As everything has to come to an end, so to has the 47th annual Detroit Jazz Festival, and my burden is significantly lightened. Posting to social media is a strange thing, not journalism but with elements of it, not quite marketing but with elements of that, too. Truth be told, far more marketing than journalism, but sometimes you can say that about The New York Times. But it was four long days with lots of running around, buttonholing artists for stop-and-chats, being on the lookout for interesting things on and around the various stages.
Truth be told, I cannot top the City of Detroit genius who came to the festival and gave us the Unc Cam:
This was my breaking news:
A very fragile and interesting moment I feel fortunate to have captured (not well, but at least I captured it).
The hotel where we all stayed, the Marriott at the RenCen, is enormous, and was also accommodating the Islamic Society of North America and a large Indian wedding. So when any random elevator door opened, you might be sharing it with men in shalwar kameez or a thobe, women in abayas or long dresses with a hijab in contrasting print trailing behind, raven-haired beauties in saris with hennaed hands, or some dude all in black carrying a saxophone case. Today it was a teenager in a T-shirt advertising “a better way to wudu.” I asked him what the better way was; he said it involved a special sock. (Wudu, for those who don’t know, is the ritual bathing before Islamic prayer, and the problematic part is the feet. The University of Michigan at Dearborn, after repairing too many bathroom sinks accidentally torn from the wall by clumsy wudu, installed footbaths.)
Anyway, it was a good weekend of exhausting work and excellent music. Plus uncs. And this lady, the one on the right…
…who is famous. I asked her where she got her sunglasses. She said Reykjavik. I saw her every day, always looking amazing.
Now, friends, I am bone-tired and intend to sleep until my body has had enough. I want you to know that I haven’t forgotten this blog, nor you readers. I now intend to enjoy Adult Summer — the six weeks of good-enough weather that follows Labor Day — to the fullest.
Deborah said on September 7, 2026 at 9:00 pm
Those sunglasses are amazing. I have nothing to wear them with but I’d love a pair. Crazy.
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Jeff Gill said on September 7, 2026 at 9:38 pm
Somewhere a couple of decades ago I interviewed Dee Dee Bridgewater because of an appearance she was making at Denison… I think. As I recall, she was sitting at an outdoor cafe in New York and the background noise (sirens, shouting, bus getting into gear, trucks idling) was both fascinating and incredibly distracting. Can’t find it online, but urls are so scrambled these days. Anyhow, she was sprightly and delightful insofar as I could hear her.
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alex said on September 7, 2026 at 10:52 pm
I’d bet Lana Turner has more than a few jewelry mannequins gracing her dresser. Hmmm. I’m envisioning a new product line and calling it the Wudu Doll. A foot mannequin as a sock dispenser.
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This weekend the hubs and I celebrated five years since we broke the curse of cigarettes. I was reminded of it by a facebook memory that surfaced. At the time, I was about to undergo surgery on a deviated septum and hypertrophic nasal turbinates to cure sleep apnea (which it did), but the doctors refused to perform the surgery as long as I continued to smoke cigarettes.
The operation was scheduled to take place in two weeks and I was having no luck giving up the habit. So we went to a vape shop and asked the proprietor what vape he recommended for quitting cigarettes. He asked me what brand I smoked and how much. (Winston reds, two packs a day.) He handed me a Hyde disposable in a very mild peach/mango/watermelon flavor. We bought one for each of us and decided to spend the day taking a road trip and we ended up at Grand Lake St. Mary’s, the largest inland lake in Ohio and one of the largest man-made lakes anywhere, dug by hand in the 1840s by Irish immigrants to facilitate the Erie canal system.
It was a perfectly beautiful day just like today, and we took the same road trip again today to commemorate. So glad we kicked the habit. We took to those vapes instantly and never bought another pack of cigarettes. (We were buying cartons, actually, because we burned through so many packs. At ten dollars for a vape that lasted two weeks, it was also a much better deal than a carton that cost ten times as much and lasted a few days.) Our house and cars and clothes all smell so nice now. (And before I retired, I could vape to my heart’s content in my office and never got busted. )
We’re getting ready to head to Michigan City for a post-Labor Day vacay on Lake Michigan, when a VRBO drops drastically in price. We’re sharing a big-ass house with a longtime friend group traveling in from all over the place.
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Jeff Gill said on September 8, 2026 at 7:28 am
Alex, if you go a bit south of the west end of Grand Lake St. Mary’s, to Cartagena, there’s a hallucinatory sight off the road, a giant building in the middle of literally nothing which is the former St. Charles Seminary, now a retirement home. And a little further south is the second largest collection of Catholic relics in the United States in Maria Stein, Ohio… if you like quirky and mildly creepy, you have to visit the shrine there.
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alex said on September 8, 2026 at 8:03 am
Jeff, several decades ago my hubby attended seminary in Dayton at the Missionaries of the Most Precious Blood. He’s an organist, and on multiple occasions he played the organ at the St. Charles Seminary. We passed by St. Charles on our previous trip to Grand Lake St. Mary’s. (And by coincidence, a divorcee from our neighborhood had just married a man from Maria Stein, Ohio, and moved there, and we passed through out of curiosity.)
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Julie Robinson said on September 8, 2026 at 8:51 am
In a thousand years I would never be cool enough to wear either of those outfits.
Nevermind, I’m at the airport in sensible black pants, compression stockings and orthopedic shoes, heading to NYC for a few days with my daughter. It’ll be the usual fiesta of Broadway shows and maybe a museum if exhaustion doesn’t set in. Haven’t had time to research yet, anyone know of any great exhibits?
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Dorothy said on September 8, 2026 at 9:17 am
On Saturday the 29th when we were in Cleveland for the jazz concert at Cain Park, so many people were dressed so gorgeously. My head was on pivot and I tried not to gawk. One man was just two rows in front of me and now I’m wishing I had worked up the nerve to ask him if I could take a picture of him as I admired his suit so much. It was crisp white, and had a stand up collar about 2″ in height. Running down the front of the suit coat, each section of buttons was in sets of threes. And three tiny buttonholes for each button. So there were three tiny buttons, a gap, and the next set of buttons began again. It was an extra long suitcoat so there might have been 33 buttons and buttonholes. He looked SHARP. I did walk up to one woman as we were walking in and said “My goodness you look beautiful in that dress! And the color is so wonderful on you!” She beamed at me and thanked me.
I must have mentioned this here years ago, but when I was a young secretary on my lunch break, I walked over to the Equibank to deposit my paycheck. A man fell in step with me and said “You have such a nice stride!” I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly so I said “Excuse me?” and he repeated it. Then he threw in ‘…and nice legs, too!” Well it made my day, maybe my whole month. And after that I made sure I would compliment people if I saw someone wearing or doing something I admired. I still do it all the time – have been since about 1977!
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tajalli said on September 8, 2026 at 6:31 pm
Not exactly a jewelry post, although I loved the glitzy sunglasses, but on opening the windows together some circulation going, I smelled this lovely campfire tang in the air. Apparently, the fires burning down in Big Sur have their smoke drifting north with the prevailing wind. My brain squirrel selected “winter fireplace” emotional associations rather than panic. Good squirrel.
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Julie Robinson said on September 9, 2026 at 10:29 am
My trip to NYC went downhill fast when I took an epic fall and banged up my shoulder. On our way to the theater we got separated in the teeming masses of people. I peered ahead to find my daughter and whomp, ping-ponged off a bollard, and down I went, sprawled on the sidewalk. A couple of guys from the halal cart on the corner immediately surrounded me and tried to help me up, but suddenly I was dizzy and it was a no go. Then a policeman came and got me sitting on the ground, Sarah called and made her way back. The halal guys produced a chair and a bottle of water and the policeman asked if I wanted an ambulance.
No, I did not want an ambulance, I wanted to get to the theater. He called one anyway and I experienced a miraculous recovery to stand up and walk before it arrived. We made it to Rocky Horror Show right before curtain, and it was glorious dirty fun.
My left arm is completely useless but no worse then last night, so am debating if I want to negotiate finding medical care. It feels exactly like the shoulder injury I had 15 years ago and nothing they tried helped, except physical therapy. I can dig out those exercises when we get home.
We stopped at a Duane Reade on the way back to get supplies for my skinned knee and elbow, and decided to get a sling. Icing it helped but it was a rough night and I can see we won’t be doing anything beyond the shows we already have tickets for.
I am grateful to the halal guys for all their kindness, and I am feeling foolish for the break in attention, and bad that my daughter is having to help me so much. Haven’t tried a shower yet but that could be fun.
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Deborah said on September 9, 2026 at 11:06 am
Well that’s a bummer Julie. Hope you get it looked at when you get home at least.
Today is my colonoscopy prep day, yuck. But I’m looking forward to my glorious nap tomorrow afternoon during the procedure.
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David C said on September 9, 2026 at 11:43 am
There is a shawarma stand in an oasis on the tri-state in Chicago. Mary and I were walking by and she said she had a stomach ache. One of the guys at the stand handed Mary two bananas. We offered to pay, but he waved his hand and said “she needs bananas, they’re good for stomach ache”. Anyone who thinks Muslims are terrorists is nothing but a bigot.
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