Leannderthal

Our friend Ric was in town yesterday, and he expressed an interest in going downtown.

What to do?  He’s already seen a lot of what we have to offer over the years, but he hadn’t seen Hitsville, U.S.A.  We took an amazing tour, and learned a lot.  Berry Gordy started Motown with $800 borrowed from his parents.  It wasn’t really borrowed from his parents, all 8 of the children worked, and $10 a week from each child’s wages went into a fund for anyone to borrow who had a great idea.  Berry asked for $1000, but the family felt his idea was worth $800, so that’s what he used to start the Motown empire.  He paid the family back within a year at 6% interest.  I’d been to the museum before, but it still amazes me to think all that went through that little white house on Grand Boulevard.

Then a bite at the Woodbridge Pub, lovely food and atmosphere.   I had a wonderful lentil salad, and a Stroh’s in memory of my father.

I’ve always had a soft spot for blue bunnies.

We showed Ric our dilapidated train station.

Beep , indeed.

Then we headed for Ann Arbor to see Funktion at the Top of the Park.

We checked out a couple of Ann Arbor historical buildings, a little more intact than the Detroit buildings.

A lovely day.  Back to work.

Party shoes meet work shoes.

Mark and I rototilled a space behind one of our houses to make a community garden for the tenants.   A garage and workshop used to stand in this space, so there was lots of rubble under the ground.  Even after running the rototiller, I couldn’t put a shovel in the earth without hitting rock.

This is the pile of bricks and rubble pulled out of the garden.

And this is the garden.  I put in a few plants, but to my delight the residents immediately planted the rest.

It will be a happy garden.  That was the work, Wednesday night was play, we saw Shemekia Copeland at the ark.  What a great show for blues lovers, Shemekia’s voice is amazing and she’s got a great band.   Last night we watched a lot of local bands take the stage at the Power Center in tribute to the Beatles.  It was part of Summerfest in Ann Arbor, a great night.  Lots of work, lots of play.  Maybe I’ll go back to bed now.

These are my party feet, along with Mark’s feet and Tony’s feet.

We were at a barn party!

Mark and I visited the pond,

said hello to the chickens,

and listened to the rockin’ band!

I thought they were great, but there was one who felt the band was a bit loud.

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

Mark and I have been managing to get out and see quite a bit of music this past week.  We managed to catch four bands in five days.  The best of that music by far was Odu Afrobeat Orchestra.  Our friend Marko plays baritone sax in the band.

If you ever get the chance, check these guys out!  The following review is a great description, swiped from the motor city blog, found here:

Odu Afrobeat Orchestra

In Yoruba mythology, an Odù is one of 256 divinatory principals, each associated with a traditional set of verses (or Ese), representing thousands of years of observations and predictions. In the Detroit music scene, Odu is an Afrobeat Orchestra comprised of the city’s best musicians, each of different genres, age, race, and background, representing Detroit’s strength in it’s musical diversity, and always delivers nothing short of a spiritual experience with every performance they give. The group is led by Adeboye Adegbenro on vocals/alto/tenor saxophone, who came to Detroit via Lagos, Nigeria, where he used to sit it with the great bandleader Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela Kuti, founder and namesake of Afrobeat, whose countless vinyl re-issues and work with greats such as Cream’s Ginger Baker have brought Afrobeat to the forefront of African music in recent years. Although the primary output of Afrobeat music was recorded in the nineteen seventies, many have continued to carry on its unbelievably funky rhythms and unmistakable sound.

Over the years we have witnessed everyone from Brian Eno and David Byrne to Ann Arbor’s Nomo taking cues from Afrobeat’s grooves, yet few have managed to do this while retaining the spiritual roots woven deep within the beat—the soul, of you will. Odu is one of the few that do, a child of tradition, bringing dance and even (their namesake) The Odù Ifá, whose sixteen principals of divination also double as rhythm patterns.

Saturday, Lynn and I did a little gallery hopping.  The first gallery we hopped to was the Northville Art House, where we each have two pieces currently on display.

These are my voodoo skulls.  There’s a lot of cool stuff on display, see it if you can.

Lynn and I hit two other galleries, we saw a lot of inspirational work.

Saturday night Mark and I went to the Ark to see Girlyman, a quirky trio (well, no longer a trio, they added a rockin’ drummer) with phenomenal harmonies.  Take a listen to “Easy Bake Ovens” if you get a chance.

Then Sunday, the day for love, Mark and I went to a party at our friends, Janice and Marko’s.  We planned for a couple of hours but spent longer, J & M have an amazing house, amazing friends, and amazing food, needless to say, an amazing time was had.

This took us closer to the east side, so we wound up at Dylan’s Raw Bar, where we ate lovely sushi and celebrated an early Mardi Gras.  The joint was absolutely rockin’ with a band headed by Paul Carey and RJ  Spangler.  Beads were flying, people were dancing between the tables, and we all marched out with the saints.  Great weekend.  Go see some art and music first chance ya get!

Last night was the Two Twelve Art Center opening for the “Earth” show, a wonderful show where artists took images from a book and reinterpreted them.

To say it was well attended is an understatement.  For a while you couldn’t move or see the work.   Lovely to have a violinist, along with sangria and munchies.

It did clear out enough that I got a great shot of Lynn, with Sidney and Stephanie behind her.

My two pieces were in the show, I’m proud to be hanging with such amazing artwork.  It was wonderful to see how each artist translated each image.   Kat did an amazing job putting this show together.

Afterwords I grabbed my peeps and we went to Creekside in Ann Arbor to get some dinner and listen to Danny James (aka Danny Cash) play some Country.

I met up with my buddy Greg, who was there with Mark.

Mark also got a few cool pics of Danny preforming.  What a fun night!

I want to write a little about this past weekend.  Friday night was the Tastefest in Plymouth.  Rob at Station 885 puts on the Tastefest, under tents in his big parking lot.  He invites a great variety of restaurants to participate, has the Wiley Coyote band play great music (if you ever get a chance to see them, be sure to request “Werewolves of London”, Joe LaBeau does a great job!) and serves up drinks.  It’s a lovely time, we took Mark’s parents and had a blast hanging with the locals.

Saturday was a working day, but fortunately not a working evening.  We hit Dally in the Alley, and caught a band that at the moment was called Jenny and the Sure Shots, but now has changed their name to Lac La Belle.  They were a great folky band, and ended with a wonderful version of “Cattle Call”, one of my favorite songs.  My dad was a huge Eddy Arnold fan, so I got to hear “Cattle Call” a lot growing up.

Dally is the best place for people watching and people running into, as usual we hung out with our buddy Greg, and saw all the sights.

Sunday we spent most the day getting stuff done, I’m still painting on this porch, and Mark and I planted a couple of more trees around Old Village, but we did take a walk downtown Plymouth and looked at a lot of classic cars and a lot of amusement rides.  I’m always a little leery of rides at local fairs, I’ve known too many carnies and  I don’t trust them to tighten every bolt.

I always feel good after a busy, fun weekend, and this one was plenty fun!

In front of a dog the color of the asphalt she is walking on.

Meet Sarah.

I met my new friend Sarah, along with other new friends and many old friends at Dally in the Alley, in the Cass Corridor in Detroit yesterday.  Dally is my favorite festival, great music, great food vendors,  great people.  All of humanity comes to Dally, and all have a great time!

Where I Stand Sunday is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places Lynn Krawczyk spends her life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. If you’d like to join her by posting a photo on Sunday of places you’ve been on your blog/photo hosting site/website, leave a comment on her Sunday posts telling her where she can find you/your photo and she’ll add a link to her sidebar so others can find you. I am one of those that Lynn has badgered into joining her, I have changed it to “where I stood”, because right now I’m sitting in front of the computer, not standing anywhere.

There were cars,

motorcycles,

and lots of music!

beardless Patrick

Jim and Karen

One of my favorite bartenders, Josh

Pat

Eric

Plymouth’s finest

Here I am, having lots of fun.  I found the car that matched my hair!

On the street!  Today is Bumpers, Bikes and Blues in Old Village, right down the street from me!   There with be classic cars, motorcycles, and lots of music, come on by!

It will be a perfect finish to the weekend, and what a weekend it’s been so far!  Friday night I met up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in over 35 years.  I was so overwhelmed that I forgot to thank you for the drinks, Red.  Thank you.

Then I went to the opening at the Two Twelve Art Center, where I’ve got a couple of pieces.  The best part of that was seeing Deb’s work all displayed upstairs, it is wonderful.  Deb is one of the sweetest women you will ever meet and an avid gardener and a proud grandmother.  Underneath all that is this amazing ball of talent, and the show at Two Twelve really showcases her work.  If you get a chance, go see it.

Saturday started with a visit to our local farmer’s market, where I met up with the strange Lynn and equally strange Cathy.  Then back home to work on the apartment upstairs.  There’s a lot to be done up there, but a visit from Tony convinced us to blow it off and go to the Concert of Colors, and boy am I glad we did!

We filled the minivan with music loving folks and drove down to the Max M. Fisher Music Center, and first off ate amazing Indian food.  Then ran into Orchestra Hall to see Yo La Tengo do an incredible show, a beautiful place to see some mind blowing music.  After that was Don Was’ Detroit Super Session, and was it Super.  From acts I hadn’t seen in ages (Remember The Layabouts?)   to acts I’ve always wanted to see but never had the chance.  I love “96 Tears,” and knew Question Mark was a Michigan boy, but I’d never had the chance to see him until last night.  Resplendent in orange ruffles, the flamboyant Question Mark rocked that hall like you wouldn’t believe.  The “house” band for most the show included Terry Thunder on drums, Luis Resto on keyboard, and Was on bass.  I got to see Scott Morgan and Powertrain again, and yes, he did “Respect.”  Thornetta explained to us in song why she sings the blues, though I refuse to believe anyone asks the question.  Sir Mac Rice, in a red suit and red hair, gave us “Mustang Sally”, and with help from Thornetta a moving version of “Respect Yourself.” There was so much more that I can’t include, but the night ended with (step into the way-back machine, Sherman, and set the date for Grande Ballroom) Teegarden and Van Winkle getting everyone back on stage and the entire audience singing “God, Love and Rock and Roll!”  What a great night!

Today is going to be a blast at the car festival, come on by if you can!