Category: Tom Nagle's Dream Cruise road trip
Posted by Tom Nagle on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 12:25 PMDay 19: Corvettes take Woodward by storm
Wednesday of Dream Cruise week is the day Corvettes do a group cruise. Rain may have slowed things down a little but not enough to be noticed.
We met at the Kingsley near Long Lake on Woodward. The group was over 60 strong. The plan was to go south in the center two lanes to minimize the impact on other traffic. We left as planned but it is impossible for all to stay together through the lights but we did fairly well. The crowds on the street did not seem to be impacted by the rain. At 11 Mile we turned around and stopped there at St. John's church to leave our canned goods donations. We gathered there in the parking lot to go over our cruise and then we all went our own way.
I decided it was too early to quit cruising so went up past the Shell station north of 13 Mile and turned around to go back to the parking lot on the corner of 13 Mile. The lot was full of cruisers and the streets were packed with viewers. Considering the weather and the day of the week, this cruise promises to be one of the biggest I have seen.
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RARE EARTH PLAYS DETROIT
I wasn't aware of Rare Earths' gig in Detroit. Another snafu of the promoters crew! They are an excellent group and I would have enjoyed their show. Rock on!!
RARE EARTH PLAYS DETROIT
I'm not sure if you've ever felt the sting of stepping onto the stage to look out over the audience to see maybe ten or so people sitting there, two of them being your grandchildren, one your wife, and the other being your daughter and her new friend.
Being an author, the desire to write this story was burning in my head all night long. I watched my husband Gil Bridges of Rare Earth nervously scramble through the house yesterday as he gathered his saxophone, wireless mic, and his flute for his performance in his hometown of Detroit.
Rare Earth plays to sellout crowds of thousands everywhere they go, but when they play Detroit there just never seems to be any support. The anxiousness Gil displays when the band plays here is very much justified, as we saw yesterday when we pulled into the parking lot at Grand Circus Park. There were no visible signs whatsoever that Rare Earth was playing. Right away, Gil looked at me and said, "See, I told you. This happens every time we play Detroit. We never get any respect here. Its not the people, it's the promoters." I replied, "Yeah, Detroit is loaded with talented and much-sought-after musicians still living right here in our own backyard, and you all are so overlooked. Just like when Carl Dixon came all the way over from England to gather the musical legends to record. You don't see anyone around here trying to grab hold of our heritage, only the outsiders. They appreciate our musicians."
However, like the true professionals they are, Rare Earth took the stage and performed as if there was a crowd of millions. And of course, the few Detroiters that happened by and realized Rare Earth was playing acted like true Detroiters and gave the band their much-needed support. One of the fans looked at me and said, "Don't worry, we are not many, but we will let them let them know we are here for 'em." I looked at her and smiled as I thought to myself, "That is the Detroit I love."
When Rare Earth plays Detroit, their nerves are always on edge. For one, who doesn't want their hometown gig to be a success. Playing in front of family and friends is hard enough, but when they come out to see that you are playing in front of a crowd of ten or twenty it is very humiliating and degrading. Not to mention, thank God our guitar player is a master electrical engineer, because the soundboard was of the lowest quality and was not working at all. Ivan literally had to reassemble the soundboard just to be able to play the gig.
The promoter's spokesperson stopped by (and did not stay for the concert) to tell Gil, that the Dream Cruise folks backed out on their promise to promote the gig, so in other words, you are left to fin for yourselves. In his words, "Go ahead and play a couple of sets and break it down whenever you want."
Hopefully, the folks in charge of booking and promoting our hometown legends will sit up and take notice, and give our city's very talented citizens their just due! No one lives forever, and many of Detroit's legends are already gone. Detroit is a beautiful city filled to the brim with beautiful people. Hey promoters, let the people know!
God bless Detroit
Johnnie Sue Bridges
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