JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Our next stop was Frankenmuth , which bills itself as "Michigan's Little Bavaria". An odd place for a tourist town, tucked in between Michael Moore and Michigan Militia territory. Flint is 15 minutes to the south - if you're seen any of Moore's films, you'll know why we bypass it, though Dort Hwy (M-54) is a hoot for its alternating pattern of auto body shops and massage parlours. You know you're headed into tourist country when the first site you pass is a giant year-round Christmas store. Having exhausted our holiday cheer on Dec 25th, we drove along. Dinner was our sole stop. I'd passed through Frankenmuth, but never dined on the chicken dinners the town built its reputation on. Zehnder's has served up monster dinners for decades, in a building that began as a hotel in 1856. Popular place - at 4:30 there was a long line, which moved swiftly. While they waited, I walked out to Main St and snapped some pics. Buggies take the old Christ...

Whenever I glance at the 50 cent/$1 bin outside of any used book store, there are always one or two titles good for a laugh. In Ann Arbor, this dose of comedy relief is provided by the rolling cases outside Dawn Treader Book Store on Liberty St. Love that title. Alas, a late 80s teen novel about a bunch of misfits calling themselves "obnoxious jerks" was not enough to make Amy or I part with 50 cents US, despite the teasers on the back. Further research reveals that the writer is currently a columnist for Forbes and PC World magazines. Reviews from Amazon . But wait, what is that book The Obnoxious Jerks proudly stands on top of? Since neither of us wants to know about fish tanks exploding or marine lust, we passed on this one. Turns out this was a Canadian book ! Another case that proves my theory that Ann Arbor is the graveyard for Canadian publishers (I've lost count of how many Canadian remainders I've seen over the years - Dad used to buy monst...

Last weekend was my sister's birthday, the last she'll see with a two in front of it unless science proves otherwise. Along with Mom, we hopped in my car and headed over the border. The day started off in Ann Arbor. After dropping Mom off at Briarwood Mall, Amy and I headed downtown. The sun brought the city out, as finding a park became a challenge. Result: the highest I've ever had to go at the Maynard-Liberty garage. Garage notes: Dad used to go on about the acoustics in the deck, before it was renovated. Our most amusing experience was one afternoon we were stuck behind a pair of giggly co-eds in a battered VW van that broke down every 50 feet. Nobody around us seemed bothered by the slow trip out of the garage. Parking so high has its privileges. From our spot, I pointed the camera east towards State St. Across the street from the lot was a long line-up outside the Michigan Theatre. The draw? The Muppet Movie . Our main stop was Encore Recordings, where e...

While back in A'burg over the weekend, I scanned a pile of material for future use on this site and elsewhere. While flipping through some of my father's old yearbooks, I couldn't resist using these finds. First up, an excerpt from the graduate section of Leaside High School's 56-57 Yearbook, Clan Call . Take a gander at the first name on the class list for 13D: Before anyone asks, my father was a minor niner in 56-57 and didn't know her. Yearbook pics #2 and 3 come from the 1964 edition of U of T's yearbook, Torontoensis . Interesting story behind this one: for years, my father only had the 1962 (his first year) and 1965 (his grad year) editions. He found the 1964 book, as he found many things, at a Windsor Public Library book sale. Why this book was sitting in Windsor may be explained by the law grad on the left. Even more interesting is the law grad on the right end of this row.   Before anyone asks, my father was an arts undergrad and knew neit...

Judging from this ad, nostalgia for Woodstock set in quickly...or at least the cash-ins did. If you weren't there for the brown acid, you could throw on the soundtrack and wear these beauties. "Never-to-be-repeated event", hah! Warner Brothers must have hoped to milk the peace, love and music train. They released the film and soundtrack and owned the publisher of Star-Spangled War Stories , National Periodical Publications (aka DC Comics). It may seem ironic that Woodstock jewelery was advertised in a war comic, until you've actually read any from that era. When artist Joe Kubert took over as editor of most of DC's war line in 1968, the stories took a less embracing view towards warfare. Bullets appeared at the end of stories, proclaiming "make war no more". Since none of the ongoing characters had series set in the present, writers and artists had more liberties to address modern concerns It helped that many of them had been WWII vets, drawing on t...

While on a recent late-night stroll around the neighbourhood, I brought along my camera for company. While it refused to answer my questions about life and humanity's place in the universe, it agreed to snap some shots of Mt. Pleasant at midnight. Left : The smell of fresh-fried fish & chips occasionally greets me at the bunker after a long day's work, thanks to Penrose Fish & Chips. A neighbourhood fixture for five decades, take-out traffic remains heavy. It's not uncommon to see folks unwrapping their paper-wrapped fried bounty as they walk down the street. I'm still spoiled by memories of the light, non-greasy batter at Sir Cedric's in Windsor - I've tried Penrose twice and found the food fine, but the halibut can be on the skimpy side (the chips rock, but I only eat fries 3-4 times a year tops). Toronto Life review . Right : Fairy-tale royalty reigns in the window of Sugar's Costumes . Considering their specialty, one wonders who'd ...

Headed on the first of several trips downtown this week last night, to catch Spacing magazine's evening of urban planning/transit-related short films. Since I suspected I wouldn't know anyone there, and to re-jig my memory while writing this post, I brought along a notebook. It came in handy before the switch on the video player was flipped on. First time ever in the Drake. Not much light down here in the basement, so I suspect I'll be lucky to read anything afterwards. The room is filling fast - I'm four rows from he front in a folding chair, surrounded by lawn chairs and padded benches. It's been awhile since I've gone to an evening like this. Used to go to readings a lot during my "hermit" year, not so much since. Busy life. I flip through the weeklies, browse websites, see events that look interesting but never follow up. My timing was good. It was standing-room only when the films began. Starting with a sped-up trip down the University-Spa...