Grosse Pointers made DSO concerts
at the Ford House a huge success

When the management team at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House paired with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to sponsor a pair of summer concerts on the lawn, they hoped they would attract enough paying customers to break even.

They figured they needed to sell about 3,000 tickets for that to happen. The results are now in. More than 5,000 folks turned out on those lovely July evenings, including 1,500 who bought tickets at the gate. The DSO and the Ford House will split $70,000 in net profits, according to Ford House staff.

“We garnered tremendous visibility both before and after the event,” they reported. Look for them to do a repeat in 2011, but buy your tickets early.

Steve Wilson is still investigating

Steve Wilson, the former WXYZ-TV investigative reporter who dogged ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick like Inspector Javert followed Jean Valjean, has advised his media friends that he is recovering from a heart attack. Wilson's job was part of the financial cutbacks at the Scripps station in March.

On July 1, the day he planned to launch “The Michigan News Center,” he felt severe chest pains, took two aspirins and drove himself downtown to Henry Ford Hospital. A friendly security guard took one look at him and ushered him onto a gurney. Wilson says doctors told him later that the survival rate for this type is about 2 percent.

After five days on a ventilator and terrific intensive care, he left the hospital July 9.

He still plans to pursue a new model of investigative journalism for Michigan, which is a good sign, and he claims the Center’s first investigative effort is a blockbuster that has been ignored by both law enforcement officers and the media. It deals with Highland Park’s public schools and you can get a preview of it on the website.

And to show that Wilson has a human side and a sense of humor as well as an ability to dog evasive politicians you should read his account of his recovering also at his new website,  MichiganNewsCenter.org.

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