Grosse Pointe provides rich soil
for young filmmakers to work

“Valhalla Blues,” a short film made entirely in the Pointes, is the brainchild of young, local creatives working in front of and behind the camera. They hope the piece will be accepted at a major film festival, such as Sundance. read more...

South grad fires up artistic success
with line of handmade ceramics

Sometimes the coolest pieces of artwork are the ones you fire.

Alexandra Miller, 26, is a ceramicist. A graduate of Grosse Pointe South High School, Miller lives in the City and, as of a few months ago, she sells original, handmade pieces in the family-owned Ace Hardware store in the Village. Her current stock includes cups, mugs, bowls, and vases with splashes and swirls of vibrant blue glaze, which she said is her favorite. read more...

Best dressed Grosse Pointe cyclists

City resident Bill Huntington and his wife and business partner, MaryJo, chronicle their tales of boomers growing up with their grandchildren. They discovered recently that it is easier to pedal downwind. Luckily they are both physically fit. We share their latest with Grosse Pointe Today readers. read more...

Screen, stage veteran Marty Bufalini
adds 'Anything Goes' to his résumé

Grosse Pointe resident Marty Bufalini is a screen and stage veteran with a storied past, including movie acting in the recent Hillary Swank-directed "Conviction" and Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino." And he has done it all staying firmly rooted in the Pointes. 

A prolific director with a hand in many local theater endeavors, Bufalini also does radio, commercials and voice-over work. Currently, he is directing "Anything Goes" at Grosse Pointe North High School, which opens this weekend.

Bufalini was a natural for "Gran Torino," much of which was shot in the Pointes.

“It was a really great experience," he said, "Clint would come over between sets and just chat. I admire him for his longevity and his expertise, and for just being a genuinely nice guy.”

The film relied heavily on local talent, Bufalini explained, offering him the opportunity to work behind the scenes with fellow industry professionals from Detroit. Interestingly, Bufalini has worked with Detroiters in all corners of the world, from Jackson, where "Conviction" was filmed, to as far away as Bombay, India, where he acted in the film "Offshore." Bufalini has appeared in a host of other big-name movies shot locally, including "Answer This!" shot in Ann Arbor; "Trust," which was filmed in Plymouth and directed by David Schwimmer from "Friends"; "Prayers for Bobby," Royal Oak, and "Last Man Standing," Detroit.  read more...

Remembering Ray Laenen: World War II lifeboat survivor, beloved Rotarian

One of  the “Greatest Generation,” a survivor of  more than three weeks in a crowded lifeboat in the Indian Ocean during World War II died last Sunday without a lot of fanfare.

Ray Laenen was one of my heroes. Funeral services are Friday, (Feb. 24) at Our Lady of Hope Church, 28839 Jefferson, between 11 and 12 Mile at 10 a.m. Visitation is from 3 p.m.  to 9 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 23) at the Kaul Funeral Home on Jefferson at Martin in St. Clair Shores.

I have never met a man with more joy in his heart or more affection for this land of the free and the brave. A Belgian, whose parents brought him to the U.S. as a child, Remie Laenen led the sing along for decades at Grosse Pointe Rotary with gusto and enthusiasm. The Rotary song book is filled with selections that date to the 19th century or earlier like “Sweet Adeline,” but you could count on Ray to call for the group to sing “America the Beautiful” or “Smile” at least twice a month.

Even if you sang like a frog with a bug caught in its throat Ray could make you smile with his joyful singing until he fell ill last year at age 85. His absence was a palpable loss for the Rotary Club he joined in 1979.  Ray was a highly successful steel salesman for most of his career.

Successful steel salesmen don’t win contracts by saying my steel is better than a competitors. They win them by customer service and a winning personality. Ray was tops at both. read more...

Pointer helps revitalize Detroit,
one neighborhood at a time

Grosse Pointe native Timothy Addy had a simple goal: to repair homes of those who could not afford to do it themselves. Moved by witnessing Detroit’s declining neighborhoods, Addy envisioned creating a Christian-based, home-repair organization that would meet the needs of those in need. read more...

Musician, heal thyself: Tony (Muggs) DeNardo's journey from stroke and back

At the turn of this millennium, Tony (Muggs) DeNardo was in his late 20s and strong as an ox. He worked 60-hour weeks scrapping steal, digging ditches in record-breaking time. He played bass in two bands, one of which—the blues-based rock ‘n’ roll outfit The Muggs—was about to record its first album. He had recently run a marathon without training.

Tony was at work one day when he found he was suddenly unable to speak; in a matter of minutes, loss of movement in his right side ensued and he was rushed to the ER.

An immediate cat scan revealed bleeding in the brain and paralysis in the right side of his body. Tony had suffered from a rare hemorrhagic stroke that stats say is fatal 98 percent of the time. Complications, including blood clots in his lungs, followed. Those too are usually fatal.

Throughout the first weeks of what would become two months in the hospital, Tony was fully aware but unable to voice what was happening to him. He was only able to nod his head. His parents were told they would likely lose their son. His dad flew in from California to say goodby. Yet, somewhere amid the myriad tests, machines and the solemn faces of everyone around him, Tony decided he would live.

That Tony survived the stroke was something of a miracle. That he is playing music again—Friday (Jan. 27) at Robusto’s on Mack and regularly at the Tap Room in the Park—is even more remarkable. read more...

Five years of hard work makes for
a welcome anniversary at Memorial

When Matt Wrzeszcz, the youth minister at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church showed up with one of those big orange coolers you see at football games on Sunday I suggested that perhaps he was getting ready to celebrate Senior Pastor Peter M. Henry’s five year anniversary by dousing the cleric with Gatorade.

Wrzeszcz (pronounced Resh) a charming, modest fellow,  denied that was his intent. But I spent the service imagining the reaction of staid Presbyterians if someone swept out and gave the Rev. Henry a victory bath. read more...

Our Lady Star of the Sea teacher
nominated for national history prize

Paul Ignagni, 7th-grade teacher at Our Lady Star of the Sea School, has been nominated for the 2012 National History Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York.

The award recognizes teachers of grades 7 through 12 who demonstrate a commitment to American history with creativity and imagination in the classroom while effectively using documents, artifacts, historic sites, oral histories and other resources to energize students. read more...

Grosse Pointe Woods resident wins
scholarship from McDonald's operators

The Southeastern Michigan McDonald’s Operators Association has awarded a $1,000 scholarship to Shannon Rowe, a Grosse Pointe Woods resident and sophomore at Wayne State University. Rowe is one of 17 McDonald’s employees in southeast Michigan to be awarded a scholarship by local McDonald’s owner/operators in 2011.

Rowe, an employee at a McDonald’s location in Wayne County, was chosen to receive the scholarship because she demonstrated a strong commitment to both her work at McDonald’s and her performance in the classroom.