AllYearGear.com

Category: General

  • Rodriguez: Live in Detroit

    Rodrigues plays upstairs at the Park Bar in Detroit
    Rodriguez plays upstairs at the Park Bar

    If you haven’t read the article, watched the video, or heard the story on NPR about Rodriguez, you should.  It’s pretty mind blowing that a Detroit musician can record an album, think they struck out, hang out in relative anonymity within the Cass Corridor, and learn decades later that they are a huge hit in places like South Africa and Australia.

    With all this recent media attention, the Park Bar booked Rodriguez for a one-night show upstairs.

    Simply put, it was amazing.

    Rodriguez sounded great but seemed perhaps a bit hesitant at first.  But he warmed up as the hometown crowd continued to applaud his every song.  He started filling the gaps between songs with smiles and assorted quips.

    While I did take photos, I was certainly limited by my camera and perhaps more so, my skill level.  Yes, they’re grainy and often blurred but the alternative was worse as my digital camera flash washed all the colors away.

    So if you’re not a Rodriguez fan yet, you should pick up a copy of his Cold Fact album.  There’s a pretty good chance you’ll become a fan just as I have.

  • Ooh, I want a Wheelie-Bar!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE-txZE2ggg

  • Dom Polski shown at St. Albertus Church in Detroit

    Today was a special viewing of the Dom Polski DVD about Detroit’s Polish-American roots with an emphasis on the music.  The movie was shown at the historic St. Albertus Church, just northeast of Eastern Market.

    This church really is a must see.  I’m so glad that it has a small but devoted group of supporters who are trying to keep this church open as a historic museum.  I’d last visited the church in 2003 and it seems there have been many worthwhile improvements since then.  It’s definitely worthy of any donations you can make.

    The Dom Polski movie was really special too.  It covered a lot of ground, but perhaps my favorite portions were the old polish wedding home movies.  Of course any movie that serves paczkis and coffee at intermission can’t be bad.

    Next Saturday, September 13th at 2 PM is the 4th annual St. Albertus Fest.  It’s only $5.  They’ll have pierogi, kielbasa and beer.  It’s a big fundraiser for the church, which is extra critical right now.  A scrapper stole a portion of the copper roof from the church and it’s cost $24,000 to repair it.

    More details about the festival are on http://www.myspace.com/stalbertusfest.  The church address is 4231 St. Aubin at Canfield.

  • Obama visits Detroit Labor Day Parade

    Yesterday I rode downtown to take in the Labor Day parade. Many folks had the same idea, motivated perhaps by the appearance of Barack Obama in Hart Plaza.

    There were huge crowds waiting to get into Hart Plaza, so I didn’t try entering. Fortunately some videos of Obama’s speech have been posted. I did follow the parade and here are some of the highlights.

  • Hiking in Summit County

    The week prior to running the Leadville Trail 100 is a great time to do some great day hiking around Frisco, Colorado. This year we hiked the Peaks Trail to Gold Hill then caught the free Summit County bus shuttle back to Frisco. We also hiked the Mt. Royal Trail to Masontown.

    Some photos are posted below. Note that the Mountain Pine Beetle has been devastating pine trees throughout the County. I’m not sure how this area will look in a couple years as these trees start to fall, if not burn.