Awrey's Bakery Reopens (After Closing For Good)

From www.WXYZ.com

LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) - Awrey's Bakery reopened Monday, following last month's last minute deal that saved the Detroit institution from the auction block.

Rabin Worldwide canceled the auction after Jim McColgan of Minnie Marie Bakers bought the company.

Awrey's was founded in 1910 in Detroit and grew to become one of the largest privately-owned bakeries in the U.S.

It was well-known for its pastries and breads, but ran into financial trouble in 2012.

Last fall, the company notified the State of Michigan that it would have to layoff nearly 200 workers if it could not find a buyer. Most of the layoffs were supposed to take effect in late January 2013. The rest were scheduled to take place in early February. 

Awrey website: http://www.awrey.com/

Find Awrey Bakeries on Facebook
 

Funk Brothers to get their star

Funk Brothers will finally get their star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!

CLICK HERE to order the
"Standing In The Shadows of Motown"
DVD from Amazon.

The much-fabled, long-neglected Motown studio band is set to be immortalized in the sidewalk near Hollywood and Vine, with a ceremony that’s expected to include surviving Funks Joe Messina, Eddie Willis and Jack Ashford.

It didn’t happen overnight: The March 21 event will culminate a process that began more than five years ago, and which cleared a final fundraising deadline by the skin of its teeth.

Motown star Valerie Simpson and late-night bandleader Paul Shaffer were among those who made key contributions to meet the project’s $25,000 goal, with Detroit native Ray Parker Jr. pushing it past the finish line in February.

Donations are requested to help several Motown figures and their families attend the March 21 event. Checks can be made out to Funk Brothers Hollywood Star Fund and mailed to 25702 Holiday Circle B, Stevenson Ranch, CA, 91381.

Read more in the Detroit Free Press by Brian McCollum

LIVES REMEMBERED

Bobby Rogers, founding member of The Miracles

Bobby Rogers (on right in above photo), a singer-songwriter who was a founding member of the Motown group The Miracles, has died at 73. Rogers died early Sunday morning in Detroit after a long illness, according to the Associated Press.

As a songwriter, Rogers worked frequently with Smokey Robinson, and the two co-founded the Miracles in 1955 along with three other partners — Claudette Rogers, a cousin of Rogers; Pete Moore; and Ronnie White. The group's hits included "The Tears of a Clown," "I Second That Emotion" and "You've Really Got a Hold on Me."

Read more in The Detroit News by Susan Whitall

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Richard Street of the Temptations

Richard Street, longtime member of the Temptations, and featured vocalist on such hits as "Papa Was A Rolling Stone," "Heavenly" and "Hey Girl (I Like Your Style)," has died in Las Vegas at age 70 after a short hospitalization. Street's death comes less than two weeks after the death of former group-mate Damon Harris.   

Read more in The Detroit News by Susan Whitall

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Damon Harris of the Temptations

Otis "Damon" Harris, a former member of the Motown group The Temptations, has died of prostate cancer. He was 62.

Harris performed The Temptations from 1971 to 1975 and sang on hits including "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)."

Read more in The Detroit News by Susan Whitall

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Donald Byrd, jazz trumpeter, Cass Tech grad

Jazz musician Donald Byrd, a leading hard-bop trumpeter of the 1950s who collaborated on dozens of albums with top artists of his time and later enjoyed commercial success with hit jazz-funk fusion records such as "Black Byrd," has died. He was 80.

Byrd, who was also a pioneer in jazz education, graduated from Cass Tech and Wayne State University.

Read more in The Detroit News

COMMENT:
From Gloria Taylor of West Coast Detroit Skaters in California:
"Donald inspired thousands of Detroit roller skaters to choreographed skating routines and steps at various skating rinks in the Detroit metro area. While I was in college, I choreographed modern dance numbers to his jazz songs. My cousin William played with Donald in the 1950's and 1960's. His music will live on for eternity."
 

 

"Searching for Sugar Man" wins Oscar for best documentary feature

Purchase this video on Amazon

A Detroit legend just got a little more legendary.

“Searching for Sugar Man,” a movie about the strange but true story of mercurial Motor City singer-songwriter Rodriguez, took home the best documentary Oscar at Sunday’s ceremony.

The movie, made by Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul, tells the amazing story of how Rodriguez, whose early 1970s albums never caught fire in America, became a music superstar in apartheid South Africa.

Read more in The Detroit News by Adam Graham

The Amazing Story of Detroit's own "Rodriquez"

"Searching for Sugar Man"

WATCH THE TRAILER

The extraordinary story of a talented and philosophical Detroit musician who spent his life working in construction while struggling to bring up his three daughters, and the mind-boggling mutual discoveries in 1997: for him, that he was more famous than the Rolling Stones in South Africa, and for South African fans (who believed him to be dead), that he was alive.

Website:

http://sugarman.org/

 

Rodriquez recently appeared on the 

Jeff Probst Show. 

WATCH THE CLIP

Lee Dixon Remembers Detroit

Lee Dixon is a frequent and valued contributor to the Detroit Memories Discussion Group. Here is an excerpt from one of his recent posts:

I first performed at age 9 in various places around the Detroit area, including Bob-Lo Moonlight Cruises, and later with various bands and recording artists. And they weren't all black. Most came in to my family's music shop/store over the years. But yes, black musicians in those days didn't feel like they had really been to the real "scene" in Detroit until they had visited our shop at least once. It was the buzz back then.
 
My uncle and dad ran Detroit Music Shop Inc. and later Wayne U. Music Shop, Inc. This was on Detroit's east side originally in a large converted garage in a residential area and then in a commercial storefront on East Jefferson. My uncle, Cecil Dixon, invented, patented and built the specially-bent flute (it got higher octaves) that was played by Thomas Beans Bowles on Motown recordings, including Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips." (By the way, Beans ran the band for a while at the Flame Show Bar and we supplied instruments and repairs to musicians working there.) We sold and repaired all musical instruments. My uncle was known as "The Wizard" and could repair virtually any musical instrument and often made them play even better. It was nothing to have what are now-famous musicians and music people in our store. 

My uncle also repaired many of the big organs around Detroit back then in
theaters and big churches. AND we serviced the instruments for the Detroit Board of Education and school system during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as many others.

We sold to everyone from John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Ray Charles to Yusef Lateef, Roland Kirk, Sonny Stitt, Candy Johnson, Beans Bowles, James Jamerson AND the Funk Brothers, Dorothy Ashby and countless others. I met most of these people lots of times.

Wild cars would be parked in front of the shop. Cadillacs, Lincolns, Jaguars. I vividly remember one musician who drove a British MG sports car in
the early 1950s (and THAT was WAY ahead). He had the 1950s beatnik look down pat with the sunglasses, beret and the goatee. I remember him taking the time to explain to me that "M.G." stood for "Morris Garages" and I never forgot that. I started reading up on European sports cars after that. I knew them all by the time I was five or six. One guy would come over and sit in our backyard with an easel and a canvas "painting jazz art" he called it.

You'd never know it today since that store and my folks are forgotten in history circles, but people came from as far away as Europe just to meet my uncle and have their instruments serviced at out shop. But we were always kind of like an underground operation I guess. The business was largely word-of-mouth among musicians and we were not like most commercial shops. BUT... we sold guitars by the bushelful. (I still have one I got through the store in 1956.) Same for saxophones. I believe we were the first Fender-Rhodes electric piano dealer back when those were like science fiction! We also sold lots of wild electronic gadgets for musicians. My dad sold the first tape recorder in Michigan. We even did our own chrome and brass plating. This was THE place for musicians for many years. We even had a special and rare electronic machine that singers and musicians would come in to test out their voices and horns and pitches. Those were some times. We were one of Detroit's best-kept musical secrets during the 1950s and 1960s.

Leon "Lee" Dixon
Davis CA
St. Catherine HS 1965


SUBSCRIBERS:  YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME
 

Where was this Sunoco Gas Station?

Jim Morrow, a Detroit Memories subscriber,
sent this photo he'd found on this website.

He was curious to know where this Sunoco was located.
I posted it on the Detroit Memories Facebook page
and asked for help.
The second post came from Michael Meredith,
who, we believe, got it spot-on.

See what you think: Google Street View.

 

SUBSCRIBERS:  YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME 

Thank You, Detroit Memories Supporters!

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Historic Photos of J.L. Hudson

VIEW THE GALLERY

Lindell A.C.: Echoes of Old Detroit

Detroiters tend to have a deep, quirky sense of pride, and more than a few of them will tell you that there’s a bygone relic even more worthy of mourning than Tiger Stadium. Or the downtown J. L. Hudson department store. Or Cass Tech High School, whose alumni roster includes John DeLorean, Lily Tomlin and Diana Ross. That other place was a bar called the Lindell A.C.
 

READ THE ARTICLE

10 Facts You Should Know About Detroit

CLICK HERE

to read the 10 Facts

Photos of Michigan: A New One Everyday

http://michpics.wordpress.com/

Lighthouse with chocolate and whipped cream 
Photo by Craig Sterken Photography

Craig shared this photo of the
North Breakwater Pier and Lighthouse
in Ludington on the
Absolute Michigan Facebook.

George Pierrot / WXYZ-TV Channel 7

I was a Producer/Director with Channel 7 from 1951 to 1970. Wow, were those great times! 

George Pierrot's World Adventure Series featured his buddies who, along with George, were all members of the Circumnavigator's Club and they shot their own films as they traveled the world. In those days, it was all 16mm. Earl B. Brink of Mutual Of Omaha was a strong supporter, sponsor and occasional guest on the show. 

Following the TV show on Sunday, George also hosted a film presentation by the same speakers at the auditorium of the Art Institute right across the street. 

When George got to the point where he wanted to slow down a little, he hired Dick Femmel to work with him and spell him at hosting the show. Dick was a former Channel 7 newscaster and News Director before he left Channel 7 to join George. Dick would have preceded Bob Bean.

I just remembered, George used to host a party once a year for the crew at the Safari Club on the East side. Wonderful 'adventures' in foods! 

Another entry in the travel adventure shows was Dennis Glen Cooper who also hosted his own show when we were still in the Maccabees Bldg and later on at Broadcast House. Dennis occasionally sat in for George while he traveled. 

Regards,

Chase (Chuck) Snead

San Diego, CA

SUBSCRIBERS:  YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME 

Robert Hall Commercials

Happy New Year!

There won't be a January 2013 Detroit Memories Newsletter; however...

The Trivia Contest is up and running!

See you back here in next month.

Eileen

Remembering the Holidays in Detroit

 Photo courtesy of Wayne State University

I've put together a new photo album (on SmugMug) called

"Holidays in Metro Detroit during the 50s, 60s and 70s"

Basically it's everything I could find in my collection, 

including Hudson's, Downtown Detroit and the Ford Rotunda.

CLICK HERE to view the album.

If you have photos you would like to add to this album,

please email it/them to me at info@detroitmemories.com.

Please include as much information as you can.

SHOP NOW for the Holidays!

Just a reminder that the Detroit Memories store (www.EverythingDetroitStore.com)
has a lot of terrific gifts for the upcoming holidays! 

We offer embroidered
"Exported from D" and "Detroiter At Heart"
t-shirts / sweatshirts / ball caps and more!
(Deadline to order in time for the holidays is Dec 7th.)

 

  

PLUS
We also offer Detroit-related
"You Know You're From Detroit If..." posters,
Posters & Prints,
Books about Detroit,Favorite Detroit Snacks,
Motown Music & DVDs,
License plate frames & decals,
and
City Limit Signs

www.EverythingDetroitStore.com

~   ~   ~   ~

Proceeds from the store help support the
www.DetroitMemories.com website and this Newsletter.

Books by Detroit author, Armando Delicato

ARCADIA BOOKS

Detroit's Cass Corridor
Italians in Detroit
Detroit's Corktown

http://www.everythingdetroitstore.com/booksamazon.html

Hi Eileen,

I was born in Detroit and attended Cooley High School, the University of Detroit and Wayne State University. I taught social studies at Earhart Junior High and Murray-Wright High School in Detroit before becoming a media specialist in Westland, then in Farmington Hills.

I have given a number of lectures about various aspects of Detroit's history and conducted tours. I have been involved in the saving of Orchestra Hall in the early 1980s and have been involved with Cityscape Detroit in the late 1980s.

Currently I am working with a small group to establish a museum in the Cass Corridor. (See Facebook for details).

I think it is wonderful that you are promoting Detroit to former residents and others.

Thanks a million!

Armando Delicato

Musin’ on the Motortown Revue

 

Blogger Marsha Music writes about attending the
Motown Revues at the Fox Theater.

In an annual Christmas week ritual of the 60’s, for a few years
Motown’s “Cavalcade of Stars” staged shows for throngs of Detroiters,
black and white, who lined up around the Fox Theatre. It was better than
the movies, the circus and Ice Capades wrapped up in one."

Read more...

http://marshamusic.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/musin-on-the-motown-review/

The Michigan Accent

THE MICHIGAN ACCENT

Unique Words and Phrases

by Eric Weaver, Webmaster, "Michigan Native"

Alright. Now you can make the words sound Michiganian,
but if you don't use them in the proper way,
people will think you're either a freak
or that you're making fun of them.
Here are some common phrases:

http://www.michigannative.com/ma_wordsphrases.shtml