UP THE ROUGE! photo exhibits, lectures with video:

St. Clair Shores Public Library, Wednesday, April 7, 7p.m.; 22500 Eleven Mile Road, St. Clair Shores; (586) 771-9020; lecture and video

Monroe County Community College, Wednesday, April 14, 7:30 p.m., 1555 S. Raisinville Rd., Monroe;  lecture  and video

Canton Public Library, Sunday, May 2, 1 p.m., 1200 S. Canton Center Rd., 734-397-0999; lecture and video

Southfield Public Library, April 1-May 30, 26300 Evergreen Rd.,  26300 Evergreen Rd., 248-796-4200; photo exhibit

Southfield Public Library, Tuesday, May 4, 6:30 p.m., 26300 Evergreen, Southfield; 248-796-4200; lecture and video

Dearborn Heights Caroline Kennedy Public Library, June 1 to July 31, 24590 George Street; 313-791-3800; photo exhibit

Dearborn Heights John F. Kennedy Public Library, Wednesday, May 12, 6:30 p.m.; 24602 Van Born, Dearborn Heights, 313-791-6050; lecture and video

Brighton Public Library, Monday, July 26, 7:30 p.m., 100 Library Drive, Brighton, 810-229-6571, lecture and video

Dearborn Heights Caroline Kennedy Public Library, 7 p.m., July 28, 24590 George St., Dearborn Heights, 313-791-3800; lecture and video

Somehow, we missed a very nice review of Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River, in Detroit’s Metro Times newspaper. The review of our book was the lead section of a roundup story by Michael Jackman in the November 25, 2009 issue of Metro Times.

Here’s what Jackman wrote about Up the Rouge!:

“For a city that’s shrinking, Detroit sure gets a lot of play on the bookshelves. From appealing photographic books to auto histories to poetry anthologies, there’s plenty of paper to stuff a stocking with this year.

“Take Up the Rouge! (Wayne State, $34.95), for instance. Former Freep journo and active Detroit blogger Joel Thurtell tells of his 2005 canoe journey up the Rouge River. What at first appears to be a stunt quickly develops into an investigation of how the river’s environmental quality is ignored. As he makes his way up the trash-strewn, polluted waterway, scrambling over logjams and avoiding bacterial infections, Thurtell (and photographer Patricia Beck) force us to bear witness to how, unlike our other recreational rivers, we’ve been content to turn this one into a sewer. The resulting story is unusual, insightful and surprisingly engaging.”

Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River by Joel Thurtell and Patricia Beck has won a Michigan Notable Book Award for 2010.

A panel of judges picked 20 books about Michigan topics and Up the Rouge!, published by Wayne State University Press, is on the list.

Dearborn Historical Museum

At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, Pat Beck and I will talk about our book, Up the Rouge! at the Dearborn Historical Society. We’ll show our video, giving our show at the McFadden Ross House at 915 Brady in Dearborn.

Once again, we’ll have copies of Up the Rouge!  the print book for sale. as well as copies of our 4-CD Up the Rouge! audio book in which I read the book narrative along with actual sounds from the river from the recording I made as we paddled the Rouge.

Nice commentary by the Ann Arbor District Library on our Wayne State University Press book, Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River. It’s written by me, Joel Thurtell, with photos by Patricia Beck.

Too bad the A2 library doesn’t have any copies available.

Guess I’d better send a sales rep their way. 

Better let them know, too, that there’s an audio book version of Up the Rouge!

Both the print and audio book version can be ordered from uptherouge.com

Redford District Library

A  collection of Patricia Beck’s photos from our book, Up the Rouge!, Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River, is on display at the Redford Township District Library now through November 14. The book was published in March by Wayne State University Press.

On Saturday, November 7 at 1 p.m., at the Redford Library, we’ll talk about our book and the adventure on the Rouge that led to it. We’ll also show a video explaining how and why we canoed 27 miles up the Rouge River back in June 2005. We’ll talk about the environmental issues involved, and there will be a Q & A.

Pat is a photographer at the Detroit Free Press and I was a Free Press reporter when we made the trip. I retired from the Free Press in 2007.

We’ll have copies of Up the Rouge!  the print book for sale. Also, we’ll have for sale copies of our 4-CD Up the Rouge! audio book, which has me reading the book narrative along along with actual sounds from river from the recording I made as we paddled the Rouge.

Both the print and audio book versions of Up the Rouge! can be ordered online.

The Redford Library is at 25320 W 6 Mile Rd. It’s on the north side of Six Mile just west of Telegraph.

Dearborn Historical Museum

At 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, Pat Beck and I will talk about our book, Up the Rouge! at the Dearborn Historical Society. We’ll again show our video, giving our show at the McFadden Ross House at 915 Brady in Dearborn.

Once again, we’ll have copies of Up the Rouge!  the print book for sale. as well as copies of our 4-CD Up the Rouge! audio book in which I read the book narrative along with actual sounds from the river from the recording I made as we paddled the Rouge.

Both the print and audio book versions of Up the Rouge! can be ordered online.

Sierra Club

Members of the Sierra Club of Southeast Michigan will hear Detroit Free Press photographer Patricia Beck and retired Free Press reporter Joel Thurtell talk and show a video about their June 2005 canoe trip up the Rouge River at 7 p.m.on Thursday, October 1, 2009 at the Northwest Unitarian-Universalist Church at 23925 Northwestern Highway in Southfield. Beck and Thurtell are authors of the book, Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River, published by Wayne State University Press. Beck and Thurtell will sign books.

Plymouth Community Arts Council

A  collection of Patricia Beck’s photos from our book, Up the Rouge!, is now on display at the Plymouth Community Arts Council at the southeast corner of Sheldon and Junction streets in Plymouth.

On Friday, October 2, 2009, we’ll have a signing session at PCAC between 7-9 p.m. At about 7:45 p.m., I’ll talk about the canoe trip and the importance of questioning official claims about the Rouge. We’ll show outr video, and in the Q & A, discuss how we might improve the river.

The audio book version of “Up the Rouge! Paddling Detroit’s Hidden River” will debut Wednesday, June 10 at the Franklin Garden Walk.

The sound version of “Up the Rouge!” is a 4-CD narration by Thurtell of the text of the book he and photographer Patricia Beck produced. The print book with many of Beck’s photos was published earlier this year by Wayne State University Press. The audio book has been published by Hardalee Press.

The price of the audio book is the same as the book — $34.95.

In addition to Thurtell’s narration, the audio book contains excerpts from the digital audio recording he made of the five-day June 2005 trip he and Beck made as they paddled and hauled a canoe 27 miles up the Main Branch of the Rouge River in metro Detroit.

In the audio book, you will hear the roar of blast furnaces on Zug Island together with teh clanging of a train bell, scolding of redwing blackbirds, the rush of the waterfall at henry Ford’s mansion, gunfire from the Detroit Police Department’s firing range aiming right at the Rouge — and more sounds from the river.

Beck and Thurtell will be selling and signing copies of their print and audio books between 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.

On a good weather day, the Garden Walk attracts 600-800 visitors to Franklin.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 on the day of the tour.

There is a luncheon — $10 with two seating times at: 11:30 a.m. or 1:00 p.m.

Ticket Information:  248-851-6798  Franklin Garden Club, PO Box 250194, Franklin, MI  48025.

Pre-purchase at

·         The Village Boutique, 32716 Franklin Road 248-851-0055

·         The Franklin Village Tea Room, 32749 Franklin Road in the Village 248-538-4300.

          See www.franklingardenclub.org.

   Make checks out to: WNF&GA        

   Mail to: Franklin Garden Club, PO Box 250194, Franklin, MI  48025

In his review of Up the Rouge! in the Guild Reporter, Detroit Local 22 Newspaper Guild administrative officer Lou Mleczko wrote, ” ‘Up The Rouge!’ provides a story line that concerned citizens and government officials should take note of in their pursuit of a better environment.”

Upcoming appearances by Up the Rouge! co-authors Patricia Beck and Joel Thurtell:

June 10 — Franklin Garden Walk.J 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and 6 p.m.-9 p.m., Franklin Garden Walk. More details coming.

Here’s a link to our recent interview on WDET-FM

On Wednesday, May 13, Pat Beck and I will talk to the Canton Historical Society and show our new video about the Rouge canoe trip. I plan to talk about the historical aspects of the project and the need for more historical research into the whys and hows of pollution in the Rouge.

The Canton Historical Society meets at 7 p.m. in the Cherry Hill School at the northwest corner of Cherry Hill and N. Ridge.

Then on Friday, May 15, from 2-9 p.m., we’ll be signing books at the Spring Fling Vendor Fair in the Plymouth Community Arts Council’s Joanne Wincleman Hulce Center for the Arts at 774 N. Sheldon in Plymouth.

On Sunday, May 17, I’ll be signing books at the Lincoln Park Farmers Market 11 a.m. till mid-afternoon at the Southfield Road Municipal Parking Lot opposite Lincoln Park City Hall between I-75 and Fort Street.