The Last Drag and the smoking ban in Michigan

Folks that are familiar with the bar scene all over Michigan will be headed out tonight for the last night of legal smoking inside Michigan's fine beer and liquor serving establishments.  Starting tomorrow, all the juke joints, holes in the wall, watering holes, pubs, taverns, clubs, lounges, and neighborhood bars will be under the watchful eye of Michigan's finest.  Having a cigarette indoors at one of these places will now be punishable by fine.  In order to celebrate this final night of cancer accelerating behavior, bar crawlers will be visiting all their favorites across Detroit's bergs, and I assume across Michigan, to smoke enough cigarettes to last them the total amount of time they plan to spend in a bar for the rest of their lives.

If you are one of the many then you have options for tonight.  In Ferndale, the Ruth Ellis Center and D. Erickson PR bring you the Take the Last Drag pub crawl.  The crawl will be lead by fashionable drag queens and will take smokers and non-smokers to all the hot spots like the WAB, Dino's and Como's.

At the Belmont Bar in Hamtramck owner Darren Grown will be hosting The Last Great Michigan Smoke Down to celebrate those who choose to smoke and those who don't.  Entertainment will be provided all night will a variety of Detroit bands.  Grown says that the party is to lament the loss of yet another personal freedom.  

Not all the last chance smoke events are against the ban.  In the same article it mentions The Magic Stick in Detroit will be ushering in a new era by having fun and celebrating both sides of the ban.  Also mentioned is the New Place Lounge in Dearborn.   

Whether you are for or against the ban I suggest you go out and celebrate tonight to support your local main street and business owners!

Pita Way in Clarkston, MI.

Do you love Mediterranean food?  Then you'll love Pita Way on Sashabaw Rd. in Clarkston, MI.  This small mediterranean fast food joint has been serving fresh, great tasting food for almost a month now but there were a few customers who seemed to establish themselves as regulars already.  Among them a group of high schoolers that might have been ditching class.  

I just got done eating lunch there and I was impressed.  I had the #1 Chicken Shawarma sandweech (as they are called) and the chicken was flavorful, the veggies were fresh and the home made hummus topped with paprika and olive oil was rad!  But they do a lot more than just pita sandwiches.  They have soups (home made lentil), salads and will even do a pita-less sandweech (with rice instead of pita).  Their take out menu also offers catering and delivery.  

When I walked in I was promptly greeted and asked if I wanted to try a sample of anything.  Everybody was getting samples... of the meat (they have beef and chicken), the veggies, the sauces, everything.  All samples were prefaced with a "Have you tried my...?" or "You're gonna like my..."  You can tell Pita Way wants to be customer friendly and provide extra value to its customers during a time that everyone seems to be pinching pennies.  For $6.50 I got a sandweech, a side of hummus and pita and a fountain drink.  It's not cheap, but reasonable.  I still think Subway's $5 6" sub with chips and a drink beats any deal around. 

The only thing that could be seen as a downfall is that if you are a fan of pita sandweeches, as I am, then most of what they do there can be done at home with the same ingredients.  But since I live in Ferndale it is worth it to me so that I'm not wasting gas driving 45 minutes home for something I can get close by.  For those of you living in and around Clarkston I would highly suggest you try this place out if you enjoy mediterranean food... and then trying to make it at home.

Owner Brandon Bahoura is a recent Oakland University grad who hopes to become a successful entrepreneur in the area.  I would say that he is off to a good start with Pita Way.

Gogol Bordello

New words must be invented to describe the sound of Gogol Bordello from Brooklyn, NY.  If I had to put a label on their genre I would call it Alternative Gypsy Rock.  The band sounds like a mix of traditional Eastern European folk music by Borat with the angst of Kurt Cobain.  Their live shows include a troupe of live dancers that frolic around the stage while lead singer and guitarist Eugene Hutz works his mustache and the microphone.  The shouting choruses remind me of Irish drinking songs but the feel is totally Fiddler on the Roof.  

Gogol has been around since 1998 when the first members met at a Russian wedding in Vermont and started "jamming in A minor."  Since then they have played house parties, small clubs and other event spaces till now.  Their new album, Trans-Continental Hustle, has just been released and is available on iTunes as well as your local record store.

If you would like to see them live they will be playing two shows in the US (Baltimore 4/30, and Philly 5/2) before heading overseas to the UK, the rest of Europe and even Russia.  But if you go to their website you can follow along with updates, tweets and even some free song samples.

As of right now my jury is still out on this band.  I love their story and how they have risen through the ranks by word of mouth and playing small parties and venues.  The fact that they are the first of their kind is also awesome.  The music industry is always looking for something new and right now Gogol Bordello is it.