Thursday, May 16 — Thrash metal, “gypsy art rock” with a little Brooklyn folk on the side makes its way to Lansing this weekend. The hard-pounding Sin Theorem and experimental Stikyfüt bring a harder edge Friday to Uli’s and The Loft, respectively. Meanwhile, New York singer songwriter Laura Stevenson hits Mac’s on Sunday.

With their crunchy exoskeletons, compound eyes and yellow blood, insects seem more like alien creatures than our fellow Earthlings — but humans have more in common with the six-legged beasties than you'd think.

Leo Tolstoy was quite a bastard — check out his wife's diary for some hair-raising stories — but he made a good point now and then. He once asked arch-Romantic composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, with typical cruelty, "Is such music needed by anyone?"

Dan Frazier has long been drawn to comic books. The Lansing native, 52, has been collecting comics since he was young, and throughout his life he's accumulated more than 30,000 — about a third of which are signed.

It feels twisted that "The Beauty Queen of Leenane" opened Mother's Day weekend. Martin McDonagh's darkly comic play is an unsparing portrait of a severely dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship perfect for Riverwalk Theatre's blackbox — just not for mothers.

You'd never know you were looking at Carol Burnett's yearbook photo unless you scanned the bottom of the page for her name. And even then, you're like, "Could there have been two Carol Burnetts who went to Hollywood High School in 1950?"

Business continues to boom in Williamston. In March, I told you about four new places that opened — Beyond the Fleece, Facials and More Med Spa, Tom Donnelly's Barbell Club and Sweet Cake Co. — and last week the city cut the ribbon on three more. Casey Brockway, 24, opened Casey's Computer Co. inside Keller's Plaza. The 180-square-foot suite accommodates Brockway, his equipment … and that’s about it.

According to the 2010 census, there were about 79,000 people aged 60 or above in the tri-county area, comprising Eaton, Ingham and Clinton counties. The Tri-County Office on Aging, founded in 1974, was designed to improve the quality of life for Lansing-area seniors — and take a lot of the guesswork out of things that could cause anxiety and confusion.

Jammin' Round with Jamie-Sue Songwriters Series turns 10 years old at its season commencement concert Saturday in Dewitt. Among the diverse batch of performers are organizer Jamie-Sue Seal, Elden Kelly, Jason Dennie, and Greg Jenkinson & John Latini.

Wednesday, May 15 — Even superheroes have to hang up their capes, sometimes. Today, Andy Morrow, owner of 21st Century Comics and Games, announced that he’ll be closing his East Lansing comic book store “sometime in June.”