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The 2007 Michigan Notable Books author tour runs April 5 through May 24. The tour encompasses just about every area of the state giving Michigan residents a chance to meet the authors of the 2007 Michigan Notable Books.
19 of the authors are participating in the tour this year for book signings and discussions. You can view the schedule and authors for April and May.
I just started reading Steven Lehto's book, "Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder" last night. His book is one of the 20 Michigan Notable Books for 2007. You can view the entire list here.
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum plays host to the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival this weekend (March 24). The event celebrates the stringed-instrument history and legacy of Kalamazoo. Guitars have been produced in Kalamazoo for over a century, but Kalamazoo was also home to banjo, basses, ukuleles, mandolins, and other stringed-instrument production.
The event runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and admission is free. Various workshops and lectures on topics such as A History of Gibson Guitar, Fingerpickin' Beginner to Intermediate, The History of the Banjo, and much more will take place throughout the museum.
Performances by Great Lakes Grass (traditional bluegrass), Third Coast Ensemble, Royal Garden Trio, and the Fabulous Heftones will take place during the event in the Kalamazoo Valley Museum gallery.
For more information and directions to the museum visit their website - kvm.kvcc.edu.
Well, the corned beef has been purchased. The homemade root beer is brewing (I don't drink "real" beer). All I need is a little Irish music and to watch John Wayne's, The Quiet Man - simply one of the best movies filmed in Ireland.
You can get The Quiet Man on DVD at Amazon for under $10. Not a bad deal considering I probably paid twice that when it first was released a few years back.
My favorite local Irish group is Whiskey Before Breakfast. I believe they take their name from an old tune "Whiskey Before Breakfast." I could be wrong on that, but I thought that is what they had said when I saw them perform one time.
They are playing all over the Kalamazoo area tomorrow. It looks like they have quite the busy day ahead of them. Here is a quick rundown of their schedule:
Kraftbrau Brewery, Kalamazoo - 9:30am to 11:30am.
O'Duffy, Kalamazoo - 11:30am to 1:30pm.
The Livery Brewery, Benton Harbor - 4pm to 8pm
Anyway, enjoy this short clip (2.5 minutes) of some wonderful Irish music just in case you don't make it out anywhere tomorrow.
If the player does not appear you can watch this 2.5 minute clip directly at YouTube right here.
By the way - my favorite way to eat corned beef is on a fresh Kaiser roll with some Thousand Island dressing. Yum!
Last year, I wrote about the Outhouse Classic that takes place up in Trenary, Michigan. I was fortunate enough to come across a video of the 2005 event on YouTube.
Some of the outhouses people made for the race are quite well done and could stand on their own as Upper Peninsula works of art. People wear crazy getups and have a tone of fun by the looks of things.
If the video player does not appear, you can watch the video here.
Lost in the shuffle and national audience of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The 80 year tradition of floats, bands, and balloons traveling down Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit will be seen via television by an estimated 100 million people.
A funny thing I just learned through this article in the Detroit News is that Macy's is one of the Detroit parade's 200 sponsors. So not only are they the headline sponsor of their historic New York City parade, but they also help to sponsor the Detroit parade. I am not sure if this has always been the case or if it is because they bought out Marshall Fields which bought out Hudson's which used to be based in downtown Detroit.
The parade will begin at 9:20 on Thanksgiving morning and will begin at Mack and Woodward.
A November 2 auction at UpFront & Co. in Marquette will benefit the Marquette County History Museum. Antiques as well as some unique experiences will be auctioned off to raise funds for the museum's operational expenses.
Collectibles, sports memorabilia, and just about anything else have been donated by community members and folks across the U.P. for the auction. A chance to have lunch at Peter White's camp on the Laughing Whitefish River, fly-fishing, a history tour of Northern Michigan University, and other unique Upper Peninsula experiences will be up for auction too.