Hurt Locker
In April, the whiteboard in Pioneer head coach Jeremy Gold’s office listed a long roster of spring visits by colleges looking for football players. On May 11, Yale and Harvard were coming. On the following days, Penn and...
Read More2010 June
Tipping Point
It’s about to get a lot easier to recycle in Ann Arbor, a city which prides itself on being green. So why isn’t everybody happy?The city’s switch to single-stream recycling, starting in July, means residents...
Read MoreState St. Swirlberry Closes
Swirlberry on State Street, which opened just last summer, closed–not unexpectedly, because the building is being torn down to make room for a CVS. Nevertheless, owner Nico Leo (who owns the business along with Gaal Karp)...
Read MoreDear Mr. Sinatra
John Pizzarelli is no Frank Sinatra–though he does play him on stage, as he will in the Power Center on June 30 as part of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival.”Play” is the key word to understanding Pizzarelli. In...
Read MoreMark Koernke’s War
On the weekend that the FBI raided the Hutaree militia, the war that Mark Koernke had prophesied for decades seemed finally to have begun. From his bunker–a dilapidated farmhouse just outside Dexter–Koernke went...
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Gold Crown Jewelers Opens
One of the first things you notice when you walk into the new Gold Crown Jewelers on Stadium is the richly colored patterns of tile on the floor, columns, and walls–they’re almost as striking as the handmade jewelry...
Read MoreA Gem of a Band
Pearls, Orpheum Bell’s latest album, sounds like it’s coming through a phonograph, all sepia-toned and ghostly. This is due in part to the band’s old-time mix of country and bluegrass with a few other...
Read MoreNoodles and buns at Tomukun
Thomas Yon graduated from Michigan State with a degree in economics and went to work in a bank. But “I just really didn’t enjoy my job,” says Yon, twenty-seven. “I went from job to job hoping it would be...
Read MoreAnn Arborite Kate MacEwen
In a small, neatly kept house in the east part of town, Kate MacEwen, twenty-nine, is recording a video interview. MacEwen, of average height, blue-eyed and rosy-cheeked, is development director of an organization called...
Read MoreBiggby Gets Bigger
Jeannine Mickeleit cheerfully admits that she and her employees are maybe a little too happy. “We are probably over the top a little bit,” she laughs. “But that’s how I want my store to be. I want you to...
Read MoreZing’s Spin-offs
After building a reputation around Reubens, olive oils, macaroni and cheese, and other deli and gourmet delicacies, Zingerman’s is cooking up something different: staffers are lobbying to add a Tunisian eatery and an...
Read MoreHealthy inspiration
My dad had three heart attacks, starting when I hit my teens. I saw him change from a larger-than-life 300-pounder to the trim but anxious nursing home resident he is today. We still share a fondness for good food and family...
Read MoreBoiled Peanut Man
Tom Laporte, aka the “Boiled Peanut Man,” brought a small piece of Dixie to Dexter’s backyard last November. Laporte, thirty-five, the sous chef at the Ann Arbor City Club, has worked in the food industry most...
Read MoreHarmonica Player Harper
The aptly named Harper is harmonica player Peter Harper, who was born in Britain, moved to western Australia with his family as a child, and has now come to rest in Grass Lake. He recorded six albums in Australia but moved to...
Read MoreGrow With Me Moves
“I’ve always shopped resale,” says Elyssa Mount, co-owner, along with Marni Hochman, of Grow With Me, which opened in 2008 as a tiny children’s resale store in an obscure plaza on Jackson west of Zeeb....
Read MoreForget Floyd the Barber
The hair cutters at Lady Jane’s Haircuts for Men are all toned, tanned, young women. Hired primarily off craigslist, the “LJ Girls” give the new shop on Washtenaw what president Tim McCollum calls an...
Read MoreReprising the Debut’s Review
Note: This review of the 2001 debut of Shakespeare in the Arb ran in the June 2002 Observer. A revival of this Residential College production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs Thurs.-Sun. June 3-20. (See Inside Ann Arbor...
Read MoreRest Stop Revamp on US-23
Q: What are they doing to the US-23 rest stop just north of Ann Arbor?A: The building has been removed, and the parking lot was torn out too. It is a fresh start for a rest stop that was born in the 1960s. Part of a statewide...
Read MoreOm Market Opens
The Plymouth Mall is showing some signs of revival after a grim spell. Bello Vino and Norton’s Flowers both closed in 2008 as a direct result of Pfizer’s departure. Coincidentally, the mall also lost its small branch...
Read MoreQuick Change Artists
“We had never seen this kind of economic meltdown that the state of Michigan was faced with,” says Robb Woulfe, executive director of the four-week festival. Ticket sales for the Mainstage series dropped $250,000...
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