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TRAVERSE CITY — It’s not too late to see the summer night sky over a Western landscape nor too early to spot a snowy owl.

This time of year, many moons ago, I was in the middle of my first semester at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, and taking a drawing class.

Matthew Mansfield can be heard across northern Michigan on any given day. Not only is he a DJ for Z93 radio Monday through Saturday, but he also performs live at several venues throughout the region. To top it off, he has two young boys at home.

Laurel Premo, “The Iron Trios”

THOMPSONVILLE — As a full-time musician, Grand Rapids’ Patty PerShayla wears many hats.

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Sturgill Simpson and his band recorded most of the new album “Sound & Fury” at McGuire’s Motor Inn in Waterford, just outside of Pontiac. I have no idea why he did that, or what a listener should expect from a record made at a motel in metro Detroit with an average Yelp rating of one sta…

TRAVERSE CITY — It’s difficult to not care about water when you live in Michigan.

If you are over 45, there’s a good chance the phrase, “The Golden Girls,” quickly generates a memory of one of the women from the 1980s hit show — “The Golden Girls.”

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It’s another example of a West Michigan musical powerhouse hitting the big time.

For too many reasons to list, I have been comforted recently by speculative science fiction that imagines the total annihilation of humanity.

Feel like stretching yourself? Are you a fiction gal or a nonfiction guy? Are you drawn to fast-paced thrillers or literary fiction?

SUTTONS BAY — Northport resident Bill Collins says “Framing John DeLorean” is an honest look at what took place during the years the futuristic DeLorean DMC-12 was taking shape.

Even though I grew up to be an omnivorous music fan, coming around to country took longer than it should have, for reasons that had a lot more to do with emotional baggage than with the music itself.

TRAVERSE CITY — Lake Ann resident David St. Aubin serves as chairman of the recently-formed Veterans Inspiring Veterans, an organization that aims to assist area veterans through projects.

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LAKE CITY — Attracting one of the largest crowds at the Hill Stage in the 19-year history of the music festival, Traverse City-area singer-songwriter May Erlewine delivered what was undeniably the most inspiring performance on opening night of last weekend’s Earthwork Harvest Gathering.

NORTHPORT — It’s almost time to escape the cage and find the way to the streets — the streets of Northport, that is.

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Wow — for the last month, I have been overwhelmed with work. Getting ready for the season opener at the Old Town Playhouse has occupied me day and night. More than usual. Much more.

Fast-rising Michigan stars The War and Treaty won Emerging Act of the Year honors at this month’s Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville, joining John Prine, Brandi Carlile and I’m With Her as 2019’s big winners.

‘American Factory,” a new documentary available on Netflix, explores a remarkable chapter in recent history. In 2016, the Chinese auto-glass company Fuyao reopened a General Motors plant in suburban Dayton that had closed in 2008 and taken thousands of middle-class jobs with it. Fuyao hired …

INTERLOCHEN — Marc Lacuesta has a dream job: training student artists for their dream jobs.

TRAVERSE CITY — T. Michael Jackson called the State Theatre again and again, trying to find out when tickets for the Met Opera: Live in HD series would go on sale.

Not long ago I wrote a column on music conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein as scholars and critics celebrated his centennial. Bernstein was the rebel of classical music, his defiance directed at the European titans of the orchestra and concert hall with no apology for his American roots…

Earthwork Harvest Gathering means many things to many Michigan musicians, but there’s little doubt that the music festival held every year in September outside Lake City serves as a season-ending celebration filled with camaraderie and collaboration.

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TRAVERSE CITY — Sixty seasons in, the Old Town Playhouse continues to move forward in earnest.

GLEN ARBOR — It’s busywork — mostly women’s. It’s a hobby. It’s not “art.”

Multi-level marketing companies, or MLMs, emerged in the second half of the 20th Century as a terrible solution to a real problem, which is that the American Dream, the idea that any person who works hard and follows the rules can succeed in our economy, is a miserable sham.

‘It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.”

Northern Michigan musician Mark Stoltz may have said it best when it comes to playing the popular Dance Stage at Wheatland Music Festival, considered the granddaddy of Michigan music festivals.

My high school friend Jeremy had, for no practical earthly reason, hooked his bedroom stereo up to a subwoofer that allowed him to play music at a ridiculous, foundation-rattling volume. In a gesture reminiscent of the opening scene in “Back to the Future,” he turned a series of dials as far…

New releases