Though the tickets to OCMS had been purchased well in advance, the plans for the weekend started coming together in the wee hours of Wednesday morning post-election. A serendipitous text message from Budde put things into motion for Saturday.
The continuing tradition of the Novi Denny's for supper was the official kick off to the birthday celebration. We swung over to Bloomfield Hills to pick up Brad and took 75 downtown (I must confess it was my first time taking 75. Woodward is a far more satisfying experience. Going from the zoo, over 8 mile, and descending into liquor stores and check cashing places on every corner is the way to travel. If I'm going to Detroit, I wanna see Detroit!). The timing was creepily good as we parked across the street, stood in line for mere moments, headed up to the bar and within 15 minutes OCMS took the stage.
Seek them out. The show was amazingly good. AMAZINGLY GOOD! They played for 3 hours with one big set break and 2 encores--thank the Lord for that second encore. It would have been a letdown had they finished the night with the less-than-spectacular cover of "Walk of Life." It was the only weak moment in the whole show. And though I knew that these were tendersweetyoungthings, I swear none of those guys are over 30. And I'm more in love with Ketch Secor than ever. And quickly developed an obsession with Willie Watson. And their bass player Morgan Jahnig. Oh hell, I love them all! There were minor technical difficulties on Let it Alone, but that was really it. They're like Greensky Bluegrass only tighter and better. The Majestic Complex is quickly becoming one of my favorite places for shows. Not only is there a bowling alley connected to it, but the beer of the night for me was Two-Hearted on tap. First of the season for me.
Post-show we headed up Woodward to meet Vito and Glick at what I thought was called the Chalet, but now I'm thinking might have been Mt. Chalet. It was one of those bars that I long for here in the Holland area. Laid back, decent prices, good crowd minus the brief bar fight that erupted and was quickly stopped thanks partly to Mr. Russo. We closed it down and then headed back to the Budde residence where I was put to work peeling potatoes for a late night snack of deliciousness complements of Brad who didn't just open a bag of frozen fries. Oh no.
Sunday was a time for sleeping in and waking up in time for brunch with the Budde family where once again Brad wowed in the kitchen: Pancakes with apples and brown sugar. Dang me.
There was some brief hanging out post-brunch and then we started the uneventful trip back to Holland.
It was a good birthday. A very good birthday.
So I'm back to the grind of daily life. A new day, a new week, a new year.
One other note: If you get a chance, watch The Devil and Daniel Johnston. It is an outstanding documentary about a singer/songwriter/artist who was and is hugely influential in the (I can't believe I'm going to use this term, but oh well...) "outsider" art and music world. Wilco's covered him. Pearl Jam's covered him. Sufjan's covered him. Beck's covered him. Aside from the obvious interest I have regarding that aspect of his life, it really chronicles his on-going lifelong battle with mental illness. It's unbelievably honest and heartbreaking. It borders on exploitive, but is still worth watching. The more I talk about this film the more I realize how this is a disease that touches a vast majority of people. And this film shows how difficult it is to understand and how difficult it is to deal with someone who is mentally ill. I'm hoping to pull off a program this spring at the library centering on this issue. This one's personal.
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