At Pioneer High, he was stalked by scouts. At the U-M, he led a baseball revival. Once he turned pro, however, Zach Putnam’s rocket ride to stardom sputtered. Traded, waived, released, repeatedly demoted, he has pitched in...
Read MoreWhat’s the deal with the highway interchanges where North Main St. meets M-14? I’m talking about the Barton Dr., Whitmore Lake Rd., and North Main St. entrances and exits. They are confusing at best and often quite...
Read MoreWhen James Woolliscroft heard the news in January 2007 that Pfizer was closing its drug research campus on Plymouth Rd., he thought, Wow, what an opportunity.This was far from the majority sentiment in Ann Arbor. The city faced...
Read MoreEditor’s note: This event has been cancelled.Stephane Grappelli once said of Mark O’Connor, “He’s not what you would call … human.” No small compliment coming from one who many agree was...
Read More“You’ve heard of folklore, right?” asks Larry Collins, Ann Arbor’s new fire chief. “Well, there’s a thing called fire lore. What happens is, over the years, what the old-timers said takes on a...
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It’s there in big type at the top of SPARK’s latest annual report: “13,034 new jobs since 2006.”Sumi Kailasapathy doubts it.”The job creation claims for previous years made by SPARK have proven to...
Read MoreMy continuing search for bargain eats has brought me to the sad realization that my husband and I, tethered to jobs with unconventional hours, have spent years missing out on the cheapskate’s best source for budget food:...
Read MoreQ. When reviewing my water bill I noted that there was no sales tax included. If there is no need for a sales tax on water usage, why is one needed for telephone, electricity, and natural gas usage? A. That’s the law;...
Read MoreOur abstract-looking photo this month features a close-up of a portion of a rock covered with lichens and moss. Lots of other boulders in Saginaw Forest (3900 W. Liberty Rd.) are similarly covered, and the silvery lichens and...
Read MoreNorthwest of Chelsea, a black-and-gold sign announces “Mill Pond Bread” with the fleur-de-lis symbol of the French kings. The fragrance of baking–depending on the day, it might be Lithuanian rye bread,...
Read MoreSummers builds electrified bicycles in his Pittsfield Village condo. He calls the business Human-Electric-Hybrids, and says it was born of frustration.In 2012, he was working as an industrial controls engineer in Canton, and...
Read MorePotatoes. Pretzels. Vegetables. Apples. Organic meats and eggs. Hand-dipped chocolates. Cookies. Cakes. Dog biscuits and cat treats. Alpaca wool socks. Raw, raspberry, blueberry, and thistle honeys. Jams. Jellies. Syrups. Soaps....
Read MoreIt’s the wrath of Aretha Franklin the owner of King’s Keyboard House fears. He sold the Queen of Soul’s favorite piano: a shiny black seven-foot, six-inch Yamaha concert grand.”She really loved that...
Read MoreRecent changes in national flood insurance policy outraged many homeowners who found properties moved into a floodplain for the first time–but in Ann Arbor the effect has been largely reversed, if only temporarily.The...
Read MoreIn the words of poet Jacques Prevert: “It is spring, the needle goes wild in the compass.” Conditions are ideal, then, for a visit from a chamber ensemble named after an uncontainable forest goddess. On April 19 the...
Read MoreAfter we walk down the long hallway back to the cafeteria for Skyline High School’s Brick Bash, ten-year-old Little Brother stops dead in his tracks when he sees the twelve-foot-tall skyscraper, all clear glass and blue...
Read MoreSomeone once wrote of the German poet Heinrich Heine that he delighted in blowing big sentimental soap bubbles and then deliberately pricking them. That’s a good description of the songs of Steve Poltz, the Friday-night MC...
Read MoreAlmost forty years ago two renowned jazz pianists, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, put their other projects on hold and went on tour together. By then they were in mid-career, approaching their forties. They had started out...
Read MoreKelly Hone spends her workdays with Chico the chinchilla, Badger the ferret, and Snowflake the hedgehog. Mice, chicks, bunnies, red-footed tortoises, Petunia the pot-bellied pig, and Nigerian dwarf goats round out her retinue....
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