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This weekend is the 40th Dance for Mother Earth Powwow

by amy

Ann Arbor's Dance for Mother Earth Powwow celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend at Pioneer High School. The Powwow, hosted by the U-M Native American Student Association (NASA), is one of the largest university powwows in the nation. We've added to Oldnews some of the articles and photographs from past powwows that we found in our Ann Arbor News archive.

Grand entry is at noon and 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 17, and noon on Sunday, March 18. Learn what to expect if you're a first-time attendee. For more information, visit www.umich.edu/~powwow.

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Michael Davis, MC5 bassist, dies at 68

by amy

Michael Davis, bassist for the seminal 1960s band, MC5, died last Friday of liver failure">. The MC5's time in Ann Arbor as the propaganda wing for the White Panther Party under the management of radical poet and activist, John Sinclair, is documented in essays, interviews, and news articles at freeingjohnsinclair.org. You can learn more about Davis and the MC5 in author Brett Callwood's 2010 book, MC5: Sonically Speaking, a Tale of Revolution and Rock 'n Roll (we also have an interview with Callwood from 2010) and read a tribute to Davis at retrokimmer.com. The band's legacy is perhaps most memorably captured in the timeless photography of Leni Sinclair.

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Ann Arbor Film Festival Archive

by amy

In celebration of the Ann Arbor Film Festival's 50th year, AADL has partnered with the AAFF to launch the Ann Arbor Film Festival Archive, an online collection of the Festival's history. Here you can browse through past programs or flyers and posters reaching back to the Festival's origins in 1963. The site also includes photographs, historical newspaper articles from the Ann Arbor News and Ann Arbor Sun, and interviews. (Look for additional interviews with past festival directors and visiting filmmakers to appear leading up to and following the 50th anniversary.)

If you have AAFF documents you would like to share - in particular, any from the few seasons we're currently missing - please contact us!

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Celebrate 50 Years of the Ann Arbor Film Festival!

by amy

Friday, February 3, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Join Ann Arbor Film Festival executive director, Donald Harrison, and other voices from the Festival's past, this Friday evening as we celebrate the Festival's 50th anniversary with the launch the Ann Arbor Film Festival Archive. On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the AAFF, Donald will present some behind-the-scenes stories from the longest-running independent and experimental film festival in North America. AADL staff will also offer a sneak peek into Ann Arbor Film Festival Archive, which launches that night. This website will provide access to historical Festival programs, flyers, posters, photographs, articles from the Ann Arbor News and Ann Arbor Sun, and other documents from the Festival's past. Light refreshments will be served.

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Corner of Main and Liberty to Lose A Landmark

by amy

Several local restaurants have recently joined the ever-expanding list of Ann Arbor's Lost Eateries. Champion House closed suddenly last week, as did Old Country Buffet over the weekend. But I was particularly saddened to hear that the Parthenon Restaurant, which has stood on the corner of Main and Liberty Streets since John and Steve Gavas opened in 1975, will be closing its doors. Later this year Cafe Habana, formerly located on East Washington, will be moving into 226 North Main.

The Parthenon has command of possibly the best-known intersection in town, located on the same corner as Cunningham's Drugs and Mack & Co. a generation earlier.

We found some articles, a photo, and restaurant reviews on the Parthenon in our Ann Arbor News clipping file and have digitized them here for you to savor. While you're at it, you can also read about the Flim Flam Restaurant, which recently closed its doors after 30 years in business. Don't miss the Flim Flam's recipe for their famous eclair!

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Black and Blue: a Timeless Lesson

by Beth Manuel

Join us at the Downtown library for AADL's screening of "Black and Blue" on Wednesday January 18th from 7:00-8:30 PM. This is the story of the 1934 game between Michigan and Georgia Tech. When the Yellow Jackets agreed to play the Wolverines in Ann Arbor that season, they insisted on one condition – Willis Ward, the lone African-American player on the U of M team, had to sit out the game. Ward's teammates - especially Gerald Ford, Ward's roommate and a UM lineman - were outraged when U-M officials agreed to the demand. The incident galvanized UM students and the Ann Arbor community, which held loud and vocal protests against the decision.

Willis was later inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Read the article from the May 22, 1981 issue of the Ann Arbor News.

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Ann Arbor Architecture Archive

by darla

Curious about the history of the homes and buildings around us in Ann Arbor? Be sure to visit our beautiful Ann Arbor Architecture Archive. Packed with a gallery of images and text about Ann Arbor's historic structures, this reference resource includes the full text of Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan by Marjorie Reade and Susan Wineberg. Learn about old local breweries that were wiped out by prohibition, the Ann Arborites who had peacocks roaming their lawn in the 1800s, and so much more. For example, every year people from around the globe make pilgrimages to Rocco Desderide's grocery store here in Ann Arbor without even knowing it. If you have visited Zingerman's Deli on Detroit Street, then you've been to Rocco's too. Built back in 1902 by Italian immigrant Rocco Desderide, the iconic brick-veneered building, with bands of corbelled bricks fanning out above arched windows, served as the home of the Desderide grocery and confectionery business until 1921.

To access the Ann Arbor Architecture Archive, you can always go to the research page and select Ann Arbor Architecture Archive from the Ann Arbor category.

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Freeing John Sinclair Website

by amy

Check out our newest local history project, Freeing John Sinclair: The Day Legends Came To Town, a website chronicling part of Ann Arbor's countercultural past - from the John Sinclair Freedom Rally and free concerts in the city's parks, to the CIA Bombing Conspiracy and the history of the Hill Street commune. The site includes original interviews and essays; historical photographs; historical audio files; and newspaper articles. You can also search or browse the full run of the Ann Arbor Sun, the underground newspaper published by the White Panther Party and Rainbow People's Party in Ann Arbor circa 1968-1975.

This is just the beginning, with photographs and more interviews to come. If you also have information or memorabilia from this period of time in Ann Arbor's history, let us know!

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AADL Talks To: Bruce Conforth

by amy

Rob talks with University of Michigan Professor of American Culture, Bruce Conforth, about the cultural and historical significance of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally, in particular John Lennon's decision to appear at the Rally and the role Ann Arbor played in the 1960s.

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AADL_Talks_To-Bruce_Conforth.mp3 21.39 MB

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Freeing John Sinclair Concert with Commander Cody Band and John Sinclair

by amy

December 10, 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the John Sinclair Freedom Rally at Crisler Arena, held to protest the ten-year prison term given John Sinclair for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes (he was released soon after the Rally). On the evening before the anniversary, we'll celebrate the launch of our Freeing John Sinclair website (coming December 9!) with a FREE concert at The Ark featuring the Commander Cody Band (Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen played at the original Rally), with special guest John Sinclair & Beatnik Youth.

Admission is FREE, and first-come, first-served, so get there early!

Friday, December 9, 2011 | 8:00 pm (doors open at 7:30) | The Ark | Ann Arbor