Sirens Blaring! Time To Get Ready For Action — Let’s Go Charlie!
A Fireman’s start, news updates, upcoming events, must-reads, and vinyl spins
Let’s Go Charlie!
On Wednesday, April 15, the Washtenaw County emergency alert alarm on Brenda’s phone blared me out of a sound sleep. I’m sure I was dreaming about losing my shoes. The clock read 1:33 am as I popped out of bed. Within seconds, the tornado siren started to wail, not more than a quarter mile from our house. I told Brenda, “Tornado warning, we need to get into the basement.” I grabbed my shoes from the closet and immediately started to think about what, besides Brenda, I wanted to try to save in case today was the day.
As Brenda struggled to put her t-shirt on, I started to make my plan. First thing, make sure she made it downstairs without trying to snuggle back into bed. Second, grab my wallet, phone, and my camera. I had a concert to shoot later in the day, so I figured I’d need the camera. I pondered grabbing my Gibson Les Paul, but figured it was not a collector’s item, and I could get a new one if it blows away.
With Brenda safely in the basement, I started thinking about my photo archive. I’ve got 14 years’ worth of photos (approximately 250,000 photographs) on a 2-disc RAID drive. I wondered if I should take it downstairs. Instead of wasting time, I went back upstairs and grabbed the redundant backup drive that contained the past year’s worth of photos. Having a bag of retired disk drives in a fire-safe bag in the basement and an online backup via Backblaze, my worst-case scenario was that I’d have to restore everything from prior years, but at least I’d have the most recent photos.
I ran the drive downstairs and told Brenda I wanted to check on the storm out the front, where I could see. From the porch, I watched the approaching storm and listened for a tornado. The air was heavy and hot, with the wind beginning to rock the trees and spit rain. As the wind picked up and the rain began to pour, I took shelter inside. I found Brenda nearly asleep in a chair downstairs. From the basement walk-out, I watched the trees bend over, and the rain fall in torrents for about 30 minutes until subsiding. No freight-train-sounding tornado, but plenty of vigorous bluster. The weather service gave the all clear, and we headed to bed. Brenda was fast asleep in seconds. I lay awake for the next couple of hours as my brain continued to whirl.
We learned the next morning that an EF1 tornado took out trees, flipped a car, and damaged property just 3 miles north of our house. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured in this frightful storm.
The next day, I came to the conclusion that while I sleep well, I’m also wired to be on alert. Let me share one other fun story about springing into action.
We realized that we had not spent much time on Michigan’s sunrise side. That being the east coast of Michigan along Lake Huron. We remedied that situation by taking a trip up to Alpena, a city located on the shores of Lake Huron in the lower peninsula. Our friends Sharilyn and Rick joined us for a long weekend, which included a great tour of shipwrecks in Thunder Bay and a visit to the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Our overnight accommodations were at a little motel just south of Alpena. It was a 70s-era, but in good shape, with friendly local owners. There were no keypads or codes, just a key on a big seafoam green plastic keychain. I’m not sure exactly what time it was, but I’d guess 11 pm. From out of a very peaceful sleep, Brenda gave a blood-curdling scream. It was the sound of pure terror. It felt like I launched out of bed. The door to our room was open, and I could see a silhouetted figure standing in the doorway. Running for the door, I slammed it shut while yelling “NO!!”. I pounded on the door for good measure and locked it shut.
Outside, I heard a woman saying, “I’m so sorry! I was arriving late, and the people at the desk said that my room would be unlocked.” I’m sure they were as terrified as we were at the moment. Heart pounding, I had to laugh. Evidently, we had forgotten to lock the door, so this person must have thought this was their room and opened the door only to find a horror-struck couple and an old man in his underwear running toward them. I’m not sure what good it would have done for me to be shouting “NO!” if someone meant us harm. Let’s just say that we’ve learned to double-check the door locks on hotel rooms going forward.
These incidents of popping up out of bed and being ready to rock make me feel sort of cool. Like I could be a fireman who springs up from sleep, prepared to take immediate action. On second thought, while I am a bit proud of my hyper-quick brain starting power (is that even a thing?), I’m no hero and don’t have the skills to be a firefighter. But it is remarkable to think of the creature inside of us that is always on the watch and ready for action, even when we are asleep. Brenda is a champion sleeper. She snuggles into bed and is out within seconds. She’ll sleep right through the coyotes howling outside or me coming in late after covering a concert. Yet, even she, with her superhuman sleeping abilities, has the inner guardian ready to rock.
Some of my long-term friends call me Charlie. I think of it as my alter-ego. Typically, it is the happy-go-lucky beer drinker, but perhaps my inner “Charlie” is the one on speed dial when there is something that needs attention in the middle of the night. Whatever you want to call it, the night watchman in each of us is a marvel for sure.
Upcoming Events You Won’t Want to Miss
Our events calendar on Life In Michigan is a treasure trove of events we’ve scoured the interwebs to bring to you. There are a ton of great events coming up. From that list, here are a few highlights:
Check out BAY-CON a two day pop culture extravaganza in Escanaba at Bay College on May 1-2.
Check out our friend and phenomenal blues artist Laith Al-Saadi at the Rumpus Room on May 1.
Get weird and wild with Sonic Smut, Ficus, and Dream Shoppe at Ghost Light in Hamtramck on May 2.
Looking Ahead
Come hang out with Justin and me during his Negative Influence Detroit Photowalk happening on May 9th!
Enjoy a weekend packed with Improv at the Yes, Ann Festival on June 25-27
In Other News
On my birthday, we headed south to check out Pavlov’s, Four Keys, and Ramshackle Brewing!
Lee Van Roth from Concentrate has a great interview with local filmmaker Trevor Zhou about his debut film called Ann Arbor.
Life In Michigan Podcast
Our conversation with Kate and Laura from Six Ft. Over was outstanding and inspiring. These hard-working women rock!
Substack Restack Attack
Substack is where it’s at. Check out these other superb publications:
Charlie Finch offers up his fantastic writing as he ponders the implications of his pen name.
I dug this piece by Manuela Thames from UNDONE , as I learned about the German word “Fernweh.”
Sadly, Dave Mason has passed away. Thankfully, Alan Paul has a great interview to keep his memory alive.
I very much remember seeing Gates Brown hit a home run at the old Tigers Stadium in Detroit. Thanks, HistoricDetroit.org, for the reminder.
Adventures Yet To Print
This weekend, Brenda’s guild, Southern Michigan Rug Hookrafters, hosted the Old Mill Hook-In (AKA the Michigan Hook-In). I tagged along to take photos. Perhaps Brenda will share her experience (wink-wink). Next weekend is the Lighthouse Keepers Spring Fling in Manistee, where we volunteers get a chance to tour all the lighthouses in the area. I’m sure we’ll have a story to share.
Sunday Sip Flashback
Now that we have a couple of years of Sunday Sips under our belt, I thought it was time to dip into the archives for a Sunday Sip Flashback.
What Are You Reading?
Yet another book recommendation from Brenda that paid off swimmingly was Ian McGuire’s White River Crossing. You may remember that a couple of weeks ago, I shared my thoughts on another Ian McGuire book, The North Water. While not nearly as dark as The North Water, White River Crossing is far from an uplifting tale. Set in a remote Canadian trading post during the 1760s, the story begins with a peddler revealing the possibility of finding gold farther north in the barren Arctic wilderness. This incites a tragic quest for riches by three traders from the Hudson’s Bay Company, along with their native guides.
The writing is excellent with a compelling storyline that focuses on greed, selfishness, and, in some ways, karma. The author uses a nifty technique to shift into the characters’ first-person thoughts. The reader is treated to the thoughts and experiences of the white traders as well as the native people. As in The North Water, the story within White River Crossing is bleak and ruthless. I came away thinking that nothing good can come from people who only serve their own interests. Through their greed and egotism, they lose their humanity. That is, if they had any to begin with.
What Are You Spinning?
This week, via UPS, my pre-order of the new At The Gates album, The Ghost of a Future Dead, arrived. This is the band’s eighth studio album and the first to include co-founding guitarist Anders Björler since 2014’s At War with Reality. It is also the final recording with vocalist Tomas Lindberg, who passed away much too soon due to cancer.
This is a fantastic record. The songwriting is sharp, richly layered, and fierce. This easily stands as one of the band’s finest albums. It has all the hallmarks of At The Gates: tortured beauty, classically inspired riffage, and phenomenal performances. From what I’ve read, Tomas recorded the vocals in one day (many on one take), the day before surgery that would leave him unable to speak. In that one day, he unleashed all of his vocal power, and you can feel it on each track.
I’ve been a fan of At The Gates since Terminal Spirit Disease. I can still remember seeing the band in Toledo opening for Napalm Death. I stood in front of Tomas, screaming along to every song from Slaughter Of The Soul. With The Ghost of a Future Dead, At The Gates has crafted a marvelous album that stands up with my most cherished music by this band.
That’s A Wrap
As my buddy Sturgill once said:
“Keep your head out of the clouds
And remember to be kind
And just stay in school
Stay off the drugs
And keep between the lines.”
Thank you for reading. Seriously, thank you! I hope your week is excellent! Don’t forget to kick out the jams!
Now, here is your moment of zen:
Absolutely love the storytelling in this one! I normally read yours and Brenda's early in the morning, and from bed, but late at night at the desk unlocked something on my end. Enjoyed it, entertained by it, plus it will make me think tomorrow. Keep going.