Lately I've been trying to do more things that I realize make me happy. The odd introvert that starts up an Arts Series so he "gets" to talk in front of people once a month, I love going out to events--I just don't feel the need to talk to anybody once at said events. It's not that I won't get into conversations, but I'm almost never looking for them and just awkward enough once many start that they fizzle off quickly. That said, I've come to the point where I simply don't give damn. I'm more than comfortable going to readings, art galleries, and even concerts by myself. It's always been one thing to dine alone, a book is handy enough in those situations, but these other events don't always lend themselves to be solved as easily (though the pocket sized kindle does help out there as well). I've been looking backwards through the 2019 calendar to date and come up with the 20 things I've enjoyed the most so far.
One thing I took off the table was Brain Candy. That has been, of course, a six month tie with itself and just doesn't need to be ranked up against the efforts of others. Another thing removed was getting a sneak peek at a favorite author's next work--it's not something readily available to others. Some near misses to the list include eating at The Balkan House, seeing Johnny Marr at St. Andrew's Hall, the book Zatouin: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen (at least five recipes tried and liked by the people I cook for!), and the Detroit Cookie Company. And I'm sure the minute I hit Publish on this post half a dozen other ideas will pop into my head.
20. Seeing Lacey Crouch in Freaky Friday. I don't remember many high school plays I've seen (not a ton) done this well, and it was very fun seeing my cousin's elementary school aged daughter get to be in 3 or 4 scenes.
19. The movie Tough Guy with Ann Novitsky and STRtCoF. The exciting and then tragic story of Bob Probert. Well done and seemingly a very honest look at a troubled life.
18. A comedy night at a bar in Gibraltar that the youngest went with me to see. A father of a former classmate of my daughter, who I used to see often both when throwing Free Press routes, and also at sporting events, had been doing comedy for a little over a year and I finally got out to see him and half a dozen other locals do their thing. A couple of rough spots, but the last 3 or 4 to hit the microphone, including Bill Morrison, were quite funny.
17. Cousin's breakfasts. The idea of Raymond Fisher brings as many cousin's from my dad's side of the family together for a breakfast out as possible each month. We've had as low as 3, and on up to 16 (expanded to include cousin's offspring, aunts and uncles, and a near cousin by proxy).
16. Songwriter's Night at the Gaelic League Irish American Club in Detroit. John Freeman hosts this and the night I attended had 6 excellent acts do sets of four to six songs apiece. A great spot for music to boot.
15. Robert Fanning's Severance. Both the poetry collection--his fourth full--and his performance of them I caught at the Hannan Center. Seeing and hearing Robert read the work only enhanced my understanding of it and its' links to his previous collection.
14. Receiving a painting from Maggie Fanning. This was a reward for donating some money to help this young artist spend some time up at Interlochen this summer and I highly doubt it will be the last of her work that I own.
13. Heaven Honey with Primer and CashforGold at Ghost Light in Hamtramck. A small bit in the Metro Times caught my attention and led to my picking up the ep of Heaven Honey a few days before they were going to be in town. All three acts were good and the bar is a solid place to see a show.
12. Finding places to see readings that I'd not bumped into before: Signal/Return (which was my fault as I'd known about their series for some time), The East Side Reading Series Aubri Adkins runs, Light Box, and Room Project--two places I'd not even heard of before attending performances at each. All were great, with excellent hosts that are bringing in performances worth seeing.
11. Reading at Book Suey with Casey Rocheteau, Franny Choi and Jamaal May. Great readings of their work and a really good Q&A afterward.
10. Hatch Gallery -- Uncurated with paintings from Linda Ward, paintings from Waleed Johnson, and sculptures from Jen Fitzpatrick. I love this smaller gallery on a side street in Hamtramck and was there to see Ward's work in particular. Really liked the paintings Johnson had as well.
9. The Dead Don't Die -- the latest Jim Jarmusch film. Went with Ann Novitsky and STRtCoF and found it funny and very entertaining. In some ways, a step away from earlier works, and in some, nearly exactly the same.
8. Wild Nights with Emily -- film with Molly Shannon playing the role of Emily Dickinson. Went with STRtCoF and I don't care if the other 6 people in the theater weren't laughing--this movie was hilarious at times. Horribly sad as well, and especially when jumping forward so many years and realizing things aren't nearly as different as we'd like to sometimes pretend they are. Every actor, young and older, in this was just fantastic.
7. Saturdays that include trips to the Detroit Zoo, Pages Bookstore, River Bistro for brunch, and Green Brain Comics. Sometimes enhanced by trips to Dearborn Music and during non-summer months, Cordon's chocolates. Looking at that list of names I can only assume you're all wondering How can there be six slotted higher than this?
6. Buried on the Beaches: Cape Stories for Hooked Hearts and Driftwood Souls by Colin Fleming. A simply wonderful short story collection. A perfect beach read where the read isn't fluff, but life and Cape Cod situations. One of those rare collections where every story is the type that you'll want to
read again.
5. The Archive of Alternative Endings by Lindsey Drager. A quick note that this book was published by Dzanc Books, a publisher I co-founded. However, were I lucky enough to have stumbled upon it having been published by anybody else, the ranking would be this high. Her third novel, Drager continues to improve from an already high starting point. This novel spans a millenium, uses the Brothers Grimm's Hansel and Gretel, Halley's Comet, and some other seemingly unrelated historical figures, jumping through time to coincide with the times that the Comet can be seen from Earth and more than successfully blends post-modern ideas with emotional substance.
4. Booksmart -- I can't remember the last movie I saw twice in theaters. It was most likely Purple Rain and the bulk of the times after my first viewing of that were dollar day viewings. I caught this with both STRtCoF and then again nudging the daughter to come see it with me. Just a really well done, well written, funny, well acted, film. It lost nothing on the second viewing.
3. Charly Bliss -- both the latest album, Young Enough, which has rarely left the player in my car since I picked it up, AND their concert at The Loving Touch with Emily Reo opening. Reo was a more than solid opening act and then after a short period of time Charly Bliss came out with an overabundance of energy and excitement and they roared their way through 18 songs. I'd go see them again in a heartbeat.
2. Christina Kallery -- the long awaited publication of her poetry collection, Adult Night at Skate World. A collection I've carried around in binders and folders for the last two plus years can now be picked up in book form! A bonus, it has a flexi-disc with Christina reading two of the poems included. Poems full of longing, subtle nostalgia, disappointments, and wry commentaries make it a collection extremely worth your reading time.
1. The three day trip through the zoos of Ohio with the daughter. Got to see Laura Wickett and her fiance (for the next week), Bob, as well as about a half day each at the Cincinnati Zoo, the Columbus Zoo, and the Cleveland Zoo, plus some side trips to outlet malls, restaurants, and thrift stores. The zoos were mostly excellent and the bonus of hanging out with a kid whose life has become much to busy to do so very often made this an easy choice for the top spot.
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Posted by: Jamesrise6 | February 12, 2020 at 02:25 AM