Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring

It feels so great to sit at my table looking out at Detroit this morning, now that the green is finally returning to the park and the weather is so amazing.  I never tire of this view. Detroit's springtime metamorphosis has never been more welcome, at least in these parts.

I'm re-using a photo. So what?

I spent a little time the other night reviewing this blog and sending links to some new out-of-town friends who are super interested in Detroit, and I was a bit disappointed in how the caliber of the content diminished after the first year.  Of course that first year I said most of what was on my mind, so I guess it was inevitable.  Plus the two subsequent years were such a beat-down for me and everyone else around here, I suppose the fact I trudged along at all is reason enough to be glad.

The arrival of the nice weather has given me an attitude adjustment. Of course the advent of baseball season is a huge loss for those of us who enjoy being downtown, as it is now overrun with a-holes half the month.  I thought the St. Patrick's Day parade in Corktown was disgusting this year until I was forced to witness the debauchery of Opening Day.  From my vantage point at Hugh on Park Avenue I watched near-fights, people throwing garbage in the streets (next to "Clean Detroit" bins) and even into planters directly in front of my store while I was standing there watched them.  I forget that many people in the region think Detroit is one giant garbage bin.

I actually saw one guy across the street holding his buddy's hair (metaphorically) while his friend vomited on the sidewalk.  It was touching, and certainly beat the guy who'd wet himself at the St. Pat's parade for entertainment value. But on the up-side, Sean Harrington of Centaur and the Town Pump said it was his best Opening Day ever, so it's hard to be upset about that.

There is also, for the first time in my memory, some great and realistic discussion of the future of Detroit.  The most reassuring thing is that the folks screaming about maintaining the status quo (ie: grape-throwers) are seeming more and more like the lunatic fringe they represent. Detroit's got a long way to go to be what some people like to call a "functional city," to be sure.  But it's a start.

I'm also undergoing my own springtime metamorphosis and it feels good.  Obviously the duty of putting together Doggy Style at the Park Bar every Tuesday is over, and that is a great relief. It was such a fantastic turnout for the final two weeks, and it made me realize how many new friends I made from putting that on.  Only in Detroit can you create a night so you are meeting only the kind of folks you want to meet AND drink for free!  I'll miss that part (well, both parts) but the work part I don't mind shedding!

And speaking of shedding, my temporary store Hugh has just wrapped up, and that was a bigger success than I expected.  After the tough slog things had been it was a pure joy to create something that was so well-received. Oh, I'm in the Hugh space through the beginning of May with a big Mezzanine clearance sale so boogie on down starting this weekend for cut-rate modern awesomeness!

Lots of people have been asking what's next and it would be premature to even speculate.  What I do know is I'm traveling the country starting mid-May - any of my friends with a guest room are getting visits!  New York, Palm Springs, San Francisco, and Chicago are all on the itinerary.  We'll see what happens after that!

Yeah, it feels like a new day.  Now I'm gonna go ride my bike to work.  I will leave you with a spring song by one of my long-time favorite performers, Jane Siberry.  It's just the song, no video.  But it's so happy!

ah, when spring comes there's nothing you can hide, making all your feelings come alive

and you feel so different inside that you think that in winter you must have been barely alive
the river is rising, the birds are returning, the earth is promising love, or something like that
I don't know

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