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Louis Chevrolet drove the historic Buick Bug before General Motors was founded.

The 1940 Oldsmobile "Woody" celebrates GM's transition from the Great Depression into an era when the company began building vehicles for family and recreational use.

FLINT, Michigan -- Flint Youth Theatre celebrated the season Friday with the opening night of a delightful compendium of urban legends gathered under the title "Creepers."

Subtitled "Tales of Shadows,Shivers and Shrieks," this is both nostalgic and scary fun for young and old

Courtesy photoPaul Byrom, (from left) Ryan Kelly, Keith Harkin, Damian McGinty and George Donaldson form Celtic Thunder, an Irish vocal group playing at Fox Theatre on Tuesday.

Calling rehearsals "emotional" is an understatement for Celtic Thunder's George Donaldson. The elder statesmen of the all-male Irish vocal group had to leave the stage several times because a song hit too close to home.

"I sing a song called 'The Old Man,' which was written by Phil (Coulter, producer) also regarding his father when he died," said Donaldson, 40, during a phone interview. "I lost my father five years ago. I found that song very hard to sing at the start. We're not just singing the songs. I know I definitely feel, and I step into the emotion of the song.

Ryan Garza | The Flint JournalOscar winning actor Forest Whitaker (right) talks with a local television reporter after a private meeting with local leaders on behalf of Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama at the Flint Institue of Arts on Friday.

FLINT, Michigan -- When movie producer and Oscar-award winning actor Forest Whitaker rolled into Flint on Friday, it wasn't to produce his next Blockbuster film.

Instead, he visited the area to lend his support to Barack Obama's presidential bid.

Whitaker met with a group of about 30 local leaders, business owners, and educators to encourage them to volunteer and lend their resources to the campaign.

Courtesy photoRelient K will play at Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac on Saturday.

Relient K vocalist/guitarist Matthew Thiessen has a matter-of-fact view about holiday albums, specifically his band's release, "Let It Snow Baby ... Let It Reindeer," which was re-released Oct. 7.

"Christmas comes around every year, so you might as well put the record out every year," Thiessen said with a laugh during a recent phone interview.

FLINT, Michigan -- A truly ambitious production of the award-winning Broadway musical "The Wiz" opened Thursday at The New McCree Theatre. It involved a huge cast of more than 30 players and a seven-piece orchestra, which made for tight quarters in the former church sanctuary-turned-playhouse.

Indeed, the battle was on almost immediately to determine superiority between vocalists and musicians. Although most of the singers wore body microphones, the volume levels necessary to top the instruments muffled many lyrics.

Stuart Bauer | The Flint JournalKris Werner, owner of Playland, hangs
out with "Jolt," a character featured at Saint
Lucifer's Haunted Asylum on South Dort
Highway in Grand Blanc Township. The
haunted house at Playland has been scaring
Halloween-season patrons for 11 years.

On almost any weekend night in October (whether the moon is full or not) screams can be heard for a mile on Dort Highway.

Between S. Saginaw and Maple are three of the area's longest running and hottest haunts.

Kris Werner, owner of Playland in Grand Blanc Township, runs St. Lucifer's Haunted Asylum. He wasn't too keen on the idea of running a haunted house when an employee first approached him with the idea in 1997.

OWOSSO, Michigan -- The Wrought Iron Grill is an unusual destination not only because of its food, but also because of its setting. It is in a former wrought-iron furniture factory in a building that's a combination of business offices, rental lofts and condominiums.

What was a loading dock is used for outdoor dining. Interior dining areas have striking wooden floors, brick walls, high ceilings, wooden beams, open ductwork and lots of windows. Lacquered table tops and large, comfortable booths help to make dining a pleasant experience.

Like the seemingly immortal antagonist of its story, "Nosferatu" is a film that will not die.

The 1922 silent thriller, from the great German director F.W. Murnau, stands as the first -- and perhaps the best -- adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula."