Travelog: Seeing Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds in Detroit, MI - "The Motor City"

Lobby of The Siren hotel

I've been there a couple times, but stayed mostly on the outskirts. This time I spent the entirety of my brief sojourn there in the downtown area, which is actually quite nice, although expensive. I was expecting to see more urban blight and abandoned buildings, and it wasn't prevalent in any of the areas I visited. I did see a lot of amazing vintage architecture and many old buildings that were restored and revitalized. For example, I stayed in a boutique hotel known as The Siren, which resides in the Wurlitzer building, and was once in danger of demolition, but it has been renovated into a beautiful and charming hotel in the heart of downtown Detroit.

The Wurlitzer building

One of the highlights of my there was my experience at The Candy Bar cocktail lounge on the first floor next to the lobby. This place requires a reservation, and I thought it curious. Afterwards, I totally understood why. It's a small cozy space, and each cocktail is mixed to perfection by hand. I was not disappointed. It's the perfect place to go on a late-night romantic date.

Potato chips in a silver goblet

The "Double" Negroni - a liquid Negroni on the bottom with a frothy version floated on the top

 

I had another delightful experience at one of the other hotel bars - Sid Gold's Request Room - a speakeasy with the entrance in the alley behind the building. A reservation is not required to sit at the bar near the entrance, but you do need to reserve a seat for the piano karaoke bar. I put my name on the waiting list and had a nice chat with the bartender while I sipped a French 75, but did not get into the piano bar. Oh well, maybe next time.

One thing that I particularly liked about staying downtown was access to multiple forms of free public transportation. The Detroit People Mover is an elevated train loop that runs around the downtown area, connecting various points of interest, such as the sports arenas and music venues with parking garages.

People Mover route

I witnessed this system in action first hand when I went out in search of a restaurant for dinner. A baseball game was happening that evening and I saw people who were wearing team colors, boarding from different locations and then disembarking at Grand Circus Park for the game. I also used the Qline - a streetcar line - to get from downtown to the Detroit Institute of Arts museum and the Masonic Temple. 

Map of the Qline

All of the above modes of transport were completely free, ran on a regular schedule, and were reasonably easy to use. 

Speaking of art, the museum was impressive. It has some very famous paintings that I was surprised to see there, such as:

Portrait of a Noblewoman (1620)
by Rodrigo Villandrando

The Wedding Dance (1566)
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Eleonora of Toledo and Her Son (!545-50)
by Agnolo Bronzino and his workshop

Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (1887)
by Vincent Van Gogh

The Three Skulls (1898)
by Paul Cezanne

However, I did not get to see everything, so I must return someday. The primary reason I was in Detroit was for a concert at the Masonic Temple, to see Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on The Wild God Tour (North America 2025), and here is the video:

Honorable mention: Right next door to The Siren is a record store that also happens to be a bar - Paramita Sound. The records for sale looked mostly like a curated selection of new, high-quality pressings, and they have "open deck" hours where you can play DJ. The bar has a reasonable selection of beer, wine, and canned cocktails, along with non-alcoholic beverages. The vibe was very chill. 

Magifest 2023 - Columbus, OH

I attended Magifest this year. It was a fun-packed couple of days and I had a fantastic time. 

Before the show even started, we met one of the performers, Peter Turner, in the convention space, just hanging out with fans and doing mentalism tricks. When I approached the crowd gathered around his table, he immediately asked me if I would like to help him do a trick. IT WAS AWESOME. We attended his performance and lecture later that evening and that, too, was awesome. 

Peter Turner, center

The first lecture we actually attended was about Ionia - a famous female magician in the early 19th century. She only performed magic for a few years, but her act was said to be spectacular, and the beautiful promotional posters that survived from that time are highly valuable collectibles. 

Ionia - Inspiration

Charles Green

Aside from that, she lived a long and interesting life, married a Russian prince, and eventually returned to France where she died in 1973. This was one of my favorite talks. The presenter, Charles Green, researched, wrote, and published a gorgeous book about her life.

Book cover

 
 We saw another great presentation by Margalit Fox, the author of The Confidence Men, a true story about two men who used mentalism to escape from a POW camp. 

As luck would have, we ran into another magician/performer that we've been following on Youtube for some time - Chris Ramsay. 

Chris Ramsay, on right

One of the biggest highlights of the whole weekend was meeting Lance Burton, who gave an interview about his life and career, and generously signed posters for 1000 fans at this convention. 

Lance Burton

So, I spent way WAY too much in the dealer room. I picked up a beautifully bound hard copy of the catalog for an auction of items from Ricky Jay's collection that will happen in February 2023. He had a lot of weird bizarre interesting things in his collection. 

Now I have a couple/few beautiful magic-related coffee-table books to display around my home. 

We saw many other amazing performances by other magicians including six different winners of FISM, and Paul Gertner, who appeared on Penn & Teller's Fool Us FIVE times. Interestingly enough, Paul Gertner was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and his father was a steel worker. 

That's all I will say for now. A magician never reveals her secrets. 

Achievement Unlocked: Around the World in 15 Days!

I just got back from a work-related trip that had me in Madrid, Spain for one week, and then Bangkok, Thailand the following week. I managed to circle the globe in 15 days!

Photos:

Madrid
 
 Bangkok
 

Travelog: Egyptian cuisine

I've always liked Mediterranean cuisine in general: hummus, couscous, olives, grape leaves, etc. so I was very excited about trying real Egyptian cuisine. I heard about a dish called "Kushari" that is uniquely Egyptian, and got to try some at a popular chain called Zooba at City Stars mall.

I loved it! It is a mixture of rice, macaroni, lentils, onion, with a little red sauce. You can add hot sauce to make it spicy, and/or a dressing made of lemon, vinegar, and garlic. Topped with crispy fired onions. I would totally eat this at home. I also tried a dip made with Egyptian aged cheese and tahina, which was really really strong. It tasted like a highly concentrated and very salty feta cheese. I liked it, but could only eat a few bites with bread. There are also many varieties of pickled veggies, which I loved.

After I told some of my new local friends that I tried Kushari, they told me that I should try another uniquely Egyptian dish called Molokhaya. I got to do that last night, when one of my colleagues invited me to her home for dinner.

Molokhaya is made from jute leaves, or okra, which are muddled or whirled in a food processor and then added to boiling broth. Seasoned with coriander and garlic, it makes a thick green soup that has an unusual texture, which foreigners might call "slimy." I actually liked it. I thought it tasted a little like spinach, but we definitely don't have anything like it in the USA. We had it over rice, with some meat that was stewed in a red sauce. The whole meal was very comforting! I can understand why Egyptian people would miss this dish when they travel abroad, and it reminds them of home. 

Another culinary adventure that I got to experience was a famous and popular restaurant called Andrea. 

This first thing you see as you walk in - chickens turning on a rotisserie

Women bake bread in outdoor ovens near the entrance

Guests are seated on an outdoor patio; there is a childrens' play area adjacent

Other wonderful things that I've had here: Olives, dates, and melon - are all locally grown, fresh, and delicious. The melon is particularly sweet. Fatir - a rich, flaky pastry, and Ful - similar to refried beans - are eaten for breakfast. Fresh juice drinks, such as Lemon Mint - my new favorite. It's not nearly as sweet as lemonade. Bread and baked goods here are very good.

I had an awesome and decadent (expensive) meal at a Lebanese restaurant Al Dabke in the Fairmont hotel.

Mezzeh and Mixed Grill

You can find many other types of cuisine here. I had really good sushi the other day at Mori in Mall of Arabia.

Observations:
Nescafe is a thing here. If they don't have Nescafe, then it's Coffee Mix. The fancier coffee places might serve "American coffee" which is filtered coffee as we know it, or from a French press. What we might call Egyptian coffee - the strong espresso-like brew with a bit of sludge on the bottom - is what they call Turkish coffee. And, it's excellent. Tea with fresh mint is also very good. Fresh squeezed juices are very popular, and I love the lemon mint - it's not as sweet as lemonade and very delicious.

This is a Muslim country, but drinking is not banned. There are many non-muslims living here. I am not finding a great beer selection, but I'm not really looking for it, either. I could probably find an ex-pat bar with a better selection, but I'm playing it safe and staying in my hotel where the choices are:

Or, Heineken. Both Stella and Sakara are Egyptian-made beers. Both are lagers. They aren't bad, but they are not very remarkable, either.

I had better luck with wines. The popular Egyptian wines are: Kouroum of the Nile - Shahrazade (was my favorite), Omar Khayyam, and Grand Marquis.

Travelog: East vs. West Cairo

The west side of Cairo (Giza) is very different from the east side. I'm glad I got to spend a week in each place to see the difference.

East (Cairo governorate)

The Cairo governorate reminds me of New York City with its high-rise apartments and gridlock traffic. There are street vendors everywhere, and corner shops that remind me of "bodegas." 

Some older architecture remains among the newer highrises

I spent a lot of time in this traffic

Crossing the Nile

These are "unlicensed" developments

These vendors are everywhere with their cases of Fanta

A beautiful mosaic entryway

Crossing the Nile

A shaded street in a quieter neighborhood

West (Giza governorate)

Giza is a different story. It reminds me of Las Vegas. There are palm trees and new developments springing up everywhere. You see the large cranes building malls, resorts, hotel and office complexes - separated by stretches of desert. Driving around here is more like navigating the freeways around Las Angeles. The new housing developments look a lot like the clay tile and stucco apartment complexes that I've seen in Orlando.

You can orient yourself by seeing the tops of the Great Pyramids on the horizon. They are visible from all angles. I see them from my hotel window, and pass by them on my way to work.

Pan view from my balcony, at the Hilton, Dreamland

Mall of Arabia

Melon stacking level: Expert

Cleverly disguised cell phone tower

View from a local friends balcony in their apartment complex

This could be SoCal, right?

Pyramids on the horizon

Pyramids again