YouTube Friday: Nigel Olsson - Dancin Shoes (1979)

Here's a song that I have really been feeling recently, courtesy of the YouTube channel of PilotOfTheAirwaves1. First heard this song on the Canadian radio station across the river from Detroit in Windsor, Ontario. This is a great song. If you are feeling down and out, don't despair, put your dancing shoes on and keep going.

Nursing School Grads

While at Providence Hospital in Southfield recently, I ran across a display of pictures of the former Providence Hospital Nursing School, which was in operation from 1910 to 1975, whose class picture is seen here. The school moved with the hospital from Detroit to Southfield in the 1960s. I posted the picture of the class of 1954, whose picture I also post here, to a Facebook group I belong to, called I Went to Catholic School in Metro Detroit, and quite a few people who had relatives (Mom, grandmother, aunt, etc) who were in nursing school at Providence, or they themselves were student nurses here during the school's existence. One of the members of the group that graduated from Providence Nursing school in the 1960s wrote that the first male nurses graduated from Providence in the  late '60s. The only other nursing school affiliated with a hospital that I am aware of in the metro area from days gone by are the Henry Ford Hospital School of Nursing and Hygiene and Harper Hospital's Nursing School, whose Helen Newberry Nurses Home still stands today. 

YouTube Friday: Lady Flash - "Street Singin'" (1976)

Singing for YouTube Friday today is Lady Flash, courtesy of The Retro Bunch's YouTube channel. These ladies were backup singers for Barry Manilow back in the day, and had a few hits on their own as well, this one being one of them. I chose this song because it was on my mind here recently.

Incinerating thoughts

While going through my late grandmother's house recently, I noticed this Warm Morning In House Incinerator in the basement. In house incinerators were fairly common in houses built before the mid to late 1960s. Trash, and from what I hear, cloth diapers, training pants and feminine hygiene products ( the days before these products were disposable) were put in here to be burned. The 1970s and 1980s put an end to these incinerators due to environmental issues and other concerns, and many people had these removed. I had an incinerator in the house I grew up in, and I remember asking my mother what they were for. She had mentioned at some time about feminine hygiene products being burned back in the days.

YouTube Friday: "Do It In Detroit," 1984 Grand Prix, and Montreux-Detroit Jazz Fest Comm...

Here is a little nostalgia for today's installment of YouTube Friday. This video is from the Detroit Historical Society's YouTube Channel, which serves as its video archive of Detroit's history. This video features the Four Tops singing Detroit's praises, circa 1984. Seeing some of the old things in this nearly 35 year old video makes me hope that they'd bring back events such as the Ethnic Festivals and ice skating (hopefully as an auxiliary rink to Campus Martius Park)  to Hart Plaza, so it won't sit empty in the winter months.

About Beverly Hills

These past couple of days, the story of the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire in Kentucky. Beverly Hills Supper Club was, as I have heard it called "The Showplace of the Nation". The club had been in business since the 1930s, and the ownership of the club at the time of the fire had been in place since at least the late '60s, and had been remodeled numerous times. On May 28, 1977, the club was hosting singer John Davidson and other entertainment for Memorial Day weekend. The fire claimed over 160 lives, and injured many more people. Many people who were in the fire filed Lawsuits against the club owners and other entities. In 2017, forty years after the fire, many still remember where they were and what they were doing. Currently, a memorial stands at the site of the club and people come to visit each year.

Perking at work

At many workplaces, perks are an essential part of keeping employees happy and on task at work. There are many perks out there that are pretty nifty. There is a site called Great Work Perks that can help your company with it's perks system. There are some pretty cool perks listed, such as skipping the long ticket lines at Disney. doing an escape room, and much more. I think that many companies can use perks to keep their employees engaged in their work and in their personal lives.

YouTube Friday: Sesame Street: Write it Down

 Some encouragement today for YouTube Friday comes from the official Sesame Street YouTube channel. Since it is what some of the kids call "Flashback Friday" here is a flashback from the mid 1980s, with Luis, Maria and David telling us to write things down. Nowadays, it is still useful to write things down, so we can remember things. Oftentimes, it doesn't have to be on our phones, it can be the old style, as evidenced here. Seeing Northern Calloway as David in the print shirt is pretty cool. This is how I remember David on Sesame Street, Maria and Luis, as well.

Traveling Rest

A site I discovered a while back through one of my Social Media accounts is OnRoute, which are rest stops services the 400 and 401 routes that run through the province of Ontario in Canada. These rest stops are much like rest stops in the United States, with needed essentials for travelers, such as gas, food, and other goodies. These remind me of the Ohio Turnpike and the Iowa 80 Truck stop, to a point. (I am sure that there are many fine truck stops north of the border).  If I happen to go to Toronto to see my Tigers on foreign soil or to, as they say, "see the world," I will make sure to stop at one.

Postseason Excitement

It's that time of year again, time for Major League Baseball's postseason. There are many twists and turns this time of year, with the usual favorites and underdogs. Last night was a 13 inning thriller between the Chicago Cubs and the Colorado Rockies, with the Rockies moving on to play the Milwaukee Brewers. Whenever the postseason comes around, I think of when the Tigers were in the Postseason in 2006, which really revived baseball in the metro area. It seems like whenever a Tiger showed up anywhere to sign autographs or take pictures, lines would be out the door of the location. What I have heard (can anyone confirm or deny this?) is that wherever a Tiger went anywhere with family, fans would come up and shake their hand, or in a rare case, pay for his and his family's dinner or purchase, thanking them for what they were doing for baseball in the metro area. I also think of the four consecutive division titles from 2011-2014, with the team going to the World Series in 2012. Make sure you enjoy the ride through the postseason.

New Ways to Get Around Detroit

I have noticed over the past few years, especially this past summer, that the Detroit Department of Transportation has done a complete overhaul of their logo, buses, one of them shown here, and routes, which includes the implementation of a program called ConnectTen, which are 10 of the busiest routes running 24 hours a day throughout the city. . This bus, traveling the new Gratiot ConnectTen route in downtown Detroit, is an example of the new buses,logo, and route number (Gratiot was route 34 before the change). If you are interested in DDOT/Detroit Department of Street Railways history, check out the Detroit Transit History Memories group on Facebook and the Detroit Transit History website, lots of useful information.

Living a Malled existence

There's an article in the Detroit Free Press about the issue of empty stores in shopping malls and what that means for mall owners in the age of people buying items online. . Many retailers, such as Wal-Mart and Target will let you buy your items online and pick them up at the store, even Kroger has a program to let you get your groceries online for pickup at the store. I think that some of the online retailers can have store front space where they can have your items ready if you are away from home, and don't want your items sitting on the front porch where thieves can get your products, especially if you bought a big-ticket item. Many people may not feel comfortable with online shopping, and might feel better going into a store to browse. Someone in the article above wondered  about the senior citizens and the mall walkers, who frequent malls on a near-daily basis to do their shopping and get their exercise. Seeing some of these empty stores reminds me of the last days of Northland Mall in Southfield, Michigan, which I documented in pictures in 2015. What do you all think? What could be done to stem the tide of empty storefronts at malls?