N&D Center

14 WED • ISSUES & LEARNING Detroit Agriculture Network Education Series — The vacant lot is to the urban neighborhood what the tumbleweed was to the ghost town. And for Detroit — a city that thrives on the notion of rebirth — what better way to heal abandoned areas than to give them life? Vegetable life, that is. In cooperation with MSU’s Extension for Wayne County, Earthworks Garden, and Hunger Action Coalition of Michigan, the Detroit Agriculture Network is offering a series of classes designed to teach city dwellers how to turn their neighborhood’s vacant lots or forgotten open spaces into community gardens or urban farms. Classes are monthly and cost $5 each. At the Greening of Detroit (1418 Michigan Ave., Detroit), call 313-965-8117 extension 35.

15 THU • MUSIC Regina Carter Quintet — Returning for a very special hometown engagement will be Detroit’s very own diva violinist, Regina Carter. Carter was the first jazz musician ever asked to play “the Cannon,” a 260-year-old Guarneri violin that once belonged to composer Niccolò Paganini, and on her latest CD, Paganini: After A Dream on Verve, she brings together classics and jazz in a mix that’s been blowing away listeners worldwide. See her with her quintet at the Max M. Fisher Music Center (3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit); call 313-576-5100 for more information. You can also catch her at the University Musical Society’s Jazz Divas Summit with vocalists Diane Reeves and Dee Dee Bridgewater on Monday, Jan. 19, at Hill Auditorium (825 N. University Drive, Ann Arbor). Call 734-764-2538 for tickets. Carter returns to Detroit later this month to play with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Jan. 29- Feb. 1.

15-19 THU-MON • FUN FOR ALL Plymouth International Ice Sculpture Spectacular — The term “take a brisk walk” takes on a whole different meaning at this frigid time of the year. And if there’s nothing you like more than a winter stroll, why not enjoy downtown Plymouth’s annual Ice Sculpture Spectacular? Open 24 hours a day, this dazzling display of frozen carvings has been created by professional ice carvers, talented amateurs and some notable college and high school students and is free to everyone. The amateur and student competitions are Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 17 and 18. Call 734-459-9157 for further details. It’s ffff-frozen ffff-fun, but it’s fff-freee.

16 FRI • MUSIC Alfalfa: Gone But Not Forgotten — After Hal Roach Studios hired freckle-faced crooner Albert Switzer (aka Alfalfa) to join their Our Gang team, the 1930s short film series, The Little Rascals would never be the same. As part of the Jazz Friday event at the Detroit Institute of Arts, vocalist Ursula Walker and pianist Buddy Budson have put together a tribute set of songs associated with America’s favorite cow-licked charmer. Expect to hear some audio clips of Alfalfa himself. At the Detroit Institute of Art (5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit). Call 313-833-7900 for more details.

17 SAT• MUSIC Modey Lemon — The word “chaos” comes to mind. Whether it’s a demented jam-out or a hunger-tinged stage show, Pittsburgh’s Modey Lemon likes its rock ’n’ roll a little on the dirty side. NME’s Stevie Chick says its latest self-titled release on AF Records “opens with vicious, spiny guitar thrash and blood-curdling drum rumbles, and ends with a scabrous hellfire skiffle that sounds like Iggy Pop beating you repeatedly across the face with a trash can lid.” At the Lager House (1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit) with Detroit City Council and the Monokulators. Call 313-961-4668 for further information.