Today on The Daily Michigan we're giving away a private tea cupping for up to 6 people, to include matcha ceremonial green tea at Light of Day Organics.

Founder Angela Macke has a background in Holistic health, as an RN, educator and horticulturalist and based on her own positive experiences in utilizing gentle, natural rhythms to restore balance. Angela believes that a holistic approach is the most effective way to restore optimal health and a sense of well being, and crafts her teas accordingly.

Light of Day teas are grown organically and biodynamically under the guidelines of the National Organic Program and Demeter Biodynamic, then hand-harvested, dried in a licensed commercial farm kitchen, and packaged with great care with teas blended small batches to promote consistency, to maximize freshness and for optimal nutritive benefit. Sign up below and check out the video from Angela below where she shows you how to brew an ideal cup of tea!

Click here to sign up

Share this:

Dave and some like-minded individuals created SolarYpsi in 2005 with the hope of making their hometown a solar power destination through tying solar power generation to the electrical grid.

Their web site showcases real-time reporting of electrical production via solar panels, tracking panels are located on top of the Ypsilanti Food Coop, the Riverstreet Bakery, Ypsilanti City Hall and an Ann Arbor Transportation Authority bus stop.

Here's Google's Search Story Creator in case you want to try your hand. Head over to absolutemichigan.com/solar for more Michigan solar information.

Share this:

Today's offering in The Daily Michigan is a pair of tickets to the 3rd Annual Winter Traverse City Microbrew & Music Festival (must be 21 to win). The festival has so much to offer that probably the best thing we can do is give you the poster above to click on!

Click here to sign up

Shadows on Ice by farlane

This annual festival is produced by Porterhouse Productions and features over 40 breweries, wineries, cideries, and meaderies - most from Michigan - along with local food vendors and beer and cuisine pairings. A highlight of the festival is a wide range of entertainment featuring Funktion, Heatbox, The Crane Wives, Whitney Morgan and the 78s, Dragon Wagon and Rootstand.  There's also fire dancers, live polka music and a silent disco.

It all benefits Bay Area Recycling for Charities, a non-profit company providing comprehensive recycling services to residents and businesses in the Grand Traverse Bay area. BARC allows customers to get top-quality recycling services and give back to the local community through the charity of their choice.

Click the button for their Facebook and some photos and info, order tickets and get more details from Porterhouse Productions. There's some great music for us to choose from. While we're tempted to link over to our friends in Dragon Wagon or Minnesota-based Heatbox, we have to present The Crane Wives performing one of their hits!

Share this:

The Pine Mountain ski slide was at one time was the highest artificial ski jump in the world and is still known throughout the world as one of the best jumping hills. At the first Pine Mountain Tournament, Bob Roecker, riding for the Duluth Ski Club, shattered the American jumping record with a leap of 257 feet.

For questions regarding tickets, please contact the Kiwanis Ski Club (906) 779-1110 or (800) 236-2447.  This video from Pine Mountain 2008 is a little bright, but it gives you a good sense of this exciting event. Here's another video with lots more jumps from the Continental Cup, but we have to give you this great newsreel from the 1950s voiced by Mel Allen. It was shot in Iron Mountain, and features several local jumpers including then 9-year-old Willie Erickson, a two-time Olympian and FIS World Championship competitor. Also don't miss the jumping videos from the Kiwanis club!

Share this:

Michigan Cherries by jdurchen

Did you know that Michigan is the largest producer of Montmorency tart cherries, growing 70-75% of the crop? February is National Cherry Month, and the Cherry Marketing Institute (link below) has bushels of info about the history and present state of the cherry industry including growing research showing that antioxidants in tart cherries may relieve the pain of arthritis and gout & help fight cancer and heart disease.

Cherry Facts

• Tart cherries are loaded with antioxidants that are believed to relieve the pain of arthritis and gout and help fight cancer and heart disease. They're also especially high in the antioxidant melatonin, which may help prevent or reduce brain deterioration associated with aging. And to top it off, they're high in vitamin A and beta-carotene.
• Cherries were brought to America by early settlers in the 1600s. Cherry trees, in fact, were part of the gardens of French settlers when they established Detroit.
• Peter Dougherty, a Presbyterian missionary on Old Mission Peninsula north of Traverse City, started modern-day cherry production in Michigan in 1852. Now, Michigan grows about 75 percent of the nation's tart cherries and Traverse City calls itself the cherry capital of the world.
• It takes about 250 cherries to make a cherry pie; enough cherries grow on the average cherry tree to make 28 pies, industry officials say.
• Tart cherries ripen two or three weeks after sweet cherries. Look for them in mid to late July.
• Cherries are a truly ancient delicacy - explorers have found cherry pits from the Stone Age in European caves.
• Tart cherries have fewer calories and more beta-carotene than sweet cherries.
• Michigan grows 75 percent of the nation's tart cherries.

For more tasty cherry info, be sure to check these out!

Cherry Marketing Institute is the best place to go for information about this delicious and healthy fruit!

Absolute Michigan's Cherry Links has all kinds of info about the cherry!

Michigan Cherries from Taste the Local Difference is PACKED with all kinds of information and delicious cherry recipes.

Michigan Cherries from the Department of Agriculture

MSU's Michigan Cherry Information features more cherry information than you can shake a whole tree at!

For all things edible, drinkable and wearable, check out Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor. They are one of the featured supporters of The Daily Michigan and are giving away 5# of cherries today!

The National Cherry Festival in Traverse City is a celebration of cherries and the cherry industry held every year at the beginning of July.

Video & Photos

Definitely check out the Cherry slideshow from the Absolute Michigan photo group on Flickr. On the video front, we hope you will enjoy 'Cherry Cherry' (circa 1967) by Neil Diamond and also this video of the harvest at an organic cherry farm in Northern Michigan!

Share this:

While there's nowhere near the degree of Michigan hype this year as there was in 2006 when Detroit hosted Super Bowl XL, we have a few points of Michigan interest for when the New England Patriots meet the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI (46) on Sunday.

On the field, Bleacher Report has 8 ex-Wolverines to watch in the playoffs. Most have been winnowed out, but in addition to the obvious - Patriot superstar QB, 3 time winner and 2-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, there's also New York Giants WR Mario Manningham, Giants center David Baas and Romanian-born Patriot punter Zoltan Mesko. The photo to the right is from a cool feature that looks at how Tom Brady would fare as a draft prospect today:

Is not what you’re looking for in terms of physical stature, strength, arm strength and mobility, but he has the intangibles and production and showed great Griese-like improvement as a senior.

The MSU Spartans are bringing their own star power, with beleaguered WR Plaxico Burress (who set the franchise playoff record with 151 yards vs Green Bay) and another WR, Devin Thomas, who had a huge fumble recovery in overtime against the 49ers to set up the game-winning score for the Giants! Chris McCoskey notes another Spartan (Pats backup QB Brian Hoyer), and also former Grand Valley State lineman Nick McDonald, a 2nd year player who is backup center for the Pats and was backup center for the Packers last year.

Speaking of Michigan State, as usual about 20 MSU professors who will gather together on Super Bowl Sunday to break down the tape - commercial tape that is - and rate Super Bowl ads. One of them, MSU teacher Robert Kolt looked at last year's Chrysler ad featuring Eminem:

“Audiences immediately realized they saw something special,” said Kolt, who teaches in MSU’s Department of Advertising, Public Relations and Retailing. “Within months, Chrysler sales soared.

“Company executives point to that Super Bowl spot as a defining moment in Chrysler’s successful, profitable turnaround.”

Speaking of Chris McCoskey, he's doing that thing that writers do sometimes - dissing the Super Bowl hype and the boredom of it all when he's there to cover it. A little tip I heard on ESPN from Colin Cowherd: Nobody wants to hear about how bored you are, because as sports fans they would most likely chop block their grandmother to be in your position!

One of Michigan's biggest impacts will be at halftime when Michigan-born pop music superstar Madonna takes the stage in the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Madonna (whose onstage garb has often resembled a wardrobe malfunction) has said that she's nervous. While we doubt that, we do wonder what she'll be singing. Her new single, "Give Me All Your Luvin" featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. is one possibility and TMZ has some photos of the stage showing "VOGUE" spelled out. Clue? More about Madonna in this feature from Michigan History Magazine.

Finally, if you want to set the table for the perfect Super Bowl party, Lorri Hathaway has a cool feature on Michigan Wine & Football inspired pairings in the Michigan Examiner that has some great ideas for pairings. Some ideas include Pinot Grigio & chips, ham and turkey subswith Gewürztraminer and hot wings with Riesling. There's even a Riesling Salsa made with wine from Chateau Grand Traverse!

Share this:

All January we have been giving away ski tickets to Michigan resorts in our January Ski Month Giveaway. Our last giveaway is to one of the pioneering ski resorts in Michigan.

boyne highlands lodge by northernlightphotograph

Boyne Mountain started in 1947 when Detroit native Everett Kircher moved to northern Michigan to build a ski resort. For just $1, he bought what is known today as Boyne Mountain. Kircher had many firsts including the world's first triple chair and first four-person chair and America's first 6-seat high-speed chairlift. Kircher also pioneered the design of much of the snow grooming equipment and techniques in use today and invented the Boyne Snowmaker, the first efficient marginal temperature snowmaking machine.

Boyne has grown into a nationwide empire that includes some of the nation's premier resorts like Big Sky, and also two four-season ski resorts in Michigan: Boyne Mountain and nearby Boyne Highlands. A cool feature of tickets at the two resorts is that you can use the same ticket at either resort - ski in the morning at one and finish your day at the other, giving you 115 downhill runs & terrain parks between the two resorts!

Boarder at Boyne courtesy Boyne Mountain

In addition to skiing and snowboarding, Boyne has expanded the opportunities for winter fun with ice skating, tubing, snowshoeing, dog sled and horse drawn wagon rides, zipline adventures and the Avalanche Bay water park. They also have a wide range of dining and lodging options at each resort. If you want to take a look at what they have to offer, their webcams and videos are a great place to start.

All you need to do to be eligible to win is to be on our email list (below the video). This video gives you a first-person look at skiing at Boyne, but we have to go with this one from the incomparable Warren Miller!

Absolute Michigan is committed to helping our readers get more out of Michigan with our giveaways of products and services from all kinds of Michigan businesses. It's free, fun and all you have to do to be eligible is to be on our email list!

If your business is interested in participating, you can get all the information right here.

Share this:

Detroit's beloved rock sons - Sponge - will offer fans a rare treat when they perform their break through hit CD "Rotting Piñata" for the first time ever in its entirety - and in CD track order at Mt. Clemens' Emerald Theatre on Saturday, January 28.

Before Kid Rock became synonymous with Detroit ROCK, Sponge dominated MTV and national radio with their hits "Plowed" and "Molly/16 Candles," culled from the band's electrifying debut CD "Rotting Piñata." The CD went Gold, securing Sponge's place in Detroit's music history books.

Sponge went on to release 6 CDs, garnering additional hits including "Wax Ecstatic" and "Have You Seen Mary." The unforgettable performances by charismatic lead singer Vinnie Dombroski have earned Sponge a reputation as a "not to be missed" live act, and you have a chance to do exactly that in a couple of special upcomg live shows.

Admission for Sponge's Emerald Theatre show (located at 31 N. Walnut St.) is $15 in advance ($18 day of the show), and are available now at the venue's box office and Ticketmaster. A stellar line up of Michigan rock bands will open for Sponge, most notably Amy Gore and Her Valentines.

After the Emerald Theatre performance, Sponge will perform an intimate SECOND (and possibly THIRD) show inside the Emerald Theatre's Rock Room, playing hits from the band's entire music catalog. Admission for these shows is by donation with 100% of proceeds benefitting local Susan A. Komen 3- Day walking team "Trekking for Ta-Tas."

For more information on the shows, please contact the venue at 586-913-1921 or visit their website. More information on Sponge is available at spongetheband.com. We'll close with Sponge performing "Molly/16 Candles" on the Conan O'Brien Show in 1996.

Absolute Michigan is committed to helping our readers get more out of Michigan. To that end, we are adding an exciting new program featuring giveaways of products and services from all kinds of Michigan businesses. It's free, fun and all you have to do to be eligible is to be on our email list - sign up using the form below. We guarantee that we will not share your email address with anyone!

If your business is interested in participating, you can get all the information right here.

Share this:

Smile by pairadocs

The Michigan International Auto Show returns to DeVos Place January 26-29, 2012 with manufacturers from around the world setting up their finest traveling displays. The show is West Michigan’s largest consumer show and offers you a chance to view your next new car with some 300 new vehicles on display. From sedans to vans, SUVs & trucks to hybrids and sports cars. If it rolls on 4 wheels, chances are you'll see it at the factory representatives from nearly 40 different manufacturers.

“This year, visitors will find vehicles displaying increases in innovations and design, as well as energy efficiency models as the auto industry rises to the challenges placed before it,” says Terry Burns, Executive Director of the Grand Rapids New Car Dealers Association. “New models, new designs and new technologies are helping our industry bring itself back up along a path of recovery as we move into 2012 and beyond.”

A highlight of the show is the Million Dollar Motorway, which is expected to be bigger and better than ever before featuring a variety of high end cars including Bentley, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Maserati and Lamborghini, each valued at more than $100,000. There are also exhibits from the Gilmore Car Museum that offer you a chance to take a trip back in automobile history.

Here's a video from last year's show to give you an idea of what to expect.

Absolute Michigan is committed to helping our readers get more out of Michigan. To that end, we are adding an exciting new program featuring giveaways of products and services from all kinds of Michigan businesses. It's free, fun and all you have to do to be eligible is to be on our email list - sign up using the form below. We guarantee that we will not share your email address with anyone!

If your business is interested in participating, you can get all the information right here.

Share this:

This morning, Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT, big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash (shown right or in short movie right here)

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA's STEREO-B spacecraft detected a CME rapidly emerging from the blast site: movie. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the leading edge of the CME will reach Earth on Jan. 24 at 14:18UT (+/- 7 hours).

That means it's hitting the Earth 11 AM - 6 PM EST, but this level of intensity makes the Northern Lights a real possibility for the next couple of days so definitely LOOK UP tonight and tomorrow if there's any break in the clouds! If the northern lights hit, our Northern Lights Log will light up with reports. You can also learn a lot more about the Northern Lights at Michigan in Pictures.

One person who will be looking up is Shawn Malone of Lake Superior Photo. She takes some of the most amazing northern lights photos. See them at her website and definitely favorite her Facebook page as there's lots of great photos and discussion about the Aurora and other UP topics. Shawn has put together a very cool time-lapse of the aurora borealis peaking out through the fog moving in as the full moon illuminates the Superior shore that ends with a fogbow - enjoy!

Share this:

View from Bay Mountain by Patrick Kuras

Our January Ski Month giveaways continue with a chance to win a pair of lift tickets to The Homestead in Glen Arbor - to be eligible, just add your email to our list using the form above!

As you can see from the photo, Bay Mountain at The Homestead overlooks Lake Michigan and Sleeping Bear Bay, providing one of the most amazing views in the Midwest. While the terrain is by no means extreme, they have a nice terrain park and some fun runs. Their strength is as a destination for families, and their great ski program includes lessons and Camp Tam-A-Rack, offering child care for resort guests and a chance for parents to get out and enjoy the hill.

In addition to downhill, they have some great cross country trails at the resort and are moments away from some of the most amazing trails in the world at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. They also have a number of restaurants and a wide variety of condos and lodging options.

Absolute Michigan isn't the only place you can win stuff - The Homestead is offering an $84,000 Winter Sweepstakes this winter with regular chances to win all kinds of prizes. Twenty-five skiers or boarders will win prizes each week for the first 10 weeks, two will win 2013 season passes in the last two weeks and they'll even give away ski weekends!

Now here's a video that gives you a look at the resort.

Share this:

Neither of these new laws would stop piracy, which Absolute Michigan is opposed to. Both, however, would put control of online content in the hands of large entertainment corporations and the government, placing a giant burden on web media outlets like Wikipedia, WordPress, YouTube ... and even little old Absolute Michigan.

With our Absolute Michigan, Michigan in Pictures and Leelanau.com websites all down yesterday, there was some time to think about the issue, and we'd like to share one thought: We live in a world very different from the early 1700s when Parliament enacted the Statute of Anne to address the concerns of English booksellers and printers (you can look it up ... for now, on Wikipedia).

We are encouraged at every turn and by every consumer device to sing along to commercials, dance to the latest music and in general, swim in a sea of ever-present media. You can debate the pros and cons of doing that but it seems that expecting our candid videos, blogged observations or Facebooked^TM thoughts won't incorporate background music or samples, brand names is flat-out silly. We need intelligent and well thought out laws that recognize the modern world, and SOPA and PIPA definitely aren't either of those things.

Click here to watch a short video or read more about this issue and please take a moment to contact your elected officials through the links we provide!

Share this:

Kenny Svenson of Traprock Valley as Heikki Lunta, Heikinpäivä Festival, Hancock, MI, ca. 2001 (www.csumc.wisc.edu)

Now I’ll sing my song
, to make the snow come down
And I’ll do my snow dance
. Whoops! I almost lost my pants
I’ll holler and yell,
 And really give it ----
It’s Heikki’s snow dance song, 
Heikki’s snow dance song

~from the original Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song

This weekend (January 20-21), the annual Heikki Lunta Winterfest (Hey-Key Loon-ta) takes place on and around Negaunee's Teal Lake. The festival celebrates the legendary (and pretty much made up) Finnish show god who is said to have the ability to perform a dance causing snowfall. I came across the original version of the Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song on a cool blog called Letters for George. In his Heikki Lunta letter, he explains:

There's a little town called Atlantic Mine about five miles away from Houghton where they hold an annual snowmobile race every winter. In 1970 the race was at risk of being cancelled because there wasn’t any snow. The race was sponsored by radio station WMPL in nearby Hancock. With no snow in sight, one of the station’s salesmen, David Riutta, composed a song called the "Heikki Lunta Snowdance Song." It took him about twenty minutes to invent the lyrics. "Heikki Lunta," it turns out, means “Henry Snow” in Finnish, and Riutta chose the name because his favorite musician was country western singer Hank Snow.

Heikki Lunta was said to live in the back woods of a Finnish farming community south of Houghton, and he reportedly had the ability to do a dance which would cause snow to fall from the skies. Riutta’s song asked "Heikki Lunta" to do his dance to make it snow in time for the snowmobile race. They started playing the song on WMLP, it immediately became a local hit, and, lo and behold, it soon began snowing. According to local lore, it snowed and snowed for days. So much so that they had to cancel the snowmobile race.

Click through for lots more including some photos. Now here's Heikki Lunta by  Da Yoopers.

Share this:

I have a dream this afternoon that one day right here in Detroit, Negroes will be able to buy a house or rent a house anywhere that their money will carry them and they will be able to get a job.

~Martin Luther King, June 23, 1963 Detroit, Michigan

Martin Luther King Jr, Walk to Freedom Detroit Michigan, 1963

The quotation above comes not from Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous "I Have a Dream" speech, but rather from the massive Great March on Detroit (also known as the Walk to Freedom and the Freedom March) that happened 2 months earlier.

On June 23, 1963, an estimated 125,000 people marched down Detroit’s Woodward Avenue carrying placards and singing “We Shall Overcome.” National and state leaders who marched along with Reverend King included United Auto Workers president Walter Reuther, former Michigan governor John B. Swainson, and Detroit mayor Jerome Cavanagh. The march ended at Cobo Hall where the Reverend King was cheered by thousands of marchers when he emphasized that segregation needed to end.

King called the Great March “one of the most wonderful things that has happened in America.”

You can click to read the full text of King's speech and also hear some of the speech here and listen to some of King's last Detroit sermon. There’s a few pictures of the march at the Detroit News including this shot of the crowd on Woodward Ave from above (sorry – no direct link scroll down and look for it). You can also get a shot of King speaking at Cobo from Wayne State University.

Share this:

2013 Dodge Dart by ChriKett Photography

The first Detroit Area Dealer Association (DADA)-managed Detroit Auto Show was held in December 1907 at Riverview Park. In 1987, the show was re-focused as an international event, and 2012 is their 24th annual under the new format. The center of the event are concept cars and exhibitions by car companies from Acura to Volvo and of course Detroit standards like Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, GMC and Lincoln.

Blogs & Social Media from the Detroit Auto Show

Our favorite for coverage this year is mLive's Detroit Auto Show coverage. They have a look at Energy Secretary Steven Chu's visit to the show, some concept car highlights from the 2012 floor and the back and forth between Governor Snyder and a Wayne State student. After Snyder issued a call for grads to stay in Michigan, biomed engineering student Ramkumar Annamalai  asked him why if eduction was so important has Michigan seen cuts that remove a lot of what attracts top students.  It's an interesting exchange that highlights one of the real challenges manufacturing and research in Michigan are facing. You can also get comprehensive reporting from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News.

As usual, you can find unabashed car love with a healthy dose of humor from the  2012 Detroit Auto Show on Jalopnik.  Over at Autoblog they feature podcasts and articles including their Editor's top 5 picks from the show (spoiler: #1 is the 2013 Ford Fusion which also captured Autoweek Magazine's coveted Best of Show award). Another source that's getting more and more relevant is  Autoblog Green who has features on the frighteningly cute Tata, a sub-$19k Prius and the Smart-for-Us urban concept mini-truck pictured right. Pretty much everyone with a blog is covering it of course, from Motor Trend to Popular Mechanics.

The North American International Auto Show has gotten into the social media swing in 2012 with a Facebook page their NAIAS official Twitter. You can also of course dive right in to #NAIAS on Twitter.

Attending the North American International Auto Show

The NAIAS web site has everything you need to know about attending the public show and tomorrow night's black tie charity preview. If you do attend and take pictures or video, we'd love it if you'd share them with us in the Absolute Michigan Flickr group or shoot us the link to YouTube vids!

Detroit Auto Show Photos

The NAIAS has a nifty virtual show floor.  Christian Kettenbell took the photo at the top and he has a really nice slideshow from 2012. You can see a whole lot more by checking Detroit Auto Show and/or NAIAS on Flickr. The blogs & papers above are another great source of photos of production cars and concepts as well.    If you'd like to step back in time, check out this Detroit News Rearview Mirror feature The Detroit Auto Show: from beer gardens to tabernacles to Cobo Center.

Anything else to add or ask? Post it in the comments!

Detroit Auto Show Videos

You can watch the snarky, kind of slow and frankly down on the auto show 2012 North American International Auto Show Preview from Drive and the un-snarky and faster paced preview from Autoweek TV. Our favorite, however, is this selection of highlights from the Media Preview on the 2012 show floor by Global News ENG Cameraman Ben Jonah. Got other ones you like? Add them in the comments below!

Share this:

Here's a gorgeous time-lapse exploration of winter on Sturgeon Bay near Cross Village Michigan. Jay Burlage of Milapse writes that it's a great place to get away from it all and enjoy a cold snowy place for a bit. The music track is 'Farlem' by Galdson, and here's hoping this will give you a little dose of wintry pleasure!

As with all his videos, clicking for the full-screen HD view is recommended!

Share this:

Goby by swatzo

Last year the National Park Service produced a series of short documentaries exploring invasive species in the Great Lakes. The series was funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative showing how invaders are changing the ecosystems in national parks and what’s being done to stop them.

All four of them are available through the Great Lakes Echo. Part 1: Aquatic Invasives is below and it explores how zebra mussel, quagga mussel, round goby and other invasive species are creating havoc in Lake Michigan, causing the food web to tilt out of balance. People can help, clean drain and dry all boating and fishing gear to stop aquatic hitch hikers. here's Part 2: Invasive Plants in our Parks, Part 3: Spotted Knapweed, and Part 4: Emerald Ash Borer!

Share this:

There's no doubt that the 45-28 thumping the Lions received at the hands of the New Orleans Saints on Saturday night was a tough reality check for Lions fans hopeful that the team had reached a new level. The internet fairly exploded with criticism of the Lions and a defensive scheme that was unable to force a punt, and then Lions players exploded back, demonstrating frustration and something of a lack of maturity.

To those tempted to hang their heads too low, let's remember that there are 32 teams in the NFL, and only 12 make the playoffs. Our Lions were one of these. The Detroit News has a look at strengths and weaknesses for 2012, and Michael Rosenberg of the Freep shows us that despite the "one and done" performance this year, these Lions do not have the problems of the 1999 Detroit Lions who lost Barry Sanders to retirement in mid-season and started Charlie Batch and Greg Hill and trailed 27-0 at the half in their playoff game.

Mitch Albom's column about the game and what it means offers further hope. He notes that while the final score was embarrassing, this team started the game tough and strong and is far from an embarrassment. Albom's advice?:

So you can weep, or you can put it in perspective. This was a dramatic Lions season. A 5-0 start. A postgame handshake that turned into mayhem. A mega-season from a Megatron. All those come-from-behind victories. A playoff berth. A Saturday night in the Superdome.

Pretty hot stuff for a perennially cold franchise. Remember, there were years when finding a parking space was the highlight of going to a Lions game.

Believe. Belong. You take your steps in the NFL. The defense needs big help, but by all signs, the Lions are a team stepping up. Even if their last image of the season was a stumble.

Indeed. Here's looking forward to next season ... and your comments. We'll close with a link to the highlights of the post-game conference and this 5 minute recap of the game which doesn't include a look at the Touchdown That Wasn't But Should Have Been (which would have given the Lions a 20-7 lead).

Share this:

The Detroit Lions face the New Orleans Saints tomorrow night at 8 PM. The Lions went 10-6 in 2011, finishing 2nd in the NFC North. The Bleacher Report has a nice preview of the game, and while nobody is giving the Lions much of a chance, there's no doubt that we are one of the few teams in the NFL who can get in a shoot-out with a team like the Saints and have a chance of coming out a winner.

Matthew Stafford by clintdavis
More sports from Clint!

While there's no doubt that Megatron aka Calvin Johnson is a huge factor, Mitch Albom notes another thing Lions fans can take comfort in:

We've got a quarterback.

No matter what happens Saturday night in New Orleans, no matter what unfolds in this first Lions playoff season since the last millennium, Detroit fans can say that sentence and take comfort in it.

We've got a quarterback.

It is no small deal.

Until Matthew Stafford came of age this season, the guy behind center for Detroit was a phantom. He changed faces, numbers, body types and 40-yard dash speed, but he remained invisible, a shadow, a wispy symbol of a team that was, in the end, going nowhere.

Stafford changed all that. He can flat out play the position. He's not the fastest, strongest or biggest. But he has the intangible, the "it," he makes a play, he leads a huddle, he swaggers, he yells, he engineers comebacks and puts the ball on a dime.

You know the "other guy"? That quarterback who always played for the great teams that came into Detroit and kicked butt?

That "other guy" now plays for the Lions.

Stafford was one of four 5000 yard passers in 2011 along with as Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. ESPN has an in-depth look at Stafford that's worth a look. Now settle back and enjoy this great highlight video...

Share this:

January is Ski Month on Absolute Michigan, and all month long we are celebrating skiing in Michigan with original articles and features on downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding along with photos and videos that take you up close and personal with the Michigan ski experience. We'll also have features on Michigan ski pioneers and the rich history of skiing in the Great Lakes State, and from our friends at Seeking Michigan and the Archives of Michigan we'll have a feature on the Suicide Hill ski jump in Ishpeming.

At the center of it all is a giveaway of 4 pairs of lift tickets to 4 great Michigan ski resorts:

• Crystal Mountain (click for giveaway details)
• Shanty Creek (giveaway coming next week!)
• The Homestead (giveaway posted Jan 17)
• Boyne Mountain (giveaway Jan 24)

All you need to do to enter is be on our email list - sign up at the bottom of the article! We're not alone in celebrating skiing this month. Governor Rick Snyder has proclaimed January as Discover Michigan Snow Sports Month, citing the fact that we are home to more downhill ski areas than any other state and encouraging Michigan residents and visitors to use this month to take advantage of it.

Black Diamonds Will Have
to Wait... by ( Jennifer )

The Michigan Snowsports Industries Association has jumped on board, offering a program called Discover Michigan Skiing that will give you a beginner lesson, ski or snowboard rental equipment and a beginner-area ski lift pass or cross-country trail pass at 23 Michigan ski facilities! It's available through January 31 and costs just $20 for cross-country skiing; $30 downhill skiing and $40 snowboarding. The program is open to everyone 7 years and older and you can get all the details at their website goskimichigan.com. While you're there, don't miss Cold Is Cool - a promotion that gives every Michigan 4th Grader FREE skiing at participating Michigan resorts.

All in all, it's a great month to be skiing in Michigan. We'll take you out to the slopes right now with the masters of ski videos, the good people at Warren Miller Entertainment and their feature on Boyne Mountain, one of the early and present leaders of the Michigan ski industry.

Absolute Michigan is committed to helping our readers get more out of Michigan. To that end, we are adding an exciting new program featuring regular giveaways of products and services from all kinds of Michigan businesses. It's free, fun and all you have to do to be eligible is to be on our email list - sign up using the form below. We guarantee that we will not share your email address with anyone!

If your business is interested in participating, you can get all the information right here.

Share this:

There's an Upside and a Downside by farlane

Northern Michigan kicked off 2012 with a big snowstorm and in January, Absolute Michigan will celebrate all that beautiful snow by giving away 4 pairs of tickets to 4 great Michigan ski resorts. We'll also be heading out to the slopes to bring you reports & photos so stay tuned.

Our first giveaway (winner selected Jan 12, 2012) is from Crystal Mountain, a four-season ski, golf and spa resort located southwest of Traverse City in Thompsonville. Crystal has received a host of awards including Best Resort in the Midwest from Ski Magazine. With a nearly 400' vertical, 45 slopes including a halfpipe and terrain park and 9 modern lifts across 85 acres of terrain, Crystal draws a quarter of a million skiers annually. While snow is not usually a problem, they take no chances with over 100 snowguns capable of pumping 1,000 tons of snow per hour.

To their wide range of hills for all abilities and great snow, Crystal Mountain adds great hospitality, with over 250 hotel rooms, suites, condominiums, townhomes and resort residences to choose from along with indoor pool and hot tub, a 20 person outdoor hot tub and their 18,500 sq. ft. state-of-the-art Crystal Spa. It's the only LEED certified spa in the Midwest and makes a great place to unwind if you skied too hard! There are also a number of dining options including a personal favorite, the Thistle Pub & Grille, that features Michigan craft brew, a ton of local infused menu items and some truly awesome burgers that will keep you tearing up the slopes!

All YOU need to do to have a shot at 2 tickets - good any day - to Crystal Mountain is to be on our email list. Sign up in the blue box at the top of the page. Even if you don't win the giveaway, you can still get great deals by purchasing your ticket online.

You can watch all kinds of videos on the Crystal Mountain YouTube channel. We'll take you out with one of our favorites, a video from a 1 1/2 foot powder dump a few years ago - think SNOW!

Share this:

We featured Chrysler's Super Bowl ad smash Imported from Detroit (starring Eminem) and the fantastic Grand Rapids Lip Dub (starring pretty much the entire city of Grand Rapids) on Absolute Michigan when they came out, but it looks like we may have missed the best of them all! Mark writes:

Billed as the first lipdub to feature senior citizens, this clip of a Grand Rapids retirement community drew national attention in July. The clip was produced with help from students at nearby Grand Valley State University.

It features his grandparents, but with 1.2 million views, Mark's not alone and we think you'll agree, this is one awesome video... (if you have another we missed, post it in the comments)

Share this:

The Lake in Winter
by Jerry Dennis

(January, Cathead Point, near the tip of Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula)

It changes every day, every hour. It is a thousand lakes, changing faces with every shift in wind and light - flurried by offshore wind, whitecapped in squalls, colored flannel gray or pearl-white or stormy black beneath the winter clouds, a dozen blues when the sky is blue.

There’s a contemporary Japanese poet who writes a diary on a slab of stone instead of paper, with water instead of ink. He writes a word, and a moment later it evaporates. This, he suggests, is the true record of a life.

We go to the shore in search of elemental things. Probably it is just coincidence that the elemental things we find there - sand, sun, wind, and waves - correspond exactly to the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Hindus: earth, fire, air, and water. More to the point is that we need elemental things to help us restore our primitive senses to working condition. We need periodically to look, listen, scent, taste, and feel our way through the world, if only for the relief of not having to think our way through. Everyone understands that eliminating superfluities can help us discover what is important in our lives.

That’s not an easy task. Time coats us in natural increase, accruing layers as if we were snowballs rolling down a hill. Jobs, families, friends, houses, cars, dogs, our health – just maintaining it all is full-time work. Add the bulging files of information, the gunnysacks of mistakes and the duffels of misjudgments and the barrow-loads of memories, habits, regrets, opinions, prejudices, principles, laws, and codes collected in a lifetime and you can see the problem. We carry as much as we can, and the rest we stack around us until all our routes to the outside are blocked. Even when we find our way out we’re wearing too many layers of tuxedoes and zoot suits and cardigans, Icelandic woolens, parkas, longjohns, thermal socks, etc. We’re strong but we grow weary of lugging that Collyer-brothers’ accumulation everywhere we go. We bend beneath the load, our backs about to break, groaning as we push our heaped-up grocery carts through the streets.

It’s too much. Now and then we need to strip down to the naked flame at our core. Most of what we carry is baggage anyway - just adornment and vanity, ballast and deadweight. It’s the crap the pioneers threw out along the Oregon Trail.

After lunch I walked to the crest of the dune and looked out at the lake. Even from that small elevation, maybe fifty feet, the water’s clarity was startling. From a boat, on a day like this, with the sun overhead, you can lean over the side and see boulders on the bottom thirty feet down. The pale shallows stepped into blue depths. The offshore sandbars were there, a hundred yards apart, each deeper than the one before, with bands of increasingly darker blue between them. Beyond the last bar a steep drop-off into very deep water turned the lake midnight blue.

Lake Michigan. My lake, I often think, because I grew up near it and because many in my family settled along its shores. So much water, in a body so large they say that the Netherlands could fit inside, with enough room left over for several New England states. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes in volume, and third, after Superior and Huron, in surface area. It is the only one of the five to be contained entirely within the United States.

Most of the 1,640 miles of shore is sandy. Some of that shore, especially around the southern end, through Indiana and Illinois, is lined with industry. Around the top of the lake in Wisconsin and Michigan are scattered limestone bluffs and rocky strands. But most of the rest is blond sand beaches that are among the loveliest in North America. Wind, waves, and ice have shoved that sand into the most extensive network of freshwater dunes on the planet. They reach their apogee about thirty miles south of Cathead Point at Sleeping Bear Dunes, the crowning feature of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, but they extend nearly unbroken for 300 miles along the eastern and southern shores of the lake, from northern Michigan nearly to Chicago. A few scattered dunes are found also along the Wisconsin shore and at the top of the lake, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but they lack the dimensions of those that face the prevailing winds.

A friend who lives part of every year in the West once told me that Lake Michigan plays the same role in the Midwest that the mountains do in Montana. That’s true for all five lakes. Like the Rockies, you can see them from miles away, forming a backdrop that is also a felt presence, always there, looming in our lives. They are depositories of geological and historical power that shape the land and the culture to themselves. We orient to them and are drawn to them and take for granted that their presence and the weather they create will affect our travels and alter our daily plans.

The lakes have always been the most prominent shaper of the character or “spirit” of the Great Lakes region. The stronger the spirit of a place, the farther it resonates beyond its borders. Alaska, Texas, Vermont, and Maine all have it in abundance. So do large geographical regions such as Appalachia, the Canadian Maritimes, and the Cajun country of Louisiana. A mythological portrait of a place needs to be only approximately accurate to give outsiders an idea of what it is like, or enough of an idea, at least, to inspire them to take some interest in it. That might explain in part why people who have never visited the Everglades or the Arctic Wildlife Refuge are willing to write letters to congressmen and donate money to protect them.

The Great Lakes have not had that advantage. Their mythology is not clearly defined. It was once very clear, a living mythology, inhabited by people, wolf, moose, and bear, but the stories that passed around campfires for thousands of years were drowned out by European invaders wielding their own stories of Jesuit martyrs, French voyageurs, Paul Bunyans of the logging camps, mariners of the inland seas, and up-by-the-bootstraps giants of industry. Most of those stories have now, in turn, lost their power and have not been replaced. Enduring mythologies tend to accrue to dominate features of a landscape. Louisiana has swamps; New England, hardscrabble hills; Montana, big sky. But the Great Lakes are too varied. No representative image fits. The water and dunes and rocks and cities on the shore are lost in a haze of homogeneity. Surely that is why those who have never stood beside the big lakes find it so difficult to imagine them.

Excerpted from The Windward Shore: A Winter on the Great Lakes, by Jerry Dennis. Used with permission of the author and The University of Michigan Press. Visit Jerry’s website at www.jerrydennis.net. Here's a cool trailer for the book that Jerry's son videographer Aaron Dennis made that you will enjoy as well!

Share this:

25 Christmas Lane on a winter's eve, circa 2010 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

My favorite holiday movie is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Clark Griswold, (Chevy Chase), our hero, has a plan for the traditional Griswold family Christmas that includes fifty thousand twinkling outdoor lights on the roof. When Clark drags his entire family out to see his masterpiece, the lights don’t work. The frustrating, yet entertaining, effort to fix the problem resonates with me (This includes Clark on the roof checking each individual bulb.). My favorite part comes when Clark prevails, the family is impressed, and he thanks his father for teaching him about exterior illumination.

Beginnings

Wallace Bronner (1927-2008) knew that exterior illumination is essential for the holidays. We are all familiar with his enormous enterprise: Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland, located on 25 Christmas Lane in Frankenmuth. Initially, this behemoth of holiday cheer started as a signage business. During the early forties, Wally worked as a sign painter and a clerk at the Hubinger Grocery Store, which was owned by his maternal relatives. Part of his job included designing window displays. In 1945, as Frankenmuth celebrated its centennial year, Bronner Display and Sign Advertising was in demand for painting signs and decorating store windows and parade floats. That year Wallace Bronner met Irene Ruth Pretzer, the woman he would marry on June 23, 1951 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hemlock, Michigan.

Signs designed by Wally Bronner for the city of Clare, 1951 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland.).

Irene was instrumental in helping Wally land a monthly window display contract with the Jennison Hardware Company of Bay City (c. 1947) (Irene had attended Bay City Junior College and boarded at the home of G.W. Cooke, president of the hardware company.). Bronner’s work for the hardware company resulted in a referral to the town of Clare, Michigan (1951). This first municipal holiday commission was to design decorative lamppost panels. After that job, Wally hired his friend Fred Bernthal to look for new clients in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.

Bronner also entered into contracts with General Plastics Corporation (Marion, Indiana) and Mold-Craft Corporation (Port Washington, Wisconsin). These companies provided street trims and ornaments, latex Santas, reindeers and nativity scenes. In 1952, Bronner staged two shows exhibiting outdoor Christmas decorations, one in the Frankenmuth Township Hall, the other at the St. Lorenz School gymnasium. Both were successful. However, both venues were temporary. Bronner decided to rent a more permanent building, a vacated one-room schoolhouse (formerly Frankenmuth School District Number 1). Thus, year round exhibit of Christmas decorations became possible! “At first the people of the community thought the idea to be rather unusual, but accepted it fully when Frankenmuth became known as the Christmas Town.” (Bronner’s 2005 Corporate History, page 35.)

“Thinking Big”

Wally Bronner with employees. (Photo taken in the 1960s. Photo is courtesy Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

Herman Bronner (Wally’s father) was a building contractor and stone mason. He convinced his son to “think big” by changing the plans for the first Bronner-owned building from two, L-shaped, rectangular buildings to one large, square building. The Bronner’s store at 121 East Tuscola (a lot adjoining Aunt Hattie’s grocery store) opened in 1954. It was divided into two sections, one space for the sign painting business, the other for Christmas decorations.

Wally was grateful for his dad’s vision and business acumen. The municipal clientele grew to include shopping centers and commercial interiors. As buyers selected decorations for their stores and churches, their wives requested home decorations. From 1954 to 1963, Bronner exhibited at the Saginaw County Fair, which, at the time, boasted numbers of three hundred thousand people. By 1960, the company was officially incorporated, and home decorations were added to the product line. In 1964, the first billboard advertising Bronners appeared on I-75, ten miles south of Exit 136 (Frankenmuth). Many travelling up North are familiar with that sign. Subsequent ones (more than sixty located in seven states) continue to extol the importance of holiday cheer and illumination.

Source material

Picturesque Story of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, as related by Wally Bronner. Published by Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, 2005.

The History of Bronner’s Christmas Decorations by Doris A Paul. Published by the Frankenmuth Historical Museum, 1981.

Brad Redford, a native of Frankenmuth visited Bronner's last year and has a pretty funny video in his show Redford's Rundown. However, we're going to have to go with this awesome music video of Wally Bronner (Christmas Always) by Michigan rockers The Hard Lessons. A little tip: click that link and subscribe to their email list to download their entire new album Arms Forest AND stay tuned at the end of the video for the B-side of this song, O Holy Night!

Share this:

In America, pleasure is a bad word. It means that someone, somewhere, is giving in to temptation. Whatever pleasure is being sought, it's probably indulgent. It's probably selfish. It probably doesn't do anybody any good. And yet, we are all born pleasure seekers. Our lives are shaped around pleasure. Day to day, the promise of pleasure is what drives us, from home to work and back again. And somehow, that promise, in today's culture, seems less and less attainable the more we work towards it.

They are farmers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs. They are beacons for our future: leaving the safety of what they've known for the sake of what they love, and showing the way for those of us brave enough to do the same.

In addition to being able to help in the production of a smart, relevant show, the innovative Mobcaster project for Back to Your Senses will reward supporters with everything from postcards and stickers to delicious gift baskets brimming with Michigan goodness and curated epicurean adventures. Click the Mobcaster link to learn more and check out the video below.

Back To Your Senses (Mobcaster Pitch) from andrea claire maio on Vimeo.

Share this:

“King of the Toy Train World”

For more than one hundred years, Lionel trains have been a favorite toy. Originally founded in New York City in 1900 by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen, the company now resides in Michigan.

This photo dates from about the early 1930s. The train is identified as a Lionel - based on comparisons of the switches, signal, trucks, track gauges, etc. with contemporary Lionel catalogs.

Cowen designed his first train, the Electric Express, not as a toy but as a display for selling toys. Demand soon turned the train into a toy.

It was at this time that Cowen’s superior marketing abilities made their impact. Cowen is responsible for linking toy trains to the Christmas season. It was Cowen’s idea to include toy trains as part of crèche displays. Later, incredible showroom and department store displays would leave every young boy wanting toy trains for Christmas, and toy trains remain popular Christmas gifts today. Colorful annual catalogs also enticed buyers.

By the 1920s, Lionel was the king of the toy train world. It was during this period that Lionel produced some of their most beautiful trains. The locomotives and rolling stock were highly detailed.

Lionel ceased toy production during World War II and manufactured items for national defense.

“A Real Estate Developer Who Loved Toy Trains”

In 1971, Lionel moved to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, but the company experienced hard times. In 1986, Richard P. Kughn, a real estate developer in Detroit who loved toy trains from the time he was seven years old, bought Lionel Trains. The sales and quality of the trains improved dramatically.

Kughn once talked about his passion for toy trains. “I was walking home from school on trash day. There was a trash barrel out in front of a house with a train sticking out on top. I didn’t know much about trains or toy trains at the time, but it intrigued me so I pulled all the pieces out, including the tracks and the transformer. I took it home, and my dad helped me clean it up. We worked on it and put it on the ping-pong table in the basement, and it ran.”

Kughn said “If you’re happy in what you’re doing, in creating, putting things together, watching things happen in front of your eyes because of your efforts, it makes you smile. . .and time goes by rapidly when you play with toy trains—that’s happiness.”

In 1995, Kughn sold the company. Today, it is located in Chesterfield, Michigan.

Seeking Michigan would like to thank the following for consultation on the photo above:

Peter Magoun, Trains and Things Hobbies, Traverse City, Michigan
Mark Cowles, Lansing Area N-Trak Model Railroad Club
Various members of the National Model Railroad Association

You can click to visit Lionel Trains, and here's a blast from the past - The Wonderful World of Trains from Lionel Trains.

Share this:

Higher Grounds Trading Co., was voted one of the top Michigan businesses to watch in 2010 and has been a big part of  getting the nonprofit On the Ground off the ground. On the Ground is involved in a variety of projects including the Chiapas Water Project, which brings clean drinking water to coffee growing regions in Mexico; the Run Across Ethiopia, which raises funds for Ethiopian education projects including the construction of schools in Ethiopian coffee-growing communities; and their latest endeavor - the Run Across Palestine. The Run is scheduled for February 2012 and will take place in olive growing centers of Palestine. Funds raised will support the purchasing and planting of thousands of olive trees and provide scholarships for the children of Palestinian olive farmers. Learn all about them and donate at the link above.

The projects of On the Ground share a common theme: supporting the farmers who supply fair-trade, gourmet goods by building infrastructure and capacity in their communities, and Higher Grounds is offering up some great gifts to celebrate the On the Ground\'s projects:

• Coffees for Change support the Chiapas Water Project, which was founded in 2005 after a group of local (Northern Michigan) residents visited Chiapas Mexico and witnessed the illness and poverty perpetuated by lack of access to potable water.
• Seth & May's "New Flower" CD was inspired and written as part of the The Run Across Ethiopia.  Seth and May  played in the schools, learned songs and dance moves from the children, learned Ethiopian scales and melodies from incredible ethio-jazz masters,  shared our music along the journey, sang for the runners, played for the people and ultimately wrote an entire album inspired by the experience.
• Fair Trade Olive Oil benefits Palestinian olive farmers and celebrates the Run Across Palestine.
• Finally, their Coffee Cards are made by the Michigan nonprofit Paperworks Studio which are produced by artists who have special needs and disadvantages.

All you need to do to enter is to be on our email list - sign up in the blue box above! Here's a cool behind the scenes video of the recording of New Flower that you might enjoy!

Share this:

A Man and His Mountain from Justin Vander Velde on Vimeo.

Mt Mancelona Postcard, Cardcow.com

Last winter Jason Dodge of miskireport.com and his crew spent time at Mount Mancelona and, with intern Justin Vander Velde and the  assistance of the documentary class at Grand Valley State, produced this very cool video about long-shuttered Mt. Mancelona.  Jason writes:

This project is the pinnacle of things that I have been involved with up until this point. A Man and His Mountain not only tells the story of Mt. Mancelona, but it uncovers the true passion that owner Joe has been hanging onto for the past 22 years.

After having the privilege of meeting Joe, listening to the stories, and working alongside the crew to capture the history, I ask myself why would I not want to come to Mt. Mancelona? Why would I not want my family to experience this place? After all, isn’t this true ski culture? Perhaps I’m a touch traditional and don’t get that knocked out about the fancy high-speed lifts, gondolas and magic carpets. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy riding in a Cadillac as much as the next guy, but there is a lot to appreciate about rusty t-bars, the smell of raw fuel in a 1960’s Tucker, and an old weathered lodge. This is the natural patina of skiing and snowboarding, captured at Mt. Mancelona.

Looking down Mt Mancelona, miskireport.com

Read on for more about the project and some production stills. A cool site we found is Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project (MILSAP). Their entry for Mt. Mancelonanotes that:

In 1958, Sports Illustrated reported a 1200′ t-bar with a 300′ rise, and 5 ropes. New for 1958 were 3 rope tows, the lodge with locker room and bar, a new trail, lights for Friday night skiing and hi-fi skiing music.

Share this:

Dogman, photo courtesy Brauer Productions / Sarah Moore Kuschell

Michigan-based Brauer Productions is releasing the new feature film Dogman next Wednesday (December 14) at the State Theatre in Traverse City.

We caught up with filmmaker & director Rich Brauer to talk about his new movie and the Dogman legend.

Learn more about the legend of the Dogman from Absolute Michigan. Also check out the Dogman trailer and see photos from the set of Dogman on Flickr.

Share this:

Hope For The Future by Flint Foto Factory

Last week Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Michael Brown as the emergency manager for the city of Flint under Public Act 4. A state-appointed review panel recommended a state takeover for the city of Flint, citing recurring cash flow shortages and other financial deficiencies. Flint had an estimated $15 million deficit in 2010 and is projected to have a $7 million deficit in 2011. The Flint Journal explains that:

Brown is under no illusion that fixing the city's long-standing financial problems will be an easy task.

"I know it's a major challenge, there's no glossing it over," Brown said hours after his appointment was announced by Snyder's office. "I think there's a long road ahead and we've got a lot of work to do."

Under state law amended in March under Snyder's administration, emergency managers can strip local elected leaders of their power and have unilateral authority to cut pay, outsource city services, merge departments and, as a last resort, change employee contracts.

Flint Emergency Manager Michael Brown

Brown eliminated pay and benefits for the mayor and Flint City Council, ousted numerous appointees of Flint Mayor Dayne Walling and also canceled City Council meetings until further notice. Brown was interim mayor for six months in 2009 and is the current President of Prima Civitas and director of the Flint Area Reinvestment Office which he founded.  He will receive a salary of $170,000 for the position. There's a special page now on the City of Flint website where you can view orders of the Emergency Manager.

You can hear an interview with Michael Brown from Michigan Radio and also a series of video responses from Cindy Shafran's blog.  Follow the discussion at Flint Talk and check out more stories from Flint on Absolute Michigan.

In 2002 the state took over Flint, and Engler appointed Ed Kurtz who issued over 120 directives during his 2 year tenure. Last week the state also took the first steps toward a takeover of Detroit, and Jack Lessenberry notes that the Michigan Emergency Manager law may be placed on hold due to a ballot measure. You can also hear Jack Lessenberry's thoughts on the Flint and Detroit takeovers and hear what Mayor Dave Bing and other Detroit officials to say about that and share your thoughts below.

Share this: