Detroit By Night

Saturday evening began with dinner at a restaurant in Greek Town, the Greek section of Detroit. After driving for a ridiculous amount of time looking for reasonably priced parking (I can’t even believe I’m typing that), we found a space in a lot for $7. Dinner happened in Hellas, a restaurant with a dancing Greek on the door. I kid you not, there was a wooden man in a baggy linen and boots with pom-poms in relief on the door. Not only that, but we were assaulted with flaming cheese. The restaurant’s insurance payments must be astronomical; I don’t know how many plates of Saganaki were set on fire around the room while we sat there. Of course, we always knew when it happened: if we didn’t see the flare, we’d feel it and hear the announcement. Opa!


Following dinner we walked, oh I don’t know, two miles to the Majestic Theater, where we saw Ben Gibbard in concert. The walk itself wasn’t as bad as the anticipation for the walk back. Late. Through quiet, poorly-lit streets. By ourselves. Because our time in the desolate North didn’t do enough for our imaginations, we decided to envision the various ways we could be murdered on the streets of D-town. As it turns out, the walk back was neither as long as we remembered, nor as dangerous as we anticipated.

The concert itself was… kind of like two sides of the same coin. And the coin was very crowded and very young. Our hike from Greek Town brought us to a line that stretched at least two blocks from the door of the theater. Well, we climbed right into that line, not a little self-conscious about our ages. Ok, I exaggerate. We weren’t the only ones over the age of 22. There were the chaperones. So, we finally make it inside to discover that there are no seats. I guess that’s how concerts happen these days. Anyway, the kids were everywhere, and Amanda and I decided to play the listen-for-the-dumbest-quotes game. Here are some winners:
“I, like, never have money. And when I do, I buy things for everybody, and then I don’t have money.”
“Who would want to rape her? Why wouldn’t you pick someone else?”
“He’s a Jew?! He’s a Jew?!”

Well, after that, the concert started and the two openers were wasted. Not even in a particularly entertaining way. They were just semi-incoherent and lukewarm performers. Ben Gibbard, however, was fantastic. The whole show was acoustic, guitar and piano. For as sparse as the stage and music was, the sound and presentation were great. Most of the songs were originally recorded quite plugged in, but the acoustic treatment was enhancing in nearly every case.

However. The standing and the people and the standing near all the people was not my idea of a good time. One girl in front of me kept backing up until she was indeed inches from my face. Ew. And there was no where for me to go! No where! People, all around me! I couldn’t even back away from her! Amanda said she was watching my eyes, and was actually afraid for me at times. So, standing. And people. And standing near all the people. With no where to go. Thank heaven the concert didn’t last past 11:00. Good grief! How old am I?!


So that's what I did in Michigan. Thanks for reading!