Michigan Ponders Sewage Disappearance

iWon News:

"About 15 million gallons of partially treated sewage water disappeared from a 250,000 square-foot storage lagoon into a sinkhole, but officials don't know where it went after that.

Kent County utility operator Nathan Danenberg, who runs the sewage treatment system for Sand Lake, discovered the leak in the 8-foot-deep lagoon on Friday while taking samples. It wasn't clear when or why the leak occurred.

'I don't know if maybe there are old mines in the area,' Danenberg told The Grand Rapids Press for a story published Tuesday.

'It's an odd case. A sinkhole gobbled up all the water and we don't know where it went... It seems to have just gone down into the earth."

Tourism leaders create plan to put Michigan in top 5 destinations

MLive :

"An ambitious plan to make Michigan one of the top five travel destination states in the country was to be presented at a travel industry conference near Traverse City this morning.

'That's a pretty lofty goal,' said Christina MacInnes, chairwoman of the Michigan Travel Commission and co-owner of Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville.

The Travel Commission sets policy for Travel Michigan, the state's tourism marketing arm."

Eminem Seeks To Gag Wife

TeenHollywood.com :

"Rapper Eminem is seeking a gag order against his estranged wife Kimberly Mathers, to protect their daughter from hearing negative comments about her famous father.

The couple split for the second time last year, just 82 days after their second marriage. They have an 11-year-old Hailie Jade together, and were sharing parenting of Hailie's cousin Alaina while they were together.

The hip-hop star, real name Marshall Mathers III, was horrified when Kimberly went on local Detroit, Michigan radio station WKQI-Fm last month, declaring, 'I can't stand him. He's an absolutely horrible person, and he gets worse every day. I vomit in my mouth whenever I'm around him or I hear his name.'"

Gas tax increase weighed as option to improve Michigan roads

Grand Haven Tribune:

"The customers at George Fenton's northern Michigan auto repair shop don't like the toll potholes and bumpy roads take on their vehicles.

But motorists are even more fed up with the high price of gasoline, Fenton says, which means many of the customers visiting his Grayling shop probably wouldn't embrace a higher fuel tax to improve state roads.

'Not a chance,' Fenton says. 'Gas is already so expensive.'"

Lake Shannon Days (repost)

This was first posted on October 4, 2004.

Now flash forward about 7 months from the day we met Don Brewer at his home. It is now about 4 months after we finished recording our demo tape and we decided to take it to our new mentor in Parshallville.

We drove to Don Brewer's house several different times but were unable to find him at home. Finally after these many failed attempts, we hit pay dirt. Fortunately, he remembered us and invited us into the house. "So, you guys have a tape with you?", he said. "C'mon in and sit down so we can listen to it."

My thoughts were overwhelmed by the fact that he had invited us into his home and had done it so naturally as if we were old friends. Now, here I was, looking around the room to see what his years of a successful career in music had afforded him. There was a surreal quality about sitting on his living couch admiring the artwork and other decor. I don't remember who was holding the tape but somehow it found it's way into his hands and then onto his open reel equipment on a nearby tape. He returned to the center of the room and sat on the arm of an easy chair as the tape began the countoff for the first song.

Panic!

Suddenly I was struck by a rapid and deepening panic. It was so odd and I am sure my face betrayed this emerging fear I was experiencing. The first song was nearly ended and I had the realization that this was NOT going to result in anything GOOD. I knew, I knew, I knew. I watched his face for some sign, some visible reaction, some reassurance, that he would take some pity upon us in his final assessment. He would occasionally smile and nod his approval at certain times through listening to the rest of the demo. Me, I found myself wincing at moments when I knew some part of the song had failed to hit the mark, missed the beat, or was offkey. Sadly, there were many such moments. My palms grew damp and a bead of unending sweat had formed on my forehead. Hell, my ears were even perspiring.

It's almost over, it's almost over, god, let it be almost over!

I found myself hoping we could pretend we hadn't brought a tape and that we could talk about sports or cars or women or beehives or fish hooks or ANYTHING!

Once the tape was though, he walked over to rewind the reel. He kept his back to us the entire time and I sensed that he was purposely taking extra time to compose his words before delivering the verdict. I swear it was almost in slow motion, the way he slowly turned around and walked up to me to hand me the tape. As he handed me the tape, he smiled with a gentle expression for I am sure he knew what I knew he knew.?

"Well guys," he began, "it's not bad. The one thing, the main thing, I would suggest is that you need to get your sound tighter." I know he kept talking but I truly cannot recall what was said for the next several moments. I was battling my own demons at that time. After a few moments, the other guys stood up and I realized it was the cue to hit the road.

As we walked out onto his front porch, Don offered, "When you guys put another tape together, feel free to bring up here again. Don't give up, just keep working on it."

Michigan's Musical Connection: Del Shannon

This long overdue entry in the wildly popular series, Michigan's Musical Connection, focuses on Del Shannon.

Del Shannon (December 30, 1934 – February 8, 1990) (born Charles Weedon Westover in Coopersville, Michigan) was an American rock and roller who launched into fame with the No. 1 hit "Runaway" (1961). The song introduced the musitron, an early form of the synthesizer played by "Runaway" co-writer and keyboardist Max Crook.

Shannon followed with "Hats Off to Larry", another big hit, and the less popular "So Long, Baby", another song of breakup bitterness. "Little Town Flirt", released in 1962, reached #12 in 1963 as did the album of the same name. After these hits, Shannon was unable to keep his momentum in the US, but became a sensation in England. In 1963, he became the first American artist to record a cover version of a Beatles song with "From Me to You".

Shannon returned to the charts in 1964 with "Handy Man", "Do You Wanna Dance", "Keep Searchin'", and "Stranger in Town" (1965), the latter two songs themed about flight from pursuit in a dangerous world. A 1966 chart offering was Shannon's cover of the Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb". In the late 1960s after a dry spell of hits, he turned to production. In 1969, he discovered a group called Smith and arranged their hit "Baby It's You". He then produced his friend Brian Hyland's million seller "Gypsy Woman" in 1970. More from Wikipedia.

Here's a snip from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's web site about Shannon.

Del Shannon is a key figure in rock and roll’s transition from the Fifties to Sixties, serving as something of a link between Elvis and the Beatles. He was among the relatively few self-reliant rock and rollers of the Teen Idol era. He wrote his own material, played guitar and sang, and did not project a manufactured image. Shannon turned out a solid run of hits during the first half of the Sixties, including one bonafide classic ("Runaway") and seven more Top Ten singles. He also gave and received influence from the up-and-coming bands of the British Invasion, including the Beatles. More from RnRHoF