Good Sport

Hitsville USA in Detroit Michigan
Hitsville USA in Detroit Michigan

Berry Gordy purchased this house on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan in 1959. The soundtrack of our youth was recorded in Hitsville USA. Now the Motown Museum was a must see for us this weekend when we drove to Detroit for Peggi’s 50th high school reunion. We stayed downtown last time we were here and and we were happy to see how much it has bloomed since. We had lunch in the Eastern Market and Peggi bought a “Detroit Girl” t-shirt from a vendor for five bucks. This time we stayed in Royal Oak with an old friend of Peggi’s.

The reunion was a multi-pronged affair. I took photos of Peggi standing in front of two of her family’s old houses and then we met classmates at a bar where a beer and a glass of wine cost us 23 dollars. The group moved to a party at the home of one her schoolmates. He had his drums set up in the basement with blacklight posters on the wall. A group of guys who were in a band when they all were in high school entertained us in a mature lounge punk style. I spent some time talking to a biker, the partner of one of Peggi’s classmates. He had a beard like ZZ Top and he told me he worked in a machine shop long enough to lose a good deal of his hearing, the low end in his left ear and the high end in his right ear. He said if someone calls “she can always tell if I’m talking to a man or a woman because I use the left ear for women and the right ear for men.” The two of them rode their bikes from Detroit to Key West and back this summer.

The following night was the actual reunion, name tags with the high school pictures and all, and it was almost anti-climatic after the shock of seeing everyone the night before. The dj was pretty good and the class got rowdy in a hurry. Peggi and I danced to Spencer Davis’s “Gimme Some Lovin'” and the Detroit Wheels’ “Devil With The Blue Dress.” Both sounded unbelievably good. I’ve been to all five of Peggi’s reunions so I can easily find someone to talk to while Peggi is careening down Memory Lane. A few people told me I was a good sport for going. I thought I was having more fun than that.

4 Comments

4 Replies to “Good Sport”

  1. Off topic comment, Paul; have you considered pitching shoes at the pits behind irondequoit town hall? Mondays at 4:30 pm and thursdays at 9:30 am?

  2. You can’t be “off topic” here. Thanks for the reminder. We (Rick and I) talk about it from time to time. I didn’t know their hours. I have been on somewhat of a roll for the last few days. Do you think those guys are way better? Way worse? THat’s kind of how we talk about it.

  3. I visited yesterday and it’s a good scene. Laid-back shoe nerds. Like most active pits there seem to be a few guys throwing 35-40% and it goes from there to “B” players like me.

  4. So I played again this morning with these guys. It’s an easy, laid back vibe with a range of players. The pits and shoes themselves are good quality. Did I mention they play all winter on indoor courts?

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