Two Words, One Answer.
Ann Arbor
 Ann Arbor in the 20th Century: A Photographic History (MI) (Images of America) $21.99 Ann Arbor began the 20th century as a modest manufacturing and farm trading center with a small co-existing university community. By the end of the century, Ann Arbor had developed into a cosmopolitan city, home to people from all over the world. Ann Arbor in the 20th Century details the important developments that occurred over a period of 100 years, as residents witnessed the growth of its neighborhoods, schools, shopping areas, and social services. Enormous changes to the physical landscape of the townbrought about by innovations in architecture, the influence of industry and entertainment, and the transition from horse-drawn vehicles to automobilesare all documented through this collection of photographs. Images of famous visitors, such as Carrie Nation railing against alcohol and President Kennedy introducing the Peace Corps, are included.  Historic Photos of Ann Arbor $39.95 My wife and I came to Ann Arbor in 1978 so I could study music at the University of Michigan and we have raised our family here. I enjoyed this century of photos that show the way life and architecture has changed over the decades in my city. While Ann Arbor goes back to the early 19th Century, photography was a new technology in the 1860s. By then the University of Michigan was well established and growing. While much of what is now settled with businesses, homes, and roads, back then much of the land was still open. Alice Goff and Megan Cooney have created an interesting selection of photographs and added good captions, but it is not a history of Ann Arbor via photographs. We get impressions of life and the town that are satisfying in their own way. However, it is not going to tell you the story of the city, its people, and the development from Indian lands into the City we have today. Of course, the book was never intended to be that, but I just thought you should know so you won't be looking at it for the wrong reason. One of the things I noticed while going through the pictures is how what interested me about the picture had little to do with why it was taken. The photographer was looking at some event that has little meaning to me, but the way the people dressed, the buildings, the signs, the businesses, and many other things that would have been beneath notice for the people of the time are what interests me today. Another aspect of their life that jumps out is how many fires, train wrecks, and even a plane crash were a more common part of their life than we experience today. And, when there are official and social events, how few women are involved seems strange to us today. Ann Arbor is a wonderful town, even if its politics seem eccentric to outsiders (and to many of us who live here), and it has an interesting history. While the University does have a dominant place in our lives, it is far from being all the city has to offer. This interesting collection of photos shows the roots of the city and the school and their development through the 1960s. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI  Live at Ann Arbor & In Chicago $16.99 This album is a priceless miracle and we should thank the guys who had the foresight to capture Sam live on tape, especially Peter Kroehler who sadly died young himself. Others have said it but if either of these sets had been professionally recorded they would rank amongst the best live blues albums of all time. The Ann Arbor set is a real stomper and crowd pleaser, all the more amazing in that Sam was sick and had both a borrowed guitar (not unusually for him) and band. There's a fantastic momentum to the songs and the energy rubs off on an initially wary crowd of 10,000 who by the end are whooping and hollering for more. Personally, I love the Alex club sets even more because they capture Sam in his own backyard and at the absolute peak of his powers. The opening song "Every night about this time" is awesome in its intensity, soulfulness and power, Sam's beautiful voice pierces right through you and his elongated guitar solo rips the place up. Listen to this, feel the vibe, imagine what it must have been like to be there in that small, dark, smoky, crowded room and think that it was 1963!! Sam had it all - good looks, a warm and witty personality, a voice to die for, phenomenal guitar chops and supreme showmanship and it's a tragedy that we lost him so young. These recordings, more than his studio ones (though of course I love them too) bring Sam to life and I return to them again and again. They are primitive but they have a wonderful intimacy and haunting power. They are a poignant glimpse of a great lost talent and I can't recommend them highly enough to any fan of soulful blues. |
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