“Ross Lang was known by many as a fisherman’s fisherman, respected by everyone who knew him for his efficiency, determination, and ingenuity. The shock experienced by all when he died in a fishing accident on a beautiful calm April day in 1998 is still felt today.” –Fishtown Preservation
Once upon a time, Joy Lang Anderson & her husband Ross were my across the street neighbors in the village of Leland. Back in 2017, I sat down with her in Leland’s Fishtown to talk about how she & Ross (both UP natives) ended up integral parts of the village of Leland and its fishing history. I hope you enjoy it!
The photos of the Joy were taken by Mark Smith (I took the pic of Ross’s marker). See more in Mark’s Leland album on Flickr and for sure view & purchase Mark’s work at Leelanau Landscapes.
Even though I’ve been on the internet for almost 3 decades, the odd synchronicities the combination of cookies, targeted ads, perceived interested, and dumb luck create never fail to delight me. The latest is this video about the process of preparing & smoking fish by an old family friend that came to me the day after I featured a photo from another business that sells smoked fish! (and I even have a THIRD for Monday)
I really encourage you to watch this video from John Mitchell’s Follow the Fishing channel on YouTube exploring the entire lake-to-table process of taking fish from Lake Michigan in Peshawbestown to Carlson’s Fishery in Leland and all the way to a plate at the Cove!
“Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?”
It’s November 10th again, which means that for the 48th year straight year I have Gordon Lightfoot’s legendary ballad to the Witch of November on repeat. My absolute favorite version of the song (as many of you know probably all too wdell) is this version that Joseph Fulton created way back in 2009. Given YouTube’s ruthlessness on music copyright, I have to assume that Lightfoot blessed this because from the moment Harry Reasoner begins speaking, who wouldn’t?
You can join the 49th annual Great Lakes Memorial Service, a remembrance of the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald in person at Mariners’ Church in downtown Detroit or on their YouTube livestream at 11am today. On November 11, 1975 they rang their church bell 29 times in honor of all the sailors that lost their lives due to the wreck of the S.S. Edmund FItzgerald. They do it every year, and the beloved service also commemorates all sailors who have lost their lives on the Great Lakes.
Here are a couple of photos I took recently of the beautiful stained glass and the historical marker at Mariners’ Church which is between Hart Plaza and the Renaissance Center on the riverfront in downtown Detroit. Lots more about the Edmund Fitzgerald on Michigan in Pictures!
With a major winter storm bearing down on Michigan, it seems like a good time to feature this old Department of Transportation video featuring winter fun & battling blizzards. MDOT relates:
This 1930s-era newsreel was recently discovered by sisters Nancy and Barbara Sleeper of Newberry, whose grandfather, Sanborn Sleeper, was the superintendent of the Luce County Road Commission from 1928 until sometime around World War II. The Sleepers donated the film to MDOT for public display. Enjoy this glimpse of the era when Murray Van Wagoner, a future Michigan governor, ran the department from 1933-1940.
In year’s past, the video series has done their best to mimic popular HBO series “Hard Knocks” to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at training camp and the personal lives of certain Lions players. Despite all of the disruptions this offseason from COVID-19, the series is continuing this year, and on Thursday night, Episode 1 of the series dropped.
This year, the series may be more interesting than in previous seasons, seeing as media coverage of the team is severely limited right now. Episode 1 focuses heavily on the team’s preparations for the COVID-19 virus, the players arriving at the team facility for the first time this offseason, media day, head coach Matt Patricia making his appearance on “Good Morning Football,” and, of course, the Lions finally taking the field for conditioning drills and practice.
It’s really a pretty enlightening episode. From watching all of the preparation the team is doing to keep the facility safe—including spraying down pads between reps for players—to seeing signs just about everywhere in the facility indicating which personnel are allowed where.
Mark took this photo at Ford Field at the final game of the 2019 season. See more in his awesome Detroit photo album.
Tina Jones couldn’t believe I didn’t share the groundbreaking Grand Rapids Lip Dub of American Pie yesterday and neither could I! It was filmed in May of 2011 for Experience Grand Rapids by Scott Erickson Films and produced & directed by Rob Bliss. The YouTube page thanks a bunch of people involved and dedicates it to the late Roger Ebert, who loved movies and even named the GR LipDub “The Greatest Music Video Ever Made.” Rob (who is the musician on stage in the photo above) writes:
The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, 2011 with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date.
This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a “dying city.” We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean’s “American Pie,” a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope.
If you know Grand Rapids and the people who were making it vibrant in 2011 – many who continue today – you’ll definitely see some friends. In any case – what fun!!
I flagged today’s photo a while back as one to feature on Michigan in Pictures. Cory shared it in 2010 with the tagline of the very successful Chrysler ad “Imported from Detroit”. You may remember that ad featured Detroit’s own Eminem along with scenes of the city at work. This morning I shared “Anthem of Us” directed by Stephen McGee. It’s a powerful short film about Detroit featuring hip hop artist Big Sean talking about his city along with beautiful footage of the Motor City at work.
The film is presented by Bedrock, a commercial real estate company focusing on the Midwest’s urban cores, and we will likely see more and more features like this as brands forsake traditional and increasingly ineffective media channels for direct, social media connection with their audiences. I want to stress that it doesn’t seem at all like a re-hash or rip-off of the Chrysler ad, and in my opinion it does a better job of capturing the city as it goes about its business.
The Michigan Department of Transportation shared this awesome newsreel from the 1930s featuring all kinds of winter fun including ski jumping. Their predecessor, the Michigan Highway Department also used the video to talk up Michigan’s road system and winter road maintenance.
It was discovered by Nancy and Barbara Sleeper of Newberry, daughters of former Luce County Road Commission superintendent Sanborn Sleeper, and it’s super awesome!
I went and bought all of the old newspapers, got everything in chronological order, and went ahead and did it because I already had a melody in my mind. It was from an old Irish dirge that I heard when I was about three and a half years old. I think it was one of the first pieces of music that registered to me as being a piece of music. That’s where the melody comes from, from an old Irish folk song. ~Gordon Lightfoot on The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
40 years ago today, Michigan’s most remembered shipwreck took place. A big part of this is certainly Gordon Lightfoot’s signature ballad The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The song – familiar to almost every Michigander – seems to memorialize more than simply the 29 men who perished in that horrible storm. There is certainly no better video of this song than this one crafted by Joseph Fulton featuring footage of the Fitz that you’ve probably never seen. It starts out with Walter Cronkite’s Harry Reasoner’s news report from November 11, 1975 and just gets better from there – definitely worth your time!
mLive has an article about how & why Gordon Lightfoot wrote ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ that you should check out. It includes a nice little video where he shares how he’s edited the live lyrics to reflect what’s been learned about the sinking of the ship. They got Lightfoot’s account of the writing of the song from the songwriter’s Ask Me Anything on Reddit, an interesting look inside of the mind of a thoughtful and talented songwriter.
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Michigan in Pictures 
