J. Chris Newberg

If you've been following this blog much, you can tell that Scottie and I are not ones to sit around on Saturday night (even if we don't have "plans" ahead of time) as we'll scrounge up some event, restaurant, festival, or bar to entertain us. We have an imaginary list of things to do in Detroit (and Metro Detroit) that never seems to end. And people say there's not much going on in Detroit? Well, that's another blog post.

We were fortunate this weekend to not only have "plans", but the entire evening was vaguely sketched out by the other couple we met up with that evening!  The rainy evening didn't deter us too much as we picked up Dan and Melissa on our way towards Ferndale. Along the drive, we decided on Dino's Lounge (btw, loved their slogan, "upscale but not uptight") for dinner before heading over to the Magic Bag for a stand-up comedy show.

When we walked into Dino's Lounge, we weren't expecting to find that we obtained the last table in the house, front and center to Bill Will & 360 Degrees (yes, Melissa, I had to look this one up!).  Big Will apparently was the front man for the Detroit Pistons band and opened both of the Jay Leno shows in (Metro) Detroit.  At the time, we were pretty confused and baffled by all the people huddled in the restaurant especially when the hostess mentioned that we could have the last open table when she wasn't sure how she would seat a party of hundred people.

Regardless, we opened the menu and dug into ordering dinner!  If I recall the place was quite smokey (I guess that's the lounge effect), but tables were adorned with white table cloths.  Certainly odd for a bar setting (then again, that's the lounge effect?).  On the other hand, we were also seated in fold-out chairs.  Again, baffled by this place.  As they say, you can't judge a book by its cover, and the food turned out to be tasty and somewhat "upscale" considering we were in a bar...er, lounge...er, restaurant.  Whatever, you get me.

We started with some Queso and Pita, but unfortunately, it arrived minutes before our dinner. I just blame Big Will for mucking up the service that evening!  For dinner, I ordered the Middle East Chicken Pita (Char-Grilled Marinated Chicken Breast on Grilled Pita with Roasted Garlic Hummus, Caramelized Red Onion, Baby Spinach, Sliced Tomato and a side of Garlic Dill Ranch).  And I do admit, it was quite tasty and filling especially with my side of sweet potato fries.  Yummy!

We quickly cashed out before Big Will came on stage and headed to the Post Bar for a pre-show drink.  An hour later, we headed over to The Magic Bag to catch the opening acts for J. Chris Newberg's stand-up show that evening.  Dan and Melissa gave us a little background on this fella that they brought us to see.  Apparently, Chris grew up in a particular suburb of Detroit called Birmingham (well, what do you know!).  He is a graduate of the Second City and alumni of the famed Motor City Improv.  As you'll see some of my pictures from the show below, he has a lot of pride in his roots (look closely at the guitar).

The host mentioned repeatedly that Chris always likes to support the up and coming comedians, so he "hand-picked" a few of the best and brightest in Detroit to open his act.  Overall, these "kids" were mostly awkward and slightly amusing, but I give them all the credit in the world because if I had to take the stage before a man like Chris, I'm sure I'd have very little material that could compare.  These kids were certainly genuine with their "notes" (even one guy had some cues written on hand) and long pauses awaiting laughter.  They even knew to laugh at themselves, if all else failed. 

But then, Chris came out to a roar from the crowd bustling out a few one-liners and short tunes to bring the crowd together.  He had a nice blend of humourous adectotes and comical music tunes that made the remaining hours of his time on stage memorable.  For a majority of the show, he put his guitar down, which it seemed to him, a bit awkward, but he pulled off his act quite well by engaging or really picking at the audience here and there.  To keep it real, at the end, he busted out song after song requested from what I'm assuming were his long-time followers reminding me of a man I used to see a long time ago in Chicago, Mr. Pat McCurdy.  Good times!