D. 9 International Book Club. Discuss "Across Many FREE. Delta Township District Library, 5130 Daven- p.m. LeRoy's Classic Bar and Grill, 1526 S. Cedar St., Mountains" by Yangzom Brauen. 7-8:30 p.m. FREE. See Out on the Town, Page 22 port Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014 ext. 4. Lansing. (517) 482-0184. Euchre. No partner needed. 6-9 p.m. $1.50. Delta Music Township Enrichment Center, 4538 Elizabeth Road, Open Jam. Rock night. 8 p.m.-Midnight. FREE. Lansing. (517) 484-5600. Capital Area District Library Zeppelins Music Hall, 2010 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. Mid-day Movies. Watch recent releases on the (517) 580-8722. big screen. 2 p.m. FREE. CADL Downtown Lansing Jazz Wednesdays. Featuring the Jeff Shoup Trio. Library, 401 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing. (517) 367-6363. Raising Backyard Chickens In 2009, Ingham County passed an ordinance allowing 7-10 p.m. FREE. Gracies Place, 151 S. Putnam, Wil- Bananagrams Night. Play the hot new timed word households to keep chickens. Lansing resident and chicken liamston. (517) 655-1100. game. 7 p.m. FREE. Schuler Books & Music, 2820 owner Corie Jason will explain how to get started raising chickens Jazz Wednesdays. Live entertainment. 7-10 p.m. Towne Centre Blvd., Lansing. (517) 316-7495. FREE. ENSO, 16800 Chandler Road, East Lansing. in your own backyard. Co-sponsored by the Stockbridge Area Kids Time: Ages 5-11. Help the Eastside youth to Wellness Coalition. (517) 333-1656. www.enjoyenso.com. grow food, develop leadership skills. 4:30-5:30 p.m. Greater Lansing Community Concert. Double FREE. Hunter Park Community GardenHouse, 1400 Thursday, April 19 • 7 pm Reed Ensemble. 7 p.m. FREE. Independence Village block of E. Kalamazoo St., Lansing. (517) 999-3910. CADL STOCKBRIDGE of East Lansing, 2530 Marfitt Road, East Lansing. Garden Tour. Tour begins near the pond, in the 200 Wood Street, Stockbridge • (517) 851-7810 (517) 353-9958. southeast corner of Beal Garden. 12:10-12:50 p.m. Stan Budzynski & 3rd Degree. Live music. 9:30 FREE. MSU Library, 100 Main Library, MSU Campus, p.m.-1:30 a.m. FREE. Green Door Blues Bar & Grill, Get Started Composting East Lansing. www.lib.msu.edu. Learn how to turn yard trimmings and food waste into low-cost, 2005 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. (517) 482-6376. MSU Film Collective Series. Showing "The Secret Sammy Gold Band. '80s pop-rock. 6-8:30 p.m. environmentally friendly compost from Rebecca Titus of Titus Farms, Life of Things." 8-11 p.m., FREE. Wells Hall, MSU a local sustainable vegetable and fresh-cut flower farm. FREE. Grand Cafe/Sir Pizza, 201 E. Grand River, Lan- Campus, East Lansing. sing. (517) 484-4825. www.sirpizzagrandcafe.com . Chipmunk Story Time. Children can join Chicory Saturday, April 21 • 11 am Greater Lansing Community Concert Series. Chipmunk for 'Once Upon a Springtime." 10 a.m. $3. CADL HASLETT Double Reed Ensemble. 7 p.m. FREE. Independence Harris Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, Meridian 1590 Franklin Street, Haslett • (517) 339-2324 Village of East Lansing, 2530 Marfitt Road, East Township. (517) 349-3866. Lansing. (517) 337-0066. www.msu.music.edu. Spanish Conversation Group. English & Spanish Monday, April 23 • 6 pm will be spoken. 7-8 p.m. FREE. East Lansing Public Li- CADL MASON Literature and Poetry brary, 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing. (517) 351-2420. 145 W. Ash Street, Mason • (517) 676-9088 Baby Time. Books and songs for ages 2 years and "Spy Kids 4." Time varies, $4 adults, FREE for kids. younger, with caregiver. 10:30 a.m. FREE. Delta Town- (Please See Details April 18) The Purple Carrot Truck ship District Library, 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. What is Creativity? The Alliance of Creative Stu- The Purple Carrot is Michigan’s first farm-to-truck food stand. Owners (517) 321-4014 x3. dents express abstract idea of creativity in exhibit. Nina Santucci and Anthony Maiale buy fresh, high-quality ingredients Lansing Area Science Fiction Association 6-9 p.m. FREE. Technology Innovation Center, 325 E. directly from farmers and turn them into delicious, creative cuisine. Meeting. New location. Informal dinner and lively Grand River Ave., East Lansing. (516) 319-6861. Hear about their fresh food mission and enjoy delicious samples. conversation every week. 7 p.m. FREE. Buddies Grill, Zonta Meridian East. Meeting with Stella Cash, Even better, treat yourself to lunch first! The truck will be selling 2040 Aurelius Road, #13, Holt. (517) 402-4481. Director of Strategic Partnerships, Sparrow Hospital. food outside our library from 12–2 pm. Naomi Shihab Nye. Known for poetry with a fresh 5:30 p.m. FREE. Burcham Hills Retirement Community, perspective to ordinary events, people and objects. Saturday, April 21 • 2 pm 2700 Burcham Drive, East Lansing. (517) 899-2297. . CADL DOWNTOWN LANSING Open Jam with Bad Gravy, 9:30 p.m., Green Door; Karaoke, 9 p.m. Drag Queens Gone Wild, 11 p.m., Spiral Dance Bar; DJ Mike, 9:30 p.m., LeRoy's Bar & Grill; Open Mic, 5 p.m., Uli's Haus of Rock. 7 p.m. FREE. MSU Snyder Hall, MSU Campus, East Breakfast with Bauer. Join State Rep. Joan 401 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing • (517) 367-6363 Steppin' In It, 9:30 p.m., Green Door: Easy Babies funk trio, 10 p.m., The Exchange. Open-Mic Mondays, 6:30 p.m., Michigan Brewing Company-Lansing. Lansing. www.poetry.rcah.msu.edu. Bauer for breakfast to share thoughts & opinions. cadl.org/farm Tommy Foster & Guitar Bob, 9 p.m., The Exchange; Neon Tuesday, 9 p.m., Mac's Bar. Jazz Tuesday Open Jam, 9 p.m., Stober's Bar, 812 E. Michigan Ave. cadl.org/events 22 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

Seth Bernard and May Erlewine. Michigan folk Ballroom Dance. With beginning/intermediate "The Little Prince." 2 & 4:30 p.m. $7, $5 under 17. Out on the town music artists. 8 p.m. $15, $12 members, $5 students. waltz, followed by general» dancing. 7 p.m. $13, $9 (Please See Details April 20) Unitarian Universalist Church, 855 Grove St., East members, $8 students. Central United Method- Happendance 2 teen concert. Hip-hop, lyrical, from page 21 Lansing. www.tenpoundfiddle.org. ist Church, 215 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing. www. jazz and modern dance. 8 p.m. $5. Wilson Center usadance2037.org . Auditorium, 101 W. Cass St. St. Johns. (517) 333-3528. tion. 8 p.m. FREE. Alano Club East, 220 S. Howard The Lansing Capitals vs. Chicago Redline. www.happendance.org. St., Lansing. (517) 482-8957. Theater Lansing's own men's professional basketball team. "Legally Blonde." 2 & 8 p.m. $20, $15 students. Storytime. Stories, rhymes and a craft for ages "The Usual: A Musical Love Story." 8 p.m. $25. 7 p.m. $5. Aim High Sports, 7977 Centerline Dr. (Please See Details April 20) 2-5. 10:30-11:15 a.m. FREE. East Lansing Public Li- (Please See Details April 19) Dimondale. (517) 455-3200. brary, 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing. (517) 351-2420. "The Little Prince." A world-weary Aviator April Shower's Dance. German style dinner with LAP Gets Better. With live entertainment featuring journeys with the Little Prince in an All-of-us Express Literature and Poetry roast pork, sauerkraut and dancing. 5:30-11:30 p.m. swing jazz, classical, and folk music. Sample Michi- production. 7 p.m. $7, $5 under 17. Riverwalk Amphi- Lecture & Book Signing Event. Stacy A. Cordery $9, $4 children, $6 dance. Lansing Liederkranz Club, gan wines paired with foods. 6-10 p.m. $75. Spartan theater, 101 Energy Plaza, Jackson. (517) 482-5700. author of "Juliette Gordon Low: The Remarkable 5828 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 882-6330. Stadium, MSU Campus, East Lansing. (517) 372-6671. "Legally Blonde." Sorority girl Elle reinvents her- Founder of the Girl Scouts." 10 a.m.-1 p.m. $6, $4 llcgerman.com. www.laprespitecenter.com. self at Harvard Law School in a musical based on the seniors, $2 kids. Michigan Historical Museum, 702 W. Taste of East Lansing. Purchase samples from Alcoholics Anonymous. A closed women's meet- 2001 film, 8 p.m. $20, $15 students. Wharton Center, Kalamazoo St., Lansing. (517) 373-3359. E.L. restaurants. 5-8 p.m. $2 per food ticket . Down- ing. 7:30 p.m. FREE. St. Michael's Episcopal Church, MSU Campus, East Lansing. (800) WHARTON. town East Lansing, Grand River Ave., East Lansing. 6500 Amwood Drive, Lansing. (517) 882-9733. www.wealllivehere.org/tasteofeastlansing. "Puss in Boots." Part of the Flicks Family Film Fest. Literature and Poetry Sunday, April 22 An Evening of Magic. The best magicians of Michi- Call for Show times, FREE 12 and under, $4 adults. Music & Movement Storytime. Dance and sing Classes and Seminars gan will entertain families with unique magic. 7 p.m. Celebration Cinema, 200 E. Edgewood Blvd., Lansing. to music, and learn to play with instruments and Lansing Area Codependents Anonymous. $10, $5 kids 12 and under. Pattengill Middle School, (517) 393-7469. more. 1 p.m. FREE. Delta Township District Library, Meets on the third floor. 2-3 p.m. FREE. CADL Down- 626 Marshall St., Lansing. (517) 325-3876. BBQ Ribs & Chicken Dinner. Come early to 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014 ext. 3. town Lansing Library, 401 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing. "Puss in Boots." Call for Show times. FREE 12 and purchase rib and chicken dinners, sandwiches and (517) 367-6300. www.cadl.org. under, $4 adults. (Please See Details April 20) slabs. 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. $6-$25. Trinity AME Church, Overeaters Anonymous. 2 p.m. FREE. Every- Volunteers. Help prepare flower beds, pull invasive 3500 W Holmes Road, Lansing. (517) 882-5722. Saturday, April 21 body Reads Books and Stuff, 2019 E. Michigan Ave., plants & more. 9-11 a.m. FREE. Harris Nature Center, LAP RESPITE. Live music, silent auction and wine Classes and Seminars Lansing. (517) 485-8789. 3998 Van Atta Road, Meridian Township. (517) 349-3866. and food pairings. 6 p.m. $75. Stadium Towers, Relics of the Big Bang. 8 p.m. $3, $2.50 student- Relics of the Big Bang. 4 p.m. $3, $2.50 students Sunday on Saturday Service. A worship Spartan Stadium, MSU Campus, East Lansing. www. sandseniors, $2 kids. (Please See Details April 20) and seniors, $2 kids. (Please See Details April 20) service, contemporary & casual. 5-6 p.m. FREE. laprespitecenter.com. Beginner Tai Chi. Can build strength and reduce Gardener's Roundtable. Discuss various garden Okemos Community Church, 4734 Okemos Road, stress. 8-9 a.m. $8. Just B Yoga, 106 Island Ave., topics, swap ideas, tips, and occasionally seeds and Okemos. (517) 349-4220. Lansing. (517) 488-5260. plants. 12:30-1:30 p.m. FREE. Hunter Park Commu- Music The Great Cloth Diaper Change. Help break the Tai Chi in the Park. Meditation at 8:45 a.m. fol- nity GardenHouse, 1400 block of E. Kalamazoo St., Greater Lansing Community Concert. Haobing Guiness record of 5,000 babies changed worldwide. lowed by Tai Chi. 9:30 a.m. FREE. Hunter Park Com- Lansing. (517) 999-3910. Zhu, piano solo. 7 p.m. FREE. Burcham Hills Retire- 11 a.m. FREE. Kinawa Middle School, 1900 Kinawa munity GardenHouse, 1400 block of E. Kalamazoo ment Community, 2700 Burcham Drive, East Lansing. Drive, Okemos. (517) 699-0359. St., Lansing. Contact Bob Teachout (517) 272-9379. Events (517) 353-9958. www.burchamhills.com. Home Showcase. Twenty properties will be open Overeaters Anonymous. 9:30 a.m. FREE. Spar- Salsa Dancing. DJ Mojito spins salsa, merengue, Faculty Recital. Featuring Caroline Hartig, for tours. 1-5 p.m. FREE. Old Town, Grand River row Professional Building, 1200 E. Michigan Ave., bachata. 7 p.m.-Midnight, $5 21, $7 under 21. Fahren- clarinet. 8 p.m. $10, $8 seniors, FREE students. Avenue and Turner Street, Lansing. (517) 267-5221. Lansing. (517) 485-6003. heit Ultra Lounge, 6810 S. Cedar St., Lansing. MSU Music Building Auditorium, MSU Campus, East Document Destruction Day. Recycle obsolete Parenting Group. Lecture and group discussion Alcoholics Anonymous. Closed meeting for those Lansing. www.music.msu.edu . bank statements, canceled checks and more. 9 a.m.- each week. 10-11 a.m. Call to register. Women's who desire to stop drinking, with American Sign Lan- Concert and Swing Dance. With Jazz Orchestra 1 p.m. , FREE. Friedland Industries, 405 E. Maple St., Center of Greater Lansing, 1710 E. Michigan Ave., guage interpretation. 9 a.m. FREE. Alano Club East, I, II, III. 7:30 p.m. $10, $8 seniors, FREE students. Lansing. (517) 485-4283. Lansing. (517) 372-9163. 220 S. Howard St., Lansing. (517) 482-8957. Demonstration Hall, MSU Campus, East Lansing. BBQ Ribs & Chicken Dinner. Purchase rib and Farm to Table. On the Purple Carrot truck. 2 p.m. Occupy Lansing. Direct Action meeting. General www.music.msu.edu. chicken dinners, sandwiches and slabs. 11:30 a.m.-6 FREE. CADL Downtown Lansing Library, 401 S. Capi- Assembly each Sunday at 7 pm. 5 p.m. FREE. Gone Jesse & The Gnome. Live concert. Noon-1 p.m. p.m. $6-$25. Trinity AME Church, 3500 W Holmes tol Ave. Lansing. (517) 367-6363. www.cadl.org/farm. Wired Cafe, 2021 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. (517) FREE. Grand Cafe/Sir Pizza, 201 E. Grand River, Road, Lansing. (517) 882-5722. Farm to Table: Composting. Turn waste into 853-0550. www.gonewiredlansing.com. Lansing. (517) 483-1000. www.lcc.edu/radio. Pancake Brunch. Including sausage links, oatmeal, low-cost, environmentally-friendly compost. 11 a.m. Capital Area Singles Dance. Meet new friends Life Size Ghost. Live concert. Noon-1 p.m. FREE. fresh fruit, applesauce, coffee, tea and more. 8:30-11 FREE. CADL Haslett Library, 5670 School St., Haslett. with door prizes. 6-10 p.m. $8. Eagles, 4700 N. Grand Grand Cafe/Sir Pizza, 201 E. Grand River, Lansing. a.m. $6, $3.50 for kids, $15 family of 4. Grace United (517) 339-2324. www.cadl.org/farm. River Ave., Lansing. (517) 819-0405. (517) 483-1000. www.lcc.edu/radio. Methodist, 1900 Boston Blvd., Lansing. (517) 482-5750. Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis. Country music Life in the Peace Corps. Find out about the "Puss in Boots." Call for showtimes. FREE 12 and stars in an acoustic show. 8 p.m. $32-85. Wharton history, current activities, and how to apply. 1-2 p.m. under, $4 adults. (Please See Details April 20) Music Center, MSU Campus, East Lansing. 1-800-WHARTON. FREE. Delta Township District Library, 5130 Daven- Earth Day. Activities to help families connect with Ernie Block. Live music at dinnertime. 6:30-8:30 Coffee House Music. Featuring local musicians port Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014 ext. 4. nature on Earth Day. 3 p.m. $7 per family. Harris p.m. FREE. Altu's Ethiopian Cuisine, 1312 Michigan including Brandon Grafius and Randy Roy. 7-9 p.m. Parenting Group. Lecture and group discussion Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, Meridian Town- Ave., East Lansing. (517) 333-6295. FREE. Pilgrim Congregational United Church of each week. 10-11 a.m. Call to Register. Women's ship. (517) 349-3866. Jazz Orchestra I, II, III. With guest artist Michael Christ, 125 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 484- Center of Greater Lansing, 1710 E. Michigan Ave., Award Luncheon. For the Tri-County Environmen- Dease, jazz trombone. 8 p.m. $25, $20 seniors, 7434. www.PilgrimUCC.com. Lansing. (517) 372-9163. tal Leadership Award. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. FREE. Hannah $15 students. Fairchild Theatre, MSU Campus, East Of Virtue and Brothers. Live music. 5 p.m. $7 The Land Grant. Residency program for artists fo- Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, East Lansing. Lansing. www.music.msu.edu. advance. Mac's Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. cusing on land use, food and urban development. 3- www.midmichiganrecycles.org. 40 Stitches Later and Clint Dickerson. Live (517) 484-6795. www.macsbar.com. 7 p.m. FREE. At the former Barnes and Noble, 333 Earth Day. Participate in mammal trapping, pond music. 9 p.m. FREE. Log Jam, 110 W. Jefferson St., Greater Lansing Community Concert Series. E. Grand River Ave., East Lansing. (517) 324-3944. dipping, wildflower identification hikes and more. 7 Grand Ledge. (517) 627-4300. With Haobing Zhu, piano. 7 p.m. FREE. Burcham Hills www.broadmuseum.msu.edu/events/LandGrant. a.m.-3 p.m. FREE. Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mug & Music. So your child wants a career in the Retirement Community, 2700 Burcham Drive, East Occupy Lansing. General assembly meetings. 1 Mount Hope Ave., Lansing. (517) 483-4224. arts? Presented by Jill Woodward. 10 a.m. FREE. Lansing. (517)351-8377. www.msu.music.edu. p.m. FREE. Reutter Park, Corner of Kalamazoo & Home Showcase. 1-5 p.m. FREE. (Please See Townsend St., Lansing. MSU Community Music School, 841 Timberlane St., Details April 21) East Lansing. (313) 579-9716. www.cms.msu.edu. Comic contest. Adults only. Featuring Melik, Dolo, SPRING PLANTINGS 32nd Annual Jazz Spectacular. The essentially Events Jonathan Stars and Mike Hughes. 6-9 p.m. FREE. Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition. 8 CREATE 4 SEASON BEAUTY Global Youth Service Day. Help make garden-in- Grand Cafe/Sir Pizza, 201 E. Grand River, Lansing. a.m.-6 p.m. FREE. MSU Music Building Auditorium, a-box kits, signs for park cleanliness, and more. 10 (517) 484-9197. www.sirpizza-mi.com. MSU Campus, East Lansing. www.music.msu.edu/ a.m.-1:30 p.m. FREE. Hunter Park Community Gar- The Fight for Water. Featuring filmmaker Joshua ensembles/jazz.php. denHouse, 1400 block of E. Kalamazoo St., Lansing. Spencer and his documentary. 2 p.m. FREE. East Joshua Bell. Violinist, with the Academy of St. (517) 999-3919. Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, East Lan- Experienced and Conscientious Martin-In-The-Fields orchestra. 8 p.m. $25-78. Cobb Sketch Crawl. Come with your sketch pads and sing. (517) 351-2420. elpl.org. Fair Rates with Free Consultation Great Hall, Wharton Center, MSU Campus, East your creativity. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. FREE. Artie's Filling Sta- Challenging Projects Welcomed Lansing. (800) WHARTON. www.whartoncenter.com. tion, 127 W. Grand River Ave., Lansing. (517) 797-5582. Music Fertrell Organic Soil Amendments, Salsa Dancing. DJ Adrian "Ace" Lopez hosts Lan- Garber Studio Recital. Students from the studio Fertilizers and Animal Health Products sing's weekly salsa event. Singles welcome. 9 p.m.-2 Theater of Sue Garber perform. 3 p.m. FREE. MSU Com- (517) 648-0527 or (517) 649-8870 a.m. $5. Gregory's Bar & Grille, 2510 N. Martin "The Usual: A Musical Love Story." 3 & 8 p.m. [email protected] Luther King Jr. Blvd., Lansing. (517) 323-7122. $22 matinee, $25. (Please See Details April 19) See Out on the Town, Page 23 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 23

will performance for Earth Day. 3 p.m. Price varies. Out on the town Pattengill Middle School, 626 Marshall St., Lansing. NEW IN TOWN Greenfield Collection Antiques (517) 755-1130. www.greaterlansingballet.org. from page 22 "Legally Blonde." 2 p.m. $20, $15 students. munity Music School, 841-B Timberlane St., East (Please See Details April 20) Lansing. (517) 355-7661. cms.msu.edu. Wind Symphony. And with Spartan Youth Wind Symphony. 3 p.m. $10, $8 seniors, FREE students. Monday, April 23 Cobb Great Hall, Wharton Center, MSU Campus, Classes and Seminars New East Lansing. 1-800-WHARTON. Divorced, Separated, Widowed Conversa- Kathryn Brown. Piano. 7 p.m. $10, $8 seniors, tion Group. For those who have gone through loss intown FREE students. MSU Music Building Auditorium, MSU and are ready to move on with their lives. 7:30 p.m. Campus, East Lansing. www.music.msu.edu. FREE. St. David's Episcopal Church, 1519 Elmwood Lansing Symphony Chamber Series IV. The Road, Lansing. (517) 323-2272. GriefShare Seminar. DVD series, with support Music of J.S. Bach and Sons. 3 p.m. $15. First Pres- By Allison M. Berryman byterian Church, 510 W. Ottawa St., Lansing. (517) group discussion. 6:30-8 p.m. FREE. Grace United Call it a case of "back 487-5001. www.lansingsymphonyorchestra.com. Methodist, 1900 Boston Blvd., Lansing. (517) 490-3218. Children's Concert. The enchantment of the harp, Overeaters Anonymous. 7 p.m. FREE. St. David's by popular demand": Brittany DeYoung. 3 p.m. FREE. CADL Downtown Lansing Episcopal Church, 1519 Elmwood Road, Lansing. The Greenfield Collection Library, 401 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing. (517) 367-6300. (989) 587-4609. www.stdavidslansing.org. Antiques store returns to Heller, Steyer & Green. Vocal group, performs Chronic Pain Support Group. For those experi- Old Town Lansing, nearly exciting concert of American and Jewish music. 7 encing any level of chronic physical pain. 4-5:30 p.m. eight months after closing FREE. Women's Center of Greater Lansing, 1710 E. p.m. $10, $5 students. Congregation Shaarey Zedek, its doors. Michigan Ave., Lansing. (517) 372-9163. 1924 Coolidge Road, East Lansing. (517) 351-3570. “We came back to Old LCC Percussion Ensemble. With the Holt Jr. High HomeWork Help. Drop-in help for grades K-8 from Percussion Ensemble, both directed by Beth Lewis. the MSU Student Michigan Education Association. 5-7 Town for the people and 3 p.m. FREE. Dart Auditorium, Lansing Community p.m. FREE. East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot the atmosphere,” said Genna Musial/City Pulse College, 500 N. Capitol Ave., Lansing. (517) 483-1488. Road, East Lansing. (517) 351-2420. www.elpl.org. Dave Polston, co-owner of Greenfield Collection Antiques The Lange Choral Ensemble. A spring concert, Overeaters Anonymous. 7 p.m. FREE. St. David's Greenfield Collection. “The Episcopal Church, 1519 Elmwood Road, Lansing. "Basically British: Music of Celebration." 7 p.m. $10, businesses down here are On the afternoon of new location is home $8 students & seniors. St. Paul's Episcopal Church, (989) 587-4609. www.stdavidslansing.org. tremendous. It’s a great 218 W. Ottawa St., Lansing. (517) 482-9454. Farm to Table: Composting. Turn waste into April 14, after receiving to a larger collection low-cost, environmentally-friendly compost. 6 p.m. community to be a part of.” what Polston calls an of antiques, including Despite being a favorite Theater FREE. CADL Mason Library, 145 W. Ash St., Mason. overwhelming amount of furniture, glassware and among Old Town residents, "The Usual: A Musical Love Story." 2 p.m. $22. (517) 676-9088. support from the Old Town collectables. Despite minor (Please See Details April 19) Greenfield Collection community, the partners changes, the antique store "The Little Prince." 2 p.m. $7, $5 under 17. Events closed for business in opened the Greenfield still upholds the image (Please See Details April 20) Euchre. Play euchre and meet new people. 6-9 August 2011 so that Collection’s new 1,500 that made it an Old Town "Mother Earth." Greater Lansing Ballet Company Polston, along with his square-foot location. favorite. See Out on the Town, Page 24 partners Mike Polston and “We needed a larger “The outcry of ‘please ERASER-FREE SUDOKU MEDIUM Ron Cosson, could pursue store," Polston said. "We reopen the store' was just other business ventures. wanted something that amazing," Polston said. TO PLAY However, it wasn’t long had a bigger opening, "We couldn’t say no to this before the community and a good feel for our community.” Fill in the grid so that every row, col- of Old Town, including customers. The design of umn, and outlined 3-by-3 box contains longtime customers and the new building is larger the numbers 1 through 9 exactly once. fellow business owners, and has a more open feel No guessing is required. The solution is felt the void left behind by Greenfield Collection unique. to it. We have sections Antiques the antique store. now, and rooms to put 117 E. Grand River Ave. “We decided to reopen certain items, so the store To avoid erasing, pencil in your pos- (517) 374-1040 sible answers in the scratchpad space because of the support is more organized and not beneath the short line in each vacant from our customers and so cramped.” 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday square. For solving tips, visit the fact that they missed Greenfield Collection’s Noon-5 p.m. Sunday www.SundayCrosswords.com the store,” Polston said. Answers on page 25

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Music related disorders. 5:30 p.m. FREE. Sparrow Profes- speaker. 12:05-1 p.m. FREE. Ingham County Human Out on the town Open-Mic Mondays. Sign up to play solo, duo, sional Building, 1200 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. (517) Services Bldg., 5303 S. Cedar St., Lansing. with your band. 6:30-10:30 p.m. FREE. Michigan 485-3775. Wildflowers with Naturalist. Look for spring from page 23 Brewing Company, 402 Washington Square, Lansing. Overeaters Anonymous. 7 p.m. FREE. Pres- wildflowers with a naturalist. 10:30 a.m. $3. Harris p.m. $1.50. Delta Township Enrichment Center, 4538 (517) 977-1349. byterian Church of Okemos, 2258 Bennett Road, Nature Center, 3998 Van Atta Road, Meridian Town- Elizabeth Road, Lansing. (517) 484-5600. Charm City Devils. Rock and roll music. 7:30 p.m. Okemos. (517) 505-0068. ship. (517) 349-3866. Social Bridge. Play bridge and socialize. 1-4 p.m. $8, $10 door. The Loft, 414 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. Intro to Computers. Professionals from Career Estate Planning. Gain control of affairs-avoiding $1.50. Delta Township Enrichment Center, 4538 www.theloftlansing.com. Quest teach the basics. 2:30-4 p.m. FREE. Capital the possible expense and delay of probate. 10-11 a.m. Elizabeth Road, Lansing. (517) 484-5600. Area Michigan Works, 2110 S. Cedar St., Lansing. FREE. Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbot Road, "Puss in Boots." Call for Show times. FREE 12 (517) 492-5500. East Lansing. [email protected]. and under, $4 adults. (Please See Details April 20) Tuesday, April 24 On the Way To Wellness. Barb Geske provides Improve Your Balance. Improve balance with Garden Storytime. Stories with the River Ridge Classes and Seminars nutrition and wellness coaching in a positive, Rodney Moore, Licensed Physical Therapist. 10:30- Garden Club, decorate a container, and plant a bean Schizophrenics Anonymous. A self-help support informative format. 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. $10. 11:30 a.m.. FREE. First Presbyterian Church, 510 W. seed. 6:30-7:30 p.m. FREE. Delta Township District group for those affected by the disorder. 10 a.m. Presbyterian Church of Okemos, 2258 Bennett Road, Ottawa, Lansing.(517) 321-0945. Library, 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) 321- Room 215-F, Community Mental Health Building, 812 Okemos. (517) 349-9536. 4014. E. Jolly Road, Lansing. (517) 485-3775. Computer Class. Learn Excel. 7 p.m. FREE. Community Events Celebrating Chris Clark. Hors d'oeuvres and DJ Yoga 40. For those in their 40s, 50s, 60s and be- of Christ, 1514 W. Miller Road, Lansing. (517) 882-3122. Compassionate Friends. For grieving parents. Sammy Courtney spinning some of Chris' music. 5-8 yond. 7:15 p.m. Suggested $7. Just B Yoga, 106 Island Laughter Yoga. With Kiran Gupta, a licensed 7:30-9:30 p.m. FREE. Salvation Army Community p.m. FREE. 621, 621 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. RSVP Ave., Lansing. (517) 488-5260. clinical social worker. 5:30-6 p.m. FREE. Campus Center, 701 W. Jolly Road, Lansing. (517) 351-6480. (517) 372-4636. www.621downtown.com. Take Off Pounds Sensibly. Anyone wanting to Village Center, 1151 Michigan Ave., East Lansing. (517) Mid-day Movies. Watch recent releases on the Monday Morning Movie. Get your film fix at the lose weight is welcome. 7 p.m. FREE to visit.. Eaton 775-4834. big screen. 2 p.m. FREE. CADL Downtown Lansing library. 10:30 a.m. FREE. Delta Township District Rapids Medical Center, 1500 S. Main St., Eaton Yoga for Well Being. With Amy Noren, RYT 200, trained Library, 401 S. Capitol Ave., Lansing. (517) 367-6363. Library, 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) 321- Rapids. Judy @ (517) 543-0786. in alignment based yoga. 6:30-8 p.m. $10. Full Spectrum Game On. Play a variety of board and video games. Family Medicine, 2025 Abbot Road, East Lansing. 4014 ext.4. Schizophrenics Anonymous Self-help Sup- 3-5 p.m. FREE. Delta Township District Library, 5130 port Group. For persons with schizophrenia and Speakeasies Toastmasters. Become a better See Out on the Town, Page 25

H do om n’ eo h t h wn id av er e e t s the o ir Co p mp e et t itiv s. a e m nd d o own rtg pa ag he ym e lp e ra fr nt tes om M S HD A. Vi sit O w nM iH o o me r c .or al g fo l 51 r det 7.3 ails 73.6 840. City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 25

Events Out on the town Overeaters Anonymous. 7 p.m. FREE. Grand Free Will Astrology By Rob Brezsny April 18-24 Ledge Baptist Church, 1120 W. Willow Hwy., Grand from page 24 Ledge. (517) 256-6954. The astrology column that appeared last out to be a stellar human being. Every now and then, Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014 x3. Practice Your English. 7-8 p.m. FREE. (Please week should have appeared this week. This though, I get a bit envious of parents who've created big- Morning Storytime. Stories, songs, rhymes & See Details April 18) week's column is the one that should have ger families. If bringing up one kid is so rewarding, may- fun. 10:30 a.m. FREE. Delta Township District Library, Youth Service Corps. Ages 11-17. 3:30-5:30 p.m. appeared last week. We regret the error. be more would be even better. I asked an acquaintance 5130 Davenport Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014. FREE. (Please See Details April 18) of mine, a man with six kids, how he had managed to "Puss in Boots." Call for showtimes. FREE 12 and Kids Time: Ages 5-11. 4:30-5:30 p.m. FREE. ARIES (March 21-April 19): Some people misunder- pull off that difficult feat. He told me quite candidly, "My under, $4 adults. (Please See Details April 20) (Please See Details April 19) stand the do-it-now fervor of the Aries tribe, thinking secret is that I'm not a good father; I'm very neglectful." I Spring Rummage Sale. With household items, Storytime. Stories, rhymes, songs and a craft it must inevitably lead to carelessness. Please prove offer up this story as a way to encourage you, at this junc- for ages 2-5. 10:30-11:15 a.m. & 6:30-7:15 p.m. FREE. clothing, furniture, books, toys, antiques, etc. 9 them wrong in the coming weeks. Launch into the ture in your development, to favor quality over quantity. East Lansing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, East a.m.-5 p.m. FREE. Lansing Liederkranz Club, 5828 interesting new possibilities with all your exuberance SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I expect there'll be Lansing. (517) 351-2420. S. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 882-6330. unfurled. Refuse to allow the natural energy to get some curious goings-on this week. A seemingly unin- "Puss in Boots." Call for showtimes. FREE 12 and Ernesto Todd Mirles. Explores models of hemmed in by theories and concepts. But also be sure spired idea could save you from a dumb decision, under, $4 adults. (Please See Details April 20) resistance both physical and intellectual. 6-8:30 not to mistake rash impatience for intuitive guidance. for example. An obvious secret may be the key to Grand River Connection Networking. With p.m. FREE. CADL Downtown Lansing Library, 401 S. Consider the likelihood that your original vision of defeating a covert enemy. And a messy inconve- appetizers and beverages from Fenner and GRC. Capitol Ave., Lansing. (517) 323-6452. www.cadl.org. the future might need to be tinkered with a bit as you nience might show up just in time to help you do the 6-8 p.m. FREE. Fenner Nature Center, 2020 E. Mount Knee High Naturalist. 1-2 p.m. $5. (Please See translate it into the concrete details. slightly uncool but eminently right thing. Can you deal Hope Ave., Lansing. (517) 483-4224. Details April 18) TAURUS (April 20-May 20): There is a possibility with this much irony, Scorpio? Can you handle such big that a pot of gold sits at the end of the rainbow. The doses of the old flippety-flop and oopsie-loopsie? For Music Music likelihood is small, true, but it's not zero. On the other extra credit, here are two additional odd blessings you Jazz Tuesdays. With Jeff Shoup Quartet, artists Open Jam. Rock night. 8 p.m.-Midnight, FREE. hand, the rainbow is definitely here and available for could capitalize on: a humble teaching from an unlikely from the MSU Jazz Studies Department and the Zeppelins Music Hall, 2010 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. you to enjoy. Of course, you would have to do some expert and a surge of motivation from an embarrassing mid-Michigan jazz community. 10 p.m.-1 a.m. FREE. (517) 580-8722. more work on yourself in order to gather in the fullness excitement. Stober's Bar, 812 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. Jazz Wednesdays. Live entertainment. 7-10 p.m. of that enjoyment. Here's the potential problem: You SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Some of our FREE. ENSO, 16800 Chandler Road, East Lansing. may be under the impression that the rainbow is less pagan forbears imagined they had a duty to assist with valuable than the pot of gold. So let me ask you: What nature's revival every spring by performing fertility rit- Literature and Poetry (517) 333-1656. www.enjoyenso.com. Jazz Wednesdays.Featuring the Jeff Shoup Trio. if the rainbow's the real prize? uals. And wouldn't it be fun if it were even slightly true Writing a Mystery. Richard Baldwin, author of the 7-10 p.m. FREE. Gracies Place, 151 S. Putnam, Wil- GEMINI (May 21-June 20): "It's eternity in a person that you could help the crops germinate and bloom by popular "Louis Searing" and "Margaret McMillan" mys- liamston. (517) 655-1100. that turns the crank handle," said Franz Kafka. At least making sweet love in the fields? At the very least, car- tery series. 6:30 p.m. FREE. Dewitt District Library, Jessica Smucker. Performs "dark pop" songs: that should be the case, I would add. The unfortunate rying out such a ceremony might stimulate your own 13101 Schavey Road, DeWitt. (517) 669-3156. catchy melodies in minor keys. 7-8:30 p.m. FREE. fact of the matter is that a lot of people let other, personal creativity. In accordance with the astrological Tuesday Morning Book Club. Read and discuss Schuler Books & Music, 1982 Grand River Ave., lesser things turn the crank handle — like the compul- omens, I invite you to slip away to a secluded outdoor "Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy. 10:15-11:30 a.m. Okemos. (517) 349-8840. sive yearning for money, power, and love, for example. spot, either by yourself or with a romantic companion. FREE. Delta Township District Library, 5130 Daven- I challenge you to check in with yourself sometime soon On a piece of paper, write down a project you'd like to port Drive, Lansing. (517) 321-4014 ext. 4. Theater and determine what exactly has been turning your make thrive in the coming months. Bury the note in the crank handle. If it ain't eternity, or whatever serves as good earth, then enjoy an act of love right on top of it. "Legally Blonde." 7:30 p.m. $20, $15 students. eternity in your world view, get yourself adjusted. In the (Please See Details April 20) CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Once upon a time, Wednesday, April 25 coming months, it's crucial that you're running on the I fell in love with a brilliant businesswoman named Classes and Seminars cleanest, purest fuel. Loreen. I pursued her with all my wiles, hoping to win Grande Paraders Square Dance Club. 7:30 Literature and Poetry CANCER (June 21-July 22): For a white guy from her amorous affection. After playing hard to get for p.m. $4 members; $5. (Please See Details April 18) Baby Time. 10:30 a.m. FREE. (Please See Details 19th-century England, David Livingstone was unusually two months, she shocked me with a brazen invitation: Meditation. 7-9 p.m. FREE. (Please See Details April 4) egalitarian. As he traveled in Africa, he referred to Would I like to accompany her on a whirlwind vaca- April 18) Lansing Area Science Fiction Association what were then called "witch doctors" as "my profes- tion to Paris? "I think I can swing it," I told her. But Community Yoga. 6:30-8 p.m. FREE. (Please See Meeting. 7 p.m. FREE. (Please See Details April 18) sional colleagues." In the coming weeks, Cancerian, there was a problem: I was flat broke. What to do? Details April 18) Fair Housing Center Book Group. Civil and Hu- I encourage you to be inspired by Livingstone as you I decided to raise the funds by selling off a precious The Purple Carrot Truck. Hear about their ffood man Rights related readings, fiction and non-fiction. expand your notion of who your allies are. For example, heirloom from childhood, my collection of 6,000 vin- mission & enjoy samples. 7 p.m. FREE. CADL Okemos Noon-1 p.m. FREE. Everybody Reads Books and Stuff, consider people to be your colleagues if they simply tage baseball cards. Maybe this story will inspire you Library, 4321 Okemos Road, Okemos. (517) 347-2021. 2019 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing. (877) 979- FAIR. try to influence the world in the same ways you do, even to do something comparable, Capricorn: Sacrifice an Southern Poverty Law Center. Discuss the Jane Taylor. Poet, editor and teacher with a spe- if they work in different jobs or spheres. What might be outmoded attachment or juvenile treasure or youthful SPLC's current priorities. 6-7 p.m. FREE. Pilgrim cial interest in creative collaboration. 8 p.m. FREE. your version of Livingstone's witch doctors? Go outside fantasy so as to empower the future of love. Congregational United Church of Christ, 125 S. Penn- MSU Snyder Hall, MSU Campus, East Lansing. www. of your usual network as you scout around for confed- AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): We all know that sylvania Ave., Lansing. (517) 484-7434. poetry.rcah.msu.edu. erates who might connect you to exotic new perspectives spiders are talented little creatures. Spiders' silk is as Prayer & Meditation Group. Improve experi- Out of this World Book Club. Discuss 'Grave- and resources you never imagined you could use. strong as steel, and their precisely geometric webs ence. 6-7 p.m. FREE. Pilgrim Congregational United minder" by Melissa Marr. 7-8:30 p.m. FREE. East Lan- LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The flag of California fea- are engineering marvels. But even though they have Church of Christ, 125 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing. sing Public Library, 950 Abbot Road, East Lansing. tures the image of a grizzly bear, and the huge carni- admirable qualities I admire, I don't expect to have an (517) 484-7434. www.PilgrimUCC.com. (517) 351-2420. vore is the state's official animal. And yet grizzly bears intimate connection with a spider any time soon. A have been extinct in California since 1922, when the last similar situation is at work in the human realm. I know one was shot and killed. Is there any discrepancy like certain people who are amazing creators and leaders that in your own life, Leo? Do you continue to act as if but don't have the personal integrity or relationship skills SUDOKU SOLUTION CROSSWORD SOLUTION a particular symbol or icon is important to you even that would make them trustworthy enough to seek out as From Pg. 23 From Pg. 18 though it has no practical presence in your life? If so, close allies. Their beauty is best appreciated from afar. this would be a good time to update your attitude. Consider the possibility that the ideas I'm articulating here VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The cartoon character would be good for you to meditate on right now, Aquarius. Felix the Cat made his debut in 1919. He was a movie PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Have you ever had the star in the era of silent films, and eventually appeared wind knocked out of you? It feels weird for a short time, in his own comic strip and TV show. But it wasn't until but leaves no lasting damage. I'm expecting that you will 1953, when he was 34 years old, that he first got his experience a form of that phenomenon sometime soon. Magic Bag of Tricks, which allowed him to do many Metaphorically speaking, the wind will get knocked out things he wasn't able to do before. I bring this up, Virgo, of you. But wait — before you jump to conclusions because I believe you're close to acquiring a magic bag of and curse me out for predicting this, listen to the rest tricks that wasn't on your radar until you had matured to of my message. The wind that will get knocked out of the point where you are now. To ensure that you get that you will be a wind that needed to be knocked out — a bag, though, you will have to ripen even a bit more. wind that was causing confusion in your gut-level intu- LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): I have one child, a daugh- ition. In other words, you'll be lucky to get that wind ter, and raising her conscientiously has been one of the knocked out of you. You'll feel much better afterwards, great privileges and joys of my life. Bonus: She has turned and you will see things more clearly.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s EXPANDED WEEKLY AUDIO HOROSCOPES and DAILY TEXT MESSAGE HOROSCOPES. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700. 26 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

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Vote By Nokomis Courtesy Photo April 21 “I always wanted to own my own restaurant,” says Taiwanese-born Dave Chou. He got for new Learning Center his wish: Chopstix Fine Asian Food recently opened in East Lansing. Board 5153 Marsh Road Members Saturday, Bring a April 21, 2012 Dish to Pass! East Lansing’s new spots Noon - 3:00 (maybe you’ll win Chopstix serves Asian cuisine, while Smoothie Café best recipe!) gives you Hawaiian Breezes and Mocha Madness By JOE TOROK cooked pork ($9.25). The back of the Dave Chou, owner of the new Chopstix menu also features an authentic Chinese & SHINE Fine Asian Food restaurant in East section, which most non-native speakers RISE Lansing, came to the United States with of Mandarin will need a translator to read. You are invited to a FREE a marine engineering degree. He found a “It’s just a passion,” Chou says, referring Pancake Breakfast! career in the culinary arts. to his time in the kitchen preparing food BRING Chou joined his immigrant family in for others. “I like to talk to people, too, and A Friday, April 20th the food service business and learned on get feedback to make it better.” FRIEND 8 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. the job at restaurants and as a banquet with Pianist Diana Pinckney chef before taking a leap on his own. More than smoothies Please RSVP “I always wanted to own my own res- A few blocks east of Chopstix is a little (517) 337-0066 taurant,” Chou says. “I decided to go for it.” slice of tropical paradise. On Monday, The new venture is based on Chou’s Tropical Smoothie Café opened for busi- Taiwanese heritage, a heritage that ness. It’s the first Tropical Smoothie fran- includes southern chise in the area; there are nearly two 2530 Mar tt Rd, East Lansing, MI Ca pital Chinese, Korean dozen in the state and over 200 across the Senior Living www.eastlansingseniorliving.com Community Chopstix Fine and Japanese culi- country. Asian Food nary influences, Owner Ruth Buko, an attorney by trade, 1001 E. Grand River Chou says. All of comes from a family of business owners. Ave., East Lansing those flavors find a She decided the time was right to run her 11 a.m.-10 p.m. home on his menu, own show. Monday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and but as any conscien- “It’s nice to get a break” from the legal Saturday; 11 a.m.-9:30 tious restaurateur scene, Buco says. Besides that, Buco was p.m. Sunday will tell you, flavors (517) 336-6888 goaded into this particular concept by www.chopstix-msu.com are only as good as progeny. (coming soon) the ingredients. “My daughter loves these smoothies,” TO, $$ “I choose fresh, Buco says. “Every time we would pass one high-quality ingre- she would beg me to stop.” dients,” Chou says. Smoothies, of course, are at the heart of “I stay away from canned food.” the menu. The very first Tropical Smoothie, Chou is especially proud of Chopstix’s founded in Florida in 1993, sold only fruity beef noodle soup. The menu offers a wide drinks. When the company began fran- range of options, from spicy black pepper chising in the late 1990s, wraps, flatbread chicken ($8.95) and tofu with ginger and sandwiches, salads and more were added 211 M.A.C. Avenue East Lansing garlic sauce ($7.95) to the basil shrimp www.mackerelsky.com join us on facebook ($10.95) with a house sauce and twice- See Smoothies, Page 27 City Pulse • April 18, 2012 www.lansingcitypulse.com 27

like the Mocha Madness or the Chocolate Smoothies Chiller ($4.99). There’s even a smoothie menu for energy addicts: the Muscle from page 26 Blaster ($4.99) combines strawberries, banana and whey or soy protein. to the menu. Tropical Smoothie also offers an all- Toasted sandwiches ($6.99) include day breakfast menu and deals such as unique combinations such as the wasabi adding a smoothie to any food item for Caeser roast beef on ciabatta bread. The $3 or to a half sandwich or half salad for Caribbean Luau is one of the toasted flat- ($7.29). bread ($3.99) options. It’s dressed with The tropical concept is rooted in the chicken, mozza- menu, but the atmosphere brings it to rella, pineapple, life. Vibrant greens and oranges fill the Tropical Smoothie romaine lettuce dining space, a wicker-bladed fan adorns Café and a touch of the ceiling, and bamboo and palm tree 1201 E. Grand River Ave., Jamaica with a décor lines the walls. East Lansing jerk sauce. Salads “When you come in, we want you to 7 a.m.-11 p.m. daily (517) 708-8565 ($6.39) and wraps feel like you’ve been on a 10-minute vaca- www.tropicalsmoothie.com ($6.99) round out tion,” says Buco. TO, D, P, OM, $ the food end of the menu. Au revoir to Augie’s Whether you’re Augie’s Broasted Chicken has closed. looking for something on the lighter side or Last August, owners of the poultry house, you’re treating yourself to something more noted for a giant rotating chicken mar- indulgent, the smoothie menu should have quee, reinvented the spot that long stood it. The Hawaiian Breeze ($4.59) is the as an Arby’s at the corner of Larch and April Special: India slimmest at 210 calories with sugar substi- Cedar streets. While the homemade sides The entree begins with a refreshing tute. Mango, kiwi, pineapple, peaches and will be missed, fans of Broaster-style berries fill the low-fat smoothies. meals can find the pressure-fried chick- Mango Lassi and a Samosa. Then Those with dessert on the mind might en at Leo’s Outpost in Lansing and Leo’s enjoy the Fenugreek Chicken - head for the smoothies with chocolate Spirit’s and Grub in Okemos. served over fresh spinach alongside steamed Basmati Rice, some lightly curried Green Peas, and a Chick Pea & Herb Salad in lime dressing 349-1701 NEW ORGANIC WINE LIST ! Food Finder listings are rotated each week based on space. If you have an update Including sustainably-produced for the listings, please e-mail [email protected]. Michigan wines. Saturday; closed RES (eight or more), is the motto at this one- Casual Dining Sunday. (517) 703-9616. OM, WiFi, $$ time railroad station with Google Tuba Museum for our menu OM, TO, D (for orders impressive decor and and get our monthly email special ALTU’S — Traditional more than $20), P, $$. BRUNCH HOUSE — less-impressive food. Ethiopian food served Walking out of a diner, A massive menu offers 202 beers - 35 wines by the glass with specials, including BEST STEAK HOUSE you don’t often find your- breadth but not much the Friday special of — Low-cost dining for self thinking, “That was depth. Full review online 40 countries of origin - 50 tubas spicy shredded beef with meat lovers, serving one fantastic Lebanese at tinyurl.com/66g876o jalapenos and ginger steaks and sandwiches, salad.” You might think 637 E. Michigan Ave., 2138 Hamilton at Okemos Road in downtown Okemos served with Ethiopian including a modified that, however, after Lansing. 11 a.m.-10 p.m. bread, yellow cabbage Philly cheesesteak. eating at The Brunch Monday-Thursday; 11 and a house salad. 3020 E. Kalamazoo House, since owner Leo a.m.-11 p.m. Friday & 1312 Michigan Ave., St., Lansing. 11 a.m.-9 Farhat has peppered Saturday; 10 a.m.-10 East Lansing. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday; his traditional breakfast p.m. Sunday. (517) 372- p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. house menu with dishes 7120. www.claras.com, closed Sunday & (517) 337-2210. TO, rooted in his Lebanese OM, TO, FB, WiFi, P, Monday. (517) 333-6295. RES, OM $$. heritage. Try “Leo’s RES $$-$$$ www.EatAtAltus.com, house special,” which OM, TO, P $ BLUE GILL GRILL — begins with seasoned COLONIAL BAR & This eclectic restaurant beef, onions and pine GRILL — This 45-year- BENSON’S features a variety of nuts sauteed in a frying old Lansing institution VINAIGRETTES — fresh fish, including grou- pan, then combined with features an upgraded Benson’s makes all of its per, salmon, walleye, cod a couple of eggs. 1040 menu, including deluxe “Michigan Farmhouse” and bluegill made with a S. Pennsylvania Ave., burgers, grilled pizzas cuisine from scratch unique blend of spices Lansing. 7 a.m.-3 p.m. and daily specials. 3425 and rotates the menu in a secret family recipe. Monday- Friday, and 8 S. Martin Luther King daily and seasonally. For 1591 Lake Lansing a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Blvd., Lansing. 9 a.m.-2 lighter appetites, try one Road, Haslett. 11 a.m.-2 Sunday (517) 484-1567 a.m. Monday-Friday, 10 of the restaurant’s many a.m. Monday-Saturday; TO, WiFi, $ a.m.-2 a.m. Saturday, City Pulse’s James Sanford sides and salads. 940 12 p.m.-2 a.m. Sunday. noon-2 a.m. Sunday. talks entertainment news Elmwood St., Lansing. (517) 339-4900. www. CLARA’S LANSING (517) 882-6132. TO, FB, every Friday around 7:50 am 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday- bluegillgrill.com. FB, TO, STATION — Fun dining $-$$ And hear Berl Schwartz of City Pulse call Tim an Ignorant Slut — or worse! Every Wednesday at 8:30! 28 www.lansingcitypulse.com City Pulse • April 18, 2012

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