Mexican Musical Chairs at Stone Plaza
“It just wasn’t meant to be,” says Lisa Weiss sympathetically of the very short-lived restaurant called El Ranchito at Stone Plaza at the corner of Stone School Rd. and Ellsworth. “But you know...
Read More2015 February
Coffee Klatch
With so many coffee shops in Ann Arbor, one is almost always opening or closing, but in the last few months, the changes came thick and fast. Are they symptomatic of some broader theme?David Myers, owner of the local Mighty Good...
Read MoreSign Wizard
The Detroit-raised artist has spent more than thirty years living and making signs in the Ann Arbor area. His handiwork includes the red Zingerman’s logo on the roof of the Roadhouse, Aventura’s blocky TAPAS sign,...
Read MoreParedown Opens an Annex
As downtown and campus retailers are talking doomsday, squeezed between high rents and online competition (see, for example, the closing of Dancing Dog Gallery, below), an interesting counterpoint is the number of businesses...
Read MoreDeliciously Dark
In Thomas Pynchon’s novel Inherent Vice, set in 1970, the bumbling private eye Doc Sportello laments the pop-cultural demise of his profession: “… [A]ll you see anymore is cops, the tube is saturated with...
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Mary Morgan and Dave Askins
“We didn’t get married because the Chinese government said we have to!” says Dave Askins indignantly. He and Mary Morgan–editor and publisher, respectively, of the late Ann Arbor Chronicle–tied the...
Read MoreThe Family Glitch
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act–aka Obamacare–should have made the county’s health insurance plan obsolete. Created in 2002 to insure residents who couldn’t afford coverage but...
Read MoreThe Acacia Bench
January’s I Spy showed the “two benches on the UM campus between the Hatcher Library and Angell Hall,” writes Megan Hartline. “I recognized them right away, since my office in the library offers a nice...
Read MoreTai Chi Chai Tea
Not only did Eve Avrin provide all the pertinent contest information in her entry this month, she also educated us.”The Fake Ad for January 2015 is found on page 75,” Avrin wrote. “Tai Chi Chai Tea. Last...
Read MoreTomasz Stanko
Polish jazz has a fascinating history. The postwar government initially drove it underground, but during the cultural thaw that took place after 1956 the music came out of the shadows and thrived. One of the leaders of the...
Read MoreThe Understorey
Editor’s note: The Understorey’s February 4 performance has been cancelled.The Understorey truly is a marriage of music: the band’s history began when vocalist Jess McCumons and guitarist Matt McCumons sang...
Read MoreBriarwood Steps Up Its Game
Briarwood is blooming with offshoots. Side by side, Bravo! Cucina Italiana and P.F. Chang’s China Bistro opened in December in what had been a parking lot just east of Macy’s. While not the very tippy top of fine...
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