Interdisciplinary Living

Ray Malo And A Piano

My neighbor Ray found this treasure of a piano, an old Mendelssohn, at the PTO Thrift Shop in Ann Arbor and had it delivered Thursday on an unusually sunny November afternoon. I happened to pass by on a break from work and couldn't help but stop and photograph the scene as Ray took his new instrument for a test spin on the front lawn. It sounded beautiful, but I expected no less from Ray Malo, the former keyboardist and violin player for Brooklyn-based indie rock band April Smith and the Great Picture Show. What's he doing in Ann Arbor, you ask? Besides playing old Mendelssohn pianos on front lawns, he's back at the University of Michigan pursuing an education. He recently documented his long and winding road back to the university in a column published in the Michigan Daily. Read it here.

Remember The 1890s?

Onlookers used their cellphone cameras on Oct. 8 to capture the moment as an 1890s-era house at 417 S. Division St. was demolished. The brick house just south of downtown Ann Arbor stood in the way of the University of Michigan's $29 million expansion of the Institute for Social Research building. Another house to the south of the building, where famous playwright Arthur Miller first lived when he went to the University of Michigan in the 1930s, also could be demolished, though neither house actually stands or stood in the way of the expansion. As local resident Tom Whitaker pointed out, "While I value historic houses very much, perhaps the bigger story here is the senseless loss of decent housing, close to campus, where students, staff or faculty could have continued living and walking to class or work. If you look at the site plans and renderings, the ISR addition is shown with the three houses remaining in place. They did not interfere with the footprint of the new construction at all. No, this is all about creating some room for the contractor and but more importantly, to add surface parking lots later." Read the story.

Scarred For Life

Liz And Kiwi

Porch Monkeys

These are my neighbors, Kiwi and Liz. They've become good friends with Stan and I this summer, mostly because they have an awesome porch (and lots of cool housemates). OK, fine, they're pretty awesome, too.

Potluck Fun

The Annual Downtown Potluck Party in Ann Arbor brings out a wide range of people every year and it's always a good time. Here are a few scenes from the happenings Thursday night in a backyard off Division Street. Yes, that's Ann Arbor City Council Member Tony Derezinski pointing at 1st Ward council candidates Sumi Kailasapathy and Eric Sturgis. They're facing off against one another in the August Democratic primary.

Sax-O-Mo-Phone!

Evan Pratt, perhaps best known for his role as an Ann Arbor planning commissioner of the past eight years, serenaded a large crowd gathered Thursday night for the Annual Downtown Potluck Party in the backyard of 120 and 126 N. Division St. Pratt, a 1987 graduate of MIT's civil and environmental engineering program, lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Ana, a teacher, their children, ages 11, 8, and 5, plus three large dogs and two cats. An engineer for Spicer Group, he's now running for the office of Water Resources Commissioner in Washtenaw County.

Something Old, Something New

A new student housing project rises above an old student rental house at the corner of Division and William streets on the southern edge of downtown Ann Arbor.

Say Goodbye

I think Stan was just as sad to leave my old downtown studio apartment as I was. He still keeps wanting to go up the steps every time we pass the building now. Here he is on the day I was shooting photos to market the place on Craigslist.

Whatever, I Do What I Want

Sometimes Stan sleeps on his back. Here he is on an afternoon slumber on Feb. 7.

Kind Of Blue

This is the view down South Division Street in Ann Arbor, about half a block from my downtown apartment. The well-lit establishment you see at the corner of Division and William is Raja Rani, an Indian food restaurant that everyone raves about. Despite all the recommendations, I just can't bring myself to go there when there's a vegetarian/vegan Indian place, Earthen Jar, right around the corner and the food there is killer.

The Big Dig

A significant amount of excavation work has been completed on the Library Lot site in downtown Ann Arbor where the Downtown Development Authority is constructing a four-story underground parking deck.