OLD GERMAN BIERKELLER OPENS JULY 16!!

New "Old " German Bierkeller

When I had my nail salon in the late 70's on Huron Street, the Old German Restaurant ladies would deliver my lunch. Such great food andfor 3.25!! I miss the place terribly. But....good news...

Downtown Ann Arbor’s newest basement bar, the Old German, plans to start serving its craft-brewed German-style beers and chicken schnitzel sandwiches this week.

The bar, located in the basement of Grizzly Peak Brewing Company on West Washington Street, is set to open at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 16.

Customers will find a new spin on Ann Arbor’s original Old German: a German restaurant that first opened downtown in 1928. Bud Metzger closed the Old German in 1995, when Jon Carlson and Chet Czaplicka bought the building and business to open Grizzly Peak.

Carlson and Czaplicka, along with their business partner Greg Lobdell, are opening the Old German.

“This is a tribute back to the Old German and that heritage of Ann Arbor,” Czaplicka said. “Bud (Metzger) was a really nice guy.” FULL STORY HERE

The Old German Restaurant was as close to Germany as you could get in Michigan. It's dark wooden interior and authentic artwork and dishes made you feel like you were having dinner in Munich.  My Mother used to bring us Gummi (goomee) Bears back in the early 1960's.

The Old German started in 1928 as a small eatery on Ashley with a horseshoe counter and a few tables. Original owner William Schwarz was a German-trained butcher who specialized in sausage making. When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Schwarz couldn't get a liquor license because he was still a German citizen.

He sold the restaurant to the Haab brothers, Oscar and Otto, but they found it too hard to run restaurants in both Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, so after a few years they offered to sell it back. Still not a citizen, Schwarz asked Gottlob Schumacher, a tailor at Wild's Men's Clothing, to become his partner and apply for the liquor license.

By the time Schumacher joined the restaurant in 1936, it had expanded into its L-shaped layout by taking over a grocery store facing Washington Street. READ MORE

HOW THEY TRAINED MR ED TO TALK

It is often said the crew was able to get Mister Ed to move his mouth by applying peanut butter to his gums in order for him to try to remove it by moving his lips. However, Alan Young said in 2004 that he had started the story himself.

In another interview, Young said, "Al Simon and Arthur Lubin, the producers, suggested we keep the method a secret because they thought kids would be disappointed if they found out the technical details of how it was done, so I made up the peanut butter story, and everyone bought it.

It was initially done by putting a piece of nylon thread in his mouth. But Ed actually learned to move his lips on cue when the trainer touched his hoof. In fact, he soon learned to do it when I stopped talking during a scene! Ed was very smart."

Others argued that examination of Mister Ed footage shows Ed's handler pulling strings to make him talk and that this method was at work at least some of the time. Young later said during an interview for the Archive of American Television (AAT) that a nylon string was tied to the halter and the loose end inserted under his lip to make Ed talk, saying that he had used the peanut butter fable for years in radio interviews instead of telling the truth.

The loose thread can be seen tied to the halter, and it is clearly not taut as it would be if it were being pulled. Young also states in the AAT interview that after the first season, Ed did not need the nylon – Alan and trainer Les were out riding one day and Les started laughing, telling Alan to look at Ed, who was moving his lips every time they stopped talking as if attempting to join in the conversation.

This difference is visible when comparing first season episodes to later ones, as it is clear that early on he is working the irritating string out, sometimes working his tongue in the attempt too, and later on he tends to only move his upper lip, and appears to watch Alan Young closely, waiting for him to finish his lines before twitching his lip.

Young added in the Archive interview that Ed saw the trainer as the disciplinarian, or father figure, and when scolded for missing a cue, would go to Alan for comfort, like a mother figure, which Les said was a good thing.

GERALD FORD-WILLIS WARD FILM "BLACK AND BLUE" AIRS SUNDAY ON PBS

How exciting to be able to see a film on PBS that was made by two guys from Ypsilanti. Brian Kruger and Buddy Moorehouse did a fine job with this documentary ...good job guys! loved it!
 
Black and Blue is about one of the most disgraceful incidents in University of Michigan football history, and ultimately, one of the most inspiring. This film tells the long-forgotten story of the 1934 game between The University of Michigan and Georgia Tech.

When the Yellow Jackets agreed that season to come to Ann Arbor, Michigan for a game, they insisted on one condition - Michigan had to sit out the lone African-American player on the team, a talented end from Detroit named Willis Ward. Many of Ward s teammates were outraged when athletic officials at The University of Michigan agreed to the demand.

The most outraged Wolverine was Ward's roommate, a lineman from Grand Rapids named Gerald Ford. Ford threatened to quit the team in response to Ward's benching - and changed his mind only after Ward convinced him that he had to play.

The incident also galvanized the Michigan student body and Ann Arbor community, which held loud and vocal protests against the decision to keep Ward out of the game. In the end, the Ward incident helped The University of Michigan turn an important corner in race relations, and made an impact on Gerald Ford that stayed with him all the way to the White House.

When Ford passed away in 2006, President George W. Bush referenced the Willis Ward incident in his eulogy.

Black and Blue is the fifth documentary by the directing/writing team of Brian Kruger and Buddy Moorehouse. Moorehouse does the writing while Kruger does the directing and production. They take great pride in telling stories that have been long forgotten to history, and bringing them back to life.

Stunt3 Multimedia, Kruger and Moorehouse's production company, also offers educational editions for all of their films. These releases contain lesson plans, study guides and other bonus material so the stories can be told in an educational environment.

Purchase their films online 

DAVID LEE ROTH: JUST A GIGOLO....

"Just a Gigolo" is a popular song, adapted by Irving Caesar in 1929 from the Austrian song "Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo", written in 1928 by Leonello Casucci (music) and Julius Brammer (lyrics).

The original version is a poetic vision of the social collapse experienced in Austria after World War I, represented by the figure of a former hussar who remembers himself parading in his uniform, while now he has to get by as a lonely hired dancer.

The music features a simple melodic sequence, but nonetheless has a clever harmonic construction that highlights the mixed emotions in the lyrics, adding a nostalgic, bittersweet effect.

"Just a Gigolo" is best known in a form recorded by Louis Prima in 1956, where it was paired in a medley with another old standard, "I Ain't Got Nobody" (words by Roger Graham and music by Spencer Williams, 1915).

Although these two songs have nothing else in common, the popularity of Prima's combination, and of the Village People's 1978 and David Lee Roth's 1985 cover versions of the medley, has led to the mistaken perception by some that the songs are two parts of a single original composition.

RICK SPRINGFIELD AND MITCH RYDER AT DETROIT YACHT CLUB

Rick Springfield photo: RM213

As the sun dropped down below the horizon, an orange crescent moon hung in the sky, and the electronic synth began to play as 70's and 80's power-pop rocker, Rick Springfield, took the stage.

Rick Springfield photo: RM213

The proclaimed"Rick's Chicks" were a bit older now, but their enthusiasm for this Australian musician was still just as strong. You could tell by their screams for him as he came on stage. His music was high energy, until he broke out the acoustic for a heartfelt song he wrote about his late father. His setlist also included some of his hits like "Affair of the Heart" and"I've Done Everything for You." 

The fans aren't the only ones who gained some years. Springfield mentioned he turns 64 in August, and after his first couple of songs, he said that recovering between songs get's harder as you get older. He then invited the audience to sing happy birthday to him, which was gladly performed.

The beer was flowing and feet were moving. When "Human Touch" came on, Springfield even went out in the audience and gave high fives, shakes, and even kisses on the hand.

Rick Springfield photo: RM213

The screen behind the band played music videos of a younger Springfield, and even scenes from the film Titanic during his songs "Our Ship's Sinking." Springfield has a new album out called "Songs for the End of the World," with a track titled "I Hate Myself 'Cause I Want You" which he also performed.

The Yacht Club parking lot was a surprisingly charming venue, with the river so nearby, and the skyline of Detroit in the distance.

Although the line-up changed, the musicians and audience had no problem exercising their rockin' muscles. 

Despite his impromptu appearance, Ryder and his band are no slouches in the rock and roll department, and the crowd got out of their seats for the Detroit icon. 

 Concert Promoter Brian Major with Mitch Ryder photo: Richard Blondy

The band covered"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child." He played some of his hit singles like "Devil With A Blue Dress On."

His band was polished, and executed some tasty licks, and rather sick guitar solos, for a crisp and dynamic performance. Even a youngster like myself could appreciate this Detroit gem.

TWINKIES BACK

Early last year, Hostess filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy — its second such filing in a decade. In the fall, after a bitter fight with one of its unions, the company received a judge's permission to close and sell its brands to the highest bidders. They shut down to Union bust... now they are reopening NON UNION - lots of hard working middle class folks lost their jobs.

In recent months, Sara Lee owner Grupo Bimbo picked up the Beefsteak bread business, and Flowers Foods Inc. got bread labels such as Wonder Bread. McKee Foods Corp., maker of Little Debbie snack cakes, took over the Drake's line of goods.

Private equity firms Apollo Global Management, which owns Carl's Jr. parent CKE Restaurants Inc., and C. Dean Metropoulos & Co., which runs beer favorite Pabst Brewing Co., claimed the rights to the bulk of Hostess' most popular snack cakes in March.

Moving ahead, Hostess' key goal should be to reinvent itself without leaning on the appeal of its 83-year history, said Allen Adamson, managing director of brand consultancy Landor Associates' New York office.

ULYSSES AND THE SIRENS

Book 12 of the Odyssey, Ulysses and his men approach the island of the lovely Sirens, and Ulysses, as instructed by Circe, plugs his men’s ears with beeswax and has them bind him to the mast of the ship. He alone hears their song flowing forth from the island, promising to reveal the future. The Sirens’ song is so seductive that Ulysses begs to be released from his fetters, but his faithful men only bind him tighter.

The moral to the story is...when faced with temptation you need to plug your ears and tie yourself to a pole in order to "sail" on by the dsrkness and the danger...