I will be heading down to St. Clair Shores this afternoon for the annual Venetian Days Festival on Lake St. Clair. This event is huge to say the least. It makes last months Splash Bash look like a backyard BBQ. It’s party, party, party for all the clubs on Jefferson between Nine and Ten Mile. Fishbones, Andiamo’s Jacks Waterfront, The Beach Grill, Tom’s Oyster Bar and Pat O’Brians all will have live entertainment all weekend long. Tonight is the best with the Boat Parade of Lights and the fantastic display of the Venetian Fireworks around 10 p.m. If you are close enough, I would suggest you ride your bike. Parking is a real problem. Later in the evening you won’t even be able to drive up the road at Emerald City Marina where most of the action happens.

My favorite music festival of the year is Carival which is taking place today, tomorrow, and Sunday. The Caribbean festival is one of music, colour, and spirit. Hip Hop, Dancehall, and Reggae will accompany the brilliantly elaborate costumes sported by tastefully scantily clad women. The parade will start at Chene Park at 11:00 on Saturday morning.

A once in a life time event is coming on August 19th. The Woodward Avenue Action Association is holding their “Hands Along Woodward” program. They need 45,000 volunteers to form a human chain from The Detroit River to Pontiac in celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the street named after Augustus Woodward. Church bells will ring along the way and the chain will symbolize a city and region of strength and pride. All you need to do is show up. Dont’ forget to bring those cameras!

ATMs are highly convenient and highly aggravating. I have seen fees range anywhere from $1.50 to $3.50 per transaction. On Wednesday night, I was at the Fillmore – which will always be State Theatre to me – and I was charged $5.00, which is ludicrous. What is the highest fee you’ve ever encountered in the D?

I spent a wonderful week in Philadelphia only to have it spoiled by Air Tran. I was flying into Atlanta from Philadelphia, spent an hour on the runway in Philadelphia to miss my connecting flight to Detroit from Atlanta. Air Tran scheduled a 30 minute cushion between flights even though boarding begins half an hour before departure, and all people must be checked in at least 10 minutes prior to departure. I was one of at least 70 people in the customer service line only to realize after a horrendous wait that there was no other airline Air Tran could put me on, nor would they pay for my hotel room to catch the next flight out in the morning. I hate badmouthing businesses and I do not want them out of the game because their services – once rendered – are great. They really must realize that they cannot overbook if they want repeat business. Thank goodness Northwest has sorted things out.

Talk about sacralidge. Brian O’Conner’s article, in the News yesterday, on non-car guys running the auto industry was pretty brutal. What I found ironic though was after reading that the Woodward Dream Cruise is “a nightmarish orgy of denial that’s nothing short of High Mass for the rearview mind of the “car guy.” And that “. . .Detroit is not a good-ol’ boy network, it’s a good-ol’ days network.” I went to the next section and low and behold. . .

. . . on page 1B, there it was, a huge spread on the ‘57 Chevy. Maybe he is right after all. Under Alan Mulally’s guidance, (he was the wagon master at Boeing) Ford had a $750 million second-quarter profit. Who knows what Bob Nardelli, (returned Home Depot to record profits) will accomplish at Chrysler. In thinking along those lines, how about a totally non-political type runs for govenor?? “No Politicians Need Apply!”

Anyone who lives downtown knows what is needed is a grocer. Something like a Kroger. A Traverse City group is bringing us a step closer. Operators of Zaccaro’s Market in Charlevoix, are negotiating to set up shop in the Crystal Lofts in Brush Park at Woodwarrd and Watson St. The new store will offer a more specialized menu of “Michigan based produce, an in-house bakery and pastry shop, wine and delicatessen meats and cheeses, seafood and ethnic cuisine, including Italian, Asian, Jewish and Greek.” They will also offer an extensive prepared food menu, something like Pappa Joe’s in Birmingham.

As you know I spend a lot of time on my bike, especially during the weekend. Took a nice ride today along the riverfront. As I was returning home and pedaling down Cadillac Square I came upon some men playing what appeared to be bocce’ ball. I parked the bike and began ot observe. One of the guys came over and asked me if I wanted to play. I said sure, but what game is it? He answered Petanque. Petanque? I like to think of myself as a pretty cosmopolitan guy but I have to admit, sorry, I never heard of it.

After playing for a couple of hours I was hooked. What a great sport. It is very similar to bocce’ ball but there is more stratagy and techniques involved and the balls, or “boules” are made of steel instead of ivory. A game invented in France but, evidently, popular around the world much less here in the D’. I googled it and came up with 3, 550,000 hits. The guy that intro-ed me was Jeff Widen. Guess who showed up a little later and is called a “ringer” by the guys? Mellisa who was the head ramrod here at detroit metblogs before Jaime succeeded her. Anyway, what a nice group of people. The Detroit Petanque Club games are open to the public. Weekdays 12pm-1pm in Caddilac Square, Saturdays 12pm-5pm at Campus Martius and Sundays from 1pm to 6pm at the VFW Park in Royal Oak. Now I have to find out where I can purchase my very own “boules” and get in the game.

Diamond Jack’s boat near the RenCen

chopper-shmopper…a nice, 40 year old Vespa scooter is where the real action is. the Rovers Scooter Club is hosting their annual “Motor City Shakedown” this weekend and it kicks off Friday night in Berkely. last years event pre-party was at the Lager House in Detroit and was really cool so i would expect at least the same this year. sure, it’s not quite as flashy of a seen, they don’t make television shows about them and the chicks that dig a scooter rider usually won’t have a tribal tattoo on here lower back but it’ll be damn cool in it’s own, quirky way. so put on your cleanest mod target t-shirt, toss an old Who record into the disc player and moter over the the Elks Club.