The Mortals

You have until Friday for a chance to win tickets!!

We have a ghoulish giveaway to spice up your Halloween season! For those 21+, as this is an adults-only experience - Like this post, comment tagging the person you're bringing if you win, and share this post on your feed to be entered to win a pair of tickets to the Cabaret du Mortel on October 27, a $100 value! Three winners will be announced Friday, October 20.

What sinful delights await you at the Cabaret? On our main stage, Bad Babes Burlesque provides tantalizing burlesque and performance art, giving us a wickedly engaging show. Chaos Goth Industrial brings the Chvrch of Chaos to the event, an audio/visual dance experience synced to some of your favorite horror movies and goth music, a truly hellish experience to savor. And Beauty Beyond Drag Productions has the most innovative drag performance of the Halloween season planned for our event.

Explore our Kink Experience and indulge in B**M education, performance, and participation throughout the event.

Our Bat Cave Lounge houses a photo booth with TINYuproar, and a classic dance experience throughout the night.

And our Cafe provides a low-stim environment with snacks, psychic readings, and a vintage typewriter lounge.

Tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cabaret-du-mortel-tickets-698981682027?aff=oddtdtcreator

Remember to like, share, and tag the person you're bringing if you win in a comment to be eligible for the prize!

For those who are wanting to get back into conversations around death, the Fountain Street Church has offered their chapel as a space to have our potluck dinner. For those familliar with Margi Peterson, she will be leading the discussions along with a couple other hosts at each table.

Food doesn't have to be anything super fancy, just sign up for whatever dish you have have the capacity to bring! Some offerings include anything from a main dish to bread rolls or a dessert.

We will need everyone who wants to come to sign up through our events page so we know how many paeople to plan for.

We no longer have our cafe space but we're still kicking out events! Cabaret du Mortel is a celebration of collaboration with Beauty Beyond Drag Productions , Bad Babes Burlesque , Chaos Goth Industrial - Chvrch of Chaos, and more!

There will also be a kink experience which is rated X and includes education, performance, and participation.

The Bat Cave Lounge is rated R with a Goth Club experience and go-go dancers.

Our dead husk of a cafe will be the lower stimulation experience for those that need to chill with psychic readings, typewriter lounge, and the "Snack Mountain".

Bring your gussied up selves for this 21+, sober experience for some Halloween fun!

BONUS: There will be a SPECIAL friday the 13th discount starting Friday at midnight. Use code FRIDAY13 for a $5 discount and an additional $5 will be donated to Planned Parenthood Health Center.

Tickets available through our events page!

Huge shout out to Pharaoh Khalil for putting this wake together with so many talented people! It's been pretty heavy wrapping up The Mortals and it helped me immensely to have someone take the reigns in putting this together. I am so grateful to have performances like this for the final goodbye!

This is a totally free event that kicks off at 6pm and goes until 9pm TONIGHT! So if you have no plans for the evening and want a chance to get out and experience live poetry and sounds, pop on over to our cafe.

Parking is free after 5pm

Stop in and scope out our little death-centric bookshelf while you still can! We’re here until 6pm today and we’ll have our closing party tomorrow from 6-9pm!

We'll be closing up shop with an evening of multiple performances comemorating thoughts on life, new beginnings, grief, and letting go. Join us this Friday from 6-9pm in our cafe and Little Space Studios!

It's kind of an anything goes night, so feel free to bring friends, board games, and we might even have a projector going.

We’re open every day this week, so be sure to hit us up before we close our doors this Friday!

We’re having a send off party on Friday from 6-9pm with music, poetry, and whatever else@people feel like bringing to the wake!

This week we’re only open Monday through Wednesday, so pop in while you still can!

Life happens. As it should.

We'll be open later on our last day (Friday, September 29), so come out and celebrate with us!

Chobani has always been my alternative milk of choice. It’s creamy, it’s steams great, and it doesn’t have that strange cardboard taste which is why we use it in our cafe. It may be a pain to raid our local grocery stores every week like some milk hoarding hobgoblin but it’s worth it.

So worth it.

Our pumpkin spice togarashi actually contains pumpkin which makes for some really wonderful aromatics and hints of heat, citrus, and warming cinnamon a very pleasant addition to our monthly special.

Pop in and try our Hojicha latte today, tomorrow, and definitely before our last day on the 29th where we’ll be shutting it all down and stay open later!

Genmaicha is a brown rice green tea. The rice has its reasons for being there- as a way to keep tea dry, flavor, as well as a filler to make green tea more affordable.

Our version from has matcha in it for extra flavor. It’s one of my favorites because it’s bold and complex while still being light enough to pair with other delicate flavors.

Please join us for our LAST 2nd Tuesday game night tomorrow night! We’ll be open until 8pm and have our hoards of tabletop games available!

Also, due to life, scheduling, and my employees are doing awesome and cool stuff- we will NOT be open the 21st and 22nd. This means we won’t have the cafe open for 3rd Thursday.

I will be out with cooking for a stellar group of women in the Pacific Northwest!

, our amazing circus artist extraordinaire along with her partner , will be roaming performers at a big music fest out in Ohio!

And our dear will be vacationing with her rad parents!

Sometimes life comes first. We will however be putting on a party of some sorts the last Friday we are open (the 29th).

I love this stuff. I love it! How is this not in more coffee shops and cuisines?! I said the same thing about robusta coffee too.

Anyways, Hojicha is a roasted version of matcha green tea and it’s perfect for this season. Stop on in this month to enjoy it hot or iced!

Come scribble with us! We’ve got coloring books and markers to kill some time.

I’m really going to miss having the creative outlet for these monthly potions, so I went a little extra and out there for this one!

Matcha is super trendy but there’s something to be said about Hojicha which is the roasted version of green tea. It’s perfect for this season and I paired it with a homemade maple and black sesame syrup along with our custom pumpkin togarashi spice.

This is our iced version of it. Hojicha is something that probably would have landed as a regular item on our menu because it’s so good!

Also a heads up to our LAST board game@night happening next Tuesday. We’ll be open until 8pm and Slothwerks will have all the board games available to choose from!

Update for The Mortals:

I have some sad news to tell folks. The Harris Building is currently under a pending sale and I am not comfortable with the new management direction. With respect to members of our community, we are choosing to care for their comfort and voices over our continued business in their space.

We don’t know how quickly the sale will take place, but I am choosing to put The Mortals to rest at the end of September. This means your LAST chance to pop in, enjoy our space, and have our monthly potion is Friday, September 29.

It crushes me to put down something I have been so passionate about as a means to harbor casual conversations around death. It seemed we were just getting started on rolling out some really cool programs and events. These past 2 years we have seen Division Ave in Heartside become even cooler - fresh and fun businesses have popped up alongside others that have been here for decades. I am incredibly grateful to share the RADDEST street with them!

Even without The Harris, we will continue to be an advocate in the death space, and If you’re fans of our Cafe Mortel session, don’t despair! We have The Mortals Portal on Facebook where there will be updates on our latest events, resources, and even some morbid memes!

To wrap this up, I want to send a massive THANK YOU to the incredibly supportive businesses along Division Ave, both old and new; and the community within The Harris building which includes Little Space Studio, Harris Events, all the freelancers, artists, entrepreneurs, and cafe goers that really made this space come to life!

Tears, no regrets, & thank you everyone!
Abbey Hunter

Photography by Heather Fofo

Hope everyone had a lovely Labor Day weekend and you had a chance to rest, relax, and live a little!

If you’re getting back to the grind, our cafe is open from 8-6pm. We have a chill space and plenty of space!

Heads up! We won't be open on Monday. Enjoy the long weekend and the beautiful weather!!

Weather is too beautiful and I think everyone got the memo but me on this early start to the Holiday weekend. We’re closing down an hour early for the day!

✌🏻

I'm doing pumpkin spice a little different for this month's potion...
🎃
I made my own Autumn blend togarashi with roasted pumpkin, cinnamon, gochugaru, black sesame, ginger, orange, and lemon peel that gets topped on our newest hojicha tea latte.

It's great hot or iced (though our iced version gets an added black sesame and maple syrup!

It's unapologetically the least basic bitch drink you can have this season.

I am already SO pumped for September!! It’s my favorite month but I’ve been anticipating this new potion for…like…a while.

For those that already love matcha, meet your darker, roastier, lesser known (but way more rad) sister that is Hojicha. It’s green tea that has been roasted and then milled to a fine powder.

It’s perfect for this liminal weather and I’ll be adding a fun seasonal addition that isn’t your basic pumpkin spice.

Cheers.

Vanilla cortado is a great style of drink when you need caffeine just quick enough to get you going but with enough lightly steamed milk to take the bite out of espresso.

It’s the quietest pep talk.

✔️ AC, Internet
✔️Cold beverages
✔️Vegan baked goods
✔️Chill space to spread out

Come hang with us after that storm.

Let’s talk about death! Our monthly Cafe Mortel session is This Sunday from 1-3pm.

Maureen from Gilda’s Club will be the discussion leader and comes with a background of facilitating groups living with grief.

No need to RSVP, just show up!

We have our next Cafe Mortel coming up this Sunday from 1-3pm. Our Mistress of Discussion will be Maureen McKenzie who is a group facilitator for those living with cancer and grief at Gilda's Club of Grand Rapids.

**For anyone new to our Cafe Mortel sessions, these are based off of the Death Cafes which are always free and casual social gatherings that pop up in local areas where the subject is all things mortality. There is no need to RSVP, just show up! We'll always find plenty of seating!

Coffee and baked goods provided. We'll gather at the North hall and our coffee shop will be open and available for those that want the fancy drinks!

Join us for death talks over dinner tomorrow evening!

This is a free potluck style gathering where we have discussions about mortality over some hearty foods. Sign up through our events page so we know how many to plan on!

talkdeath

Did you know in the late 1800's there was a boulevard in Paris, France known for it's macabre theme? There was the Cabaret De L'Enfer (Hell), Cabaret du Ciel (Heaven), and Cabaret du Neant (nothingness).

While we can't have a whole stretch of Division taken over (as cool as that could be), we can harness all of this fun in The Harris for our 1st annual Cabaret du Mortel being put on through The Mortals and Goth Grand Rapids!

What all will be involved in this Cabaret du Mortel? So many incredible things:

🎩Bad Babes Burlesque with DJ Foxy Bu****le
🔥Ash's Decent to Hell (DJ with projection screen) Dance floor time
👯‍♀️Go-go dancers
💃Beauty Beyond Drag with DJ BittaSweet.
👄 # # # room with kink performances and demonstrations (consent form required)
🍫Snack Mountain- grab your take out box and fill 'er up!
🖤Chill space for people to decompress from the crowd

Tickets are on sale now for $50 through our events page!
*This is a 21+ event however there will be no alcohol served.