The ferry is basically a car ferry that they put people on, but there were only about 6 cars on our ferry and probably a few hundred people herded in. Had a few sprinkles after driving through rain the whole way there, but that was the only rain of the day.
The shirt I was wearing, got lots of love all day at Put In Bay
The city dock was hopping which was a welcome sight from past years. We've been coming to this island since the mid-90's and have seen it where they were rafting 5-6 wide, you had to get there by Thursday to even think about having a spot for the weekend. Boats from Cleveland, Detroit and Toledo would fill the entire space. While this wasn't to that magnitude, it was still great to see boating marginally coming back.
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| Our friend, Karen, joined us at the Boardwalk along with two of her friends. |
We've always had their lobster bisque, especially when we've been there in the fall. Connie noticed before arriving that they'd added a couple of things to the menu: Mashed Garlics with lobster bisque and french fries covered with lobster bisque, which was perfect "lunch" for her. I was able to upgrade the side that came with my Western Chicken sandwich to have the mashed. Lord, was it good!
We went over to the Tiki Bar at Mojito Bay to put our feet in the sand and have a cold beverage then it was on to the Beer Barrel for the first band of the day.
We've been following Wally and the Beavs for probably 8-10 years. They play good music, play it well, have a great stage presence and they're all "somebody else" for their day job.
Stayed there through most of the first set, picked up a cab and headed back out to pick up the 4:00p Miller Ferry.
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| It was Christmas in July on the island, so Connie and I dressed fairly appropriately. |
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| Coming back was just such a smooth lake. |
After leaving the Miller Ferry, we left for the Motor City. About an hour and 40 minute drive to the Holiday Inn Express Woodlawn. Got there are 6p and had to hustle to get an Uber to take us to our next gig.
This whole trip started the Monday before . We were going to take our daughter, son in law and grand daughter out to the island, but seeing Wally and the Bears was the key. We contacted the Beer Barrel and they said, because of Christmas in July, they weren't allowing anyone on the premises under the age of 21.
Kind of bummed at that, then we were listening to Radio Margaritaville with J.D. Spradlin hosting. He mentioned something about the Detentions, Mac McAnally and Michigan this weekend. We looked into it. Couldn't find anything about Mac, but saw on the Detentions website that it was around Detroit. Now, we're interested. We got two of the last tickets for sale for the fundraiser that Mac was doing (with the Detentions leading off), then we got information about the block party (Drowned Liver Fest) that the Detentions were playing.
We've been listening to The Detentions since they broke out with Coast on Radio Margaritaville a few years ago. Not only are they Austin TX based, a lot of their writing is about our winter home of Port Aransas Texas. Pretty natural fit. We met Dan and Chris at the Pirates and Poets festival this past February in Port A, so seeing them only a couple of hours from where we're staying this summer didn't seem like a big deal. It was all predicated on Connie feeling well, which she has been.
We were a little leery about the address. It was just a street in Trenton, MI. Once we got close in the Uber, we knew that we were in the right place.
This is the third 'Drowned Liver Fest'. It's basically a neighborhood block party. The Detentions have played there 3 years. Imagine a tent in an undeveloped field with a Honda generator providing power and a stage with some tables and chairs under it. Across the street were a few tables put together with food and a tiki bar in a guy's front yard. That's pretty much what we saw. It was great.
The Detentions were terrific. Tight vocals, good guitar playing, mix of their things and a few covers, with great stories in between. Just a really great night of music (much better than the pics below)
Connie started running out of steam just as they were finishing up, so we got an Uber back to the hotel and called it a night. Great, great Day 1.
We checked out of the Holiday Inn Express after breakfast and watching a bit of the Open Championship. Went to St. Clair Shores after going through Yelp looking for ideas. Mike's On the Water was perfect. Located at the end of a marina with a view of Lake St. Clair with a good menu was great.
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| Unique theming in the bar section. People placed 5x7 or 8x10 pictures of their boats. |
We were lucky they didn't pull the plug earlier, we would have missed out.
Took the short ride to the Holiday Inn Express Roseville where we relaxed a bit before heading to the Selfridge Air National Guard Base for the evening concert.
We headed out for Selfridge around 5p for our concerts. Guy in front of us got instructed to pull into the lot by the gate guard. "He must not have been on the list." We hand over our ID's. "I don't have either of your names on our list." Uh-oh. Pulled over into the lot, called the head of the concerts as instructed by Guard guy. Car behind us, same deal. They're going to need a bigger lot.
Shortly, though, someone came to lead us through. Judging by the size and scope, Selfridge used to be a big hitter in the past. Right now, a National Guard base, judging by the rows of now vacant housing, this base used to be gigantic and I'm sure a lot of servicemen passed through these gates.
The setting was drop dead beautiful. The stage's background was Lake St. Clair. It started as a beautiful day, boats on the water. Excellent. Dinner was included and, other than the soy burger, was great.
It was a small, crowd by design. Only 120 tickets available, plus any of the Selfridge group were there.
Detentions started things off. Met up with them prior to the show and chatted about their night and day in Detroit. Great guys.
#NTLAF
Mac McAnally (along with Eric Darken) were the headliners. Mac's been writing #1 hits since 1980 (he played a short medley of "his daughter's college fund hits"). Second time we've seen him without Jimmy Buffett. He tells great stories behind the songs he wrote, how they go to where they were, and some pretty good inspiration. Huge supporter of the Wounded Warrior Project.
Mac told a great story about "Down the Road", a piece he did with Kenny Chesney. Got a call that Kenny was going to cut a Mac song "and he didn't care which one." Got to the studio, and there was Kenny, his producer and "that guy" (Eric Darken). 3 run throughs, 45 minutes later it was in the can and a huge hit was about to go live.
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| Not rain in the light. Bugs. |
Best "story" (it's all about the "stories") was the two girls (upper 20's we're guessing) that were ecstatic we lent them our bug spray, then were nice enough to walk with Connie to the port a johns. Shortly after they got back, they went over to the guy next to me and started going on and on about how they loved listening to him on Radio Margaritaville, and thought he was just great, etc. Guy was very thankful to them, very gracious. Only thing was, I could see J.D. standing behind the stage talking with Dan and Chris. I got their attention. "Um, that's not J.D." Dude was kind of dressed like him, but it was dark. So, they went back over to their seats a little dejected, and I grabbed them and said follow me. We went back stage and I introduced them to the "real" J.D. Spradlin and the Detentions.
Got a little lost on the way out of the base. Was waiting on the flashing lights to escort us out of there, but nope. Just kept driving the Perimeter Road (aptly named) until we finally found a way out of there.
Another terrific night. Spent the morning in the hotel, catching up on work (doing this blog) then we're back out of Detroit.
Terrific weekend. Terrific.
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