The Internet mantra has long been you can work from anywhere. And A-list talent agency Fleming Artists is proof positive that even Ann Arbor can compete with the likes of L.A. and New York. Representing everyone from Ani DiFranco and Tom Paxton to Jeff Daniels and My Dear Disco, Fleming has been looking after world-class musicians for almost 30 years.
The Blue Tractor. Café Habana. Grizzly Peak. Jon Carlson and Greg Lobdell have become defacto planners of Ann Arbor's downtown. Friends since childhood, the two are building a local food and drink empire by turning historic spaces into must-visit destinations.
The first shot has been fired, across the paper-and-ink bow of local daily newspapers! The web-based Ypsilanti Citizen and Ann Arbor Chronicle offer on-the-spot local news that's as fresh as ten minutes ago. Are they just spunky online upstarts or the shape of things to come?
At hockey rinks around Ann Arbor, "You shoot like my mom," is not necessarily an insult. Scores of local women are tossing their figure skates aside, shredding ice and aiming to put their own 'bisquit in the basket.' Alaska's got nothing on Washtenaw County when it comes to hockey moms.
Dr. Seuss wrote: "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not." Amanda Edmonds cares. An environmentalist of a different stripe she turned her idea for community farms into Growing Hope, an organization with 500 volunteers and, now, a permanent home in Ypsilanti.
Art may be timeless but getting young professionals to slow down and appreciate its virtues is harder than you might think. Enter James Steward. Not only has the University of Michigan Museum of Art's savvier than savvy director brought in a new generation of patrons, he's reimagined the role of the museum in terms of Ann Arbor's civic, cultural and intellectual identity.
If there's a gene for entrepreneurship, Todd Sullivan has it. He sold his first company before reaching grad school, holds multiple patents and is currently the president and CEO of two successful start ups, Spirit Shop and MyGarb. And this Ann Arborite hasn't even hit 40 yet.
Whether it's cash or conscience, more and more people are going green when it comes to their homes. Meet the Grocoffs and the Chockleys, two local families that reconsidered the inconvenient truth of personal energy consumption and did something about it. Something really big.
We're told as children that books have the ability to transport you to worlds beyond your imagination. Josie Parker has taken that lesson to heart and transformed Ann Arbor's library system into a experience that challenges musty notions of brooding book stacks and "shushing" librarians.
Food glorious food! And wine. And, oh, man, the cheeses. Okay, everything at Morgan & York is worth singing about. Even their candy crammed alcove. Tommy and Matt are the masterminds behind transforming the Big Ten Party Store (some food, lotsa beer and wine) to an epicurean wonderland for local foodies.
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