Detroit

I had a most productive and interesting five days in Detroit last week. In addition to meeting the dynamic and compassionate philanthropist Doreen Hermelin (see recent "Doreen" and "Rootlessness" posts), I spent a fascinating afternoon with a Detroit historian, John Green, who seems to be waging a valiant – but losing – one-man war to ensure the achievements of African Americans throughout Michigan history aren't forgotten.

I spent one evening "receiving visitors" at Dino's Lounge in Ferndale, MI, and caught up with two beloved friends I don't see hardly often enough: Bill Jentzen (left), my former assistant at Wayne State University, and Santiago (why he prefers "Jimmy" I'll never understand!) Martinez, who had been part of my life in Detroit for decades.

I spent an extremely enjoyable and constructive Wednesday morning in the office of my longtime friend Carolyn Krieger-Cohen, one of Metro Detroit's most creative and effective PR executives. In the course of three hours we came up with at least a half-dozen ways we could work together to support some of her clients and make me some money!

            
Thursday morning may have been the unexpected highlight of my trip. Got a call from my old friend Brian Pastoria, who with his brother Mark runs the Harmonie Park recording studios in downtown Detroit, asking if I could squeeze in time to come in and record the voiceover introduction to "Christmas in Detroit 3," their annual benefit CD featuring holiday songs recorded by local artists. He wanted me to do it because of my many years working with Detroit musicians in my role as a music critic. It's very nice to be remembered for past accomplishments, and may I add that I nailed the intro in one take! Yeah, I still got it!

I also ran into another great guy at the studio, Jimmy Risk, currently publisher of the online publication Your News Detroit. All in all an extraordinarily delightful visit!

               Jimmy Risk, Mark Pastoria, me and Brian Pastoria

And just before I dashed out of town, I got the chance to have lunch again with my "media lunch bunch," including Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts VP Dick Kernen, marketing exec Michael Seltzer and the always delightful Terry Bommarito Holmes, who I've known since I first moved to Detroit in the late 70s. Let me tell you, we laughed until we cried – especially when I went into my shtick about the differences between Detroit and my current life in central Illinois.

             Me with Yoda (Dick Kernen), Terry Holmes and Michael Seltzer

Wherever I went, it seemed, I would hear someone say, "You look great!" as if they were more than a bit surprised. They would say it the way people say it to someone who's returned home after major surgery, or a person who'd dropped 40 pounds since the last time they were seen. And the people who made such exclamations later said that they had been reading this blog.

Made me think: I've got to start emphasizing the fact that despite my kidney ailments, I'm still feeling fine. I'm getting the sense my Detroit friends and acquaintances expect to see me on crutches, hooked up to filtration devices or rolling through in an iron lung!