Weeknotes: June 3-7, 2024

Monday, June 3

Lots of self admin to start the week. Whacking finances into shape, prioritizing my workload, and drawing up plans for a couple small builds to compliment my growing armada of Leopold-shaped lawn furniture. It's going to be criss-crossed legs a go-go out there.

After weeks of speculation Ford finally announces the roster for their big Live From Detroit concert at Michigan Central. Hometown heroes like Diana Ross, Jack White, and Eminem are the major attractions among an all-star multi-genre revue celebrating the reopening of Michigan Central Station. After being abandoned in 1988, Detroit's historic train station loomed for years over Corktown, a forlorn monument to the city's economic failure. Ford Motor Company has spent the past six years restoring this landmark into a downtown hub for themselves and various automotive innovators, retail spaces, restaurants, and galleries. In doing so, they also bought up much of the land around Roosevelt Park, pushing out residents and established businesses. Like anything in Detroit, it's not without controversy. Tickets were free and sold out within minutes. Somehow I logged on at the right moment and scored a pair.

In the evening I build a small side table/bench, its Leopold legs splayed wide underneath a short 2"x10" plank. It looks like a tent or a small blocky dog. I name it Miniskirt.

Tuesday, June 4

Golden June sunlight pours into my bedroom and I congratulate myself on finally managing to sleep in. I look at the clock and it's 5:55 A.M. Before I even begin work I've logged a five mile run and applied a coat of waterseal to Miniskirt. I'm in good shape as I head into town for a recall repair at the Hyundai dealership. I walk over to a nearby coney island and am surprised to see they have a liquor license and a row of beer taps behind the lunch counter. Tempting, but it's only 11:00. The dealership’s mechanics suggest nine additional repairs needed and I check the no box for each. Only the free stuff today, please. 

In eveningtime, amid yet more golden sunlight, I improvise an outdoor coffee table, again utilizing the Leopold leg style. On its own it kind of resembles a ⅓ scale picnic table, but placed between the two benches its design makes sense. I've enjoyed this project. These were easy, low-cost builds that turned my backyard into a fun hang. I will look out my window at them this summer, roasting in the 100° heat while the smoke pollution from Canadian wildfires imprisons me in my home.

Pictured below, the Leopold Family, L-R: Miniskirt (small bench in back), Baby Lasagna (bench), Diana Ross (coffee table), and Second Banana (bench).

Wednesday, June 5

An efficient and unremarkable day of work. I tick off every item on my list then reward myself with a run. The Nike iPhone armband is kaput. Its replacement won't be delivered until Monday, so it's just my feet and mind out there for 40 minutes. I purposefully run on the opposite sidewalk of my usual route just to shake things up. With the Spring St. Bridge construction well underway, I no longer forget to turn down Grove and add the detour along the Water St. Trail. Near the footbridge into Water Works Park an old shaggy brown dog labors ahead of his human, panting in the humidity. I think about studio arrangements for the new songs State Park has been learning. I think about singles versus albums. I feel excited about this band. Afterward, I stand sweating on the back stoop drinking a can of coconut water. Islay is obsessed with the groundhogs who manage to sneak in and out of the neighbors' shed and has set up camp just outside their hole.

After dinner I pass a pleasant hour at the bookstore browsing graphic design anthologies then come home to find a fox wedding underway in the backyard. As light rain falls, the sun glares from behind the house at a bruised eastern sky creating a gigantic rainbow over Riverside. The neighbors step out and we gawk together in harmony.

Thursday, June 6

The tone is festive at LJ's Sweetheart Bar. A guy in a baseball cap sings along to the playlist of Detroit hits, mostly old Motown songs and some Bob Seger. It's 4:30 and the sun beats through the open door off Michigan Ave. which is closed off for the big concert a few blocks away. Suddenly, Burl Ives' "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" comes on and the guy exclaims "Oh, I'd forgotten about this song! I haven't heard it in six months." It gets a laugh and a few more people start singing along. After a couple beers Greg decides he'd like to have a go at the digital jukebox at the end of the bar. We squint over at its squat gray mass and realize it's an ATM machine.

I’ve never been to anything like the Concert at Michigan Central. It’s an odd mix of brand roll-out (Ford’s newest venture), civic pride ceremony, celebrity gala, and pop concert. It’s a huge production and reminds me of an awards show. The emcee brings out Bill Ford, Mayor Duggan, and Governer Whitmer, the latter of whom ends her comments with a "Big Gretch out!" mic drop. I later see her mixing with fans from the adjacent VIP section.

I’m surprised by some of the acts I enjoy most, which aren’t the ones I expected. Slum Village and Common are great in their tribute to the late J Dilla. Fantasia, a non-Detroiter inexplicably involved in a three-way Bob Seger tribute, is the breakout star of an otherwise lukewarm segment. The Clark Sisters and Kierra Sheard are gospel powerhouses. I last saw Jack White play a ramshackle national anthem at the Tigers’ 2022 home opener. Tonight he brings a welcome lo-fi scuzz to the show, wailing on a battered old hollowbody like it’s 1999 at the Gold Dollar. Bobby Emmett, whom I loved when he played with the Sights, sits in on organ. They are all ferocious players from a scene built in the same local dive bars we played a few years later. They’re the ones who made it and I love seeing them here in front of almost 20000 people playing with that same ferocity.

Diana Ross, who opened the show with the eternal “I’m Coming Up,” was given top billing, but as expected, Eminem is the “surprise” headliner. In October 2002, on a whim I grabbed a used cassette copy of The Eminem Show at Encore Records where I was selling some albums to pay for a spontaneous Cedar Point road trip. I picked Greg at his house up and we listened to it the whole drive down to Ohio. I was an unlikely Slim Shady fan, but sometimes we surprise ourselves.

I’m a little disappointed he doesn’t play “Lose Yourself” during his four-song set, but his dark charisma is undeniable. Backed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, he stalks the stage, glaring out from beneath his gray hoodie. It’s electric.

Friday, June 7

I am a discarded husk for most of the day. Any breeze could topple me. I fall into a late afternoon nap which restores just enough verve for a boozy night of esoteric in-jokes at my brother's house. Fido drives down from Flint and just like that the old band is reunited for an evening of riotous fellowship.

John, one of the few friends who can hang within our frequency, comes over and is immediately challenged to name at least three MCA artists before he can pass the threshold. "The Who, uhh…" We're deep into this label bullshit by the time he gets here having already run through Arista (Grateful Dead, GTR, Alan Parsons Project) and Chrysalis (Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span, Blondie). All night I'm convinced Joe Jackson's Night and Day came out on MCA (it was A&M), but we can all agree that the Horse Flies' Human Fly (a major influence on us) was indeed reissued by MCA in 1990. 

We haven't been in a van together for close to 15 years, but our lingua franca is the same. Every one of us (John included) worked at a record store at some point and several of us remain in the industry. It’s a comforting game. Maybe next time we'll play instruments.