Hi All,
I have arranged for this excellent BBC film to be shown at MOCAD (Museum of Contemporary Art and Design) in Detroit on Saturday June 14th. The film has some great footage of our visit to the Grande in 2007 and interviews of John Sinclair, the MC5 and Iggy Pop.
Admission is free and the show starts at 7:00 P.M. See you there !
MOCAD
MAP
Motor City's Burning
2007 Grande Tour
Cheers,
Leo
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Tom Wright Exhibition N.Y.C.
Grande manager and Rock Photographer Tom Wright will be exhibiting in NYC starting this June. Read the story from Tom's Roadwork co-author Susan Van Hecke:
http://susanvanhecke.blogspot.com/
Tom Wright at the Morrison Hotel Gallery
http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/
http://susanvanhecke.blogspot.com/
Tom Wright at the Morrison Hotel Gallery
http://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Spring Inspection Tour
Wednesday April 30th FOG members Tom Gaff, Tom Lubinski and Leo Early
Accompanied CHMBC Deacons Fells, Cook and Johnson on a spring inspection tour of the Grande building.
The winter, having been particularly harsh, has been hard on the building. Water and thaw- freeze cycling has caused two 6-8 foot limestone cornices or "capstones" to fall to the street and onto a neighboring building. A third section is threatening to do the same.
Plaster debris was shoveled off the stairway to the roof. The framing of the doorway to the roof
is failing so this exterior door had to be gently pried open to allow access. The Grande actually has two roofs, an exterior "upper roof" and a lower "ballroom ceiling". Photographs were taken of the upper roof and corner Spanish tile "peaks". The roof membrane has failed in several sections and water finds easy drainage through these holes. Elbow shaped ventilator shafts have lost their caps to scrappers. It was calculated that this 17000 square foot roof drains 177 gallons during a one inch rain. Detroit averages 2.6 inches of rain per month.
The rear fire escape door was chained (to some degree of success) to limit unauthorized access. A proper job of this will need to be performed in the future.
Also, this trip the basement of the building was visited and found to be surprisingly dry!
Folks please do not attempt , unauthorized access of the building is illegal and extremely dangerous for the uninformed. The building has borne the brunt of scrappers and souvenir hunters for far too long. If you have a habit to feed, or think you can save the building one brick at a time, please resist the urge to gain access. We are placing our faith in the CHMBC and their ability to stabilize the building. They are really great people that deserve this opportunity.
Please view our Flickr photo pool for snaps and videos of the tour here.
Accompanied CHMBC Deacons Fells, Cook and Johnson on a spring inspection tour of the Grande building.
The winter, having been particularly harsh, has been hard on the building. Water and thaw- freeze cycling has caused two 6-8 foot limestone cornices or "capstones" to fall to the street and onto a neighboring building. A third section is threatening to do the same.
Plaster debris was shoveled off the stairway to the roof. The framing of the doorway to the roof
is failing so this exterior door had to be gently pried open to allow access. The Grande actually has two roofs, an exterior "upper roof" and a lower "ballroom ceiling". Photographs were taken of the upper roof and corner Spanish tile "peaks". The roof membrane has failed in several sections and water finds easy drainage through these holes. Elbow shaped ventilator shafts have lost their caps to scrappers. It was calculated that this 17000 square foot roof drains 177 gallons during a one inch rain. Detroit averages 2.6 inches of rain per month.
The rear fire escape door was chained (to some degree of success) to limit unauthorized access. A proper job of this will need to be performed in the future.
Also, this trip the basement of the building was visited and found to be surprisingly dry!
Folks please do not attempt , unauthorized access of the building is illegal and extremely dangerous for the uninformed. The building has borne the brunt of scrappers and souvenir hunters for far too long. If you have a habit to feed, or think you can save the building one brick at a time, please resist the urge to gain access. We are placing our faith in the CHMBC and their ability to stabilize the building. They are really great people that deserve this opportunity.
Please view our Flickr photo pool for snaps and videos of the tour here.
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