When jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer Dave Brubeck left us in December a day before turning ninety-two, his life was celebrated by news outlets all over the world. For many, he was remembered for the performances and...
Read MoreThe abandoned gas station at 544 Detroit Street sat untouched for more than thirty years. Swisher real estate agent Doug Smith believes the longtime owner, former Ann Arbor resident and current Maryland physician Jack Epstein,...
Read MoreEsquire Interiors is now selling furniture in the adjacent space on Jackson Road that used to be Hicks Cleaners. “Fabric furniture, upholstered furniture–because fabric is what we know. We don’t do bedroom...
Read MorePink Pump is closing or already closed. In mid-February, the seller of pink and other pumps of outrageous heel height, as well as other women’s clothing that looks like it could have come from the wardrobe room of Jersey...
Read MoreRip Van Winkle, the lead character in Washington Irving’s 1819 short story, is best known for sleeping twenty years. Today, as a more than six-and-a-half-feet-tall wooden effigy with floor-grazing stocking cap and beard,...
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Jeff Koons tasks the lifting of paintbrushes to his tightly controlled troop of 150 paid assistants. Andy Warhol relied upon an assembly line of hired hands to mass-produce his silkscreens and lithographs. And even Michelangelo...
Read MoreWhen Jacqui Robbins learned of a children’s literature writing workshop at the Bank Street College of Education in New York, she phoned for information. The deadline was the next day, they said. Did she have a...
Read More“You don’t ever want people to feel dumb about how they’re pronouncing a name,” says Jason Branham, explaining why at the last minute he decided the name of his new restaurant, spelled Maiz, would be...
Read MoreWhen Barnett Jones ended his six years as Ann Arbor’s police chief last March, no one really expected him to stay retired.But who thought the fifty-nine-year-old would get two new jobs, as Flint’s public safety...
Read MoreThe current crown prince of kiddie rock is coming to town. The news that Justin Roberts and his Not Ready for Naptime Players are returning to the Ark this month has undoubtedly served as a wake-up call for their many mini...
Read MoreLisa Gottlieb’s pop-up not-a-restaurant is now taking a run at occasionally being not-a-bar. And it will be doing it as a federally recognized nonprofit. “We are on track to receive the final confirmation of our...
Read MoreI love Mani Osteria–the vibe, the drinks, the food, though not how impossibly crowded it usually is. I also love the robust Mexican food offered at many local taquerias, though not their lack of ambience and fine...
Read More“I wanted it to be cheerful, warm, and inviting. I wanted you to walk in and not know you’re in a strip mall,” Susan Todoroff says of her Juicy Kitchen Cafe. Her father cut down some pine trees near his hunting...
Read MoreThis month’s I Spy is … Blimpy Burger,” writes Duane Keahl. “My waistline can vouch for it!!” “I’ve been distraught by the thought,” writes Mary Shindell, “of losing this...
Read MoreWe received 138 entries correctly identifying the February Fake Ad for “Ret-Ro-Center.” Our winner is Patsy Morita of Ann Arbor, who’s taking her prize to Blue Tractor.”The ad is on page 69,” wrote...
Read MoreAnne Carson is a classicist who has become one of the leading poets of our time. As one might expect, the classics inform almost all of her work. As readers we come to expect that we will be finding some of the old connections...
Read MoreJeff Daniels is the author of fifteen plays, his latest–The Meaning of Almost Everything–now premiering at the Purple Rose. As the last sentence of his program bio wryly notes, “He also acts.” But this...
Read MoreIt was just starting to get dark as we set out on the trail during the Leslie Science & Nature Center Owl Prowl. Raptor program director Francie Krawcke said a nesting pair of eastern screech owls had been spotted the...
Read MoreCall it what you want–indie folk, folk-rock, Americana–but banjo-driven hooks and plaintive country-influenced melodies are the pop music flavor of the moment, from Mumford & Sons to the Lumineers. Detroit band...
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