Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

  We have certainly seen our share of flurry lately surrounding the attempt at building a data center next to I-96 in Lowell Township. Meeting halls were flooded with folks, many questions went unanswered or dodged. As an aside, kudos to our community for keeping things rather civil in this day of copious hollering and threats. Well done. I am here to answer the elephant in the room question – Why the huge uptick in demand for data centers all over Michigan and other parts of the country? In case you skipped the title – I am here to tell you that I am the reason for the demand for MORE data centers. Yup – my fault. For those who do not know me, I have tried to live a life with action and concern toward the environment. My mother taught me to avoid waste and to recycle anything that could be recycled. I have ridden a fully electric motorcycle for eight years. My home and business pay Lowell Light and Power a wee bit extra so that our electricity comes from renewable resources. I w...

  Originally published in Lowell's First Look Cindy wowed the crowd with her Sax-A-Kzoo There is (almost) nothing as fun as a Sax-a-kazoo solo for simplicity and musical fun. No one can pull off a Sax-a-kazoo solo like Cindy Knopf. At the other end of the musical spectrum how about the unbeatable sound and energy of a blistering guitar solo by Ryder Jones or the public debut of a new piano piece by Roger MacNaughton. What do these musical events have in common? The full house crowd at Sound Check got to hear all of these musical treats and a whole lot more last Friday at the Dave Jones Scholarship Fundraiser. Unlike most Sound Check events, tickets for this evening of musical fun were not available for purchase before the event, so organizers had no indication of a potential audience. People of all ages filled the room and were rewarded with an evening of Lowell based musical talent who gathered to honor one of their own, Dave Jones. As many of you know, Dave passed away last Oct...

Originally published in Lowell's First Look.   Ryne Clarke Releases a CD, “Cheers” at Sound Check. Disclaimer #1: Yours truly has been a fan of Ryne Clarke and all of his musical permutations for many years. Lowell faculty member Lindsay Bredin gave me a copy of one of the CDs he recorded with his first band, The Preservers to prime the pump. My musical mind was blown when I first heard them perform on the Riverwalk – three juniors (Clarke-vocals and guitar, Jeremy Kargl-lead guitar, Corinna Wenger-bass) with a freshman (Patrick Kargl) on the drums. Just when I was considering hanging up my jewelry hat and becoming a full time manager of the band to take the world by storm, college broke them up. Ryne Clarke onstage with Jeremy Kargl, bass; Clarke; Cole Smith, drums; Kristine Clarke, Flute; Joe Schimmelmann, keyboards. The Preservers are no longer an item, but Clarke has not slowed down a bit in his pursuit of indie rock star status (inside joke referencing one of his songs). Th...

 In the couple days leading up to a great night of music and stories, Michigan warmed us up and cooled us off with the old Spring in Michigan Sucker Punch. Walking around in a t-shirt one day and digging out your sweaters the next. That being said, it was a Hot Time in Sound Check Saturday night. Once upon a time, Josh Rose was kicked out of the Upper Peninsula for putting too much ketchup on his pasty. That worked out well for Lowell and West Michigan. When he takes a break from making music, you can find Josh teaching chemistry to Lowell school kids. Anyhow, Josh loves to make music and hang out with songwriters and he had the brilliant idea to bring some of his friends to Sound Check for an evening of story swapping and music making. Let me chase a Sound Check rabbit here a bit - if you have never been there, you need to go. Sound Check is a purpose built room just made for musicians and audiences. It seats about 100 people and there is not a bad seat in the house. (Me, I grab a...

Do you enjoy live, local music? Have I got a recommendation for you. I have attended about a half dozen concerts from local and regional bands at Sound Check in Lowell - in fact, I have been the MC for a couple of them as well. What a great little venue.  Listening to music in a bar setting is great, but sometimes it is really nice to hear a solo artist or band without all the back ground noises in a bar. Sometimes it is wonderful to be able to clearly hear each and every note or drum beat. Sound Check was built with a purpose to give audiences and bands at great place to meet. Sound Check did it right - the sound system is not too LOUD or two quiet. Nope, it is just right. In addition to great sound, there is not a bad seat in the house and the chairs are comfortable enough to get you through the night. Sound Check is located in a purpose built room at 621 East Main Street in Lowell. You can check out the venue with a schedule of artists performing there if you click this link: So...

This is a rendering of one of the units facing Main Street. It will be raised to allow it to be built in the Flood Plain.  Flat River Outreach Ministries (FROM) is a a steady feature in my Brag About Lowell file. Over 20 years ago the now retired local pastor, Roger LaWarre, had a heck of an idea. His vision was for the local churches to band together and created an organization to help local people - with the co-operation of almost every church in the area. BOOM - Flat River Outreach Ministries was born. FROM tackles real world challenges faced by people every day - food insecurities, housing, transportation, and others - including annual help with tax returns. Once upon a time, I found myself in a financial mess and found help from some agencies that were not the government. I had recently moved to the Lansing area, was working two part time jobs and ends were not meeting. I got help from one organization that filled my fuel oil tank and relied on help from a food bank for a coup...

Originally published in the Lowell Ledger:  Thursday May 23 rd was a banner day for Rhonda and David Delnick. The long time Lowell residents have been married to each other for forty years and they decided to have some fun and retire from their respective vocations on the same day. (FWIW, the solar system tossed in a little bonus with a full moon that day as well.) The Delnicks at the start of it all. Rhonda is known as “Miss Rhonda” to the hundreds of preschoolers she has prepped for their education over the years. Her career started with the Sparta Head Start preschool and then in 1999 she was hired to help Kathy Cole grow what was called Tots on Track for the Lowell Area Schools. That morphed into a preschool program for four year old at Curiosity Corner (CCPS) where she began with her first class of 12 students. She stayed at Curiosity Corner, managing classes with 48 students every year, until 2016 when she started a preschool of her own: Farmtime Preschool. “ For 10 years ...

In Support of Increasing Water and Sewer Rates There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding the looming increases in our water and sewer rates. As someone who lives in Lowell and owns a business on Main Street and thereby has three water and sewer bills every month, I can understand why people bristle at the thought of paying more for these services. As someone who just finished five years on the City Council, I can understand the need to raise the rates in order to help fund some very long overdue renovation to our infrastructure.   Julie and I made it through the total renovation on Monroe Street last year. The street was completely dug up between Main Street and the cemetery so that water and sewer pipes could be replaced in addition to repaving the road. It is important to remember that the reason Monroe was done before Washington had to do with a massive amount of rainwater/groundwater coming into the system via cracked and broken pipes which resulted in our water trea...

  It should come as no surprise to anyone who watched and listened to Anna Doyle sing and act during her four years at LHS to learn that she is continuing her education in the Big Apple. Anna is the daughter of Stephen and Michelle Doyle and she graduated in 2022. What might be a surprise for those who enjoyed her singing and acting in Freaky Friday, Sister Act, and finally as Dorothy in Mary Poppins is that Anna is a student at the Fashion Institute of America (FIT). She is spending her time preparing for a career in fashion as a Technical Designer. Anna must be on the proper track because she just received a Critic Award and one of her creations was featured front and center in a recent show at FIT. The project was mandatory for all 300 students in Anna’s class. “In our fourth semester at FIT, the Fashion Design students are all given a theme and parameters with which we must design our capstone garment; this year it was Denim Divine,” Doyle stated. “This task is huge considerin...