Suzanne Levy (MSU ‘80) has been making music her whole life. Whether it was giving neighborhood kids $1 guitar lessons at age 12, playing in University of Detroit coffee shop open mics, or jamming in the back room of the MSU Library’s Special Collections, Levy has always found a way to play and sing.
AFTER DECADES MAKING MUSIC, SUZANNE LEVY FOUND HER PEOPLE NEXT DOOR
Suzanne Levy (MSU ‘80) has been making music her whole life. Whether it was giving neighborhood kids $1 guitar lessons at age 12, playing in University of Detroit coffee shop open mics, or jamming in the back room of the MSU Library’s Special Collections, Levy has always found a way to play and sing.
Four or so years ago, Levy decided it was time to get a band together. She posted on the Nextdoor app to see if anyone in her neighborhood would be interested in joining her. Her neighbor Rebecca Hoogstraten (MSU ‘90, ‘07) was on Nextdoor wondering the same thing. A partnership was born.
Alongside Joyce Hagerman (a third neighbor), they formed The Instigators, a group specializing in protest songs. After scheduling conflicts caused Hagerman to leave the band, Allison Ellsworth joined and they rebranded as Red Cedar Alchemy, a nod to both their MSU roots and to Ellsworth’s membership in the Red Cedar Friends Quaker community.
“I just thought ‘Red Cedar’ sounded folksy,” said Levy.
Along the way, others have sat in with the trio. They are often joined by bassist David Winkelstern (MSU ‘74, ‘81), at whose house they meet for biweekly practices. Percussionist Diane Pfost and guitarist Ron McKeever have also joined them for performances.
“Ron is one of the best flat-pickers around,” said Levy.
Winkelstern and Pfost joined Red Cedar Alchemy on July 14 for a fun night of folk and blues at Eagle Monk Pub & Brewery in Lansing. Guests filling the beer garden on the warm, humid evening were helping celebrate the group’s first public performance in 17 months.
“It’s our first show since COVID,” said Levy. The group has been gathering regularly for practices since their vaccinations, and was eager to get back onstage. At Eagle Monk, they performed many originals written by Levy, as well as some blues covers and originals from Winkelstern and Ellsworth.
The three core members of Red Cedar Alchemy are a diverse group. Levy, in her 60s, is retired from MSU. Hoogstraten, in her 50s, is a veterinarian at Williamston Animal Clinic. Ellsworth, in her 30s, is a Spiritual Care Provider for Sparrow Health System.
“We came together over a love of music,” said Levy.
At ten years old, Levy heard the Beatles and knew she wanted to play. When she asked her dad for a guitar, he wasn’t so sure about making that investment.
“He said ‘you’re a jack of all trades and a master of none,’” Levy recalled. “I said ‘give me a chance!’”
She began taking lessons using her neighbor’s “crappy guitar.” When it was evident she wasn’t going to give it up, she got “a decent guitar” and began teaching kids in the neighborhood, for $1 a lesson.
“Sometimes I’d show kids I babysat the guitar, and we’d sing and play,” said Levy.
She started out on the classical guitar, and that was her instrument until she was a grad student at MSU. She walked into Elderly Instruments (then located in the basement of East Lansing’s Campus Mall) to have her 12-string restrung, and walked out with a steel string guitar.
“That’s when I switched from classical guitar to playing more folk inspired music and got my first true acoustic guitar…a six string used Yamaha, with the Y scratched out,” said Levy. “A true impulse buy. I loved it.”
That steel guitar got plenty of use while Levy was an MSU student.
“Every time there was a basement kegger, they’d tell me to bring the guitar,” she said.
In the early ‘80s, Moriarty’s Pub was just getting started, and Levy jumped on their open mic nights. They liked her, and asked her back.
“They paid me a couple of times,” she said. “Real money, not just pizza and beer!”
In 1984, Levy began her career at MSU. As Authority Control Coordinator, she worked from an electronics-filled office in the MSU Library. Even there, an opportunity to make music appeared.
“Down in a room in Special Collections, they had a piano and an upright bass,” Levy explained. “Fridays from 12-1, we’d have an open jam.”
The Friday lunchtime jam sessions were organized by the Comics Librarian, an “old hippie.”
“He organized us into coming down and playing,” Levy said. “We’d play Fridays, as well as staff functions.”
Throughout her career, Levy always found places to make music. But it wasn’t until four years ago that she became the founding member of a legit band. On July 14, that group got to play for a packed beer garden on a warm summer night, their first time onstage since February 2020. For Levy, it was a long time coming.
“It felt like an out of body experience, like I was channeling my inner self,” she said.
