The Play Ground is on its toes this week because there are so many dance events on the horizon. Flamenco Michigan featuring Peter Suarez and many local artists will be at the Kerrytown Concert House on September 14 at 8pm. Suarez has performed with the
Gypsy Kings, at Radio City Music Hall and is a regular with the Metropolitan Opera.
In addition, the Artichoke Dance Company of New York City will present an evening of intimate dances for small spaces on Monday, September 12 at Canterbury House. The company is known for its daring and energetic dancing. Wait, there's more: The Mark Morris Dance Group will be at the Power Center on September 16 and 17. Once considered the bad boy of modern dance, Morris is now an influential choreographer.

Last week featured hip-hop history on the National Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross. Several artists interviewed on the program have talent to spare. In addition to recording their own music, artists like Queen Latifah, Will Smith, the RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, and Mos Def have acted in movies and television series, composed film scores, and even provided voices for animated films.

Are you still looking for a summer escape? If you like mysteries, four popular authors have released new titles to entertain you. For a more contemplative read during these last days of the season, the final volume of poetry by Mattie Stepanek enters the list at #15.

At #1 is Point Blank by Catherine Coulter: the latest romantic thriller by this very prolific author features the married FBI couple of Savich and Sherlock.

At #6 is Tyrannosaur Canyon by Douglas Preston: hunting dinosaurs in the Southwest takes a deadly turn.

Celebrate the birthday of classic film star, Claudette Colbert, born September 13, 1903 in Paris. Known primarily for her screwball comedies like It Happened One Night, Colbert was also a fine dramatic actress, appearing in such films as Imitation of Life and Drums Along the Mohawk. A friend recently watched The Palm Beach Story, a lesser known comedy and was in tears with laughter. Check out the videos and dvds of [ht

Based on the classic S.E. Hinton novel for teens the Outsiders, the film is getting a new lease on life! The author is coming out of the shadows to promote the recut version of Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 film of "The Outsiders" on DVD, on Sept. 20. The film will have a limited theatrical run nationally and is opening in New York on Sept. 9. Starring a then unknown cast of young actors on the brink of stardom this amazing film stars an adorable Ralph Macchio of Karate Kid fame and the smokin' hot Matt Dillon who went on to star in two other S.E. Hinton novels adapted for the screen - Tex and Rumble Fish. Also check out Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.

Librarians onscreen do more than wear sensible shoes and shush people! Check out It’s a Wonderful Life for Donna Reed as a spinster librarian, then Katharine Hepburn in Desk Set or Parkey Posey in Party Girl for more glamorous types. Whether it’s the quintessential Marian the Librarian in The Music Man or the hostile librarian in Sophie’s Choice, there’s a librarian for everyone. Intrigued? A real-life librarian has put together an entire website devoted to librarians in film.

AADL Select Sites: Ann Arbor/Washtenaw County

Look up property in the city of Ann Arbor to find out the owner, the most recent sales price, the assessed value, the square footage, the number of rooms, the real estate taxes, how much of that tax went to support the public library, and to view a photograph of the house.

You can also search for comparables with sales within a certain time period, range of sales price, and range of square footage.

Does Scott Peterson merit four books?

The most recent book debuted this week at #10 on the NYTBR Best Sellers list. Forensic psychiatrist and psychiatric thriller writer Keith Ablow is the latest to peek Inside the Mind of Scott Peterson.

He joins company with Court TV’s Catherine Crier and her book, A Deadly Game: the Untold Story of the Scott Peterson Investigation.

These professional crime profilers are joined by Scott Peterson’s sister, Anne Bird with Blood Brother: 33 Reasons My Brother Scott Peterson is Guilty and by Scott Peterson’s girlfriend, Amber Frey with her Witness for the Prosecution of Scott Peterson.

All four of these books had initial print runs of at least 150,000 copies.

The music season is opening with fanfare and September will be a busy month for The Play Ground and all music lovers.

On September 10 at 8pm the Arbor Opera Theater will open its 2005-2006 season with A Bernstein Celebration. The evening's centerpiece will be Trouble in Tahiti, a one-act chamber opera premiered in 1952 and the first opera Bernstein wrote. Set in suburban America, the story chronicles the emotional decline of a contemporary marriage. The remainder of the evening will feature selections from other Bernstein works such as West Side Story, Mass, and Candide. The performance will take place at St. Clare's/Temple Beth Emeth.

Just one week after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, questions abound as to how New Orleans, one of our country's most distinctive cities, will recover from the unexpected blow it has endured. Will it become a ghost town largely given over to tourism? Will its people, especially the poor who make up the Big Easy's essential fabric, be able to return? And if so, what of the city's unique flavor and singular joie de vivre will return with them? New Orleans' evocative atmosphere is the setting of many books and films, most notably Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Suddenly, Last Summer. A couple other titles that come to mind are Interview with the Vampire and Jitterbug Perfume. Can you think of others?