Tag Archives: Locally Entertaining

Author Jennifer Armentrout stops by to talk about her new book, zombie movies, celebrity sightings

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , ,
Author Jennifer Armentrout with “Locally Entertaining” host Joanne Bailey-Boorsma. (Video by WKTV)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

A lover of zombie movies, New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Armentrout admitted she was afraid of the walking dead until her teen years.

“As a child I was scared to death of them because my mom, in her infinite wisdom, let us watch horror movies, and my dad would come home and it would always be the worst scene of the worst movie on TV,” Armentrout said during a recent “Locally Entertaining” podcast interview. Armentrout was in town Oct. 10 for a book signing and reading at Kentwood’s Schuler Books & Music.

Some of “those movies were film in Pennsylvania and those areas where they filmed looked very similar to the areas we lived in. It just terrified me, the idea that dead people could just start to come out of graveyards. because of that, I would never live within eye distance of a graveyard.”

Her solution to eliminate her fear was to face it.

“The only way I got over it was by forcing myself to keep watching it,” she said, adding that the would watch such cult classics as “Dawn of the Dead” and “Land of the Dead adding that the process kind of desensitize me from the fear.

“I ended up loving zombie movies then.”

Half angels/half humans, gargoyles, and aliens are creatures that Armentout tends to feature in her books that have an underlying theme of acceptance and working together. Her latest book “The Burning Shadow,” is the second in the second series of the Lux series. This series is about aliens living amongst humans with an underlying theme of just how far people will go to help and protect each other. 

“Once [the first] series ended I felt like that really opened the doors in a lot of ways,” Armentrout said. “A lot of times as people, if we don’t understand, we freak out and make things worst. So I really wanted to explore how humans would react to knowing that yes, there is a lot of aliens out there.”

Armentrout is a prolific writer with more than 50 titles all written in the last 10 years covering an array of genres: action, adventure, and romance for both young adults and adults. 

In her young adult books, she has the second book in the Harbinger series, “Rage and Ruin” coming out in June. The series follows a half-human, half-angel and her bonded gargoyle proctor working to stop an apocalypse. The next book in the Lux series, The Brightest Night, will becoming out in October.

For more on Jennifer Armentrout, check out the “Locally Entertaining” podcast or visit her website, jenniferarmentrout.com.

New series focuses on the music, culture of Africa

Entertainment, , , , ,

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

It was a need that gave birth to Greater Grand Rapids’ newest cultural enterprise, the Motherland House Concerts.

Mirabel Umenei, who goes by the stage name Myra Maimoh, os a musician from Cameroon. When she arrived in Grand Rapids seven years ago, she began “looking for places to perform, to showcase my art and I was finding it difficult to do that. I also was finding other musicians from Africa who were facing the same issues,” Umenei said during a recent Locally Entertaining podcast.

From the right, Netty BM, Ruben Ndjerareou, Beatrice Muriithi, and Miracle Umenei join host Joanne Bailey-Boorsma for the Locally Entertaining podcast. (WKTV)

Umenei believed that if the various musicians and artists came together, they could do something to showcase the talents of the people from Africa. Thus Motherland House Concerts was born.

“The Motherland House Concerts is a platform where we showcase African music, African art, African storytelling, poetry and sometimes we have food and wines from Africa,” she said.

This Saturday, July 27, the Motherland House Concerts will feature a Padiman Experience Event, which provides an intimate showcase of African music and poetry. Saturday’s event, which is from 6 – 8 p.m., will focus on Senegal, the home country of featured artist Netty BM. The show is at Rising Grinds Cafe, 1167 Madison Ave. SE with tickets $25/advance, $30/at the door. The Padiman Experience will take place every fourth Saturday of the month.

In September will be the Banin Experience which pairs food, wine, poetry and music together. Those concerts will be Sept. 6 and 7 from 6- 9 p.m . at Rising Grinds Cafe. Tickets are $130.

“We hope to show that Africa is huge,” Umenei said. “That Africa is diverse, but it is oh so much fun!”

For more about The Motherland House Concerts, visit the Facebook page, Motherland House Concerts or go to Umenei’s website www.myramaimoh.com.

Locally Entertaining: Talking theater with some of the cast of StageGR’s ‘Les Miz’

Entertainment, , ,
Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma visits with four of the cast of Stage GR’s “Les Miserables” production (from left): Jack Reeves, Alexa Wollney, Rocco Maggi, and Jaclyn VerHulst. (WKTV)

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

More than 60 area students from 26 different schools have come together to present the world’s second-longest running musical, “Les Miserables” as part of the StageGR season.

Show dates are April 25 -27 with all of the evening shows sold out. However, tickets are still available for the 11 a.m. and the 3 p.m. shows which are at Calvin College’s Gezon Auditorium, located on the Calvin College campus, 3201 Burton St. SE.

For the current segment of “Locally Entertaining,” I sat-down with four of the cast members of the production:

To listen to the “Locally Entertaining podcast, click here.

Jack Reeves, a senior from Grand Rapids City High School, plays the lead, Jean Valjean. Reeves may be a familiar face to many as he most recently was part of the Actors’ Theatre production of “Burnt Part Boys,” and received high praise for his portrayal of Quasimodo in StageGR’s “The Hunchback of Norte Dame.”

Check out the video recording of the podcast.

A hand-drawn poster by Jacob Kenny, another “Les Miserables” cast member. (StageGR)

Alexa Wollney, a junior at Byron Center High School, plays Madame Thenardier. She recently completed the role of Sebastian in Byron Center High School’s production of “The Little Mermaid,” and was just cast in Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s summer production of “All Shook Up!”

Rocco Maggi, an exchange student from Italy attending Byron Center Charter School, is in the ensemble. Prior to September 2018, Rocco had never been involved in theater (or even a musical) before. He has performed in three community theater productions, most recently as part of the ensemble of Grand Rapid Civic Theatre’s “Mamma Mia!”

Jaclyn VerHulst, a junior from Lowell High School, is in the ensemble. Jaclyn has performed in several local community productions and was recently in the Ionia Community Players’ production of “Legally Blonde.” She will be part of Grand Rapids Civic Theatre’s summer production of “Alice in Wonderland.”

Story Synopsis: Based off the book by Victor Hugo (who also wrote “Hunchback of Norte Dame”), “Les Miserables,” also known as “Les Miz” in most English countries, follows Jean Valjean, a French peasant, and his desire for redemption after serving 19 years in jail for having stolen a loaf of bread for his sister’s starving child. Valjean decides to break his parole and start his life anew after a bishop inspires him by a tremendous act of mercy, but he is relentlessly tracked down by a police inspector named Javert. Transformed by the bishop’s generosity, Valjean’s restored humanity moves him to adopt the orphaned girl Cosette and makes a vow to her dying mother that he will protect her with his life. Pursued by Javert, Jean leads a cautious life in Paris and along the way, he and a slew of character are swept into a revolutionary period in France, where a group of young idealists attempt to overthrow the government at a street barricade. 

The musical, which has won a number of awards, includes such songs as “On My Own,” “I Dreamed A Dream,” “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” and “One More Day.”

Check out the cast signing “One More Day.

Tickets are $13. For tickets, visit the StageGR Facebook page, and click Events.