Cherry Fest Midway

20100710-CherryFestMidwayPano_b, photo by Ken Scott.

I woke up this morning to a stake in my yard in Traverse City. Soon there’ll be floats and marchers and such queueing up for the parades and festivities of the National Cherry Festival which runs July 2-9 and features all kinds of events, parades and fun for all ages including (of course) plenty of opportunities to eat more cherries!

Ken posted this photo to the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr this morning along with a wild & cool time lapse. See it biggerand in his Grand Traverse County slideshow.

U2 360 @ MSU x2

Bono U2, photo by Buzz Click Photography

Along with 65,000 of his closest friends, Spike attended Sunday night’s U2 show in Spartan Stadium. What many people didn’t know was that it wasn’t the legendary Irish rockers first visit to East Lansing. As the Lansing State Journal reports, the campus pub Dooley’s hosted the band way back in 1981:

George Scofes, now 82, booked the up-and-coming Irish band to play Dooley’s bar (now Harper’s Restaurant and Brewpub) in East Lansing in December 1981.

Another Dooley’s owner asked George to give U2′s debut album “Boy” a listen and decide if the band should be booked for the Irish pub.

George said he didn’t know much about music, but the band sounded good to him.

You can see the 1981 Dooley’s set right here.

Spike seems to have had great seats – heh. View his shots from the concert in his U2 Live slideshow. Click through to the photo for his observations of the show which begin:

On Sunday night, June 26, the biggest rock band in the world brought the massive rock show to Southeast Michigan. The stadium-sized spectacle of U2′s “360 Tour” may very well be the biggest show on Earth. It’s certainly the largest stage with its 167-foot-high, 29,000-square-foot, four-legged superstructure known as The Claw, which could be seen for miles, peeking out from atop the stadium walls. The stage that was too big to fit in any Detroit venue, proved to be too big for even Lansing as several concrete walls had to be knocked out to accommodate the stage once it arrived last week. (Read more)

Surf Michigan!

Surf_3883, photo by ON THE MOON STUDIO.

The Great Lakes are receiving more and more attention as a surfing destination, and hot spots like Frankfort, Marquette and Grand Haven (where this kiteboarder is tearing it up) are becoming destinations for kayakers, surfers, paddle boarders and kite boarders.

We have some great videos at Michigan: Great Lakes Surfing Capital on Absolute Michigan. See more surfing on Michigan in Pictures. There’s also Northern Michigan Surf on Facebook and in the Surfing slideshow from the Absolute Michigan pool!

Check this out background big and see more in Paul’s slideshow.

Rothbury, Electric Forest and a Ticket Giveaway Explosion

Rothbury – Out of This World, photo by tinmantaber.

In which the author explains how Rothbury & Electric Forest led to a giveaway of 72 tickets…

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a commercial, but you should know that Electric Forest Festival is a sponsor of Absolute Michigan. Plus it’s kind of long. Sorry. ;)

Over Fourth of July weekend in 2009, I was part of the Absolute Michigan crew that went to the Rothbury Music Festival (click for our coverage). Two others on the crew were Richard Taber (who took this photo) and Ryan Thompson (who’s in it). I still don’t know how they thought of it, but it’s a classic!

While Rothbury has yet to return, a new festival by the same producers called Electric Forest starts this Thursday in Rothbury and runs June 30 – July 4.

I really enjoyed Rothbury and the incredible art and entertainment that went far beyond my previous experience of music festivals, so I was really excited when Electric Forest agreed to sponsor Absolute Michigan. Part of their sponsorship was a pair of tickets that we gave away at the end of May to Mark L of Detroit. The excitement that folks felt about a chance to win tickets made me think that there might be a way to do more giveaways, and after a few weeks of calling around, we’ve got 25 pairs of tickets (and counting) that we are giving away or have given away in our “Festival Summer” promotion.

These are great events of all kinds like the incredible Maker Faire Detroit at the Henry Ford, the delicious Taste of Kalamazoo and the venerable Hiawatha Traditional Music Festival in Marquette, and I felt pretty good about that. Then one of the event organizers asked me how many pairs I wanted, and I thought “Why not give away some more?” I asked for four and now eleven festivals & events have given a second pair of tickets that we’re going to give away on July 4th, hopefully to a person or persons as crazy & fun as Ryan and Richard.

Check it out background bigtastic and in Richard’s Rothbury Festival 2009 – Greatest Hits slideshow. Many more shots in his Rothbury collection and definitely see the slideshow on the Rothbury website.

More from Ryan at ryanthompson.org.

Above & Along the Rouge River

Zug Island, photo by Airplane Lane.

Over on Absolute Michigan a little while back we had a feature from one of my favorite blogs, Bootstrap Analysis. It’s titled Urban Birding: Touring the Rouge River. For a look at what the Rouge looks like and a sense of how that happened, click over!

If you’re interested in the preservation efforts on the river, check out Friends of the Rouge River.

Check it out background bigtacular and in Matt’s awesome Aerial Photography slideshow.

Lots more Michigan aerial photographs on Michigan in Pictures.

Wagner Falls, Munising, MI

Wagner Falls, Munising, MI, photo by Whitney Lake.

Stephen Wagner at Go Waterfalling has this to say about Wagner Falls: Picturesque, easy to visit, and you got to love the name. ;)

It’s one of several waterfalls in the Munising area.

View this photo on black and in Whitney Lake’s Michigan slideshow.

MANY more Michigan waterfalls on Michigan in Pictures!

The Fisher Building in Detroit

iPhone Fisher, photo by Trovarsi

The Detroit News Rearview Mirror feature on the Fisher Building in Detroit begins:

When the seven Fisher Brothers of Fisher Body fame hired architect Albert Kahn in 1927 to design a building that would bear their name, they gave him a blank check and the instructions to build “the most beautiful building in the world.” Plans for a $35 million three-phase project were announced by the brothers in January of 1927. The original program called for three units to be built over a period of several years, but due to the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, only phase one, the Fisher Building, was completed at a cost of $10 million.

The site the brothers had selected for the structure was bounded by West Grand Boulevard, Lothrop Avenue, Third Avenue and Second Boulevard, across from the General Motors building. They originally wanted to build downtown but were unable to put together a suitable parcel of land. They turned to the General Motors area where the idea for a New Center was born.

Read on and see some cool photos at the Detroit News. You can also check out the Fisher Building on Emporis and the Fisher Building on Wikipedia, which notes that the building contains the 2,089 seat Fisher Theatre, a National Historic Landmark, and it is also the location of the headquarters for the Detroit Public Schools. More about Albert Kahn on Michigan in Pictures.

Check this out bigger and in Ryan’s Detroit slideshow.

More architecture from Michigan in Pictures.

Summer Solstice and the Annual Ring

Summer Solstice, photo by marshallfredericks

The Summer Solstice is the yearly moment when the sun’s apparent position in the sky reaches its northernmost point. You can think about it as throwing a ball up in the air – when the ball reaches its maximum height, that’s the solstice! It’s the longest day of the year and the first day of summer and it all happens today  at 12:16 PM in Michigan! More about the solstice from National Geographic.

The sculpture above is the Annual Ring by artist Nancy Holt and it shows the moment of the solar noon on the solstice at the. The photo was posted by the Marshall Fredericks Sculpture Museum, and they say the annual event includes poets reading, and a drum circle to welcome in summer. It happens today at 1 PM if you’re in the area and you can see more photos of the sculpture in their solstice slideshow!

Speaking of Marshall Fredericks, click his name for some information from Michigan in Pictures about Michigan’s most famous sculptor!

Emancipation Proclamation at the Henry Ford

The Rosa Park Bus [Explored], photo by Raf Ferreira.

One of our nation’s most significant documents, the Emancipation Proclamation, will be on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit Dearborn.

Following a brief opening ceremony, the original document will be on display around-the-clock, straight through early Wednesday morning, June 22, when it will return to Washington DC. More info and related events at the Emancipation Proclamation at the Hentry Ford.

I couldn’t think of a more fitting image for this than the Rosa Parks bus, just one of many amazing relics of American history that are displayed at the Henry Ford (see their exhibits). Check this out on black and in Rafael’s great Detroit slideshow.

Speaking of slideshows, here’s the Henry Ford Museum slideshow from the Absolute Michigan group on Flickr!

Happy Father’s Day, Michigan Dads

Dad and daughter, photo by Dr. Farnsworth.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day, a time to celebrate dads and fatherhood. Also fishing & golf. ;)

Hope all the dads out there have a great weekend (everyone else too!)

See this photo big as the one that got away and in Dale’s The Best of West Lake slideshow.