(almost) one year

since mine and josh's one-year anniversary is this tuesday, we decided we would celebrate it this weekend when we were both free. we already had plans to go to detroit for the sold-out oblivians/gories show, and we figured we could just make a day of it and enjoy each other's company. i know, i know...a rock'n'roll show in detroit does not sound like the most romantic anniversary plans ever. BUT...we also hang out in cemeteries for fun and would rather spend our grocery money on records and zombie movies. so. there you have it.

we left early saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel. we were staying in a cute little town called monroe, michigan. we picked it randomly off a map because a) it looked about where we wanted to be that was close enough to the show yet far enough not to be staying in a boarded up crackhouse, and b) we saw a picture of this guy when we were doing a google search about the town and it seemed ridiculous enough to win our vote:



our hotel was decent (and cheap!) and had a very seventies exterior that i dug. you know how sometimes you just have the urge to stay in a hotel?



after checking in, we were off to see the motown museum. we tried, anyway. because detroit's highways are so fucked and it was confusing our gps, we SOMEHOW accidentally ended up on "the bridge to canada." i don't even remember being on a bridge, but i remembered seeing all the signs warning us that we were heading that way. by the time we realized we needed to turn around, we were already stuck in this giant parking lot thing. josh asked a gas station attendant how to get out, and he told us we needed to go to a toll booth and "get the right paperwork." we did, and once we had a slip of paper saying "re-entry to the us" (when did we leave?) we attempted to go through another toll booth, where we were promptly stopped and searched. it was very unnecessary. the attendant asked us all sorts of questions like "what do you do for work?" and "where were you born?" he insisted on taking my purse and emptying all the contents from it on the desk in front of him. meanwhile, i was totally frustrated at having gotten lost and stuck AND we only had an hour til the museum closed.

we finally got out of there (and i was SO ENRAGED!!) and made it to the museum. i hadn't realized that what is the museum today (and was the studio back in the fifties/sixties) was actually berry gordy's house that he turned into a studio. i was excited to see the 2-house museum but when we drove past we quickly realized we picked the wrong day to visit. there was a michael jackson party going on right on the front lawn of the motown museum. i spotted two impersonators, one of them wearing a surgical mask like he used to do. we parked and walked up only to find out that THEY CLOSED EARLY FOR THE DAY. all that trouble, we finally made it there in time, and we still couldn't go in. i can't wait until the day when this all seems hilarious. we took a few pictures of the outside, which was all we would have been allowed to do anyway since there is no photography allowed inside the museum. at least you guys can check out this party. there were ice cream trucks lined up along the curb and people sitting on their porches across the street blasting michael jackson and jackson five songs. heh.















in the evening, we went to the majestic theater to see the oblivians and the gories. the show was decent, but the choice in venue pretty much ruined the experience for me. at big shows, i don't feel like the band and the audience get to feed off each other as much because the place is too big and it gets too impersonal. it makes the whole atmosphere lose a little of the magic...for me, at least. i like to be right up front FEELING the energy, and when it is a big venue i feel so detached i might as well be watching it on tv from my couch at home. last night felt like i was watching the bands play from the inside of a cave rather than a club. the oblivians were good but it didn't compare to the other time i saw them (at a small bar in chicago a few years ago at the blackout). the gories were always just "ok" to me and that's how it was to see them live as well. eventually josh and i had to leave a little early because it was so hot inside and so crowded that i felt a panic attack coming on and i wanted to get outside before one happened. i heard today that they sold 1,000 tickets to the show, so that about sums it up. i saw the oblivians in a stuffy cave with 1,000 other people and it was just ok.

the best part of the show for me was the fact that i saw 230480938409 friends that i wasn't expecting to see! and i have no idea how they found short, little me in the sea of 998 other people. first we met up with some other cleveland people we knew were going, including my cousin beth and her friends. and then i ran into some feelers! and some daily voids! and some terrible twos! and john jackson! REALLY?!? i don't see john jackson for over a year even though he lives nearby and then i finally do in DETROIT? random! i love it! the best though was when a guy walked up to me and addressed me by my terminal boredom handle and introduced himself. haaaa. he also reminded me that we met on myspace about two years ago when i was admiring his sweet artwork. funny.

before we started home today, josh and i drove around downtown monroe and snapped some photos. the town really was cute. it's the kind of place where little old ladies will wave to you as they drive past in their cars (seriously!). and how can you not love a place that marks the site of their whipping post?



















we also found out that general custer was from monroe when we were googling the city. we passed a huge monument of him on horseback but i didn't get a picture because we were driving. here is a pretty little church where he got married. i love me some history!





i fell in love with this fountain that had big water lily sculptures inside:











happy (early) anniversary, boyfriend.