Après Halloween LOL

I confess, the whole way through this I heard my mother's voice wailing, "WHY didn't they take the laundry basket out of the background!??" She was a darned good photographer (my dad was, too) and had a sharp eye for the background of a picture.

UPDATE: Click here to go to the Sweet Juniper blog and see what surely must be the most fantastic (homemade!) children's Halloween costumes ever! They made my day - I was all moody and depressed, since I had no trick-or-treaters last night. While you're there, check out the writing on and photos of Detroit.

*Sigh* Again With The Cars

I heard Robert Lutz (Vice Chairman of Global Product Development at GM) interviewed on the radio this morning, and was reminded what endeared him to me when he first assumed his post in 2001 -- This is the guy who said GM had too many vehicles that looked "like a whole family of angry kitchen appliances: demented toasters, furious bread machines and vengeful trash compactors.'' And sho' nuff, since his arrival the vehicles that exhibited that dubious style are either gone or nicely refined. Another fave is when he famously spoke of the idea of man-made global warming as "a crock of shit."

One of the vehicles that incurred his wrath was the (now kaput) Pontiac Aztek.



Yeah, I know. Our garage technicians lovingly referred to it as the Ass-Crack when it was still in production. It was actually a nice ride -- handled well; roomy, for a small vehicle; ran/accelerated nicely -- but what good is that when you had to sneak up on it in the driveway and drive with a bag over your head? Lutz once said, "We’d fire the guy who greenlighted the Aztek if we could find anyone willing to admit it.”

Anyway, Bob doesn't mince words. He's a former Marine Corps fighter pilot, and loves to fly his personal jets over the GM Proving Ground (and he flies like a crazy person). I guess I love me some cranky bastards.

"Vrroooom At The Top" -- 2002 Time mag article on Lutz.

Saving The General

2008 Buick Enclave

From an email I just received (in-house at GM):

CNBC will air an updated version of their special -- Saving GM: Inside the Crisis -- Monday evening, December 8, at 10 pm eastern time. The special includes video and interviews shot over the past week pertaining to the current situation, the GM plan put forth to Congress and an extensive interview with Fritz Henderson regarding the development of the plan and its implications for GM and the industry. The program will also include a segment shot out at the Fairfax plant and a look at what the plant is doing to save cost and improve quality. The hour long program will also include video of Rick Wagoner and Bob Lutz from the earlier special which ran during the summer. I expect the program will be a fair and positive look at what's going on now and what GM is doing to conserve cash and gain support in Washington for a bridge loan. The program will also air several other times in the upcoming weeks, but a full schedule is not available at this time.

2008 Chevrolet Malibu

The General

Chevy HHR

From GM: "In addition to "letters to the editor" and TV interviews, GM is placing ads in major markets to tell our story."

*click to embiggen*

As one of those salaried employees who got no raise in pay (but some hefty raises in benefit costs), I say "Word."

Rick Wagoner, from the WSJ - Online:

On the cost-cutting side, we have been streamlining our U.S. operations while simultaneously improving quality and productivity. Since 2000, we have reduced our U.S. hourly workforce by 52%, from 133,000 to 64,000, through buyouts and other programs. During the same period, we have cut our U.S. salaried employment from 44,000 to fewer than 30,000, and reduced our U.S. executive ranks by 45%.


However, we know we cannot just slash our way to prosperity. We have closed the quality and productivity gaps with the imports, as confirmed by J.D. Power and Associates (the consumer ratings firm) and the Harbour Report (which benchmarks North American plant-floor performance). New GM product programs launched earlier this decade have produced award-winning cars and crossovers like the Saturn Aura, Cadillac CTS and Buick Enclave. And that is just the beginning.

Some things I learned on teh innernets this week:

1. All GM employees are either clueless, private-jet-flyin', overcompensated executives or clueless, job-bank-idlin', overcompensated UAW workers. (No and No -- there's a whole flock of overworked and frequently undercompensated salaried and contract stiffs who are coming in every day and working hard to make stuff better, and who will have no job-bank to enter if they get axed). (And even a majority in those first 2 categories mentioned are not nearly as bad as portrayed).

2. Some people bought GM (or Ford or Chrysler) vehicles in the past and they were ... baaaad. Ergo, all vehicles made by those companies are -- forever and always -- baaaad. (No -- see J.D. Power).

3. All GM vehicles are monstrous-huge gas-guzzlers (No -- see Malibu info in the Wagoner article and elsewhere on the web -- and that's not the only one).

4. Frankly, all Big Three employees should be just taken out behind the plant and shot. (Nooooooooooooooooo).

w00t!

Motor Trend "first look".

Tim Blair on "inconvenient exports". :-)

Buy One!

Keep American test drivers (like me) working -- 2009 Camaro.

Of course, the ones we've been driving at work look more like this (super-secret test camouflage).

UPDATE: Yay! The NYT says nice things about the 2008 Malibu.

Two New Finds

The Temple Theater, Detroit, MI (date unknown)

I love this site (but have barely looked into it):

America as it Was: A Tour of the USA in Vintage Postcards

It combines two of my favorite things - architecture and old postcards. I found it through a link at this site: Pure Gum Spirits. It's the blog of a Chicago painter, with some nifty original paintings and photography. A couple of his works reminded me of a painting that's a favorite of mine, Gustave Caillebotte's (French, 1848-1894) "Paris Street; Rainy Day." The original is at The Art Institute of Chicago. I might have to go pay it a visit!

A Great Song For A Saturday

Or any other day.

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra

In A Mellotone

(1940)

This nifty Ellington poster (c. 1933) is available at Allposters.com














Ellington and fans, backstage at the Graystone (date unknown).

I just noticed that Allposters (and scores of other sites from a Google search) mis-attributes the Graystone Ballroom (demolished in 1980) as being in NYC. As is shown on the bottom of the poster, it was on Woodward at Canfield, in Detroit, MI. Everyone has forgotten that Detroit was once very hotcha. :-(



The Graystone Ballroom, exterior (date unknown).








The Graystone Ballroom, interior (date unknown).



When Detroit Danced to the Big Bands - at the Detroit News, pix of the Graystone and other venues.

Stompin' at the Graystone: Jazz in Detroit 1917-1940 - at the Internet Public Library.

Game 5: Cardinals 4, Tigers 2

Casey at the Bat
Ernest Lawrence Thayer
1888

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And it's likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered, "fraud";
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

There's always next year - c'mon April.

Cardinals 5, Tigers 4 in Game 4 of World Series

What a heartbreaker - I was at work, trying to follow it on the radio, and work kept intruding. I heard the last 2 innings driving home in a cold drizzle ...












photo: Steve Perez / The Detroit News
Cardinals' David Eckstein doubles to score the winning run in th eighth inning of Game 4 of the World Series in St. Louis Oct. 26, 2006. The Cardinals won 5-4, putting the Tigers on the brink of elimination. -- Detroit News












photo: David Guralnick / The Detroit News
Tigers' Craig Monroe can't haul in David Eckstein's game-winning hit in the eighth inning. The hit, Eckstein's fourth of the evening, boosted the Cards to their 5-4 win. -- Detroit News

They're down 3-1, but I still have faith.

Go, Tigers!

Porgy and Bess

Tomorrow night, I'm going to the Detroit Opera House to see "Porgy and Bess." This will be my third live opera; several years ago, I saw "Carmen" in San Francisco with my sister, and last spring I saw "Salome" in Detroit with the friend I'm going with tomorrow. She and I also have plans to see "Turandot" this coming spring. I enjoyed both of the others a great deal, and I'm particularly excited to see P&B. I've always loved the music (and all things Gershwin), and the fact that it's distinctly American and jazz-oriented is a big plus for me.

A couple of my favorite numbers from P&B:

Bing Crosby w/Victor Young

It Ain't Necessarily So

Sidney Bechet and the Blue Note 5

Summertime


Brief synopsis of "Porgy and Bess"

Wikipedia entry on DuBose Heyward

The Fabulous Apartment Ruins of Detroit

The Laredo Apartments, heyday in the 1940s, found at
"The Fabulous Apartment Ruins of Detroit."

Fabulous Ruins is part of a Detroit history website, Detroit Yes!

There are so many (formerly beautiful) crumbling buildings and homes in Detroit, intriguing yet sad for a turn of the (previous) century nut like myself. I'm fascinated by the US from post-Civil War to the 1940s, particularly around 1900. I love Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Art Deco/Streamline Moderne architecture especially.

More Tigers/World Series

I had forgotten until some time last week that the 1968 Series (the first one I actually remember) was Tigers/Cards. Wonder if St. Louis will beat the Mets ... and history will repeat itself? (That's Cards' pitcher Bob Gibson mentioned in the headline). Lolich hit the first and only home run of his Major League career in Game 2, and was World Series MVP.

"I guess you could say I'm the redemption of the fat man. A guy will be watching me on TV and see that I don't look in any better shape than he is. 'Hey Maude,' he'll holler, 'Get a load of this guy and he's a twenty-game winner.' " - Mickey Lolich

'68 Series at Baseball Almanac


And, while we're at it, "The Roar of '84" (which became "The Dive of '85," something we will not speak of again) - Tigers vs. the San Diego Padres.

Kirk Gibson
1984 ALCS MVP

World Series Clinching Home Run



'84 Series at Baseball Almanac



Of course, those winning seasons took place at Michigan & Trumbull.



Tiger Stadium
1912-1999

SWEEP! Tigers beat A's 6-3, head for World Series!

Mandi Wright / Detroit Free Press

Mark Miller, 43, of Tucson, Ariz., sticks a broom in the mouth of the main Tiger outside of Comerica Park Saturday. -- Detroit Free Press

Clarence Tabb, Jr. / Detroit News

Magglio Ordonez launches the series-winning home run in the bottom of ninth inning, ripping a 1-0 pitch from Huston Street into the left-field seats. -- Detroit News

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I didn't even get to write about the delayed Game 3, and now they've gone and won them all! I'm so happy. Detroit has great fans, who stick by their teams through thick and thin, and this is the best. Detroit and Michigan haven't had the greatest past few years - unemployment from massive auto layoffs, which leads to doldrums in every other sector.

Detroit has some great stuff downtown - huge overhaul of the beautiful DIA (still in progress), the two new stadiums, Greektown, the Michigan Opera Theatre, the Fox Theatre ("Historic Fox" and "Fox Theatre's Rebirth" from the Detroit News) and much more - but are mightily hampered by budgetary insufficiencies. This can only help.

Go, Tigers!

Tigers 8, A's 5!

Sean Connelley / The Oakland Tribune

The Tigers bench comes out to congratulate Alexis Gomez after his two-run homer in the sixth inning on Wednesday night in Oakland. Gomez's first hit, a two-run single, helped the Tigers take the lead in the fourth -- a lead they held onto for an 8-5 win.
-- Detroit News

They play in Detroit tonight - Wish I could go to the game (particularly since my actual location at that time will be at work).

Go, Tigers!

I Can't Believe I Forgot To Mention This

The Detroit Tigers best the Oakland A's 5-1 in Game 1 of the ALCS on Tuesday!

YAY!!!


Go, Tigers!