Do you have a passion for your work or hobby?  Well, Pecha Kucha Night just may be the perfect forum for you to share it with the others.  The format is pretty simple – you will have 20 seconds for each of 20 slides to give your presentation.  That is 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame for you!  The first Pecha Kucha Night Detroit was held in August at Atwater Block Brewery and it was a packed house.  This is a call for designers, artists, and other creative types to entertain, inform, and delight the Detroit community.  You’d better hurry though, the deadline to submit your entry is October 24, 2008.

Yes!

Earlier this year, we reported that this year’s Creative Cities Summit 2.0 will be taking place in Detroit, October 12-15, 2008. Well, the schedule for the event is fleshing out and it looks to be a very interesting event.

Check here for the speaker list and here for the current agenda.

Zaccaro’s Market, a gourmet grocer of the Whole Food/Trader Joe type, opens today at its Midtown location at Woodward and Watson. Providing fresh and locally grown organic foods, fine wines and liquors, and an excellent variety of pre-prepared, healthy foods, the market is a welcome addition and is sure to be at capacity level from open to close for some time.

Happy gourmandizing, Detroit!

As I made my way near Campus Martius Park yesterday, I glanced to the east for a moment, and a bulge on top of the historic Bagley fountain caught my eye. Originally I had heard that the actual fountain would not be installed and the art piece would remain nonfuctional, but as I got closer, those claims were false, as on all four sides of the fountain, lion heads were spitting out fresh water. See the photo I took at left for a view.

I am not sure how long the new fountain has been in place, but I remember sitting on top of the base a month ago, watching the city go by.

Once again the beautiful fountain designed by renowned architect Henry Hobson Richardson (his only known existing work in the city) flows with water “cold and pure as the coldest mountain stream”, as intended by John Bagley, for whom the fountain is named for, as he gave the funds to build the fountain.

Suprisingly the fountain hasnt operated continuously since 1939, so this is a very special thing to witness.

Though I am not sure if they now intend for the fountain to be a decorative water feature rather then a functional drinking fountain, I did get a drink of the water with a little bit of difficulty. The water flows out on all sides at all times, in a wide spray.

Looks like the days left for the old Peoples Outfitting Company Building on Michigan Ave. across from the Book-Cadillac Hotel are numbered.

Crews have been working for the past two months inside, preparing for the buildings demise. A parking garage for the Book-Cadillac Hotel will rise in its place. Windows have mostly been removed and concrete barriers have been placed around the structure.

I encourage everyone who wants to document this piece of Detroit history to come and photograph the exterior before it is taken off to the landfill.

do they still call it “Foxtown”???

great article in the News today about how the Tigers are helping downtown grow because of their winning ways… in the article, Atanas Illitch is quoted as saying that they are in “significant” talks with some national retailers and an upscale grocer… all who are interested in setting up shop near Comerica Park and the Fox… in addition, most of them don’t have a presence in Michigan…

this is good news!!! but i gotta see some results first… here’s hoping……….

but not far enough into it!!!

i was pleased to hear that the FBI will be moving into a larger facility near downtown… according to an article in the News, the new FBI facility will be privately owned and located right next to the Greyhound bus station… just last week i took a trip using Greyhound and thought to myself that the area near the bus station needed some help… this new facility will basically take up a good chunk of the land in the area, so that should help things a bit…

a few months back there was word that maybe the FBI would try to move into the old MCS… that woulda been really awesome to me and i think it woulda been great for Corktown, but that obviously won’t happen… on top of renovation costs, i’m not so sure the building would’ve been able to meet certain FBI requirements anyway…