5/1/2017
THE DAY
It was a big day yesterday… in that a lot was going on. We were slated to do some minor “insert” shooting.. if we had the weather to do it. Forecast stated it would be raining for most of the day so everything was pretty much up to the roll of the dice.
I started the morning interviewing this sprightly 80 year old on video. Tom Nugent was our host for the past few days. I was curious about his experience growing up and living in and around the Detroit area… especially in relation to the glory days and decline of the auto industry. It wwas a full hour’s worth of material… and I’m happy and privileged to have gotten it.
Right after we set off to pick Tommy up and headed downtown for a bit of a shoot. It was all very covert as we tried not to draw attention to ourselves while getting the footage we wanted. All his was achieved between periods of rain.
Once done we, headed out for lunch. It was had in at Telegraph Diner (formerly Connor’s)… an older place and obviously a family operation. I had the gyros platter and it was all really quite tasty. Anyway, there was a table flyer for french toast that Kurt thought looked like me.
I’ve always known this area to be a popular destination for Middle Eastern emigres but was stilll taken aabacck with the number businesses with arabic names… also “fish frys” are big in this area.
After lunch we headed to a high school production of “Into The Woods”. Trey, Tommy’s son co-designed the lighting. I know how tough this show is and thought the kids did a good job. Hey, Sondheim is not easy.
I was also impressed with the overall design and staging concepts employed in the show. And the lightning rocked! Watching Tommy and Tom beaming with pride was more than worth the price of admission.
That would by any measure be a pretty full day… but there was more to come.
THE NIGHT
I had long heard about the legendary Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and we decided to pop in that evening. So, how legendary is this place? CLICK HERE to find out. This was a personal thrill for me as many of the famous players from the jazz and motown genres have played there over the years. We walked in to a full on jazz big band (Ben’s Friends) playing. There was a perpetual smile on my face as I sat there taking it all in… at least when my face did not betray the awe I was feeling.
I mean, how often these days can you walk into a place, pay a $10 cover charge and listen to a really good big band playing not 10 feet away from where you sit? It was pretty darn glorious sitting in there as the band swung with gorgeous arrangements as we sipped on our drinks. I couldn’t help but think about my friend, RP and how he would have totally loved this.
I’ll just let the pictures do the talking from this point on… maybe with some fill-ins in-between.
We even shared space with three wonderful ladies who were also there to enjoy the music. Kitty, Beverly and Joyce made the evening even more fun. (Tommy started referring to them as Marcel’s Angels.) This was because I had struck up a conversation with Kitty between a break in songs. Earlier she had helped me get my jacket off. And… no… that is not a euphemism. Ha,, Ha!
Kurt might have also been mesmerized with the drinks.
There is nothing else to say except it was both a joy an a privilege to spend my last night at this bastion of great music… and a fitting way to wrap our location shoot in Detroit.
See what I mean about it being a big day? I even intimated to Kurt that despite our time in Detroit being primarily for work (shoot) purposes we managed to get in some cultural experiences… namely, Mike’s Famous Ham Place and Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. Aye, it was a grand time.