Kristi Kates | Author

’80s Redux! Get Retro in St. Ignace

July 28, 2018

 

You might be hard-pressed to find a person who waxes nostalgic about ’80s hair and makeup. But press play on an album of ’80s hits at a wedding, and stand back and watch a group of otherwise upstanding 40- and 50-somethings get down like they’re reliving the… Read More >>

Pop and Underworld Team Up for Dub Tracks

July 28, 2018

Punk Detroiter Iggy Pop has teamed up with futuristic electronic/dub outfit Underworld for a collaborative single called “Get Your Shirt,” which can be found on their equally collaborative EP, Teatime Dub Encounters. The massive seven-m… Read More >>

Cinema Soundtrack: Live Music at the TCFF!

July 28, 2018

The live music before each film screening at the Traverse City Film Fest is a lot like the soundtrack to a film: It sets the scene, defines the mood, and absolutely elevates the audience experience.

That’s why performers are hand-selected to match the films, explains TCFF Musi… Read More >>

Bay Burrito Co.

July 21, 2018

What’s missing in Suttons Bay?
To Seth and Jenn Friedman, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan natives who keep a second home in the petite Leelanau Peninsula village, the answer was Mexican street food. So they took matters — and tacos, and burritos, and quesadillas — into th… Read More >>

Gorillaz Tour to Hit Toronto and Chicago

July 21, 2018

Gorillaz’ much-anticipated brand new album, The Now Now, just hit stores a couple of weeks ago, and the band is already racking up the tickets sales from fans clamoring to hear tracks both old and new. Led by frontman Damon Albarn (also singe… Read More >>

Djawadi - Westworld: Season 2 Music From the HBO Series – WaterTower

July 21, 2018

Season two of Westworld has arrived, and along with it Djawadi’s approach of combining original compositions with player-piano-festooned-saloon covers of alternative, hip-hop, and pop tracks. The drawling piano chords serve as a link between the futuristic world and the vintage space … Read More >>

McCartney Stops at Egypt Station

July 14, 2018

The Beatle is back — Paul McCartney is returning with a brand new studio album, Egypt Station. He said its concept is illustrated through the album itself, which starts on one song (station) and then stops at each subsequent song to follow. T… Read More >>

Mackinac Cottage Tours

July 14, 2018

Moira Croghan knows Mackinac Island right down to its roots. Her family has been there since the 1800s. Although she was raised in Washington, D.C. and later made her home in Richmond, Virginia, she’s spent most every summer of her life on Mackinac.

Once she retired, she made … Read More >>

The Orb – No Sounds Are Out of Bounds – Cooking Vinyl

July 14, 2018

The English ambient/EDM pair are back for album No. 15, and for this one seem to have decided to throw a collaborative party, considering that Roger Eno, Andy Cain, Youth, Jah Wobble, Roney FM, Guy Pratt, Gaudi, Brother Culture, and more (whew!) show up to throw vocals into the ring. Emma G… Read More >>

Two Guys and their Food Trucks

July 14, 2018

Entrepreneurs Ben Crow and Syker Nelles have been friends since junior high school, when a chance accident turned the pair of classmates into lifelong pals.
        
“Ben broke his leg at football practice, and I was the one who vol… Read More >>

Sail the Sweetwater Seas

July 7, 2018

Avast, ye landlubber! Want to get out on northern Michigan’s sweetwater seas, but don’t know a sheet from a sail or an anchor from aft? No problem — hop on board one of these sailboats plying the lakes, and choose between riding in style as a guest, or learning the ropes (… Read More >>

Alpenfest Music Amps up the Alpenstrasse!

July 7, 2018

Gaylord’s Alpenfest is rich in tradition — and it’s also poppin’ with music — and not just the kind made by an alphorn. Each year, the summer festival offers up a diverse slate of live performers, with 2018’s roster spanning everything from the crooners a… Read More >>

FourScore

July 7, 2018

The Record Company – All of This Life - Concord
What do you do after releasing a Grammy-nominated debut album? You go seek out a top-notch mixer and try to top your last collection of tunes, of course — and that’s exactly what TRC did on this… Read More >>

Bon Iver, National, Staples, Headlining Mo Pop

July 7, 2018

The Mo Pop Music Festival is heading back to Detroit, specifically to West Riverfront Park for this year’s outing (July 28–29), where they’ll be cranking out the jams right across the river from Canada. In a festival setting full of a wide variety of food … Read More >>

Watch the Waters

July 7, 2018

Roger LeLievre was practically born a boat nerd.
        
The editor and publisher of the Know Your Ships field guide to spotting freighters on the Great Lakes got a very early start in the hobby that would become his authorship.
&nb… Read More >>

Beastie Boys Get Bookish

June 30, 2018

The Beastie Boys are the subject of a new print memoir that will finally hit stores this fall, after much anticipation from their fans and much effort from Mike D and Ad Rock, who have been working on the book since 2013. The tome tells rea… Read More >>

Puppet Master Darci Lynne Farmer

June 30, 2018

A singing female rabbit, a mouse from Motown (who has a crush on Mel B., aka Scary Spice, from ’90s girl group the Spice Girls), a granny carrying a torch for Simon Cowell, and a yodeling cowgirl.
        
These are just a few of th… Read More >>

On Your Mark, Get Set, DUCK!

June 30, 2018

The athletes are poised for action at the starting line, their coaches behind them for one last pep talk, their competition lane before them.
        
The air vibrates with the sound of the starting horn, and all webbed feet and wings sudd… Read More >>

FourScore

June 30, 2018

 

Dawes – Passwords – HUB Records
On its sixth album, Dawes stretch out a bit, pulling song topics from internal matters to those about relationships and communities, which makes the overall record more widely appealing than previous … Read More >>

The Best Lil’ Festival You Never Heard Of

June 30, 2018

Looking for a smaller, quieter way to celebrate your Fourth in the North?
        
Try on the Manistee National Forest Festival for size. A truly down-home tradition that started eight decades ago as a homecoming event for Manistee natives… Read More >>