They say you can’t go home again, but guitarist Joe Taylor would beg to differ. The South Carolina native returned to the Palmetto State after decades in New York City and hasn’t missed a beat. Now he feels like he’s coming home again, with a date: Aug. 19 at Music On The Mountain at The Homestead. “The fellas and I are really looking forward to it,” he says of himself and his bandmates. “We love the place.”
The Homestead near Glen Arbor is adding to its many attractions by creating an art gallery in the resort’s Welcome Center lobby in partnership with Elizabeth Lane Oliver Center for the Arts of Frankfort. The Homestead’s gallery will display works depicting the region, from the dunes and Lake Michigan to Leland Fishtown, the lighthouse at Point Betsie and more. Oliver Art Center will showcase its members with a rotating exhibit. The two will also collaborate on a plein air event to take place on the grounds of The Homestead this fall.
For Jabo Bihlman, music is a calling. The Traverse City guitarist, singer and songwriter performs at clubs, wineries, and on Aug. 5 at Music On The Mountain at The Homestead. But he also works with television networks and streaming services. He’s a producer and engineer at his home-based recording studio. And he tours nationally and internationally. Not bad for a kid who hated guitar. “I had a couple lessons when I was 10 or 12 and hated it. I was a jock—in high school I played football and pole vaulted.”
These cats can play. That will be obvious when Randy Marsh, Clif Metcalf and Lee Heerspink perform at Music On The Mountain July 22. The next show in The Homestead’s music series at the top of Bay Mountain features the threesome, a.k.a. Cat Daddy, performing music that recalls everything from the soul-jazz of the ’60s and ’70s to modern sounds. Music is life for Marsh. If he’s not drumming up a storm somewhere, maybe it’s because he’s put down the sticks to showcase his harmonica playing. Or he’s working on his next gig, whether with Cat Daddy, Big Fun, the Jeff Haas Trio, or one of the many other musical entities he performs with.
The next Music On The Mountain concert at The Homestead will be a throwback. On July 8, the Blue Water Ramblers will take the stage, performing their mix of traditional favorites in the folk tradition, songs by Woody Guthrie, Tom T. Hall, John Denver and others, along with their own originals. “We come out of the Woodie Guthrie-Pete Seeger folk and bluegrass tradition,” says bandleader R.H. “Bear” Berends.
What do you get when you mix classic pop, Broadway, the Great American Songbook, originals, jazz royalty and two voices raised in harmony? Well, one thing is the July 1 appearance by Kevin DiSimone and Hilary James at The Homestead. The next entry in Music on the Mountain series features the husband-and-wife couple who separately and/or together have worked with—deep breath—Barry Manilow, Carly Simon, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Bette Midler, Willie Nelson and Billy Preston. You want more? Throw in Sam and Dave, Peter Nero, Quincy Jones, Eddie Arnold, Cybill Shepherd, Mickey Rooney, and Dudley Moore. And don’t forget Bob James. They won’t, as he’s Hilary’s father and Kevin’s father-in-law.
This summer marks the 50th summer of stargazing at The Leelanau School’s Lanphier Observatory. Open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday nights from June 24 to Aug. 20, from dusk to midnight (clear skies permitting, $5 for adults and $4 for students), this gift from Charles “Chick” Lanphier five decades ago has inspired and astonished thousands of summer guests and generations of high school students as they viewed the heavens through the powerful 14-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegranian reflecting telescope and learned the constellations twinkling over Sleeping Bear Bay.
The Moody Blues are no more, but keyboardist Alan Hewitt isn’t slowing down. The band’s longtime keyboardist and musical director has turned back to his own band, One Nation. He brings the progressive rock/jazz fusion outfit to the Homestead June 17, opening the second season of the revived Music On The Mountain. “I’m excited to be on the road with my band, and to be playing in such a beautiful place,” says Hewitt.
The good news is that the Crystal River is healthy. She winds like a lazy snake through wetlands protected by the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, so when excessive rain or snowmelt inundate her environment—as happened during record flooding in early April—the extra water has a place to go. The other good news is that the removal of culverts in three locations under County Road 675 during the past five years has helped the river flow more freely and relieves pressure during high water events. The bad news is that two more culverts remain downstream of The Mill. Those culverts restrict water flow beneath Overbrook Drive. The other bad news is that scientists who study climate change in the Great Lakes region predict more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, including rainstorms.
What does a summit look like? Well, two things: One, a gathering of like-minded individuals to learn about and discuss a topic. The other is the top of a mountain. The two come together May 3 in Glen Arbor. The Leelanau Well-Being Summit will take place at and around The Homestead. Organizer Kat Palms says the event will include a vendor marketplace featuring local wellness brands, creatives, and makers, optional ticketed wellness classes led by regional practitioners, and a guided Bayview Trail Ruck with the Leelanau Ruck Club. Oh, and that second definition of summit? That works too, as the event will include a champagne toast at the top of Bay Mountain, the resort’s ski hill, followed by an optional dinner at Nonna’s.