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Sometimes You Just Need A Little More Color In Your Life

by Lookup Webmaster on July 22, 2010

in Uncategorized

Sometimes You Just Need A Little More Color In Your Life, originally uploaded by DetroitDerek Photography.

Before I get any comments that this one is way over the top, it’s meant to be.

A remake of an oldie but a goodie. Located on Mack Avenue, the former Pfeiffer Brewery plants here were built in 1912, a few weeks after the company was created. This bottling plant was built in 1940. The entire plant was abandoned in 1966 and part of it now ( this compex is 4 huge buildings and takes up an entire city block ) is used for bus/truck repair by a company called Nelson.

Some history of Pfeiffer and this building: the majority of the plant was built in 1912. This is the bottling plant, which was built in 1940 and was the last addition to be built here. In 1962, in an effort to expand their market share. Pfeiffer purchased Weideman and Frankenmuth breweries, and renamed the company Associated Brewery. The company closed all operations at this plant in 1966 and moved to Indiana, as it was apparently cheaper to brew there ( sarcasm intended, as they should have learned from Studenbaker’s mistakes ). It sold off all of it’s brands in 1972. The company was then renamed Armada Corporation, is still in business, and has an office in the Penobscott Building in Detroit. – Detroit Derek

detroit baseball stadium

by Lookup Webmaster on July 16, 2010

in Uncategorized

detroit baseball stadium, originally uploaded by Wayne(??).

Cruisin Downriver: Hudson

by Lookup Webmaster on July 16, 2010

in Uncategorized

Cruisin Downriver: Hudson, originally uploaded by RickM2007.

Shelby Township: GTW Steam Engine

by Lookup Webmaster on June 27, 2010

in Uncategorized

Shelby Township: GTW Steam Engine, originally uploaded by RickM2007.

Old Steam engine on display in Shelby Township Michigan

Standard Service Station: Monroe, MI

by Lookup Webmaster on June 27, 2010

in Uncategorized

Standard Service Station: Monroe, MI, originally uploaded by RickM2007.

Joe’s Standard service station in Monroe, MI

Delphi’s Bankruptcy Bill is $200m

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Business & Economy

As evidenced by court filings, Delphi Corp. has racked up about $200 million in both legal and accounting bills since it filed for Chapter 11 in October 2005. Experts said the tab could reach $300 million before the company emerges from bankruptcy by the end of 2007.

With Delphi spending $12.5 million per month, the Troy-based auto supplier’s bankruptcy is on track to become one of the ten most expensive in U.S. history, said Lynn LoPucki, a professor of bankruptcy law at the University of California-Los Angeles who tracks Chapter 11 costs.

United Auto Workers leaders have intensely disparaged the fees paid to teams of lawyers, accountants, turnaround experts and other firms that specialize in bankruptcies. Particularly infuriating to the union is that Delphi workers agreed to reduced pay and benefits to help the company emerge from bankruptcy.

“Bankruptcy is big business,” UAW President Ron Gettelfinger told WJR-760 radio in Detroit on Monday. “One of these days, people will wake up and see what’s happening here. We need to reform the bankruptcy laws. These guys are making a ton of money in this bankruptcy. Literally, it’s obscene.”

The auto supplier’s Chapter 11 will easily end up as the most costly in the history of the auto industry. Even the Saturn fuel filter manufacturer could attest to that fact. But other bankrupt auto suppliers also have cumulative enormous bills. Federal-Mogul Corp., Collins & Aikman, and Dana Corp have all reported more than $100 million in bankruptcy expenses.

On June 27, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain approved $49 million in fees and $3.3 million in expenses sought by Delphi’s 38 law firms, accountants and consultants for the four-month period ending Jan. 31, 2006. Overall, Drain has approved $184 million in fees and $13 million in expenses at Delphi.

Delphi has hired 39 firms. A 39th firm hired by Delphi late last year, Detroit-based W.Y. Campbell & Co., on Tuesday submitted its first bill, for $500,000 for its advice. The highest bills have been submitted by Delphi’s lead bankruptcy law firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, which has been paid $44 million for 15 months of work.

Since being hired in June, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP has billed about $21 million. One FTI Consulting employee charged the company $185 for a taxi taken in from the Newark, N.J., airport to his home. Also, Delphi hired Legal Cost Control Inc. to help reduce its legal and accounting fees. That firm billed the company $481,000 for the past four months. But the auto supplier said the bankruptcy expenses are appropriate.

Drain has taken some steps to limit expenses, including limiting meal reimbursement to $20 for professionals, keeping photocopy expenses to ten cents per page and limiting the number of attorneys at hearings. But a review of billing records showed firms often bill Delphi for expensive meals and lawyersâ?? court appearance.

LoPucki said Tuesday that Delphi’s bankruptcy costs were extremely high based on an economic modeling program, a review of 74 major bankruptcies over a six-year period, he created with a colleague.

LoPucki added that his study showed that bankruptcy fees in U.S. cases increased an average of 8.6 percent yearly between 1998 and 2004. He also said cases filed in New York or Delaware, where many companies are incorporated, are more expensive. Delphi, which is headquartered in Troy, filed in New York. “Based on where Delphi is today, they are clearly going to be in the top ten. These are very high costs,” she concluded.

Experts suggest that large-scale corporate bankruptcies may be increasingly unlikely as the costs of court-overseen restructuring continue to skyrocket.

Yes, it is hot out there

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Uncategorized

Yes, it is hot out there, originally uploaded by CityPhotos by Rod.

Horace Rackham Fountain – Detroit Zoo

From 1924 to 1928, Horace Rackham was the first president of the Detroit Zoological Commission, which negotiated with the city for support for the zoo. In 1924, Rackham purchased acres of land in what is now Huntington Woods, Michigan near land owned by the Detroit Zoological Society. Through his friend and Detroit mayor James Couzens, Rackham anonymously promised to donate the land to Detroit if voters would approve financing for the Detroit Zoo. A millage was approved, and Rackham followed through by giving 22 acres (89,000 m2) of his purchase to the Zoo for use as a parking lot; a memorial fountain at the zoo bears his name. The remaining acreage was given to the city of Detroit, explicitly for use as a public golf course. In 1925 the Rackham Golf Course, reportedly the first 18-hole course constructed in Michigan, opened to the public [Wikipedia]

dee dee bridgewater – detroit jazz festival

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Uncategorized

dee dee bridgewater 1 (8 pages of detroit jazz festival from here, feel free to skip ahead…), originally uploaded by insky.

Letta Crapo-Smith

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Uncategorized

Letta Crapo-Smith, originally uploaded by Smithsonian Institution.

Description: Photograph of Letta Crapo-Smith taken by F. Friend. Annotated on reverse by Detroit painter Helen Keep, “Letta Crapo-Smith, daughter of Mr. & Mrs. H. H. H. Crapo-Smith. The first person from Detroit to have a picture in the Paris Salon, [signed] Helen L. Keep.” Crapo-Smiths (1862-1921) was a painter from Detroit, Michigan.

Creator/Photographer: F. Friend

Medium: Cabinet card

Dimensions: 15 cm x 11 cm

Date: 1880

City Mission is Helping Kids

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Faith & Fellowship, Service & NonProfits, Wayne County

The Mentoring program provides adult Mentors and a curriculum focused on life skills and character development for junior high and high school teens in Brightmoor. Come share your life and understanding with one of our City Mission Academy students. Being a mentor requires a 2 hour weekly commitment on Thursdays.

Check Out City Mission and their other programs – WEBSITE

Evangelical Pastors Network

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Faith & Fellowship, Macomb County, Oakland County, Uncategorized, Wayne County

The Evangelical Pastors Network was conceived by a group of pastors who saw the need to come together on a regular basis for communication, enrichment, encouragement and prayer. This group will consist of pastors from all ethnic groups and all evangelical denominations. The doctrinal statement of the EPN is one that centers on the essentials and the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The launch event for this group is Monday, February 1 with dinner for pastors and their wives at the San Marino Club in Troy. H.B. London will be the guest speaker. H.B. London has spent years of his life with Focus on the Family to encourage and strengthen pastors. The statistics put out by Focus on the Family are startling:

- 1,500 ministers leave the ministry each month due to moral failure, being simply warn out, or due to contention in the churches.

- 50% of pastor’s marriages will end in divorce.

- 80% of pastors and 84% of pastor’s wives feel unqualified and discouraged in their role as a pastoral family.

- 50% of pastors are so discouraged they would leave the ministry if they could, but have no other means of making a living.

- 80% of seminary and Bible college graduates who enter into the ministry will leave the ministry within 5 years.

- 80% of pastor’s wives feel their spouse is overworked.

- 80% of pastor’s wives wish their spouse would choose another profession.

- A majority of pastor’s wives said the most destructive event that has ever happened to their marriage and family was the day they entered into ministry.

- 70% of pastors fight depression.

- 40% say they have had an extra-marital affair since beginning the ministry.

- 70% said the only time they spend studying the Bible is in sermon preparation.

Churches can only be as strong as their pastoral leadership. I am excited about this new group and its potential to support and network pastors which could ultimately strengthen the church and its mission in the Detroit Metro area. I have been privileged to be a part of the project since the beginning. You can learn more by visiting the website at http://evangelicalpastorsnetwork.com.

VIDEO: Newt Gingrich at a Mackinac Island Conference

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Business & Economy, Law & Government, Macomb County, Oakland County, Wayne County

If you live in Michigan, do yourself a favor and watch this video of remarks given by Newt Gingrich at a Mackinac Island conference this past week. He talks about what our state needs to do transform itself from an economy that’s gasping for breath to support its population to one that can compete with China.

He doesn’t pull any punches and talks about how hard it will be for the state to change. He says, it begins with a statewide conversation about the future and not the past and he encouraged residents to not be afraid of it.

Watch this before candidates start coming to your door. Ask them about Gingrich’s main points.

How close is our state to the edge of the economic abyss? What do you feel it will take to keep it from making a plunge it cannot recover from?

Health Care Reform Bill and Sanctity of Human Life

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Law & Government, Macomb County, Metro Events, Oakland County, Science & Medicine

Crossroads Pregnancy Center invites you to attend this summer’s Celebration of Life- An Evening at Wyndagte on Monday, July 19^th from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. amid the breathtaking scenery of the Wyndgate Country Club in Rochester Hills. We welcome guest speaker, Rev. Robert Sirico, co-founder and president of the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, who will explain why every Christian person should be concerned about the Health Care Reform Bill as it relates to the sanctity of human life. An interactive Q&A will follow, so bring your questions! Our fundraising event will include complimentary valet; Asian fusion stir-fry, pasta, and salad stations; a variety of drinks; and a live jazz band. Tickets are $50/ person.

Please RSVP by July 12^th to Charlotte at 248-293-0070 or cpccharlotte@gmail.com and make checks payable to Crossroads Pregnancy Center.

DETROIT SCIENCE CENTER BECOMES THE NEW HOME OF THE MOTORSPORTS HALL OF FAME OF AMERICA

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Business & Economy, Learning & Libraries, Macomb County, Oakland County, Science & Medicine, Wayne County

Photography by: Suman Chaudhuri

The Detroit Science Center has reached an agreement with the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America to bring a significant portion of the Hall’s collection of vehicles and displays to the Science Center. The Hall was formerly located in the Novi Expo Center in Novi, Mich.

Cars, exhibits and other displays began arriving at the Detroit museum last week. Among them are Art Arfon’s “Green Monster Cyclops,” a Kenny Bernstein Funny Car and Sebastien Bourdais’ Championship Indy Car.

“The Detroit Science Center is the ideal location for the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America to call its new home,” said Hall of Fame President Ron Watson. “Both institutions seek to inspire and educate by showcasing technology and engineering. The vehicles in our collection are a testament to this shared mission.”

“We are honored to welcome the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America to the Detroit Science Center and to share its wonderful collection with our visitors,” said Detroit Science Center President & CEO Kevin F. Prihod.

Admission to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at the Detroit Science Center is included in Science Center museum admission.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is operated by the Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc.

Its collection features racers from the world of Indy cars, stock cars, Can Am, TransAm, sprint cars, powerboats, truck racing, drag racing, motorcycles, air racing, and even racing snowmobiles.

It also showcases exhibits and photographs of the personalities, manufacturers and machines of all kind of racing and their rich legacy.

Tour Michigan’s National Historic Landmark, Pewabic Pottery

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Food & Shopping, Metro Events, Oakland County, Service & NonProfits, Wayne County

Join the Friends of Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve for a 2 hour nautical tour of the Detroit River and a tour of Michigan’s National Historic Landmark, Pewabic Pottery.

This fun summer experience takes place Thursday, July 15, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. starting from the parking lot at Dinosaur Hill where we will arrange car pools. A box lunch is included. The fee is $50. A check may be made out to Friends of D.H.N.P. and mailed to:

Friends of D.N.H.P.

333 North Hill Circle

Rochester, MI 48307

Please include: Name, Address Phone number and E-mail address

We arrive at Pewabic Pottery at 10:00 am. The tour lasts an hour. Pewabic Pottery was founded in 1903 by Mary Chase Perry Stratton who developed an iridescent glaze for her pottery that is identical with that on fragments of pottery excavated in Persia, which made Mrs. Stratton immediately famous in the world of ceramic art. Pewabic Pottery is now found in the Detroit Institute of Arts, Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., the Louvre in Paris and in hundreds of local buildings. The “Behind the Scenes” tour includes watching working artists and a visit to the museum and store. Pewabic Pottery is at 10125 E. Jefferson, 4 miles north of downtown Detroit. It is housed in a charming 1908 Tudor Revival building, a National Historic Landmark.

The cruise embarks at 1:00 on the Diamond Jack, (a 65’ sightseeing vessel) at the Rivard Plaza Dock, just upstream from the Renaissance Center. The tour presents highlights of the Detroit and Windsor skylines along with historical anecdotes about both cities.

This event will benefit Dinosaur Hill Nature Preserve. For more information: call Jane Hoyle at 248-651-3417, or e-mail: friendsofdinosaurhill@gmail.com

Detroit Children’s Museum Is Now Part of the Detroit Science Center

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Art & Culture, Learning & Libraries, Wayne County

Detroit Children’s Museum

Did you know that Detroit is home to the third oldest children’s museum in the country? That it houses more than 100,000 artifacts? And that it’s now part of the Detroit Science Center?

Formerly operated by Detroit Public Schools, and closed since August 2009, the Detroit Children’s Museum is one of Detroit’s cultural gems. When leaders of the Detroit Science Center learned that it would be closed, they approached DPS about taking over the 93-year-old institution.

“When it closed in August, we were determined to do whatever it took to bring it back better than ever. The Detroit Science Center and the Detroit Public Schools, working together, will make it the most innovative and important children’s museum in the nation,” said Detroit Science Center President & CEO Kevin F. Prihod.

Led by Detroit Children’s Museum Director Julie Johnson, the new Children’s Museum staff has been working since January to refresh the exhibits and

DCM Silverbolt

displays, bringing more artifacts out of the museum’s archives out onto the exhibit floor, including an Andrewsarchus skull, an extinct mammal, Civil War artifacts and masks, shields and artifacts from countries around the globe.

Visitors to the Children’s Museum will enjoy regular planetarium demonstrations, the People of the World exhibits, a Travel Through History Gallery, Tiny Tikes Preschool Gallery and the Hoofbeat Demonstration area, named for the Silverbolt horse sculpture that stands in front of the museum.

Group programs are available for schools, daycare centers and community centers starting June 28, 2010. All programs will align with the Michigan Grade Level Content expectations for preschool-grade 6. Programs will focus on history, science, math and literature, and will include a classroom program, planetarium show and exhibit exploration. The Children’s Museum also will make Lending Collection kits of artifacts available to schools and other organizations. For more information, or to make a group reservation or Lending Collection kit request, please call 313.577.8400, Option 5.

Detroit’s Most Glorious Sports Moments

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Macomb County, Oakland County, Sports & Recreation, Wayne County

By Tom DeLisle

I recently compiled a list of the most exasperating defeats and disappointments in my long observation of local professional sports.

In the interests of fair play and balance, it seems only fair to also look back at the greatest moments I’ve experienced in following our local teams, reflecting on the finer times I’ve witnessed across more decades than I’d like to count. My Worst Moments list constituted a baker’s dozen of defeat and despair; this compilation of golden memories will stop at ten. This IS Detroit, after all:

1. December 22, 1957: Lions at San Francisco, Western Division playoff. This is surely the greatest game in Lions history. Down 27-7 in the third quarter of this championship confrontation, the Lions roared back for a 31-27 victory that left ‘em weeping at Kezar Stadium, with Detroiters delirious in front of their TVs on a Sunday night. The then-never-champion 49ers didn’t recover until the Montana era. Tobin Rote, Joe Schmidt, and Tom Tracy led the Lions in their stunning comeback.

2. December 29, 1957: Lions vs. Cleveland, World’s Championship game. The gashouse gang that was the ‘57 Lions topped a season of miracles with an astonishing 59-14 rout of the favored Browns at Briggs Stadium. Everything they tried worked. Yup, the LIONS. Personally, my first attendance at a Lions game. I thought they’d all be this wonderful and joyous.

3. December 4, 1960. Lions at Colts. Down 15-13 after a spectacular Unitas-Moore TD pass, the Lions have time for one play. It’s a beaut–a 65 yard Morrall to Gibbons TD pass that deflates Baltimore, 20-15, and brings an end to their two year domination of the NFL, and the Lions. The Miracle on Turf.

4. Thanksgiving Day, 1962. Detroit vs. Green Bay. The Lions, again. Yes, they really USED to be that good, that colorful. This time it was the Thanksgiving domination that was as good as the historic hype. I was attending my third Lions game. It was the last great moment of a once-great NFL franchise. The Lions threw the elite Packers around like they were tackling dummies. Plum to Cogdill; Brown, Karras, Schmidt et al. to Starr. The 26-14 final was illusionary, this was 59-14 all over again.

5. October 1964, Red Wings Opening Game. One of the most amazing comebacks in major sports history begins when Ted Lindsay electrifies the opening night crowd at Olympia by skating out as a surprise member of the ‘64 Wings team. Leader of the Red Wings in their glory years, the 39-year old Lindsay had retired in Chicago following the 1960 season. Second only to Gordie Howe in local hockey esteem, the scrappy Lindsay (at 5-8 and maybe 160 pounds) helps lead the Wings to their first regular season championship since 1957 with 14 goals and 173 penalty minutes.

6. April 1966, Red Wings vs. Chicago, Stanley Cup semi-final. In the deciding game of a classic and dramatic series (remember Bugsy Watson vs. Bobby Hull?) the Wings are down 2-1 in the waning minutes, when Dean Prentice scores two electric back-to-back goals that ignite Olympia and propel the Wings into the ‘66 Stanley Cup final. A victory reminiscent of the team’s glory days, it was the last hurrah at Grand River’s glorious old barn.

7. October 1968, Game 5 of the Detroit-St. Louis World Series. Down 3-1 in the Series, trailing early in the game, the Tigers are poised at last to take the lead. At bat is Al Kaline, with everything on the line. His unforgettable single into short right/center, connecting on a wicked low-outside strike pitch, sends the Tigers ahead to stay for this game and the two that follow in St. Louis. As important as Horton’s throw to Freehan earlier in the game, it is the single that saves the Series. And a golden moment of salvation for the greatest Tiger of our time.

8. October 14, 1968, Game 7 Detroit at St. Louis. Mickey Lolich strides into local lore with the greatest pitching performance in Tigers history. His magnificent third Series victory — mowing them down at the plate and on the basepaths, cool as a cuke — reduces what Denny McLain did during the regular season nearly to insignificance. Better, our town gets to finally shove it to the Cardinals IN St. Louis some 34 years after the Cards embarrassed the Tigers in the 1934 World Series in Detroit. Real Detroiters never forget.

Okay, I was wrong. I’m not even half done, not even out of the 1960s yet, and already nearly out of space here. Who’da thunk we’d have so many glorious local moments worth recalling? Certainly not a naysayer like myself. This has been more fun that I figured. But it will have to continue with more Glorious Moments in Part Two ….

Exhibition: ‘Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs, 1955? at Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Art & Culture, Macomb County, Metro Events, Metro History, Oakland County, Wayne County

“I am always looking outside, trying to look inside, trying to say something that is true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what’s out there. And what’s out there is constantly changing.”

Robert Frank, 1985.

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Robert Frank
‘Assembly Plant, Detroit’
1955

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Robert Frank
‘Belle Isle’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank, from The Americans. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Robert Frank
‘Detroit River Rouge Plant’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Robert Frank
‘Drive-In Movie, Detroit’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank, from The Americans. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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“Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs, 1955? showcases more than 50 rare and many never-before-seen black-and-white photographs taken in Detroit by legendary artist Robert Frank. The exhibition will be on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) March 3 – July 4, 2010. The exhibition is free with museum admission.

In 1955 and 1956 Robert Frank traveled the U.S. taking photographs for his groundbreaking book ‘The Americans’, published in 1958. With funding from a prestigious Guggenheim grant, he set out to create a large visual record of America, and Detroit was one of his early stops. Inspired by autoworkers, the cars they made, along with local lunch counters, drive-in movies and public parks such as Belle Isle, Frank transformed everyday experiences of Detroiters into an extraordinary visual statement about American life.

According to Frank, ‘The Americans’ included “things that are there, anywhere, and everywhere … a town at night, a parking lot, the man who owns three cars and the man who owns none … the dream of grandeur, advertising, neon lights … gas tanks, post offices and backyards ….” The exhibition includes nine Detroit images that were published in ‘The Americans’. as well as, for the first time, an in-depth body of work representative of Frank’s Detroit, its working-class culture and automotive industry.

Frank was drawn to Detroit partly by a personal fascination with the automobile, but also saw its presence and effect on American culture as essential to his series. Frank was one of the few photographers allowed to take photographs at the famous Ford Motor Company River Rouge factory, where he was amazed to witness the transformation of raw materials into fully assembled cars. In a letter to his wife he wrote, “Ford is an absolutely fantastic place … this one is God’s factory and if there is such a thing – I am sure that the devil gave him a helping hand to build what is called Ford’s River Rouge Plant.” Frank spent two days taking pictures at the Ford factory, photographing workers on the assembly lines and manning machines by day, and following them as they ventured into the city at night.

Whether in the disorienting surroundings of a massive factory or during the solitary and alienating moments of individuals in parks and on city streets, the Swiss-born photographer looked beneath the surface of life in the U.S. and found a culture that challenged his perceptions and popular notions of the American Dream. Further accentuating his view of America, Frank developed an unconventional photographic style innovative and controversial in its time. Photographing quickly, Frank sometimes tilted and blurred compositions, presenting people and their surroundings in fleeting and fragmentary moments with an unsentimental eye.

Beat poet Jack Kerouac expressed the complex nature of the artist and his work in a passage from his introduction to ‘The Americans’ stating, “Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera that he raises and snaps with one hand he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world.”

Born in 1924 in Zurich, Switzerland, Frank emigrated to the U.S. in 1947. He worked on assignments for magazines from 1948–53, but his photographic books garnered the highest acclaim. After publishing ‘The Americans’, he began filmmaking and directed the early experimental masterpiece ‘Pull My Daisy’, in collaboration with Jack Kerouac in 1959. Frank continues to work in both film and photography and has been the subject of many traveling exhibitions in recent years. The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. established Frank’s photographic archive in 1990 and organized his first traveling retrospective, “Moving Out, in 1995? as well as a 2009 exhibition “Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans”.” Frank lives in Mabou, Nova Scotia, and New York City with his wife, artist June Leaf.

Press release from the Detroit Institute of Arts website

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Robert Frank
‘Ford River Rouge Plant’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Robert Frank
‘Assembly Plant, Ford, Detroit’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Robert Frank
‘Drugstore, Detroit’
1955
gelatin silver print
© Robert Frank, from The Americans. Detroit Institute of Arts.

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Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan 48202
Main Line: 313.833.7900

Opening hours:
Wednesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Fridays 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

Detroit Institute of Arts website

Sotheby’s to Auction George Armstrong Custer Flag From the Detroit Institute of Arts

by Lookup Webmaster on June 26, 2010

in Art & Culture, Learning & Libraries, Metro History

One hundred and thirty-four years ago today, George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry were overwhelmed near the Little Big Horn River by warriors of the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne. No survivors remained among those who fought under Custer’s direct command and few physical artifacts of the battle were left on the field, the Indians carrying with them anything that might reflect on their prowess or prove to be of utilitarian use. But a cavalry guidon, or swallow-tail flag, was hidden under the body of a dead trooper and discovered three days after the battle by Sergeant Ferdinand Culbertson, who was assigned to a burial party.

Sotheby’s announces that this sacred relic, emblematic of one of the most significant events in American history, will be offered for sale in October 2010: Custer’s Last Flag: The Culbertson Guidon from The Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Since 1895, this fragile silk flag has been preserved at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The guidon had been given by Culbertson to Charles and Rose Fowler of Detroit in approximately 1880. The flag was purchased from Rose Fowler Reidel, by a public contribution in 1895. It will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s in October 2010 with an estimate of $2/5 million and proceeds from the auction will be used by the museum exclusively for future art purchases. The guidon will be unveiled to the public in September.

“This immortal battle flag represents the spirit, the bravery and the tragedy of one of the most dramatic moments in American history,” commented David Redden, Vice Chairman of Sotheby’s. “Battle-worn and bullet-torn, the Culbertson Guidon conjures the ferocity of that terrible battle.”

“The Detroit Institute of Arts has been a steward of this flag for more than 115 years,” said Graham W. J. Beal, DIA director. “In 1895, the flag fit in with the wide range of artifacts collected and displayed at that time. It remains, without doubt, an important historical treasure, but has long since ceased to meet current criteria as a work of art. It makes sense for us to sell it for the benefit of the collection.”

The Battle of the Little Big Horn on June 25, 1876, also known as Custer’s Last Stand, was a pivotal moment in American history – and one of the most debated topics in American historiography. News of the Native American’s annihilation of the United States forces and Custer’s death reached the East just as Centennial celebrations were getting underway and shocked a nation that had become accustomed to victory. The massacre of Custer’s troops brought a renewed urgency–and an altogether new brutality–to the Indian Wars. The reports of the stoic bravery of cavalry troopers (whether accurate or not) provided the impetus for the Federal government to reprise the lessons of total warfare so efficiently taught during the Civil War by Sherman and Grant. The frenzy to avenge Custer accelerated to an almost incomprehensible degree the confinement and transformation of Plains Indian culture: within a dozen years Sioux warriors who had fought the 7th Cavalry at Little Big Horn were recreating the battle for Eastern audiences in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show.

Custer’s widow fiercely and astutely promoted her husband’s reputation, and for at least two generations, tales of Custer’s personal bravery and charisma dominated studies of the Little Big Horn. The Last Stand inspired hundreds of movies, songs and books, including one published just this month — “The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Big Horn” by Nathaniel Philbrick. After a sharp reversal of this traditional view — which attributed responsibility to Custer’s blundering as well as to federal Indian policy — a more nuanced view now prevails.

The significance of the Culbertson Guidon was recognized immediately. Even before it arrived at the Detroit Institute of Arts, one of its stars and a patch of the white and red stripes had been carefully snipped away as relics, very possibly by other members of Culbertson’s burial party. Otherwise, it has survived in remarkably fine condition, a tangible reminder of the uncertainty of martial triumph.

Image: The Culbertson Guidon from the Battle of the Little Big Horn, 32 ½ by 26 ½ in. Estimate: $2/5 million. Photo: Sotheby’s

Fireworks Tonight – Freedom Festival

by Lookup Webmaster on June 21, 2010

in Uncategorized

72nd floor / 2008 fireworks, originally uploaded by g. s. george.

Taken from the 72nd floor of the Renaissance Center, Detroit’s tallest building, looking down onto the Detroit River, Hart Plaza and Jefferson Avenue. The entrance to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel is seen at the very bottom. In the distance, the Ambassador Bridge spans the Strait of Detroit. Windsor, Ontario Canada can be seen behind the fireworks at far left.

2008 Detroit River Days (Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival)
Detroit, Michigan

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