Have you been to Michigan? I’m on my way there this morning. By the time you read this I will be shooting through the air, drooling on the shoulder of my neighbor in that opium-dream, slumber that only happens on planes or trains when you’ve gotten up at 3 a.m. to pack…
I went to college in the Upper Peninsula, and I am still friends with the guy who took the picture above. He’s a sort of unsung Jack Kerouac, who’s gotten himself in and out of scrapes from Escanaba to Saudi Arabia. His name is Mark: I think he wants to remain anonymous, so I won’t tell you his last name. I’m including a snippet from a story Mark sent me on St Patrick’s day as an homage to my homecoming. I will add a side note: Mark is the first person I ever drank with, and although I do not blame him for my alcohol peccadillos, he did introduce me to the Smorgasbord – a cocktail he devised – made by mixing all the worst, scrap liquor in everyone’s cupboards and then lighting it on fire…
From a note sent to me by Michigan’s own Mark M. – St. Patrick’s Day 2015 (and one of the greatest drinking story lead-ins I have ever read…):
Dear Marilyn:
I wanted to comment on Ghost today about why I’m not drinking and don’t drink on St Pat’s Day. But I didn’t want to let the whole world know that this was the day (night ) I got caught, well actually arrested, running naked (streaking) thru Angelis grocery store meat department, when it was located downtown. I lived above the Carpet store then, about a half block down from Angelis. Please note I wasn’t technically naked, I had shoes on and a green St Pat’s day hat with one of those gold cardboard 4 leaf clovers stapled on the front and I wrote my name on it.
Earlier, we had gone on a Rhino run of Marquette. I don’t know if you remember what that was, but that’s when you have one drink at every bar within the city limits of Marquette. There were 42 bars within the city limits at that point in time. We started out at Snuffy’s on Big Bay road cause it was the furthest away….
Have a wonderful, sober Wednesday…
