Detroit

Ann Arbor native, Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton dies at 60

By Newsroom

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January 15, 2009

Sometimes music happens that changes things. Influential music ebbs and flows, there are peaks and valleys. There are a few that lead while most follow. The Stooges was one of those leaders. It's hard to argue the Stooges' place in rock history. And the man behind those three-chord, punk rock riffs, Ron Asheton, was found dead in his Ann Arbor home last week. A tribute to Asheton will be held on Jan. 17 at the Music Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Detroit.Will Iggy show up?Excerpt: Three high school friends in Ann Arbor — Mr. Asheton; his drummer brother, Scott; and the singer James Osterberg, who later changed his name to Iggy Pop — formed the nucleus of what was first called the Psychedelic Stooges. Influenced by free jazz, garage rock and Chicago blues, the Stooges’ first two albums — “The Stooges” and “Fun House” — are the best showcase of Mr. Asheton’s sound: two- or three-chord riffs with an open, droning, low E string and solos filtered through distortion and wah-wah pedals. After the high point of “Fun House,” things became more complicated. The bassist, Dave Alexander, was fired, and the band was dropped by its label, Elektra. Iggy Pop, individually, was signed by David Bowie’s production company, MainMan. A new guitarist and songwriter, James Williamson, joined the group. On “Raw Power,” the band’s final studio album, Mr. Asheton was demoted to playing bass. The Stooges lasted from 1967 to 1974. Having progressed from a noisy, anarchic joke to a great, confrontational rock band and back to a joke, the members were broke and addicted to heroin, except for Mr. Asheton, who increasingly took responsibility for holding the band together from day to day.Read the entire article here.For more information on the tribute go here.

Residents begin moving into Willys Overland lofts

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 15, 2009

Midtown's newest residents are moving into one Detroit's best developments, Willys Overland Lofts.Excerpt:Despite the bleak housing market, Willys Overland Lofts has sold seven units without resorting to slashed pricing and before they had the benefit of an on-site sales office. Four are occupied, with the remainder undergoing build-out.Sales associate Jason Peet attributes this relative success to the fact that owners are able to take advantage of architecture services from DeMattia Group's in-house talent. Once a unit is purchased, custom design work and construction can be accomplished in just three months. "Higher-end buyers get that that's worth a lot of money to work with architects," he says.Read the rest of the story here.

Wayne State, DMC help make more high-risk kidney transplants safer

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 13, 2009

A Wayne State University researcher has found a way to lower the number of kidney transplant rejections in high-risk patients.High-risk patients, such as those with HIV, usually reject new kidneys about half the time. Transplants conducted by Dr. Scott Gruber and the DMC Harper University Hospital’s kidney transplant program have been able to lower that number to 13 percent. Those patients also had shorter hospital stays.This has huge implications for those suffering from HIV. By lowering the rejection rate to that of the general population, HIV patients are living longer and better lives.DMC Harper University Hospital is among the few medical centers in the country studying the challenges and complexities of performing kidney transplants in the HIV positive population. Source: Wayne State UniversityWriter: Jon Zemke

Wayne State’s Word Warriors web site dusts off seldom-used words

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 13, 2009

Wayne State University has developed a new web site that help should scribes and storytellers become a little better acquainted with little-known words.Word Warriors, a play on words on the university's mascot, presents a dictionary of the words we tried to learn from vocabulary books in secondary school. They include some head scratchers, such as Yclept (Named or so-called) and Mastication (The act of chewing). Users can submit their words they have dragged out of the linguistic closet.The idea is that bringing these words back to the forefront of people's minds will give them a valuable communication tool to express thoughts and feelings clearly and concisely in everyday life. The project began from a casual conversation among four Wayne State employees that included vice president for marketing and communications, dean of the Honors College, director of editorial services, and a journalism instructor.Those creators hope the web site will provoke discussion about the English language and broaden people's communication abilities.Source: Wayne State UniversityWriter: Jon Zemke

NYTimes looks at how the DIA rejuvenated itself from within

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Community Development

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January 13, 2009

The Detroit Institute of Art has one of the greatest art collections in the nation. And though it gets little support from Michigan and Detroit government, it has renewed itself by taking a look at what it had and reworking it.Excerpt: Comparable largess is all but nonexistent in Detroit today. Wealthy industrialists have faded from the scene. The Michigan state government gives almost no money to the institute, the city even less. In 1997 Detroit built the Museum of African-American History across the street from the institute, its spanking newness in sharp contrast to its older, crumbling neighbor. Graham W. J. Beal, who arrived as director that year, has done much to stop the decline, largely — and this is where other museums should pay attention — through the use of material at hand. In 2007, to attract the city’s black majority and woo back white suburbanites, the museum unveiled a top-to-bottom rethinking of all the permanent galleries, with strategic shifts in emphasis. The museum’s very fine African collection, developed by the curator Michael Kan, was placed upfront, near a main entrance, where it offers a cool yet absorbing introduction to the institute’s imperious interior. A gallery for African-American art, including Detroit artists, was added upstairs: it’s an important gesture, although something should have been done to make it look commanding rather than dutiful. Read the entire article here.

Detroit transit may be en route

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 13, 2009

For the first time in Detroit's history mass transit may be more than just a dream.Excerpt:Twenty-four times in the past half-century serious proposals for mass transit in Detroit have been brought to regional leaders. Only once have regional leaders agreed to such a proposal -- this time. "That was a complex, long-term plan that (the Big Four) agreed to," Hertel said. "It was the first time this region has ever put its unanimous support behind a transit proposal." "In the past, this was 'auto city,'" Crouchman said. "People loved their cars. But with some of the developments we've seen over the past few years, with layoffs and gas prices all over the place -- that won't last forever." Regional transit is literally in uncharted waters. For supporters and skeptics alike the question remains: Is mass transit for real this time, or will it unravel as so many other ventures calling for regional cooperation have in the past? Read the entire article here.A Detroit Free Press article found here talks about how light rail link might be just the beginning of mass transit in Detroit.

Colin Hubbell Fund event set for Feb. 8, proceeds to spur entrepreneurship in Midtown

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 13, 2009

The Colin Hubbell Fund has been formed with an eye to helping small businesses get started in Midtown. It was founded to carry on the legacy of Colin Hubbell, a developer with several projects -- including 55 W. Canfield, the Canfield Lofts and Art Center Town Homes -- in the Cultural Center area. Hubbell passed away on August 21, 2008 after a long battle with cancer. The memorial fund will award grants to small businesses and community organizations on a bi-annual basis. It includes a mentoring component that will assist grantees with marketing, financing, business resources and the like. "Small businesses are the foundation of successful urban centers, building density and walkable, thriving communities," says Trish Hubbell, wife and founder of the fund. "The Colin Hubbell Fund supports small business, the creative class, and will promote investment in the City of Detroit." The fund is hosting a fundraiser on Feb. 8 from 4 to 9 p.m. at the Magic Stick and Garden Bowl. Tickets are good for pizza, salad, soda, munchies, bowling and bowling shoes. A cash bar will be available. There will be music and a silent auction featuring local art.Tickets are $25 per adult, and $15 for ages 14 and under. A $75 family rate (for immediate family) is also available. Click here to purchase advance tickets. Read a tribute to Hubbell's extraordinary life here and memories from just a few of the many people he inspired in Detroit here. The fund will be managed through the University Cultural Center Association. Source: The Hubbell FundWriter: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Residents begin moving into Willys Overland lofts

By Newsroom

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Arts & Culture

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January 13, 2009

Despite the bleak housing market, Willys Overland Lofts has sold seven units without resorting to slashed pricing and before they had the benefit of an on-site sales office. Four are occupied, with the remainder undergoing build-out.Sales associate Jason Peet attributes this relative success to the fact that owners are able to take advantage of architecture services from DeMattia Group's in-house talent. Once a unit is purchased, custom design work and construction can be accomplished in just three months. "Higher-end buyers get that that's worth a lot of money to work with architects," he says. The 75 lofts range in size from 850 to 2,950 square feet. Fifteen ground floor units can be configurated into live/work spaces -- a fact already evident at Re:View Contemporary Gallery, which fronts on Willis -- whereas nine of the 15 front the building's gated guest parking lot.Sixty units are in the original structure; 15 are two-story penthouse units in a rooftop addition. Most units have outdoor access via either a fenced-in lawn area on the ground floor, a balcony or a rooftop patio in the case of the penthouses. All units include indoor resident parking as well as reserved spots in the guest lot.Prices range from $158,000 to $620,000; two of the sold units hover in the $500,000 range. Willys is in a Neighborhood Enterprise Zone, which reduces property taxes for the buyer and has a relationship with National City Bank's N-CHAMP program, which has the ability offer interest rates below prime. One last buyers' bonus: MSHDA has packaged a dozen $10,000 down payment assistance grants for buyers who are income-qualified. Contact Peet at 313-832-2000 for more information or to schedule a tour. Now that there is a full-time sales office on-site, he hopes to be kept rather busy.Source: Jason Peet, Midtown DevelopmentWriter: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

GREEN SPACE: Detroit goes green with new Office of Energy & Sustainibility

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Health

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January 8, 2009

Detroit is typically regarded as, well, not-the-most progressive of cities when it comes to sustainability. But that's slowly changing, with recycling and green building on the rise. And it sure doesn't hurt to have the mayor on the right side of the fence. Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr. recently created an Office of Energy and Sustainability, which will focus on greening the city from all sides.Some tasks at hand: Evaluating the energy efficiency of city buildings; Working with urban agriculture groups to help develop more farm parcels; and The debut of a pilot curbside recycling program (Read more about that here.)."It's a significant step forward for Detroit," says task force member Jacob Corvidae of WARM Training. "It's stepping up to the demands of the 21st Century."Corvidae, who hopes the task force helps Detroit to position itself as a leader in the growing green economy, has already observed one positive about the group: "It's an important collection of people from a variety of backgrounds," he says. And, as it evolves he wants to see it "keep getting more of the right people to the table."Source: Jacob Corvidae, WARM TrainingWriter: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Peoplemovers aims for profits with new website, staff of 200 in 3 years

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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January 8, 2009

Peoplemovers hopes to do for community outreach what LinkedIn did for business networking. Excerpt: Keith Zendler's Peoplemovers has upgraded with a new look and more changes are planned this year. The web site, which he launched from his Boston-Edison home in 2003, serves as a social networking community, like Facebook or MySpace, that focuses on community outreach. "We're providing a low-cost way for communities and organizations to work together so these communities can thrive," Zendler says. Read the rest of the story here.