By the time I was 20 years old, I felt I already paid my dues. I spent the summer after high school and the summer after my freshman year working at a suburban Detroit newspaper, cranking out stories about various eccentricities, oddities, lawsuits and, of course, bloodshed.
From smooth blues to big band swing, the School of Music’s Jazz Spectacular will feature all types of music tonight, as interpreted by big-name jazz performers. The concert begins at 8 p.m.
School: eight months. Work: four months.Then do it again.It’s the cycle many students begin in high school and continue through college: Study hard and then work hard.
“Josie and the Pussycats” is a fine example of what happens when teen movies collide. It stars a carousel of alumni from “She’s All That,” “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Road Trip,” who decided to make amends for the damage they’ve done. And it ushers in an era of post-teen movies. It all starts with Seth Green and Donald Adeosun Faison from “Can’t Hardly Wait,” who play members of the trendy boy band Du Jour.
he Easter Bunny is a sneaky but predictable creature. Every year, on the first Sunday after the spring Equinox, it sneaks into homes on silent paws and hides baskets of eggs, candy and gifts for children to find in the morning. The bunny, relieved to get rid of the heavy baskets, then disappears for another year, leaving behind neither hide nor hare. Though there is no shortage of guesses, no one can even say for sure what color, size, age or sex the Easter Bunny is. And just how it carries those baskets stuffed with goodies is as intriguing as how a rabbit became associated with a Christian holiday that gives no value to the four-legged creatures. Because the rabbit holds no religious significance for Christians, Andrea Bendert, a medical technology freshman, said she has ambivalent feelings toward the animal. “As a Christian, I feel that it does detract from the overall view of what Easter is supposed to be,” she said.
Darren Middleton, guitarist and vocalist of Australian rockers Powderfinger, can’t complain about how his band’s latest album and United States debut is doing.“You never really see it coming,” he said.
Fans of the popular show “Survivor,” along with vocal music enthusiasts, will be entertained when the campus a cappella group Capital Green performs today.The show, titled “Survivor: The A Cappella Outbreak,” begins at 7:30 p.m.
An office space in the Cedar Park Shopping Center may seem an unlikely place to be swelling with young enthusiasm for the theatrical world. But most nights of the week, All-of-us Express Children’s Theatre’s strip mall spot at 2495 N.
When Dan Falconer decided to get involved in the music business, he knew in the back of his mind that he wanted to start a record label.“I started with the store so I could start carrying the music I like and good music in the local scene,” said the owner of Lower Level Records, 611 E.
When Ian Sugiers was offered the opportunity to play in a local band a while back, he wanted to make sure it was something different. “A lot of groups do the same old polished punk think and I wanted something raw,” the history junior said. “After the first practice, I knew we were going to be something great.” The Black Lungs will perform its gritty brand of classic Michigan rock ‘n’ roll tonight at Mac’s Bar, 2700 E Michigan Ave in Lansing. Sugiers, the drummer in the outfit, said it tries to keep away from a groove-metal drive, but still get people dancing and having a good time. “We want to establish Lansing’s rock and roll scene and get a good rock and roll vibe going,” he said.
Frank Black and the Catholics Dog In the Sand What Are Records? Frank Black is the man - there’s no doubt about that. And on his latest album with the Catholics, he once again proves he’s a living legend of the craft. From his glamorous days with The Pixies, his music hints at his past, with strangely-placed guitar noise and his signature wailing voice. The album has a bit of a western-country-ish feel to it as a slide guitar and honky-tonk piano run alongside the slippery album, which is somewhat hard to recognize.
Say what you want, but the disenfranchised are great subjects for comedy. The Farrelly brothers discovered long ago that you can milk laughs in any situation from the overweight and the elderly, among others. So shame on you, David Spade, for turning what could have been groundbreaking material, using a classic bit of American comedy, into an far-from-funny mess.
Creeper Lagoon Take Back The Universe and Give Me Yesterday DreamWorks Records Creeper Lagoon is nothing more than a modern-day rock band with a clever ability to intrigue the listener simply by being.
Abby Travis has played with quite a variety of artists during the years. Some include Brit-rockers Elastica, psychedelic sex-pop rocker Beck and industrial metal kings K.M.F.D.M. Then she went solo. She will be performing material off both her debut and her most recent solo album, “Cutthroat Standards and Black Pop,” tonight at Mac’s Bar, 2700 E.
LOS ANGELES - America is just too violent for Johnny Depp - that’s why he lives in France with his girlfriend, actress Vanessa Paradis. The 37-year-old actor said he’s especially shocked when he returns to the United States now that he and Paradis have a daughter, Lily-Rose Melody Depp. “I mean, little kids going into school and shooting up their pals and killing people - I have a little girl who’s almost 2 years old, I don’t want her to grow up with that kind of thing in her brain,” Depp told reporters. Depp stars as real-life drug trafficker George Jung in the movie “Blow,” which opened Friday.
LANSING - For the first time, Keepin’ It Real, a student talent show in its second year, was coupled with the ninth annual Taste of Blackness, which showcases many different aspects of black culture Saturday at the Lansing Center.
“The Old Settler” opened in Lansing at the BoarsHead Professional Theater last week, granting audiences a peek into the apartment and lives of two sisters and their boarder. The play, written by John Henry Redwood, is a slice-of-life tale about Elizabeth Borny and Quilly McGrath, southern-bred sisters living in a three- bedroom Harlem tenement full of old photographs and furnishings, set in late spring 1943. Elizabeth (Charlotte Nelson) is the “old settler,” a woman who is unmarried, older than 40 and unlikely to change that situation. Her sister Quilly (Laura Collins) is a previously married, tell-it-like-it-is type of gal who bickers with her sister and shoots off one-liners like a champ.
The very best of actors are able to give their characters memorable personalities that leave lasting imprints, and ensure we’ll be seeing the same character for years. To that esteemed list of David Schwimmer, Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck, we can now add Morgan Freeman. Freeman, a graduate of the Yoda School of Wise Mentors, takes on the earnest father figure part again for “Along Came a Spider” - a “Silk Stalkings”-style detective drama.
Anyone with acting chops can try out their stuff Saturday, when local filmmakers will hold an open casting call. “China,” a made-for-television movie to be shot in May/June in the Lansing area, seeks men and women ages 15 to 60 for three principal roles and a host of extras. The cast will feature all ethnicities, but especially black, white, Asian and Latino.
FRIDAY: The Lansing Civic Players bring “Crazy for You” to the stage at 8 p.m.