Midwest Guest

Where I live: Detroit Symphony Orchestra's summer season strikes the right note for summer fun

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra kicked off their summer season this past weekend with showings of the Hitchcock thriller "Psycho" and the family fantasy film "The Wizard of Oz". Sure, you might catch these flicks on cable, but that simply can't compare to seeing them in a classic theater with a score played live by the DSO.

You don't always think about a film's scoring, but seeing "The Wizard of Oz" with the DSO and conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos reminded me how a good score enhances a film's story. I've seen this movie many times, often at home on television, but watching this classic became a whole new experience on the big screen with a live score. Just as the film's shift from black and white emphasized the vibrant colors of Dorothy's odyssey in Oz, the live score emphasized the experiences Dorothy and her friends encountered along the way.

The audience included many families with young children, and the program held the rapt attention of the youngest audience members until an enthusiastic ovation at the program's conclusion.

Missed it? The symphony's summer season includes several other programs that are great ways to introduce your family to the symphony or a great way to spend a date.

• See the DSO for free (with vehicle admission fee) at the park with a trio of concerts this coming weekend. The DSO performs at 8 p.m. Friday at Kensington Metropark, at 8 p.m. Saturday at Metro Beach Metropark, and at 8 p.m. on Sunday at Stony Creek Metropark.

  The personable Thomas Wilkins, who we always enjoy seeing, conducts these "Harmony in the Park" concerts, which offer a selection of classical and popular pieces. You can bring lawn chairs and score a seat near the concert stage, but it's possible to hear the concert from many areas within the park. One year, we enjoyed hearing the DSO at Stony Creek from afar as we barbecued dinner in an outlaying picnic area.

• Celebrate the holiday weekend (July 1-4) with the DSO at The Henry Ford in Greenfield Village. Steven Reincke conducts the 18th annual "Salute to America" concert, which features Michael Runyan on harmonica and pre-concert entertainment by the River Raisin Ragtime Revue, a Michigan-based theater orchestra. The concert includes patriotic and popular music, capped by a fireworks finale.

• Enjoy music under the stars by Lake St. Clair July 9 and 10 at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House. Arrive as early as 6 p.m. to enjoy the home's architecture and grounds. The program begins at 8:30 p.m. and concludes with a fireworks finale.





• I 'm a real fan of silent films, and regular Midwest Guest readers may remember me mentioning the July 15 showing of the 1926 Mary Pickford film "Sparrows" when I previewed the Detroit Film Theater's summer season. The DSO partners with the DFT for a showing of this film with live accompaniment by the orchestra at The Max, making this free program a great opportunity to hear the DSO in their home venue.

• Next up is one of my favorite summer festivals, the Concert of Colors. This free diversity and world music fest kicks off July 16 at the Detroit Institute of Arts with performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra before moving to The Max July 17 and 18. The DSO again performs on Sunday with a program of Western and Arabic classical music conducted by Tito Muñoz featuring Simon Shaheen on the oud, an Arabic stringed instrument. Check my Concert of Colors story article for a preview of the entire three-day fest.

• The DSO presents "Summer Nights" shows featuring classical and popular music at the Meadow Brook Music Festival July 22-23, July 30-31, and August 1. The DSO premiere of composer Kenji Bunch's piece commissioned by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Committee in 2009 happens July 30.

• Fans of world music mark your calendars for August 15, when the orchestra cedes the stage to Silk Road Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma with multi-cultural music and instrumentation at The Max. The program includes arrangements of traditional music from countries like India, China, and Persia, and extending to Europe and the Americas.





• We've always enjoyed jazz shows at The Max, seeing trumpeters Bryon Stripling and Irvin Mayfield perform in recent years. Given my love of jazz and silent flicks, I'm pretty jazzed about the August 26 program with trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Marsalis and his septet perform a live soundtrack accompaniment to the new silent film "Louis", the story of trumpeter Louis Armstrong's life and music. Marsalis executive produced the film and composed much of the music for it. This show is one of a six-city U.S. launch for the film.

Check the DSO Web site  for complete information about the summer schedule, repertoire, pricing, and purchasing tickets.

I received tickets to "The Wizard of Oz" program from the DSO. I've also attended numerous DSO programs at my own expense, and knowledge gained from those prior experiences informs the content of this article as well.

 

Note: "Where I live" posts are part of a series of periodic stories about special events and people in, and around, metro Detroit. "Where I live" posts are stories I'll post in addition to my regular schedule of stories about attractions around the larger Midwestern region. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Where I live: Detroit Film Theater launches summer 2010 season June 11

Beat the heat by taking in some great films during this summer season at the Detroit Film Theater, starting with the a showing of the newly discovered and restored complete version of the 1927 German masterpiece, "Metropolis", from director Fritz Lang on June 11.

This version of the visually stunning sci-fi classic includes almost 30 minutes of footage found tucked away with a film collector in Argentina who had the only known full two-and-one-half-hour version of this film pretty much as originally envisioned by the legendary Lang. The extra footage includes additional scenes, and even some additional subplots.

I've seen horribly butchered video versions of "Metropolis" over the years, as well as what I consider a somewhat bizarre 1984 version edited by music producer Giorgio Moroder with a soundtrack consisting of  1980s songs from artists like Queen, Bonnie Tyler, Pat Benatar, Billy Squire, Loverboy, and Adam Ant.

So the opportunity to finally see this film as the director intended it to be seen in 1927, especially in the DFT's classic 1920s Art Deco-style movie house, promises to be a real treat.

The remainder of the DFT's summer schedule looks every bit as intriguing and engaging.

Here are some other films that look especially interesting to me this time around:

• "An American Journey" is a companion piece to the Detroit Institute of Arts' exhibition of Robert Frank's photographs of small-town and rural America during the mid-twentieth century from his classic book, "The Americans". This particular matinee showing (June 12) is free with museum admission.

• I love silent films, but grew up watching a lot of them in herky-jerky versions shown at the wrong speed on television or in college film classes, so I especially appreciate DFT showings of silent classics like this season's "Metropolis" or the 1926 Mary Pickford flick "Sparrows" (July 15). This is a free showing at the Orchestra Hall with a live accompaniment by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

• Music fans are in for a real treat when the DFT shows Bruce Springsteen's "London Calling: Live in Hyde Park" (June 16). This is a special one-time-only preview showing of Springsteen's 2009 London concert with 100 percent of the proceeds going to benefit the DFT. Tickets cost $10, and you can buy them in advance.

• The DFT's showing of a 1931 Spanish-language version of "Dracula" (July 16) happens in conjunction with this year's Concert of Colors, a world music and diversity festival previewed here at Midwest Guest earlier this week. This is a free showing of the flick with an all-Mexican cast filmed with the same sets, lighting and costumes as the classic Bela Lugosi version of "Dracula".

The DFT's summer schedule also includes a diverse selection of films from around the world, including a series of Mexican cinema classics, a quartet of films by African novelist and filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, and several filmed operatic performances from European venues.

Films generally cost $7.50 ($6.50 for Detroit Institute of Arts members, full-time students, senior citizens). You can also purchase discount pass cards for $30, which are good for five admissions to regularly priced shows. The summer season includes a lot of free matinee showings.  Check out the full DFT schedule online for times and prices.

 

Note: "Where I live" posts are part of a series of periodic stories about special events and people in, and around, metro Detroit. "Where I live" posts are stories I'll post in addition to my regular schedule of stories about attractions around the larger Midwestern region. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for April 2010

It's time again to share some links to some of the interesting Midwest blog posts I've read online in the past month!

 

• Alexander Calder's 'Flamingo'-I've written about Alexander Calder's stabiles in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Toledo, Ohio, so it was especially interesting to read Lee Bey's story about Calder's "Flamingo" stabile in Chicago, Illinois.



Calder's 'Stegosaurus' in front of the Toldeo Museum of Art


• Gulo Gulo: The Wolverine and Why Michigan is the Wolverine State-I always wondered about Michigan's designation as "the wolverine state", especially with the recent death of Michigan's only known wolverine existing in the wild. Andrea shares a bit of information about this animal and shares some possible reasons for our state's nickname at Michigan in Pictures.

• Highland Park's Craftsman Bungalows-I love reading about Charlie's two-wheeled explorations of the Detroit area at his Bikes, Books & A Little Music blog. I enjoyed reading about his bicycle ride around Highland Park, Michigan. That city was home to Ford Motor Company's manufacturing plant, the factory where Henry Ford first offered the then-generous $5-a-day wage in 1914 that drew scores of workers seeking a better life for their families to metro Detroit. Charlie tells us that Highland Park is home to one of the largest concentrations of Craftsman Bungalows outside of California, and he includes photos of some these beautiful Highland Park homes with this story.

• Ruins, Revitalization and Rust on the Riverfront-Regular readers of Midwest Guest know of my fascination with bridges in general, and the Cincinnati, Ohio, Roebling Bridge in particular, so it should come as no surprise that this post by Gordon (a.k.a. Ronny) of Queen City Discovery intrigued me. Did I ever mention that I also dig alliteration?



John Roebling Bridge


• COSI: The hands-on museum for kids-Join this Kentucky family of five as they enjoy a great day at Columbus, Ohio's COSI (Center of Science and Industry) Museum on their Backseat Traveler site.

• Background!-Visit Cindy LaFerle's Home Office as Cindy throws the spotlight behind the scenes of Michigan's now-starring role in the movie industry. Cindy tells us about her experience as a background extra in feature films and the hard work required to score that "15 seconds of fame" on the big screen.

• Fighting Crime, One Doughnut at a Time-Check out Kath's story at Great Lakes Gazette about a group of cops in Clare, Michigan, who saved a bakery that served the northern Michigan community since 1896 by purchasing the business to keep it from closing down. The cops obviously have a sense of humor, judging from the T-shirts they offer for sale in a shop next to the bakery.

• Visiting the beauty of Traverse City & its wine-I always try to keep a bottle of Michigan wine in the house, especially my favorite Late Harvest Riesling from Chateau Grand Traverse. I've visited many of the wineries along Michigan's Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas over the years, so I enjoyed Marcia's story about some of these Michigan wineries at Wine and Spirits Travel.

• Hiking Trails of Northwest Indiana-Join Jonathan at the Indiana Insider Blog as he shares five of the most-loved, and possibly least-known, nature walks in northeast Indiana.

• Hormel's SPAM Museum-So, "spam" often gets a bad rap online these days, but readers should enjoy joining The Vacation Gals' Beth as she visits Hormel's homage to the real deal at the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota.

• Fargo-Moorhead's Unusual "Celebrity Walk of Fame"-I love quirky roadside attractions like this "walk of fame" just outside of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention & Visitors Bureau building. Join Brian for a quick video tour of the walk, which features hand prints and signatures from luminaries visiting the area that include Bill Gates, Weird Al, the guys from Metallica, and Bert & Ernie (What? No Grover?)

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for March 2010

Here are a few Midwest stories I’ve enjoyed reading this past month:

• Detroit History Tour: Woodlawn Cemetery-I love prowling around old cemeteries, taking photos and learning more about the history and people of a particular location. Amy takes us on a tour of Detroit's Woodlawn Cemetery at The Night Train. (Regular Midwest Guest readers may remember this cemetery as home to a special Motown tribute to Michael Jackson!)





• Driving Around Detroit-I'm quite familiar with some of the idiosyncratic ways of the roadways in Detroit, but for those who aren't familiar with driving in the Motor City should check out this handy guide at Detroit Moxie. Becks explains peculiarities like the "Michigan Left" and our unique pronunciations of some place names around here.

• Made in Cleveland! Clips from Cleveland Film History-We hear a lot about the film industry in Michigan after state incentives meant more film projects got the green light to film here in recent months. Meanwhile, the crew at Cleveland Area History takes a look at some familiar films that include scenes filmed in, and around, that Ohio city. ("Light of Day" was a always a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, and I'd love to see that Joan Jett/Michael J. Fox film again one of these days)

• Back From the Future-Gordon (a.k.a. Ronny) of Queen City Discovery discovered an online cache of vintage 1987 photos of various Cincinnati locations. He gained permission from the photographer of those images to pair them with his own taken in the spots more than 20 years later. (Again, regular readers of Midwest Guest might remember my fascination with the Roebling Bridge spanning the river between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky)





• The Chamber of Secrets-I love seeing those secret little places a lot of tourists don't seem to think of visiting. Justin's post at The Windy Pixel about ascending the spiral stairways to the top of Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago makes me want to take that tour next time I'm in Chicago.

• A Souvenir from Prison-Most families might not think of stopping at prison to pick up souvenirs, but one of Kath's fond childhood memories of visiting Michigan's Upper Peninsula involved her family's stops at the state prison in Marquette and its gift store. Check it out at Great Lakes Gazette.

• 25 Interesting (and Odd) Chicago Facts-Andrew, a.k.a. The Brooklyn Nomad, shares this eclectic list of fun facts about the Windy City. Twinkies? Who knew?

• In the Wright Frame of Mind-Terri checks out "the most famous neighbor in my hood" with this post about the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois, at the Enjoy Illinois blog.

• Wright's Treasure, or Preserving the City-Read about this Frank Lloyd Wright gem in the city of Detroit and the owners' dedication to preserving this 4,000-square-foot, plus check out a little video footage of the ongoing restoration at Time magazine's Detroit Blog.

• Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot, North Dakota-It's no secret that I'm a big fan of posts about unique architectural buildings, bridges, and other structures, so Linda's post about a traditional Scandinavian Stabbur or Stave Church definitely caught my eye. Check it out at Travels with Children.

• South Dakota Cave Explorations-We loved the Black Hills area of South Dakota and hope to return there soon. Reading Mary's post at Travel with Teens and Tweens about exploring Wind Cave and Jewel Cave makes those two day trips definitely worth considering next time we travel that way.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Photo Friday: Cherry Bowl Drive-in

The Cherry Bowl Drive-In at Honor in northern Michigan represents a real blast from the past. The drive-in, now celebrating 56 years in operation, hosts family-friendly films in a 1950s-style atmosphere.

I have fond memories of going to our local drive-in theater as a kid. I loved playing in the theater’s playground near the big screen and heading up to the concession stand for hot dogs and popcorn, often after the corny slides advertising the theater’s eats appeared on the screen between flicks.

Today, there are only a handful of drive-in theaters in many Midwest states.

Some present-day drive-in theaters represent off-season uses for venues like the Compuware Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, (where we watch the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League play). Compuware uses their large parking lot as a drive-in with temporary screens during months when the lot isn’t used for hockey game parking.

The Cherry Bowl, opened in 1953, is one of fewer than a dozen dedicated drive-in theaters in Michigan. The theater’s Web site assures families that all movies it plays are no stronger than a PG-13 rating, do not glorify teen drinking or drug use, and that it offers a program each night of operation that includes a double feature with vintage intermission films and cartoons. And yes, there is a playground and a 1950s-style mini golf course to amuse the kids before the movies start.

The Cherry Bowl lies dormant for the winter right now, but come May, the theater opens for yet another nostalgic-rich season at the movies.

Thanks to Debbie Dubrow of Delicious Baby for creating and coordinating Photo Friday to link travel photos and blog posts across the Web.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Honor

Where I live: World music and coffeehouse culture take center stage in Dearborn, Michigan

Get over those cabin fever blues and see a bit of the world at the Arab American National Museum (AANM) in Dearborn, Michigan, as it kicks off the winter/spring season of Global Thursdays with a performance from world-renowned multi-instrumentalist Bassam Saba on January 28.

The concert is also a release party for Saba's debut album, The Wonderful Land, described on his Web site as a mix of Arabic and gypsy Turkish music with hints of Western-style classical arrangement.

The winter/spring season of Global Thursdays continues through April with an eclectic schedule of film and concerts representing diverse cultures from around the world. Each program begins at 6:30 p.m.

"Global Thursdays is an extension of the annual Concert of Colors," says museum director of communications Kim Silarski. "Musical acts and films are selected to represent diverse cultures from around the world."

Global Thursdays, like the Concert of Colors summer festival, brings talent from around the world to metro Detroit with the idea of celebrating diversity and fostering unity through the arts.

The season kick-off for Global Thursdays coincides with the opening of "From Mocha to Latte: Coffee, the Arab World and the $4 Cup" at the AANM. This exhibit explores the history of coffee, from its origins in the Arab world as a crop first cultivated in Yemen, through the preeminence of Yemen's port city of Mocha as a major coffee marketplace, to the amazing popularity of coffee-based drinks and the rise of coffeehouse culture throughout the world.

Be sure to go to the AANM for a free opening reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Museum's Community Courtyard area and grab a complimentary Arabic coffee and sweet before the concert, where you can check out Bassam Saba's virtuosity with the nay, an open-ended cane flute.

The nay traces its origins back to antiquity in the Near East and may look deceptively simple to play, but it is one of the most difficult Arabic instruments to master. Saba's skill with Arabic instruments like the nay, oud, buxuq, saz, as well as violin and western classical flute, create high demand for him as a musician, conductor and music educator.

The other concerts scheduled for Global Thursdays also sound intriguing. You can check out the jazzy, high-energy fusion of the Chicago Afrobeat Project on February 25; enjoy a night of flamenco dancing and music with metro Detroit's La Chispa & Company featuring flamenco artists from around the country on March 25; and hear the fusion of Chinese and Western classical music with Xiao Dong Wei, featuring Yang Wei and Yuki Mack, on April 22.

Film fans will want to mark their calendars for Global Thursday programs featuring films you won't find at the local multiplex. February 11 brings the Michigan premiere of All About Dad, the story of a Vietnamese American family and their sometimes conflicting paths to each finding their own way in life. The 1983 film El Norte follows the story of Mayan Indians through a brutal civil war and the tale of two teenagers who flee to the North to escape the violence, screening on March 11. The series' films wrap with another Michigan premiere on April 8 with the showing of Children of Invention, an official selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival that tells the story of two homeless children orphaned by the disappearance of their mother.   

Global Thursday concert tickets are $10 and tickets for films in the series are $6. You can purchase tickets at the door, or order advance tickets online (online sales end at 5 p.m. the day prior to the show).

Note: "Where I live" posts are part of a series of periodic stories about special events and people in, and around, metro Detroit. "Where I live" posts are stories I'll post in addition to my regular schedule of stories about attractions around the larger Midwestern region. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Restoring Warner Theater to former glory in Erie, Pennsylvania

I wasn't expecting to find a gem of architectural and motion picture history in Erie, Pennsylvania, but finding the city's Warner Theater was a pleasant surprise.

We recently traveled along Lake Erie through Ohio, with the plan to go as far as east as Ashtabula, Ohio, before turning around to come back home. We somehow ended up over Ohio's eastern border in Erie, Pennsylvania, and decided to explore downtown Erie before checking the Presque Isle and Presque Isle Pierhead lighthouses and heading back west towards Detroit.

I snapped a photo of a bright red trolley car running past the historic Boston Store and Mercantile Building on State Street, before spotting the Warner Theater as I turned around to head back towards the car.

The four Warner Brothers showed films in Pennsylvania and Ohio theaters before opening their own theater in New Castle, Pennsylvania, in 1903, beginning to produce films in 1918, and incorporating Warner Brothers Pictures in 1923, the studio responsible for many classic films and beloved cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Tweety Bird.

Warner Brothers commissioned Erie's Warner Theater in 1929. The opulent theater's construction cost $1.5 million, a surprising figure given the fact that it opened in 1931 during one of the country's worst economic depressions.

The theater, designed by Rapp & Rapp of Chicago in an Art Deco-style with the ancient Egyptian-influenced motifs fashionable at that time, opened as a grand movie palace and vaudeville stage.

The Warner Theater operated primarily as a movie theater until 1976. By the early 1980s, the city of Erie bought the theater and converted it into a performing arts center with hopes for it as the centerpiece of a downtown revival, and the Warner Theater earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.

A sign I spotted in the box office window listed the varied performers who appeared at the Warner Theater over the years, including Tony Bennett, Milton Berle, Johnny Cash, Nat King Cole, Alice Cooper, Bill Cosby, Sammy Davis Jr., BB King, Jay Leno, Meatloaf, Wayne Newton, The Temptations, Mel Torme, Train, and Trisha Yearwood.

By the 1990s, the Warner Theater restoration became the highest priority for arts funding among civic leaders seeing the old movie palace as a key component of downtown Erie's revitalization.

A $7 million state appropriation in 1994 and formation of the Warner Theater Preservation Trust marked the start of a period of additional fundraising and restoration proceeding in fits and starts.

Pennsylvania released the $7 million appropriation in 1997, and the preservation group raised $3.3 million by early 1998. Today, total funding for the project stands at over $20 million.

Daniel Coffey and Associates of Chicago and Crowner/King of Erie became the project architects.

Work through the remainder of the decade and into the next decade included restoration of the theater's interior with painting and restoring or replicating some of the grand decor like gold leaf and intricate tapestries, a new roof, new seating, upgraded lighting, updated heating and cooling systems, a new entrance, building expansion, and renovated restrooms.

Work on the project awaits completion with the anticipated release of another injection of money from the state for final renovations like an expanded stage, improved dressing rooms, upgraded loading docks, and restoring or replicating the grand curtain and draperies.

Today, the 2,250-seat theater, with its expansive 65-foot by 28-foot proscenium-style stage, hosts over 150 events each year that include theater performances, programs from the Erie Philharmonic and Lake Erie Ballet, weddings, and other private receptions.

Check in with the Warner Theater at its Facebook page or learn more about its history in a book by Barbara J. Hauck. Profits from sales of the book, "A Picture Palace Transformed: How Erie's Warner Theater Survived a Changing World", benefit the restoration, expansion and maintenance of the theater.

The vintage look of the Warner Theater's exterior reminded me a bit of some of the old movie theaters still barely hanging in there as I grew up in metro Detroit. I only wish we'd been able to tour the inside of the theater, which photos remind me of the opulent movie houses the beautifully restored Fox on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

I guess it's a good excuse for another trip along the Lake Erie shore!

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Erie

Where I live: Detroit Film Theater kicks off winter season January 15

The Detroit Film Theater kicks off another season of fab films at the Detroit Institute of Arts on January 15.

Seeing the eclectic films offered in the beautiful 1920s Art Deco-style movie house, designed by architects Paul Philippe Cert and Detroiter C. Howard Crane (who also designed Detroit's beautifully restored 1920s-vintage Fox Theater) always brings back the magic I felt as a kid when the lights went down and the images rolled onto the large screen. I just don't get the same satisfaction out of seeing the film-of-the-week in a tiny auditorium at the megaplex theaters or on my television at home.

As usual, I see plenty of films I find intriguing when I get my first look at the new DFT season schedule. Here are a few that sound especially interesting to me this time around:

• "Mine" (February 6), a documentary about people and their pets, sounds like it could be either uplifting or depressing, but this sounds like a must-see film for those who care about animals and the bond between people and their pets (February 6). Folks who lived through Hurricane Katrina often lost everything they had, including beloved pets that sometimes found new lives with families adopting them in other areas of the country. What happens when the animals' original owners find them and want to reunite with their pets?




• "No Impact Man" (February 13) chronicles the adventures of writer Colin Beavan as he attempts to live his environmental beliefs by making as little environmental impact as possible throughout a year. Buying local, foreswearing automobiles, and living off of the electrical grid might have sounded like a good idea to Beavan, but it sounds like his wife and two-year-old daughter had some reservations about the lifestyle changes those things meant for their family. How did Beavan's grand experiment go in the end?




• Detroit-area filmgoers can see all of this year's live-action and animated "2009 Academy Award ® Nominated Short Films" (February 19-21 and February 26-28). There aren't many opportunities to catch these short masterpieces, especially on the big screen, so film fans should make sure to keep these weekends open to check out the best in short film fare.




• I'm a real true-crime fan, so "The Red Riding Trilogy" (March 19-21 and March 26-28) sounds interesting. This trio of films from a British television adaption of author David Peace's novels about a serial killer operating in 1970s and 1980s England tell the story of the hunt for the "Yorkshire Ripper" from several different years and viewpoints.




• I love silent films, and watching a lovingly restored silent classic with live musical accompaniment at the DFT is a special pleasure. "The Last Laugh" (March 20) is a German film from 1924, directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Emil Jannings. This story of a proud doorman at one of Berlin's great hotels and his attempts to hide a serious job demotion from family and friends is a theme that might speak to some of today's displaced workers, while this film also serves as a showcase for director Murnau's timeless filmmaking skill.




• I was too young to grasp a lot of the issues and developments as Daniel Ellsberg obtained, and leaked top-secret government documents to set in motion the chain of events that led to Richard Nixon's eventual resignation as president. "The Most Dangerous Man in American: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers" (April 9-10) is a 2009 documentary that revisits those days, with tales of cover-ups, lies, and moral dilemmas that may sound all too familiar to present-day audiences.




• If escapist fun is what you seek, check out "Horse Feathers" (May 1). This rollicking 1932 comedy stars the zany Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo) looks to be full of slyly erudite puns and song as Huxley and Darwin battle for gridiron supremacy.

Check out the full DFT schedule online.

Films generally cost $7.50 ($6.50 for Detroit Institute of Arts members, full-time students), or you can purchase discount pass cards for $30, which are good for five admissions.

Note: "Where I live" posts are part of a series of periodic stories about special events and people in, and around, metro Detroit. "Where I live" posts are stories I'll post in addition to my regular schedule of stories about attractions around the larger Midwestern region. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved

Midwest travel links for October 2009

Check out some of these Midwest-related blog posts from other writers I've enjoyed reading this past month:

• Ode Lo Toledo-Author Brian Fies writes about visiting the Toledo Museum of Art for the opening of the LitGraphic: The World of the Graphic Novel exhibition, which features pages of original art from his book, Mom's Cancer.

• 40 Things to do in Detroit before you're dead-Becks celebrates her 40th birthday with this list of must-sees in the "D"  





• Where's Tyler?-Forget about finding Waldo and check out Tyler's travels in western Michigan.

• Adventures in apple picking-Follow Farsighted Fly Girl into a northern Indiana apple orchard for the quintessential autumn experience of picking apples in the Midwest.

• 3-Way-That's chili, people! I'm not a fan of chili with beans, and I usually can't get it without beans in restaurants in the Detroit area. I acquired a taste for Skyline Chili when visiting southern Ohio and always try to keep a few cans of it in my cupboards at home, so I can appreciate this story about this Cinci specialty.

• Ohio's best inns and B&Bs-I love small bed & breakfasts and country inns. I've stayed at a couple of places on this list (Inn at Cedar Falls and Inn at Brandywine Falls), but it looks like there are plenty of other great places I'd love to stay at on future trips to Ohio.

• Museums of northwest Indiana-We've visited the fab Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum several times, but this list has several other great-sounding small museums in the same region. Northern Indiana has museums dedicated to art, autos, outlaws and more!





• Milton House Museum in Milton, Wisconsin-Learn about this stop on the Underground Railroad as Linda and her family travel through an underground tunnel leading to a cabin used as a secret hiding place for slaves on their way north to freedom.

• Must-see museums: The Louvre in Minneapolis-Angela at The Gypsy's Guide previews what looks to be a great exhibit, The Louvre and the Masterpiece, playing at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts this fall and winter.

• Books with North Dakota and Norwegian roots-Minot, North Dakota, hosts the annual Norsk Hostfest, North America's largest Scandinavian festival. Annika checks out the Scandinavian Heritage Bookstore at this year's festival, makes some recommendations for readers, and shows off her traditional Norwegian costume.  

• Somewhere in Time, a cult classic filmed in Michigan-Well before the recent flurry of filming movies in Michigan, fueled by state incentives, Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour starred in this romantic late 1970s movie filmed in large part on Michigan's Mackinac Island. Check out Part 2 of this story here.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Chelsea, Michigan, maintains small-town charm while developing as a Midwestern arts center

It's not difficult to see why small-town Chelsea in southern Michigan drew actor Jeff Daniels, who grew up there, back home to raise his family and establish his Purple Rose Theater. Daniels left Chelsea at the age of 21 to seek success in New York and Hollywood, but he and his wife Kathleen yearned to return to Chelsea--where they both grew up and met.

Daniels' father still co-owns a lumber company in Chelsea, and Jeff bought an old bus garage to turn into a professional theater that promoted the work of Midwestern actors, directors, designers, and playwrights. Nearly 20 years later, the theater continues to thrive in Michigan, and Jeff Daniels continues to consider Michigan as home.

The village of Chelsea, which celebrates its 175th anniversary this year, became a city a few years ago and boasts a population of about 5,000 residents (up from just more than 4,000 in the year 2000). Chelsea still retains the small-town charm that drew Daniels home, though.

One of our most recent visits to Chelsea came when we drove out for a day of geocaching and seeing some of the landmarks that put Chelsea on the map before Daniels returned home to start the theater.

Check out your grocery store shelves next time you go shopping. Those little blue-and-white boxes of Jiffy baking mixes come from the Chelsea Milling Company, one of the larger makers of prepackaged baking mixes in the United States.

Mabel Holmes worked in her Chelsea kitchen to come up with a biscuit mix, which became the country's first commercially marketed biscuit mix in 1930. Jiffy took its name from the idea that the mix made cooking biscuits quick and easy--that they would "be ready in a jiffy!"

The Chelsea Milling Company traces its beginning to the late 1800s as a flour mill. Harmon S. Holmes purchased the mill in 1908 from founder E.K. White, whose daughter Mabel married Holmes' son Howard.

Today, Mabel and Howard's son, Howdy S. Holmes, is still president of the company. Jiffy offers 19 different Jiffy mixes, including the extremely popular cornbread muffin mix. The company produces more than a million retail boxes of product each day, and a picture of the iconic cornbread muffin mix box adorns the company's facility in downtown Chelsea.

Railroad tracks run through town, and the Chelsea Milling Company, as well as several other Chelsea landmarks, sits alongside the tracks in the center of town.

Business owner Frank Glazier built the seven-story Chelsea Clocktower, which once held 20,000 gallons of water to supply the town's firefighters and four bells that chimed to mark each hour. The tower, built in 1907, is one of several buildings extensively renovated in recent years with hopes of creating a mixed use development that retains its historical character.

The Welfare Building, built in 1906 as a recreational facility for employees of Glazier's stove company, is one of several other nearby buildings clustered around the railroad tracks.

Chelsea's Farmer's Supply is one of the oldest buildings in the city, built around 1855 and serving at one point as the town's first hotel. A 1925 remodeling turned the building into a feed mill, and the business evolved into a supply store by the 1970s.

Chelsea also has a nicely restored railroad depot building, which housed the historical museum until recently, and other buildings that speak to the town's rural past.

Even as Chelsea retains a much of its small-town charm, newer enterprises like Daniels' Purple Rose Theater, galleries and restaurants--all just west of Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan--makes it a fairly easy day-trip from metropolitan Detroit or a quick overnight destination if you want to take in a play at the Purple Rose Theater.

© Dominique King 2009 All rights reserved

Things To Do
Chelsea