Matt Braunger has been all over the place. He grew up in Portland, Ore., studied theater at Manhattanville College in New York, did improv and stand-up in Chicago, and finally, moved to Los Angeles to solidify his career in comedy.
Braunger has had a solid career in standup for a few years now, with appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman," a Comedy Central hour-long special and his digital album Soak Up the Night. But even with all of this standup success, Braunger is still probably most often recognized for his acting career.
In an age of technology and digital communication, people accustomed to the printed word must adapt quickly in order to survive. This September, Schuler Books celebrates 30 years of business – a true testament of the flexibility of the bookstore to change along with the times.
At a time when bookstores are going out of business (the most notable being the bookstore chain, Borders, closing their last stores almost one year ago), Schuler is using this month to celebrate the store’s success with its Grand Rapids and Lansing-area communities.
For 57-year-old Harley-Davidson authority Edward Winterhalder, the biker lifestyle isn’t just a hobby; he’s been immersed in the culture since he was 19. In the last seven years, he has authored or contributed to nine books on the subject and helmed or appeared in a dozen TV projects devoted to Harleys.
“When I came home from the Army in November of ‘74, I got my first Harley,” Winterhalder said. “Since then, I have only been without one for no more than six months. I’ve been riding Harleys for almost 40 years now. It gets in your blood.”
Gary Gulman is really, really tall. Six feet, six inches to be exact. This may be true, but there’s another striking characteristic people instantly notice about Gulman: He is really, really funny.
Gulman used to work as an accountant, probably one of the last professions one would expect an aspiring comedian to attain, which is probably why after a few years he quit.
If you want to make it in fashion, your first instinct is probably to move to Chicago, New York City or Los Angeles. The Rooftop Couture Fashion Show, a Grand Rapids show developed by model Renee Jonkman and journalist Crystal Hilliard, may ensure that you do not have to.
Rob Little was working as a computer programmer at IBM when he decided to transition his career into stand-up comedian. He sent out a company-wide email that read, "If you aren't happy here, quit your job and follow your dream," and then tried to follow through with the statement.
Poetry has not exactly always been at the heart of American consciousness. It’s often thought of as an art form for lonely, depressed individuals or pretentious hipsters in East Village coffee shops. However, Azizi Jasper (or simply, “Z” to most who know him), is a Grand Rapids-based poet, activist and man about town.
If you ever listened to Duran Duran’s latest hit on your boom box, inquired about the whereabouts of “the beef” or watched anything on Betamax, chances are you’ll dig this event. Stella’s Lounge is hosting an all-day Grand Rapids bar crawl in which teams race to complete 10 challenges, record the evidence on their smartphones and compete to become Grand Mega Champions (complete with a totally tubular trophy).
He's not a stand-up comic, but sometimes he tells jokes. Nor is he a musician, but sometimes he plays rock music in front of people.
Not an actor, but he pretends to be someone he isn't. Hal Sparks is an artist, an emissary of human emotion, and these are some things that he does.
Ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek wasn't always the mile-conquering fitness expert he is now. In fact, the winner of ultraRunning's top honors and advocate for veganism used to be a hunting, fishing Minnesotan carnivore, who hated running.
"[Running] was kind of like punishment; we would have to run laps in gym class and at soccer and basketball practice," Jurek said. "While I was involved with Nordic skiing in high school, I ran because I wanted to get in shape for ski season, but it wasn't something I enjoyed."
A heckler in Atlanta once punched TJ Miller in the face. During another stand-up show in Myrtle Beach, a woman slapped her watch and shouted, "You got 15 minutes to say something funny!"
But despite these occasional abuses from his audiences, TJ Miller is devoted to comedy. When he isn't performing stand-up in L.A.'s comedy clubs, he is touring or filming or producing some other form of humor.
With his newest collection of poetry, When All the World Is Old, Detroit-born poet John Rybicki comes close enough that poet Marie Howe compares him to a modern-day Orpheus "singing [his] way into the underworld and coming out alive."
It's one of the first things creative writers learn: in order to tell a story effectively, one must anchor the story in a particular setting or place. Northern Michigan-based writer Jack Driscoll, who has written four novels and four books of poetry, and who just released his second collection of short stories.
Rodney Carrington says there is only one thing he has yet to accomplish during his long and fruitful career as a comedian. "Quit — that's pretty much the only thing I haven't done," Carrington said.
