Fall in love with Corrado Parducci, Detroit’s designer extraordinaire

Corrado Parducci designed much more than architectural ornamentation — he also painted intricate designs on the walls of his home, wove tapestries, carved wooden busts of his children, and designed hub caps and bumpers for cars. A guest post about Detroit’s most prolific designer from the maker of a new documentary.

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PANORAMA! Gigantic paintings in Detroit, Part 1

Starting around 1850, Detroiters could pop into Old City Hall or the Firemen’s Hall and, for 25 cents or so, see the latest “greatest painting ever made” — sweeping views of overland route to California, the funeral of Napoleon, Bible scenes, the life of George Washington.

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We did it!

And it was the best.

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One golden eagle, one skull of a male raccoon, skin of one whooping crane

Despite a tremendous weekend that included Lightning Love and The Daredevil Christopher Wright in Ypsilanti, the Hounds Below at the Lager House, a live conjunto band and dancing at the Blue Diamond, a lot of Blatz, Modelo and PBR and a lot of reading,  all of which should have been plenty of fodder, I’ve been coming down with a little sniffle of writer’s block this week, professionally, bloggingly, and otherwise.

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Fridays with General Friend Palmer: A most exciting fire

I have always approached weekly themed blog posts, especially those involving alliteration, with trepidation. But then I found Early Days in Detroit, the memoirs of historical Detroit old guy General Friend Palmer (1820 – 1906), and I can’t think of any better way to dig through its 1000+ pages, each of them host to at least one illuminating, endearing, hilarious or otherwise just great anecdote, than to share some of the General’s memories of 19th-century Detroit every week.

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Lazy Monday flu-ridden round-up

Besides feeling swamped with projects, I’m terrified that I’m coming down with some kind of flu, so here are a few items to keep you busy in the event that I become bedridden or shackled to my (other, metaphorical, paid-gig) desk this week.

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About this weekend: I’m on deadline

Please forgive the lag; I have been tied up on a deadline for Metro Times this week, turning my attention from minor local historical curiosities to a scion of Detroit’s early-aughts music scene. Back to normal next Monday, but meanwhile, here are some things you probably already know about.

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