Orpheum Theater to host benefit concert for HEET May 7

HEET (Houghton Energy Efficiency Team) will hold a benefit concert Saturday, May 7, at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock. (Poster courtesy HEET)

HANCOCK -- Steve Jones and the Garden City Hot Club will headline a benefit concert for the Houghton Energy Efficiency Team (HEET) from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the Orpheum Theater in Hancock. Emma Hitch-Bradley and Matt Langlais will open the show.

Admission is $10. A free LED light bulb is included with the first 50 tickets, and door prizes will be awarded.

The Garden City Hot Club is a trio of two jazz guitars and bass built around the lead guitar and easy-going vocals of Steve Jones, who jammed with some of the big names in jazz during an extended stay on the East Coast. Now back home in the U.P., he and the rest of the Hot Club bring intensity and joy to original compositions, old jazz standards, modern Roma-influenced music, swing-based novelty songs, blues and anything else that sounds good.

HEET will use all funds raised during the concert to buy materials to winterize homes in Houghton County. Currently HEET is hosting a team of AmeriCorps volunteers who will be pushing to winterize dozens of area homes in the coming weeks.

HEET is an ad hoc group of volunteers formed to help Houghton County compete for the Georgetown University Energy Prize. Approximately 50 regions nationwide are in the running for the $5 million prize, which challenges local communities to rethink their energy use and implement creative strategies to increase energy efficiency.*

* Editor's Note: To learn more about HEET, see our Jan. 21, 2015, article, "Houghton County, HEET celebrate semifinalist status for Georgetown University Energy Prize competition."

Community Energy Meeting to be held TONIGHT, Aug. 26, in Houghton

HOUGHTON -- The City of Houghton will host a Community Energy Meeting TONIGHT, Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Shelden Grill (7th Floor, Franklin Square Inn). The door opens at 5:30 p.m. A presentation will be given from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and discussion will follow from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The meeting is open to the public.

The Houghton Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), entered in the Georgetown University Energy Prize competition, is sponsoring the meeting.

Presentation:

• How our community can re-think our energy use and implement creative strategies to save energy costs.
• Current and future U.P. energy landscape.

Community Discussion:

• Building an effective and inclusive network that strengthens our capacity to respond in ways that directly benefit our area and community.