Detroit Cobras

The Detroit Cobras are a pretty recent obsession of mine.  I really only started digging into their music for the past two months.  I honestly don’t even remember how I stumbled upon their fantastic garage rock.  The blend of rock and blues/soul singing just feels smoky and dirty.  I like it a lot.

A good number of their songs are old covers, but they’ve got a few originals too.  You can check out their website at thedetroitcobras.com.

Hangover Thursday: Sanders Chocolate Stout

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Have you recovered from the first round of Holiday madness yet? We are in one of my favorite times of year. I’m not a giant Christmas person, but when it starts getting cold all of those seasonal stouts and porters start coming out. So even if I haven’t been able to make it out to my local bar in a while, I’m happy to know some of my favorite beers are there waiting for me.

I was born outside Detroit. Regardless of the city’s reputation, it is something I’ve always been proud of. There are a lot of things up there that I miss and some food items that I don’t just miss, but my soul is incomplete without them. Real Coney Island Hotdogs, I could talk for days about them. Kowalski hotdogs and sausage are amazing. I demand Vernors Ginger Ale every time I’m sick. Then there is the reason I’m even bring all of this up, Sanders Hot Fudge. Sanders makes all sorts of wonderful things like creampuffs and cakes, but their ice cream toppings are king.

So know that you know of this Motor City love deep in my heart you can understand my excitement when I stumbled upon Detroit Brewing Company’s Sanders Chocolate Stout. It was a must buy and because I found it while I was going to spend time with my family on Thanksgiving, I was hoping they’d appreciate it too. I know, you’re thinking Ken this is a lot of buildup just to talk about a beer. How was it? It was okay.

I almost ended the post there. Seriously, there is a good chocolate smell. There are hints of coffee in there too, almost making this a mocha stout. It hides its alcohol taste pretty well. I think it would be a good beer to give someone who was just branching out to stouts. The flavor was a little more subdued than I was looking for. I’d certainly drink it again but I wouldn’t seek it out unless I knew I was going to be seeing other refugees from Hockeytown.

Nicklas Lidstrom

Today at 11am, Nicklas Lidstrom announced his retirement. Lidstrom spent 20 seasons playing for the Detroit Red Wings and will go down as one of the best defense men the NHL has ever seen. 4 Stanley Cups and 7 time Norris Trophy winner. I’m sad, really sad. He spent all of his 20 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings. 20 years with one team, even if he wasn’t a amazing player that would be something to be respected.

A lot of people won’t remember it, but the Red Wings weren’t always the power house they’ve been for the past 20 years. Between 67 and 82 they were so bad people called them the Dead Wings. I remember watching games with Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Federov. I knew they were amazing, but I didn’t really appreciate how amazing they were at the time.

I’m not pompous enough to think that Lidstrom or anyone else in the Red Wings will ever read this; but I still want to say thank you to Nicklas Lidstrom. Thank you for 20 years. Thank you for 4 Stanley Cups. Just thank you.  Enjoy your retirement Mr. Lidstrom, you deserve it.

Do they have Penatly boxes in Heaven?

Bob Probert died Monday. He was boating on Late St. Clair with his family where they said he collapsed due to chest pains. He was only 45 and he leaves behind a wife and four children. The name Probert probably doesn’t sound familiar to most people reading this. He was my favorite Hockey player.

He was drafted to the Red Wings in 1983 and played with them from85 until 94. Afterward he played for the Blackhawks from 95-02. In 87-88 he was in the all star game for putting up 29 goals and 33 assists; he did all of that the season he served 398 minutes in the penalty box. Career wise he had 3,300 penalty minutes in 935 games; 5th highest in the NHL record book. He holds the Red Wings franchise records for career penalty minutes and penalty minutes in a season.

More 24 after the break.

Jungle Love

A love of monkeys is one of those stereotypical geek things.  It is just a given that nerds like monkey references.  Where does it start from?  While I can’t answer for the collective geek conscious I can firmly say where it started for me.  I grew up in Warren, Michigan and when I was very young the Detroit Zoo had a chimpanzee show.  I remember a chimp; I think he was named Jo-Jo.  He rode tricycles, he played cowboy, and he was the star of the show.  I was hooked.

Obviously, something like that wouldn’t fly in the zoos of today.  This was before the days of making sure every animal enclosure looks like their natural environment.  The shows ran from 1932-1982.   Wanting to talk about the old chimpanzee shows got me doing some research about the Detroit Zoo and I found some interesting things to share.  So promise to come back to those primates, but first let me get to some other odd stories I’ve found in my research.

More monkeyshines after the jump.