My Town Monday Returns for One Day: Frankenmuth

Despite its rather ersatz appearance today, the town of Frankenmuth, about ninety minutes north of Detroit, has an interesting history. For a full story go here but it was settled in the 1840s by a group of Germans who came there in a group, enduring many hardships along the way.

It is a place we visit perhaps once every two years when we get street fatigue and need some place to go for the day. It is a real town that has somehow manged to look like a faux one. The shops cater to tourists in the dull way of all resorts--except it is not really a resort. There is really nothing to draw one here except there is little else within two hours of Detroit.

It's a place to get a chicken dinner in the German style, buy orange cheese that doesn't taste like real cheese at all, to buy fudge, tee shirts, take a carriage ride down the 1/4 mile stretch of town, visit the biggest Christmas ornament store in the world or go to Birch Run, an outlet mall where on checking price on the handy iphone it turned out nearly everything could be bought back home for less money.

Where do you go when you need to get away for the day? Of course you east coast/west coast people always have the shore. Don't rub it in.

SHEILA JORDAN 2012 NEA JAZZ MASTER At 83

At 83, Sheila Jordan will receive the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award on Tuesday in New York. The $25,000 prize is America's highest honor in jazz. It also represents a acknowledgement from the musical establishment after a lifetime in the shadows, where she overcame an impoverished childhood, bigotry, addiction and the vagaries of the jazz life, while willing herself into greatness. Born and raised in Detroit, she spent years suffering verbal abuse for being a white girl in bands with black jazz musicians.

Hurray for Sheila Jordan-still singing today.






Who is your favorite female jazz singer?

Detroit-Wild City-Trailer

See it if you dare. All scenes were filmed by a French film-maker in the City of Detroit. This is not anomalous. This is Detroit. If you want a more hopeful vision of Detroit-Buy Re-imagining Detroit, John Gallagher. WSU Press.

My Town Monday-Detroit Passport to the Arts-EDE

For the fourth cultural event on our Detroit Passport to the Arts (surely the best $99 I've ever spent) we saw a lovely tribute to rock music by the Eisenhower Dance Ensemble. EDE is a local group I've meant to see for years and boy, I sure should have. They just rocked the house with their sinewy, slippery, acrobatic moves. The video above is from a piece they did last year and I wish I had seen that one too.

Is there anything lovelier than a modern dancer's body? As much as I don't get a lot of contemporary art, I do get contemporary dance and prefer it to ballet, which always seems stiff and confining and embalmed. I highly recommend both going to see EDE and taking advantage of the Detroit Passport to the Arts Program. I believe they have funding for a second year.

Do you dig modern dance? With the loss of funding, I'm worried this will be one of the first cultural things to be left behind. I know roads and cops and education are important but a hallmark of a great society is also its investment in the arts.

MY TOWN MONDAY-Detroit's Winter Blast 2007 "96 Tears"

MY TOWN MONDAY DETROIT-COMMUNITY THEATER

It's not difficult to find a play to attend in Detroit. We have quite a few professional theaters-showing Broadway imports as well as local productions. There are theaters at most of the colleges. We also have many local community groups. Saturday night I was lucky enough to see the Rosedale Community Players put on a version of TWELVE ANGRY MEN that would do any acting group proud.

They staged it a little Lutheran Church, with music supplied by the church's minister. Dinner was served and a sterling production followed. The production was followed by a very interesting discussion of both the play and how the production came together. Actors discussed how they found the moment when their character went from voting guilty to not guilty. How they came to believe in their character's conversion. It was just a lot of fun. Most of the actors had been part of the group for many years, playing many parts. I doubt that I got more out of the movie with Henry Fonda and other fine actors of that era.

Do you support community theater in your hometown? You might be surprised at how good it is. I sure was.

My Town Monday: Detroit Reading Corps

Find out more here.






(From the FREEP)

The Detroit Free Press, in partnership with Detroit Public Schools, in December called for citizens to volunteer 100,000 hours collectively to tutor reading in DPS schools.

The Call to Action for a new Reading Corps comes on the heels of recent test scores that showed Detroit schoolchildren ranked the lowest in the nation of participants on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math test.

In terms of performance levels in the fourth grade in Detroit on the math test, 69 percent of students scored at a below basic level. In terms of performance levels in the eighth grade in Detroit, 77 percent were below basic. (from the DPA website). Student reading scores are similarly below basic level.

So far over 4600 people have volunteered to assist third graders in reading. That amounts to one tutor for every child. The volunteers come from the city and from every suburb surrounding it. Yesterday's Detroit Free Press listed the names of all the volunteers, which took many pages.

Volunteers must undergo a background and fingerprint check, be trained and donate an hour a week to two children. Every attempt is made to accommodate personal schedules and locations.

Maybe this program will also serve to bring Detroit and its suburbs together for other joint projects, bringing Detroit back from the abyss it's become.

This is one of those days when I am proud to be from Detroit. If you're proud to be from Detroit too, go to the website and learn how you can help.

My Town Monday: Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe

http://www.springvalleysigns.com/restaurantandcafe/dirtydog.html (For sign-maker's site)


Two years ago, when this venue opened six blocks away from me, I was skeptical to say the least. I live in a community that is not hip. The idea of a jazz club succeeding in these economic times was ludicrous. And an elegant, tiny jazz club at that. One with a fairly pricey menu, white tablecloths, and authentic jazz.

But succeed it has. The owner has bought the building next to it and the building next to that. Someone had some courage. The crowd is intelligent and appreciative and the most integrated crowd I've ever seen in my neck of the woods. We have been there five times over the two years, always bringing a skeptical couple who think it's going to be a bust. No one's been disappointed yet. Each week brings a new jazz singer/group to the club. The cover charge is modest and the menu has small plates, pizzas and elegant entrees.

Last night we heard the Scott Gwinnell Orchestra-ten instruments in that little space. They finished their second set with a favorite jazz piece-Charlie Mingus's Haitian Fight Song. Boy was the time right for that one. They played their hearts out between six and eleven.

What other Mingus music do you like? For me listening to it live for the first time raised the hairs on my neck.

The Dirty Dog is located on Kercheval Avenue in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI. And if you come to visit me, I'll take you there. We have a spare room and bath.

MY TOWN MONDAY: SECOND STORY USED BOOKS

This is an amazingly good used book store in an improbable location in danger of going out of business due to the road construction outside their door (let alone the Detroit economy). It has the biggest selection of westerns, crime, horror, fantasy and sci fi books I've seen in a long time. They literarlly have forty feet of western titles. And quality fiction, true crime, comics, kids' books, etc. Anyone who lives anywhere near this store, should give it a try. Unlike many used bookstores, this one is pristine and neatly arranged. I found books here by James Reasoner, Bill Crider, Ed Gorman, L. Washburn, Sandra Scoppettone, and Richard Wheeler has his own twelve shelves. And I didn't even check under pseudonyms.

For those who live in Detroit, stop in. And if you have a western or fantasy you've been looking for, give me the title, they probably have it.

Second Story Used Books
17920 E 10 Mile Rd, Eastpointe, MI
(586) 773-6440‎

P.S. The guy didn't ask me to do this. Nor did he give me free books. Do I need to disclose that too?

MY TOWN MONDAY-Is it the air?

Three runners die in Detroit marathon-(from A.P.)

DETROIT, Michigan — Three men died within 16 minutes of each other while running a marathon in Detroit, officials said.

Temperatures were cool and emergency personnel stationed throughout the course were able to reach all three men seconds after they collapsed on Sunday morning, race officials said.

The first man to collapse was Daniel Langdon, 36, who fell at about 9:02 am (1302 GMT) between the 11- and 12-mile markers.

Rick Brown, 65, collapsed in the same area at 9:17 am (1317 GMT). A minute later, Jon Fenlon, 26, collapsed just after finishing the half-marathon in 1:53:37.

It was not clear whether Langdon and Brown were competing in the full or half marathon.

Deaths at marathons are relatively rare, with various studies placing the risk at between one in 75,000 and one in 126,000 participants.

More than 19,000 people participated in the marathon sponsored by the Detroit Free Press and Flagstar bank.

"On a day when so many people bring such energy and challenge themselves to do their utmost, this news is very difficult to hear," Free Press editor and publisher Paul Anger said.

"Our deepest sympathies are with the families."

This is just too sad and macabre.

MY TOWN MONDAY: Josh Abbott, Macomb County Prosecutor

I don' t talk much about the older guy in this picture. Josh is a prosecutor in Macomb Country, Michigan. He works in the appellate division, trying to keep felons in jail. This week he was successful with the State Appellate Court in two cases.
Steven Grant's was a high-profile case. He killed and dismembered his wife, Tara, up, stuck her in a freezer in the garage, called the cops and reported her missing. With two children at his side, he was interviewed (tearfully) again and again. Finally he took off barefoot and was chased across the state, arrested, tried and sentenced to a very long term. His appeal was based on not being able to get a fair trial due to the publicity surrounding his case, publicity he was largely responsible for. (A book on this murder came out this week following one last January).

Josh's other case was a mother who stabbed her two young daughters to death, claiming voices told her to do this. She claimed these voices also told her to kill herself but said she had trouble doing this since she had used a knife to kill the two small children (plus the family pets). There were no wounds on her.

Sometimes it worries me that I have two children who spend their days thinking about murder.
But what's a mother to do. Congratulations to Josh for two cases well-prosecuted.

A few other My Town Monday posts can be found at Clair Dickson's blog here.

MY TOWN MONDAY, Philadelphia-Society Hill Playhouse

There are few things I enjoy more than going to a play. Last weekend I saw a great one at Performance Network in Ann Arbor, THE BLONDE, THE BRUNETTE AND THE VENGEFUL REDHEAD, all played by the wonderful Suzi Regan.

Growing up in Philly, I didn't get to the theater much-if at all. It wasn't in our budget. But if I had been able to go, one theater I would have gone to is the Society Hill Playhouse, now celebrating its 50th anniversary.

From their website because they say it better:

Society Hill Playhouse is located in the heart of the Society Hill District (just 1/2 block off the "hot" South Street Corridor). It's housed in the historic David Garrick Hall.

This century-old building with its Victorian pressed tin walls and ceilings presents good, entertaining shows. No highbrow, high-falutin, artsy stuff here. Although most of the productions are new comedies or East Coast premieres, these shows are not only accessible, but they also reach out and pull you right in, sometimes literally. Shows like the long-running �Lafferty�s Wake� involve the audience; others let you sit back and enjoy the laughs.

Deen Kogan and husband, Jay, launched Society Hill Playhouse in 1960 as Philadelphia's off-Broadway theater for contemporary American and European playwrights. Gradually, it developed a niche in populist comedies, and Nunsense, scheduled for six weeks, ran for ten years. The Red Room cabaret on the first floor seats 99 - and the main stage located on the second floor seats 223.

Deen is also involved with Lou Boxer in NOIRCON 2010. Stop by and see a play this season if you live nearby.

For more My Town Monday posts, see Clair Dickson's site here.

My Town Monday-Detroit Author, Patrick O'Leary

Patrick O'Leary's first novel, Door Number Three, was chosen by Publisher’s Weekly as one of the best novels of the year. His second novel, The Gift, was a finalist for the World Fantasy Award and The Mythopoeic Award. His third novel, The Impossible Bird, made the shortlist for the Nebula Award. Other Voices, Other Doors was his first collection of fiction, essays and poetry. O’Leary’s poetry was chosen for the The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 17th Annual Edition. His short stories have appeared in Postscripts, Mars Probes, Infinity Plus, Sci Fiction, Talebones, Imagination Fully Dilated 2, The Infinite Matrix, Electric Velocipede, and Conjunctions 39: The New Wave Fabulists. His novels have been translated into German, Russian, Japanese, Polish, French and Braille. Until recently he was a creative director at an advertising agency. His work has won numerous industry awards. He makes his home in the Detroit area.

Next month, a new volume of his short fiction THE BLACK HEART is being published by PS Publishing in a limited edition. You can visit his website here.

Patrick was born in Saginaw, Michigan and moved to Detroit early on. He worked in the advertising field for many years. He wrote the poem "Nobody Knows It But Me," which was used in in a 2002 advertising campaign for the Tahoe and recited by James Garner. This has been widely used in weddings(and funerals) ever since.

On the eve of his new publication, Patrick answered a few questions.

1) Why horror/fantasy/science fiction? Was that your genre of choice as a
young reader? Were you surprised when that was how your books were
defined by the public or did you specifically write to that audience?

Well, no. I was and am pretty aware of genre. I just have no compunction to condescend to it. Weird literature is a very natural fit for my brain. In fact, there is almost an SF mindset among fans, a peculiar slant way of looking at the world which seems ordinary to us who grew up on The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Tolkien and Creepy Magazine. We recognize each other immediately when we exchange the secret code words.
"Fantastika" (as John Clute has dubbed it) is the most inclusive and expansive of fiction modes. It contains a broader palette of life, a larger vocabulary of imagination, if you will. It has been something of a mission of mine to disregard boundaries of presumption and to describe the world as I see it. It is passing
strange. I think the only way we can deal with it is by saying it's
just a dream, or a horror, or a fantasy.

2) Who did you read as a young man? Who do you read now? Who should we be reading?

I was introduced to literature by the Little House Books of Laura Ingalls Wilder (co-written, we've learned since then with her daughter Rose Wilder). I was a lonely boy who had just moved from an idyllic country home to the Big City of Detroit. This traumatic voyage into a new and awful world turned me into a reader, and I sought refuge the hearth tales of a warm pioneer family who seemed to move into new territories of danger and dismay ever year, every book (Blizzards/ blindness/Indians/crop failures). One mustn't underestimate initial gateways into literature.

From there I moved naturally onto Salinger, Hemmingway, Kael, Greene,
Waugh, Spark, Doctorow and poets like Berryman, E.E.Cummings, etc.
I've just discovered Kage Baker--a superb SF/fantasy writer. I love the poetry of Mary
Oliver. The songs of Van Morrison. And the literature of Gene Wolfe. I think we ought to be reading Kevin Brockenmeirer, Ono no Komachi and Octavia Butler. A list of my favorite books is on the webpage. http://web.mac.com/paddybon/

3) How do you feel about the little magazines in the fantastic- fiction field that you have contributed to? Is the future of most genre writing in such publications. Where is the best writing taking place right now?

Surprise. I am most grateful to the magazines who've accepted my work. I haven't the faintest idea where the genre is going. Could anyone have predicted Obama 5 years ago? Why should literature be any different?

4) Tell us about your new book of stories?

The Black Heart is a collection of strange new stories and stories excerpted from my three novels. Jim Morrow wrote a wonderful introduction which in my weaker moments makes me feel truly bad ass. Some are SF. Some are fantasy. Trust me: on any given page you will
have no idea what happens next. Let me quote myself from the cover flap. "The Black Heart is a collection of Patrick O'Leary's newest stories. Here you will find aliens and apocalypses, God and Satan, witches and geishas, madonnas and mutes, birds and bears, zoos and prisons, weeping robots and knights who work in hardware, pardons and orgasms, men without legs and aliens without hearts. In short, pretty much your standard O'Leary stash..."

5) Has Detroit/Michigan informed your writing? It seems to me that fantasy writers are probably less influenced by where they live than other writers? Is this a misconception?

Our black cat with green eyes keeps coming to the window and yowling through the screen, I'll be damned if I'm going to let him in. There is roughly 15% unemployment in Michigan. I am unemployed.

6) What’s next for Patrick O’Leary?

A collection of translations of the poetry of Ono no Komachi with woodcuts by my wife, Sandra Rice. A new collection of poems is out and about. I remain paddling on a fantasy novel I began in 1998.

7) What, as teachers say, are you trying to do?

I am not trying to do anything. I am doing it, but way too slowly. Let me start again.

Let's say you've never been kissed.You are standing in the corner of a gymnasium watching other junior high kids slo-dance in the semi-dark, A black man in a white suit with a white fender electric comes to the stage and mimes his as yet unhead of hit: "Sunny." Some manager thought playing school sock hops was the way to drum up interest in his career. In the corner are the chaperons: the coach who whipped you with his lanyard. The black man who taught you social science. Over there is the football star who peed on you in the showers as a joke. And this is a middle class, ordinary high school, one year after the Beatles broke. See that strobe light. That girl over there doing the pony with the ironed-flat bangs and the green miniskirt. She doesn't know you love her. She will never know you love her. The DJ plays The Rolling Stones singing, "This could be the last time. This could be the last time, MAAAAY be
the last time I don't know. Oh No."

That's what I'm trying to do.

**********************************************************************************
Brian Lindenmuth, editor of Bookspot Central and an O'Leary fan had this to say about Patrick O'Leary.

Trying to put words to Patrick O'Leary's novels is practically a futile exercise because they are that rare thing in fiction, true originals, containing savage acts of imagination and bolded,
underlined and emphasized transmissions from the heart.

His work is literally unlike any others out there. At it's best his work has beauty, elegance, grace and maybe a touch of the divine. He's one of those writers that you wish was more prolific but you're glad he's not because it might dilute what he's doing.

What further proof do you need then these two examples

***

1) The man who hypnotized his whole fourth grade class into believing
they were invisible. Leading them in a chorus countdown in the Saginaw
Museum’s science wing.“Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”

And suddenly the beautiful feeling of being safe. Truly safe. Nobody
watching. Nobody seeing. His science teacher Mrs. Brown and the field
trip chaperons, lined up by the frosted glass door. Their eyes closed,
their smiles benevolent. All his classmates quiet and crowded
together, smiling guilty smiles.

Mrs. Brown slowly licking her lips, remembering a private pleasure.

One boy touching himself through his corduroys.

One girl reaching out and holding the hand of the boy in front of her.

Mike looking at Peggy Stack’s red pigtails. Finally free to stare
without shyness at his secret crush: her freckled face and blue eyes.
Mike smelling Peggy’s scent: peaches. Dr. Klinder speaking, and though
he stood across the room, it felt like he was whispering in his ear.
“You look like you want to kiss her, Mike. Go ahead.”

Mike hesitating.

“Go on. She can’t see you.”

And Mike leaning down and tilting his head toward the little girl in pigtails.

Contact: the electric warm smoothness of her lips.

His open eyes taking in the white down on her freckled cheek.

The tip of her tongue gently parting his teeth.

His first kiss.

Klinder’s red parrot giving a wolf whistle that echoed off the high
ceiling of the science wing.

And the huge tear trickling down her face, interrupting the kiss.

Her sad eyes and her one word. “Daddy?”

2)

“You Ok”

I looked at him. “I was remembering something I hadn’t thought of in years.”

“Yeah. Time-blipping does that to ya. Scrapes the barnacles off yer hull”

“It’s like it happened yesterday.”

“I know. A cruddy memory?”

I nodded. “I was eighteen. Sitting in the den watching a fire. My dad
came home early, or I was up late. Anyway, he didn’t expect to see me.
And he did the strangest thing. He sat down next to me on the couch.
Started telling me these” – I swallowed – “things. Like how proud he
was of me. How he bragged about me all the time at the dealership. He
said he called me his ‘Smart Boy’. He said he was glad at least one of
his boys was going to finish college.”

Saul cocked an eyebrow at me. “What’s so cruddy about that?”

“You don’t understand. I could smell the gin on his breath.”

The little man shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time a guy hadta get
juiced to, you know…”

“No”, I said. “That’s not it. He was nervous. Guilty. He was taking me
into his confidence. So I wouldn’t be tempted to tell my mother.” I
saw I wasn’t making sense. “He’d been sober for five years. She’d
threatened to leave him if he took another drink. He was buying me
off.”

“Oh.”

“He told me everything a son wants to hear from his father and he didn’t mean a word.”

Check out Patrick's website for a generous sample his Patrick O'Leary's work. He is truly a Detroit original.

And find more MY TOWN MONDAY posts here.

MY TOWN MONDAY

Creperie


Park Shelton






Leopold's books









The Detroit environs is now the site of many disappearing shops. Even in Royal Oak, the hippest suburb, I counted dozens of empty store fronts yesterday.

But in the midst of all this--and in Detroit itself-- two new businesses have opened, poised between Wayne State University and the College for Creative Studies. They are also across from the Art Institute. I can't tell you how much I admire these young people taking a chance on Detroit.

Leopold's Books, owned and manned by University of Chicago MA graduate, Greg Lenhoff, has the coolest assortment of books you will ever find in a small space. Their common strand is they are dark, arty, different. Lots of graphic comics, art magazines, journals, new editions of classics by Chandler et al, Michigan authors. Just the sort of place to find something for the cool guy or woman in your life. The space itself is attractive with high ceilings, dark walls, wood floors, huge window onto Woodward Avenue. Leopoldsbooks@gmail.com for more information. Or call 313-875-4677. He's open all the time. Go in and say hello.

Plopped right next door to Leopald's is GOOD GIRLS GO TO PARIS CREPES, a second location for the business in midtown Detroit. A huge selection of delicious crepes, reasonably priced and made from scratch. Also a spanking new facility. Long hours, too.

You could do worse than spend some time in these spots after a trip to the Art Museum, Historical Museum across the street, the Museum of African-American History or the Detroit Science Center.

Both of these shops are located on the street level of THE PARK SHELTON, formerly apartments and now a new condo in the area.

Both places are at 15 E. Kirby, on the Woodward side.

For more MY TOWN MONDAY POST, GO HERE WHERE CLAIR DICKSON KEEPS TRACK OF THEM.

MY TOWN MONDAY-Detroit Deaths

An experiment here...stories loosely based on actual deaths in Detroit.

Willis Dumphrey and Carla Batista Stabbed in a Early Morning Holdup

The only convenient— no, the only feasible time—for them to have sex was before eight A.M. on weekday mornings. And to top it off, they did it on a narrow cot in Travis’s office. Travis, a former ballplayer and now businessman, never came in much before nine, and, in fact, most days didn’t show up at all. He was likely about to run for City Council come November, or so the Metro paper said.

Sometimes she worried the scent of their mornings would seep into the room and trip them up, but at some point in the past, it’d become part of it.

The two of them, Carla, the cook and Willis, the bartender and manager, came in before nine to set things up. The bar attracted an early lunch crowd— people from downtown offices, or the courts, or the stadium if there was a game. The waitresses and dish-washer started work at ten when things picked up and the rest of the day usually passed in a blur. They finished their shift at six and went home to their spouses.

But there was this first—this magic—and almost every day. It was not a love affair exactly: it was two lonely, horny people taking comfort in each other. Too bad it had to be at this hour, but it began to seem right. And when one of them took a vacation or got sick, the other one grew antsy. Making love with her sixty-year old husband at night twice a month—that’s what seemed odd now.

“You’re going to have Sweetie in here while I’m gone, aren’t you,” Carla asked, curled up in Willis’ arms. Sweetie was a waitress who'd just turned 22. He laughed. They were dressed now but couldn’t quite say goodbye. They had a few minutes. She was going to Lapeer for a few days to help her daughter out with her new baby. It would be her first grandchild if the kid ever got itself born. A week late now and no sign of it; her daughter was going bonkers waiting.

Willis was about to say something funny—she could tell from the smile that was beginning to form—when the door swung open and two men wearing masks pushed into the room. Carla started to scream but then thought better of it.

The larger man shrugged and without saying a word, yanked the cord from a lamp, motioned for them to get up, and herded them toward the cold storage unit down the hallway. They could hear the other man rifling the safe as they moved in single file. Once inside the room, he inadvertently rubbed up against Willis and his mask slipped down. They saw it was Travis and
glanced at each other in shock.

“Too bad,” he said. Just that. He looked indecisive for a second or two, but then pulled a knife from his pocket and quickly stabbed Willis in the chest and stomach. Willis slid to the floor as blood spurted from several places.

“Travis,” Carla started to say. “You don’t…” She could see terror in his eyes, but also the
heartlessness. Coldness. His arm rose over his head as it came down hard into her breast. His ballplayer days were behind him now, she thought as she died, but he still had some power in those arms.

MY TOWN MONDAY, August 3, 2009-Worsley, England

Todd's childhood library in Enfield, CT.

K.A. Laity is with me on sitting in pubs.


Dorte's church in Denmark-her place of solace.









Charles place to roam is the woods near Abita Springs.




Our cottage was the middle one.






For a year of my life, I lived in Worsley, England, a small town outside Salford and near Manchester. My husband was teaching at the University of Salford.

This is really not about Worsley because I've spoken of it before. How much I loved the old (1600s) cottage we lived in, the woods, the town green.

What it is about is how much I miss the pub there. I am not that much of a drinker, but I love pubs. Especially English ones. You could hang around forever and feel quite cozy on a winter's night, quite familial on a Sunday afternoon, sit outside in summer and enjoy the gardens. For two sometimes lonely Americans it was heaven. I've never quite replaced it here. Bars seem like places for twenty-somethings and restaurants aren't the same thing.

Do you have a place like this? Doesn't have to be a pub-just a place you like to go and feel like yourself. A place away from home that's like it.

More My Town Monday posts can be found here.

My Town Monday, Marshall, Michigan

Buster Keaton reading.












Marshall, Michigan is about two hours from Detroit and one of my favorite places to visit due to their lovely old homes. Every fall they have a tour of them, yet I always seem to miss it. Marshall has some great antique stores, incredible homes and a Main Street that's largely intact. It also has a museum of magic, a Civil War Museum, one of the oldest continuously used cemetery, an historic theater with an organ and other great venues. If you are driving between Chicago and Detroit, it's a perfect destination.


http://www.marshallmi.org/attractions.taf

More My Town Monday posts can be found here.

My Town Monday: Ann Arbor Art Festival

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original

It is impossible to describe the number of artists, visitors, restaurants, shops, etc that take place in the annual Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. The fairs are judged and you will find artwork in every media and at ever price. Half a million people descend on this town every year. This was a good year for the fair-weatherwise, if a bad year economically. I saw as many people as ever, but less artwork being purchased.

Ann Arbor Street Art Fair

The oldest of the four art fairs, taking place mid-July, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original, was established in 1960 by a collaboration between the Ann Arbor Art Association, the University of Michigan, and two business groups. For 50 years, The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair has been connecting a carefully selected group of artists with an appreciative audience from Ann Arbor and across the country. During this half century, the Fair has won many awards, provided substantial economic benefit to the local business community, and often been recognized as the brand of Ann Arbor.

The “Original” moniker in the Fair’s title comes not only from the event’s history, but from its unique role as a leader in the art fair community. It was the first Fair to jury an outdoor show in 1965 and was integral in the creation of the online jurying system Zapplication, now in use by hundreds of fairs across the country.

The Fair has also been a leader in programming throughout the years, initiating events like the Townie Street Party. This special free kick off event takes place the Monday before the start of the Fairs (July 13th 2009) and gives the community a chance to celebrate the Art Fairs before the crowds come to town. Other programs like the Kid’s Art Fair give young artists the opportunity to exhibit and sell their work. The New Artist Program allows University level artists to experience what it’s like to fully participate in the Street Art Fair.

The Performances on the Lawn program is a big hit with the Fair crowd too. Housed within a huge 60’x 90’ tent, this line up s \howcases an exciting and eclectic mix of music, dance and magic by local community groups and professionals that is family friendly, forward thinking and innovative. The Performances on the Lawn program features over 30 acts throughout the four days of the Fair, creating an intimate and inviting sense of community that complements the exceptional visual art that surrounds it.

The Fair also hosts Imagination Stations with “make and take” activities for younger children and Visual Art Workshops as well. Programs like these help to encourage a broader understanding of art while providing area artists with an opportunity to engage fairgoers in community art projects. The Original Fair has recently made a huge commitment to sustainability as well, introducing the Zero Waste Program in 2008 with a goal of minimal environmental impact. This program was one of three invited to present at the 2009 annual MFEA Conference.^[2]

As a result of its leadership, The Original Fair has won numerous awards, including the Governors Award (State of Michigan), several Reader’s Choice Awards (Ann Arbor News, Ann Arbor Current), a Gold Pinnacle Award (International Festivals and Events Association), and the title of the Number One Art Fair in the country (according to the AmericanStyle magazine readers survey, October 2004)^[3][2]. It has made the list of Top Ten Fairs and Festivals every year since.

In 2003, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Original relocated to North University Avenue and the streets surrounding the landmark Burton Carillon Tower. This gorgeous new location on the University of Michigan’s Central Campus is set amidst elegant architecture and beautifully landscaped pedestrian walkways.

Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair

The Ann Arbor State Street Art Fair was established in 1968 and is sponsored by the Ann Arbor Street Area Association. It features almost 400 artists and takes place in the shopping districts around State Street.^[4]

Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair

The Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair was established in 1960 and is run by the The Guild of Artists & Artisans. Originally called the Free Arts Festival and held on the Diag, in the University of Michigan's Central Campus, in the mid-70s it was renamed to become the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair. Currently, it is held in two locations, one on State Street, and the other on Main Street and Liberty Street between Main and 4th Avenue. In addition to 375 professional artists, the fair also features performances and children's activities.^[5]

2009: Celebrating 50 years of Ann Arbor's Art Fairs ~ [The Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair Website]

Ann Arbor South University Art Fair

"Diversity, Live it on South U" Celebrating 50 years of Art on the streets of Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor's South University Art Fair: Since the first Fair appeared on South University in 1960 many things have changed and yet so much remains the same. The idea for an Art Fair, first proposed by Bruce Henry, owner of Artisan’s Gallery on South University, now has a life of its own. Colorful paper fish hung by the merchants flew gaily from the lamp-posts during the first fair and that theme is echoed in this years poster designed by Chuck Wimmer (Booth E191). Ann Arbor’s South University Art Fair featuring almost 150 artists is where the past meets the future. Cutting edge creations blend with traditional styles, and local and international artists combine to bring you the unmistakable flavor which epitomizes the youngest of the Ann Arbor Art Fairs. Great ethnic restaurants, hip and quirky stores plus plenty of easy access parking at the Forest Parking Deck make South U. the best possible starting place for your Art Fair adventure.

Whether you return via bus to your car in the shopping center empty handed or full of art, you will enjoy the fair. The food itself is reason to attend.

Visit more MY TOWN MONDAY SITES, HOSTED BY CLAIR DICKSON HERE.

My Town Monday, July 12, 2009

Paulette Goddard reading.



Blogger is giving me troubles today so if you don't see a response, blame it on that. Does anyone ever report these errors and if so do you get a response?




Last Thursday, I spotted the word "Detroit" in the home section of THE NEW YORK TIMES. Whereas other articles on the pages were about pieces of furniture and similar items, abandoned homes in Detroit was its subject.

Notice the layers of abandonment in this selection.

Kevin Bauman has been photographing abandoned houses in Detroit for some time. He was hopeful that some of these houses would be saved when he began. The photos are for sale but as NYT suggested, probably few Detroiters will buy one. We just have to look out the window.

What's truly amazing is how lovely many of these buildings must have once been. It's not just tenements falling down here.

Here's his site--take a look. Something to keep in mind is that these are all in the city Detroit, despite often seeming rural due to demolished neighboring houses.

As Mr. Bauman says on his website: "All images, whether the crumbling facade of a century old mansion, or a client's industrial drill, are linked together by my devotion to photography, and each recieves the same attention to detail."

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MY TOWN MONDAY, July 6, 2009: Detroit

PROGRAM NOTE: I NEED TO HAVE THIS FRIDAY's LINKS POSTED EARLY SO CAN YOU LET ME KNOW BY WEDNESDAY AT THE LATEST IF YOU WILL NOT BE POSTING. OTHERWISE I WILL JUST POST LINKS TO THE USUAL SUSPECTS. THANKS.

Johnny Depp reading.







From mid-June until mid-July, my neighborhood near Lake St. Clair outside Detroit is covered with what Michiganders call fish flies. They have no stomachs and are completely harmless. They are meant to provide food for the fish in the lake. Except these insects blow inland in alarming numbers. You hear a crunch under your car wheels, storefronts are covered with them, they turn up in surprising places.

They cling to everything including people. They are everywhere for a month--the more the better in terms of lake health.

This year saw a bumper crop. About the size of a skinny moth, they are nearly weightless.

Do you have anything like this in your port of call?