Movement, from the Detroit Electronic Music Festival to today

man-hour, photo by TerryJohnston

We were not used to listening to techno outdoors in the day, this was not something that ever happened in Detroit.
~Josh Glazer, 2000 Detroit Electronic Music Festival

Movement (formerly the Detroit Electronic Music Festival aka DEMF) comes to Hart Plaza in Detroit Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-28, 2012. Detroit is widely considered to be the the birthplace of techno, and Movement remains true to those roots. In 2012, 107 acts will perform across five stages with headliners including Zeds Dead, SBTRK, Public Enemy, Claude Vonstroke and Major Lazer.

You can see a great video from 2011 at the link above and you are heartily encouraged to dig into the DEEP story of this festival from 2000 to the modern day at Resident Advisor. It takes you from the first murmurings about a festival celebrating Detroit’s electronic scene, through the planning stages and to the nervous dawn of the first Detroit Electronic Music Festival Memorial Weekend of 2000, all told through photos and the words of the people that have worked on it and followed it through the years:

Richie Hawtin: People who wouldn’t go out to a nightclub, people who had bought a Derrick May record but didn’t really know who was behind it, friends who had stopped going out, people with their kids. The whole family aspect was incredible.

Matthew Dear: Sometime during that first year, I remember walking by a big circle of dancers. Everyone was happy, dancing and watching some guys jit in the center of the circle. Then I realized that the Mayor of Detroit, Dennis Archer was standing on the inside of the circle with his family, smiling, dancing and enjoying the show alongside everyone else.

Phil Talbert: A lot of kids walked up to the Mayor, and said, “You’re the Mayor? I just want to say thank you for doing something for young people.” I think he realized, then, how important it was.

Ernest Burkeen: The Mayor was shocked. Whenever you do a first year event, you’re happy just to make it happen. I never expected the crowds that we saw.

Check this out on black and in Terry’s Movement – DEMF slideshow.

Welcome to May in Michigan

may light break through, photo by beaconsoul

This morning the perfectly titled photo was posted to our Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr, and while it’s actually from August, it definitely captures the light and promise of warmth that May brings.

Over on Absolute Michigan we’ve posted our May Event Calendar for Michigan that is packed full of all kinds of fun across Michigan celebrating new life and the beginning of summer in the Great Lakes State.

Check this photo out bigger and in beaconsoul’s morning slideshow.

If baseball is the national pastime, why isn’t Opening Day a national holiday?

Tigers ROAR!!, photo by Jesse Welter

The Detroit Tigers open the 2012 season today at 1:05 PM at home at Comerica Park vs. the Boston Red Sox. The game preview begins:

Opening Day will dawn Thursday afternoon. And in Detroit, it dawns in a big way.

You’ve got reigning AL Most Valuable Player and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander facing MVP runner-up Jacoby Ellsbury in the first inning. You’ve got Prince Fielder’s Detroit debut and Bobby Valentine’s first game at the steering wheel for Boston. You’ve got Miguel Cabrera manning the hot corner for the first time in four years.

…Regarding that aforementioned Verlander-Ellsbury matchup, it’s pretty rare stuff. The last time a reigning MVP pitcher faced the man who finished second to him in the balloting in his first start of the season? You have to go all the way back to 1932, when Lefty Grove faced Lou Gehrig.

Head over to Absolute Michigan for our Detroit Tigers 2012 season preview that includes all kinds of links and a look back at the very first Detroit Tigers Opening Day!

Jesse took this photo at game four of the playoff series vs. the Texas Rangers last October. Check it out on black and in his Tigers slideshow.

Much more about the Detroit Tigers on Michigan in Pictures!

(not) Tulip Time

early tulips in downtown Holland, photo by Alissa Holland

The Tulip Time website says that there are 31 days until the annual festival celebrating the city of Holland’s Dutch heritage and the beautiful tulip. The festival runs May 5-12, 2012, but nobody told the tulips. As the photo shows, some of Holland’s 100,000+ tulips are beginning to bloom. They are expected to peak by mid-April, and the city is encouraging tulip lovers to visit now and then come back for the festival. They add that the festival will proceed as planned and even hold out a little hope:

“The city plants mostly late blooming varieties of tulips,” explains Gwen Auwerda, Tulip Time Festival Executive Director. “We’re hoping these late bloomers live up to their name and last into the festival. But, either way, if those arriving in Holland for the Tulip Time Festival take advantage of all the great events, they will not be disappointed.”

Check this photo out bigger and see more in Alissa’s Spring slideshow.

There’s a garden-full of Tulip Time pics on Michigan in Pictures.

Snow kiting at the Straits with WISSA 2012

WISSA 2012 at St Ignace, photo courtesy WISSA 2012

The 2012 World Ice and Snow Sailing Championships (WISSA) take place February 20 – 26 in St. Ignace, and are in the US for the first time in 17 years. This event is a major worldwide competition and you can read all about it right here on Absolute Michigan!

Enjoy every hour of February in Michigan!

Ice Climbing – Tannery Falls, photo by James Marvin Phelps

“Winter, a lingering season, is a time to gather golden moments, embark upon a sentimental journey, and enjoy every idle hour.”
~ John Boswell

Our February Michigan Event Calendar features all kinds of cool events, from races like the i500 snowmobile race, the UP 200 sled dog race or (we can’t make this stuff up) outhouse races to winter celebrations like the Winter WOW Fest in Traverse City or Perchville USA in Tawas. One of the neatest happens this weekend: The Michigan Ice Fest in Munising.

James took this shot at Tannery Falls near Munising. Click to view it extra-large and see more in his Michigan slideshow.

A little more about Tannery Falls on Michigan in Pictures.

FIS Continental Cup at Pine Mountain

2010 FIS Continental Cup – Pine Mountain -U.P Michigan, photo by ebaillies.

Next weekend (February 10 & 11, 2012) the FIS Continental Cup takes place at Pine Mountain. This annual competition celebrates the long heritage of on of the first ski flying sites and draws competitors from all over the United States and the world along with 20,000 fans!

Over on Absolute Michigan today we have a feature on the Pine Mountain ski jumping tournament. 2012 is the 73rd annual and you can learn all about it and see some videos at the link! There’s also a vintage shot from the 1930s on Michigan in Pictures!

See this photo on black and in Eric’s great Pine Mountain Ski Jumps 2010 slideshow!

#Mich175 = Happy 175th Birthday Michigan!!

Sugar Cookies – Michigan, photo by betsyweber

We, the PEOPLE of the territory of Michigan … mutually agree to form ourselves

into a free and independent state, by the style and title of “The State of Michigan’”

~Constitution of Michigan of 1835

While Michigan’s Constitution was written in 1835, it took until January 26, 1837 for President Andrew Jackson to sign the bill making Michigan the nation’s 26th state (more about that right here but the short answer is, blame it on Ohio). That makes today the 175th birthday of the Great Lakes State. We’ve been making a fuss of it and giving things away on Absolute Michigan all week, and joining a whole lot of people in touting the good things about our great state at #Mich175 on Twitter.

Here’s some fun facts about Michigan:

• Michigan is derived from the Indian word Michigama, meaning great or large lake. (more about Michigan’s name on Michigan in Pictures)
• French explorers Étienne Brulé & Grenoble are the first recorded Europeans to set foot in Michigan (you never know though). In 1668 Fathers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon established the first mission at Sault Ste. Marie, and in 1701, French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded  Fort Pontchartrain in Detroit.
• The Michigan Territory was created, with Detroit designated as the seat of government and William Hull appointed as our first governor.
• Michigan became the 26th state on the 26th of January, 1837. Is 26 our lucky number? FYI, our first State governor was Stevens T. Mason, the 25 year old Boy Governor (the youngest state governor in American history).
• Michigan’s nickname is “the Wolverine State”. It is generally believed to have been coined during the 1835 Toledo War between Michigan and Ohio, when our southern rivals gave us the name due to the wolverine’s reputation for sheer orneriness!
• The Great Seal of Michigan was designed by Lewis Cass and was patterned after the seal of the Hudson Bay Fur Company. It depicts an elk on the left and a moose on the right supporting a shield that reads Tuebor (“I will protect”).The interior of the shield shows a figure on the shore with the sun rising over a lake. His right hand is raised, symbolizing peace, but he holds a rifle in his left hand, showing readiness to defend the state and nation.Below the shield is the inscription of our state motto Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice: “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.” (I just learned that Michigan has an Office of the Great Seal – how cool would it be to say you worked there??)
• The original State Capitol of Michigan was Detroit, and it moved to Lansing in 1847 to help develop the western side of the state and due to the need to develop the western portions of the state and for easy defense from British troops. Here’s a pic of Michigan’s original Capitol Building and an 1890s view of the current Michigan capitol.
• Michigan is the 10th largest state by area if you count the water … and who wouldn’t count the water??
• Speaking of water, we have 3,288 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, good for second to only Alaska in coastline!

More fun facts from the State of Michigan.

Check this out background bigilicious and in Betsy’s Cookies slideshow.

PS: I made a little Michigan Birthday cover photo for Facebook that you are free to grab.

Happy 175th Birthday Michigan!!

Turn it up to Eleven Eleven Eleven

Two Pines, photo by Coniferous Mariner.

In addition to being Veteran’s Day, today we roll the calendrical odometer to the 11s.

11/11/11 is causing all manner of fun across the globe – they’re closing the pyramids in Egypt, hoping for good luck and getting married in the East and even playing a basketball game aboard an aircraft carrier (MSU meets North Carolina in the Carrier Classic tonight at 7 PM).

Today at 11:11:11, the time and date will be a perfect same-numbered palindrome, reading the same backwards as forwards, an event which can only happen on one day every 100 years. Read on for more. They note that:

The reason we ascribe significance to 11.11.11 is apophenia – the urge to find patterns in seemingly random data. It is this that explains why we see clouds forming certain shapes, and why we often hear of people finding ‘faces’ in things like potato crisps.

Here’s hoping you have luck & happiness today and faces in your potato chips. ;)

Check this out background big and in Coniferous Mariner’s beautiful A Peopleless Luzerne slideshow. (and isn’t “Coniferous Mariner” just about the coolest user name ever?)

Superior Seas and November in Michigan

Superior Seas, photo by PhotoYoop.

“NOVEMBER, n. The eleventh twelfth of a weariness.”
~ Ambrose Bierce

From simple weariness of the changing weather to the terrible fury of November storms, the month of November can take a heavy toll on Michiganders.

Fortunately, there’s great events all across the state to help us get through. With indoor enjoyment at events like Restaurant Week in Grand Rapids (Nov 3-13), the East Lansing Film Festival and the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music in Kalamazoo (Nov 10-12) to more hardy pursuits like Opening Day & Deer Season and tomorrow’s Iceman Cometh bike race in Traverse City, our November Michigan Event Calendar has you covered!

We even have FOUR tickets to give away to the Grand Rapids Wine, Beer & Food Festival (Nov 17-19) – click to check it out and chase away Mr. Bierce’s November weariness!

Cory took this shot in October on Presque Isle in Marquette, but it’s certainly indicative of what you’ll see on Lake Superior in November! Check it out bigger and in Cory’s The Yoop – U.P. slideshow.