After six years, Jessica Decker has handed over the keys to Decker's Coffee Co., 220 S. Washington Square in downtown Lansing, to a new owner. J.T. Dachtler took over the reins at Decker's Saturday, but Decker is sticking around for a week to smooth the transition.

Drake White, an EMI-signed singer/songwriter based in Nashville, plays the Whiskey Barrel Saloon on May 30. The Alabama native has a rootsy modern country sound, blended with southern gospel vibes.

One of Dennis Preston's favorite places to conjure up grotesque and whimsical characters was the Biggby Coffee at 536 Elmwood Road in Lansing, just south of the Lansing Mall. The local illustrator, designer and caricaturist would draw on coffee napkins and leave them at the store, which could then be "purchased" by giving $10 to the barista on duty. It was a tradition that had been going on throughout Lansing-area Biggby's for the past 10 years.

Wednesday, May 22 — The Lansing Unionized Vaudeville Spectacle was the closing band at the 50th annual East Lansing Art Festival on Sunday. It was the last local show for the band before a statewide tour next month.

Friday, May 17 — This week on Deemable Tech: Why do web browsers open inconsistently? (Editor’s note: “Deemable Tech” is a weekly syndicated column by Jacksonville, Fla.-based writer Ray Hollister. It will appear weekly on lansingcitypulse.com.)

Thursday, May 16 — Tickets go on sale tomorrow for “A Prairie Home Companion,” Garrison Keillor’s long running variety show. The program is broadcast weekly on public radio outlets across the country, including 90.5 WKAR-FM, locally. “A Prairie Home Companion” is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama and Keillor's storytelling segment, “News from Lake Wobegon.”

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.