2014 October

Nerdfighters

The club is for fans of John Green, author of the young adult bestseller-turned-movie The Fault in Our Stars. Green and his musician brother, Hank, have popularized the movement through live tours and YouTube videos, including...

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The Belle of Amherst

After watching Nancy Heusel perform The Belle of Amherst at Kempf House in 2004, I wanted to run home and read every word Emily Dickinson ever wrote. The setting in a real nineteenth-century house made it almost seem like we...

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The Belcea Quartet

Every string quartet ever written is a four-way conversation unencumbered by words. The term “string quartet” denotes both a musical composition and the intimate group that brings it to life for all to hear. By far...

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Upstairs, Downstairs in Chelsea

At the end of May, Deborah Coy moved her women’s clothing and accessories store, The Attic Boutique, from its location above Seitz’s Tavern to a street-level space on E. Middle St. Coy opened her business last...

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New Maison on Chelsea’s Main St.

After nearly twenty years in business, sisters and business partners Lynne Faist and Jane Diesing will close The Village Shoppe–the clothing, gifts, and home furnishings store on Main St. that they ran with their mother,...

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In the Rough 2014

In our survey of fifteen local golf businesses, from country clubs to driving ranges, the vast majority say that business has stagnated or declined in recent years.”There’s a convergence of factors” behind...

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Mezzevino

What’s not to like about the best of Mediterranean-inspired food? You can almost taste the sunshine ripening the olives and lemons as you picture a landscape of white columns by an azure sea. Though the...

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Farewell to Christine’s

“We, the ladies of Christine’s, would like to thank you for all your love and support for the last twenty-three years,” begins a farewell letter from the gift/home/baby shop next to Hackney Hardware on Main St....

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The Last Wolverine

After nearly forty-seven years in business, Judy Merkel welcomed customers to Wolverine Food & Spirits one last time on August 23–the day of the Chelsea Community Fair parade. Merkel says the Wolverine has always been...

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Napping Parrot

It’s still hard to believe that downtown Saline’s folksy coffee house the Drowsy Parrot is closed. Neither its owner, Scott Buster, or the building’s landlord of record, Keith Larder, could be reached. Peering...

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Reading, Writing, and Politics

Except for the spring of 1991, I have never attended an ice cream social. That year I went to thirteen, without ever tasting ice cream. I was running for the Ann Arbor Board of Education, and it was part of the job.So were the...

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The Saragossa Manuscript

Count Jan Potocki (1761-1815) was a Polish nobleman who fought at sea as a member of the Knights of Malta, traveled to Mongolia and carefully recorded what he saw there, and was the first Pole to fly in a balloon–just for...

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Jewett memorial:

Almost two years after Coleman Jewett’s death, friends are closing in on their goal of building a memorial to the popular retired teacher and Farmers Market vendor. Marsha Chamberlin, the former Ann Arbor Art Center CEO...

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No oil in Scio

“Everybody’s jumping for joy,” says Scio Township supervisor Spaulding Clark. He’s referring to the departure of a Traverse City-based oil exploration company which had drilled an exploratory oil well...

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It’s All Good

Two major stories are bubbling under one roof at 117 W. Liberty, the address of the Ann Arbor Art Center. The most recent, visible, and highly publicized change is that a new showroom for Motawi Tile now occupies the front half...

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An Even Bigger Kiwanis Sale

The Ann Arbor Kiwanis Thrift Sale is about to get bigger–much bigger. The club is set to purchase the 121,000-square-foot Sheridan Books building and complex in Scio Township and plans to use about one-third of that space...

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Reena Market and LILL Studio

Ali Hijazi’s Reena Marke hardly lasted longer than the short-lived Green Health store it replaced in the Colonnade. Since Hijazi owns Zamaan Cafe next door, he thought he knew what the Colonnade needed: a small...

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Return of the Sidewalk Surfer

I was introduced to skateboarding–then called “sidewalk surfing”–on a family visit to California in 1963. I got my first skateboard in 1965 from Beaver’s Bike and Hobby on Church St. So I’ve...

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Beer Grotto Opens

“Too often people have buyer’s remorse. They buy a six-pack of pretzel mocha stout because it sounds like a good idea.” For about five minutes. “Or they buy a bottle of wine because they like the...

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