Kristi Kates | Author
3 Family Friendly Festivals Up North
July 29, 2017
Round ’em up and move ’em out! We’re more than halfway through summer, so you’d best saddle up and get to as many festivals as you can before summer’s over. Here’s a quick guide to a trio of fests coming up over the next couple of weeks.
July 29, 2017 Fall Out Boy has returned with a brand new track, “Champion,” that’s half arena rocker, half motivational chant with its refrain, “I can do anything.” The tune is baffling fans to some degree as it’s very different stylistically t...
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July 29, 2017 Detroit-style pizza and Finnish pasties. In the classic words of Sesame Street, “One of these things is not like the other.” But Lake Leelanau’s RedTop Pasteria most definitely makes this Motor City-Finn merge work. Owners Jill DeLeary and her husband, K...
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July 22, 2017 The individuals enter quietly, one by one, into the dark underground lair, each carrying charts and pens, provisions, and communication devices. They have a solid week stretching before them, with many challenges ahead, but their mission is clear. July 22, 2017 If you’re intrigued by innovative inventions and cool, crafty creators, then the 2017 Detroit Maker Faire — essentially a science fair on some major steroids — is a downstate destination you should put on your summer to-do list. Taking place inside and on the gro...
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July 22, 2017 Big-city executives aim at a windowed corner office and a company car, chefs aspire to open their own restaurants, and doctors dream of headlining their own medical practice, but most comedic actors … ? They typically view Saturday Night Live as a career pinnacle. Texas na...
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July 22, 2017 Some are obvious, some less so. Some are easy to access — some take a little adventuring. But what they all have in common is that they’ve got a direct line to Hollywood, having served as settings for various films shot in our Great Lakes state. Here’s how you can visit ...
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July 22, 2017 Founded in 2016 by Traverse City’s Courtney Lorenz, a former culinary student at Northwestern Michigan College, Cultured Ferments is bringing a homebrew-inspired version of Kombucha — a slightly fizzy, fermented sweet tea — to the masses. July 22, 2017 Michigan Rattlers’ Graham Young and Adam Reed — a mustache-sporting duo from Petoskey — offer up honest Midwestern faces seasoned with a little California beach time. But it’s their unusual band configuration — guitar and standup bass, with vocals on top &mda...
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July 22, 2017 Colombian singer turned international superstar turned The Voice coach Shakira is back with a brand new album, El Dorado, her first since 2014. The album has already spawned its first single, “Nada,” plus a duet with reggaeton singer ...
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July 22, 2017 Michael Giacchino – Spider-Man: Homecoming Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Sony July 15, 2017 Jay Z — excuse us; make that JAY-Z — is now styling his name in all capital letters, according to the press release announcing his new album, 4:44. For those following along, this is a change from Jay’s — er, JAY’S — former spe...
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July 15, 2017 Ever feel like you were born in the wrong era? The Mackinaw Area Historical Society and the Village of Mackinaw City are partnering to take you back in time for a single weekend in August. A throwback to the region’s golden age, the Mackinaw Area Historical Festival aims to recreate...
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July 15, 2017 Chef Wendy Wagner, owner of Mustang Wendy’s in Harbor Springs, recently got the idea of introducing sushi to her restaurant’s menu but had a tough time figuring out how to properly execute the dish without having an experienced sushi chef on her team. July 15, 2017 45.7026° N, 82.0372° W: Those are the GPS coordinates for the world’s largest freshwater island, Manitoulin — which just happens to be northern Michigan’s Canadaian neighbor. About five hours drive from Mackinaw City (through Sault Ste. Marie and east to...
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July 15, 2017 If you love movies, and we mean really love movies, chances are you’ve owned a copy of "Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide" at some point. The thick compendiums of movie reviews and synopses by Maltin, one of the best-known American film critics and historians, have be...
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July 15, 2017 Every good film has a great soundtrack. And the Traverse City Film Festival, a day-to-night weeklong play of more than 100 movies, offers up a live soundtrack before each screening that’s nothing short of stupendous. Folk, funk, fusion, rock, pop, country, and classical — hear...
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July 15, 2017 Lorde – Melodrama – Republic Records July 11, 2017 James McNeice, Ryan Whyte Maloney, Laith Al-Saadi (technically from Detroit, but an adopted Traverse City favorite), and Joshua Davis. What is it about northern Michigan that’s sending out a steady stream of singers good enough to make it onto the NBC singing competition show Th...
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July 8, 2017 Various Artists – 2017 Tony Award Season – Broadway Records
Fall Out Boy Champions Its Own New Album
Lake Leelanau's RedTop Pasteria Mixes and Matches Savory Favorites
The Secret Hideaway of the Traverse City Film Festival
Nope, this isn’t the l...
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Downstate Destination: Detroit Maker Faire
Chatting with Comedian-turned-filmmaker Noël Wells
A Michigan Film Tour
Bottoms Up: Cultured Ferments' Kombucha Tea
...
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Michigan Rattlers Shake Up the West
Estupendo! Shakira Returns
Michael Giacchino – Spider-Man: Homecoming Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Sony
Starting with the Spider-man theme from the original TV series was definitely a good choice, with Giacchino amping up the vintage melody with a more modern sound...
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JAY-Z, Now With More Capitals
Mackinaw Area Historical Festival Makes Time Travel Possible
Tastemaker: Mustang Wendy’s Crispy Chicken Sushi Bowl
&...
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Summer Destinations: Magnificent Manitoulin
Leonard Maltin: The Man Who Knows Movies
Must-Hear Music of the 2017 Traverse City Film Festival
Lorde – Melodrama – Republic Records
Four years after Lorde’s first smash hit album arrives her second, a carefully constructed affair that continues to showcase her quirky (and quite good) vocal performances as well as her emotional songw...
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Lauren Duski’s journey to The Voice
Various Artists – 2017 Tony Award Season – Broadway Records
If you can’t get to Broadway, this album — at least for your ears — is the next best thing. Broadway Records has entered into an official collaboration with the Tony Awards, so...
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