Casinos and prison love

I had a lovely weekend in northern Michigan (well, minus the whole snow and ice part). I performed at the Press Box in Mancelona, Michigan on Friday night. Until a few months ago, I had never heard of Mancelona (and up until the night of the show, I mistakenly kept referring to it as "Macedonia"). But, Rob, one of the owners of the Press Box, saw me do a show at Joey's Comedy Club in Livonia, Michigan, and asked me if I would come up to his small town and perform. I jumped at the chance.

Rob and his family were so hospitable! And the crowd was on fire! I had such a blast at the show. And I even got to see my name on this:

Pretty spiffy, eh?

There were several local comics who came by to do some time, and I was really impressed by them. I also got to catch up with the parents of a good friend of mine from middle and high school who came out to the show to see me. And, believe it or not, they weren't the only Dexter folks in the crowd. There was a 1972 graduate of Dexter High School in the front row. I suppose you never know when you're going to find a Dreadnaught.

Post-show, Rob and I even got to talk Noam Chomsky and conspiracy theories. I don't know that I've ever discussed these issues when so much alcohol was involved, but it was a nice conversation nonetheless.

Here's my hotel room from Mancelona. It was so rustic and cute!

And the best part? MSNBC had a late-night marathon of Lock Up. Have I mentioned what a sucker I am for a good prison love story? And let me tell you, Lock Up has prison love stories aplenty!

On Saturday night, I performed with headliner, Frank Roche, at the Odawa Casino in Petoskey. This was my second time playing there, and I had a great time! There were a couple of audience members (who we nicknamed Stripes and Flattop) who provided much ammunition and many laughs.

After the show, I was supposed to see some friends of mine (who I met in grad school). They were having a ski weekend in Gaylord, and I was going to join them as I don't get to see them much, but because the roads were so bad, I wasn't able to meet up with them. I did, however, stick around at the casino and chat about healing and meditation for a while. It felt slightly odd to discuss such issues at a smoke-filled bar, but it was also quite calming. Well, at least I think it was the discussion that was calming. It could very well have been the Bud Light.

My drive home on Sunday night was rather uneventful. The roads were pretty clear by then, which was most excellent as that allowed me to focus way more energy on belting out Enrique Iglesias (Have you heard "Tonight, I'm Lovin' You?" Holy crap, does it ever get in your head! Oh, and PS, while I was looking up lyrics for that song, I found out the true name of it. Apparently, I've been listening to the radio-edited version. Naughty, naughty!).

That's all for now. Happy Tuesday!